Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-04-23
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
subject: .rhe Resnrreetlon..

subject: "The Resurrection.n
TExT: Surely the bitterness of death is
past. II Samuel xv., 80.
So cried Agag. AMI the only objection
have to this text is that a bad man uttered
It, Nevertheless IL is true and in a higher
and better sense than that in which is was
originally uttered. Years ago legend
something like this was told me: In hut
lived very poor woman By the name OF
Misery. In front Of her door was pear tree.
which was her only resources for living.
Christ, the Lord. in poor garb was walking
through the earth and no one would enter
tain Him. In vain He knocked at the door
of palaces and of humble dwellings. Cold
and hungry AMI insufficieDtly clad. as He
was, none received Him. But coming one
day to the hut of this woman, whose name
was Misery, she received Him. and offered
him few cItlsts and askel Him to warm
Himself at the handful of Goals, and she sat
up all night that the wayfarer might have
pillow to rest on.
In the morning this divine being asked her
as He departed what she would have Hin, do
in the way OF reward, AMI told her that He
owned the universe and would give her what
she asked. All she asked was that her pear
tree might be protected, and that the boys
who stole Ter fruit once climbing the tree,
might not be able to get down without her
climbed the tree were compelled to stay
there. After awhile Death came along and
told the poor woman she must go with him.
But she did not want to go, for. however
poor ones lot Is, no one wants to go with
Death. then she said to Death, 81 will 90
with you if you will fiji st climb up into my
pear tree and bring me down a few pears
before start" This he consented to do,
but having climbed into the tree he could
not again come down.
Then the troubles of the world began. for
Death did not come The physicians had no
patients, the undertakers no business law.
yers no wills to make, the people who waited
for inheritances could not get them, the old
men staid i'll all the professions and occupa-
tons SO that there was no room for the
young who were coming on, and the earth
got overcrowde1, and from all the earth the
cry went up: "Oh, for Death Where is
Deathp Then the people came to the poor
woman an begged her to let Death descend
from the tree. In sympathy for the world,
she consented to let Death come down on ons
condition, and that was that he should never
modest or take her away, and on that condi-
ton Death was allowed to come down, AMI
I he kept his word and never removed her.
and for that reason We always have Misery
with us.
In that allegorY some one has set forth the
truth that mean to present on this Easter
morning, which celebrates the resurrection
of Christ and our coming resurrection-that
| one of the grandest AMI mightiest merc:es
OF the earth is cur divine permission to quit
1 it. Sixty-four persons every minute step
off this planet. Thirty million people every
year board this planet As a steamer must
unload before it takes another cargo, and as
the passengers Of rail train must leave it
in order to have another company ofpassen-
gers enter it, SO with this world.
What would happen to an ocean steamer
il man, taxing stateroom, Should stay in
it forever? What would happen TO q rail-
train if one who purchases a ticket should
| always occupy the seat assigned him? And
what would happen to this world if all who
/ came into it never departed from it2 The
grave is as much bene fiction as the cradle
/ What sunk that ship in the Black Sea few
| days ago? Too many passengers. What
/ was the matter with that steamer on th9
| Thames which, a few years ago, went down
with GOO lives? Too many passengers. Now
| this world is only a ship, which was launched
! some six thousand years ago. 1t Is sailing
! at the rate OF many thousand miles an hour.
| 1t is freighted with mountains and cities,
/ and has i'll its staterooms and storage about
| sixteen hundred million passengers. So
| many are coming aboard, it is necessary that
/ good many disembark,
Suppose that all the people that havS
/ lived since the days of Adam AMI Eve were
| still alive. What cluttered up place this
| world would be-no elbow roon-no place
to walk-no privscy-nothiug to eat or
wear, or if anything were left tle hu nan
race would, ike a shipwrecked crew, hava
to be put on small rations each of us having
! perhaps only bis nit n day. And wnat
chance VIC uld there be Tor the rising genera
| tons? The men anG women who started
when tne world started would keep the
modern people back ami down, saying:
I'VE are SIX thousand years Old. Bow
/ down History is nothing, for we are oidsr
! than history d" What a mercy for the hui
man race was death! Within a few years
/ you can get from this world all there is in
t.
After YOU have had fifty or sixty or sew
enty springtimes, you have seen enough
| blossoms. After fifty Or sixty or seventy
autumns you have seen enou "a of Gorgeous
foliage. After fifty or sixty or seventy
! winters, YOU have seen enough snowStorms
AID felt enough chills and wrapped yourself
in enough blankets. In the ordinary length
| Of human life you have carried enough bur-
/ lens, ani shed enough tears AM suffered
/ enough iniustices, AMI felt enough pangs
and been ciouded by enough doubts, and
surrounded by enough mysteries We talk
about the shortness Of life, but if we eXer-
csed good sense we would realize that life is
/ lutte long enough.
If we are the children OF tod we are at
/ banquet and this world is only the first
/ course of the food, and we ought to be glad
| that there are other AMI better and richer
/ courses of fool to be handed on. We are
! here i'll one roo IL OF cur Fathers house, hut
there are rooms up stairs They are better
/ pictured, better upholstered, better fur
/ uished Why do we want to stay in the
\ 1nteroom forever, Wien there are palatial
| apartments waiting for our occupancy?
! What mercy that there is limitation to
| earthly environments.
| Death also MAKES room for improved
/ physical machinery. Our bodies have won
drous powers, but they are very limited
/ There are beasts that can outrun us. outfit
u.s. outcarry U.s. The birds have both the
earth and air Tor travel, yet we must stick
! to the one. In this world, which the human
! race takes for its own, there are creatures
! OF God that can far surpass us in some
things. Death removes this slower and less
| adroit machinery and makes room for some
! thing better. These eyes that can see half
/ mile will be removed for those that can
see from world to world. These ears,
which can hear sound a few feet off, will
be removed for ears that can hear from
zone to zone. These feet will be removed
for powers of locomotion swifter than the
RENDERS hoof Or eagles plume of hghtn-
ings fash.
Then we have only five senses, and to these
We are shutup. Why only i've senses? Why
not fifty: why not one hundred; why not
thousand? We can have, and we will have
them, bat not until this present physical
machinery IS pu5 out of the way Do not
think that this body is the best that God
can do fUr us. 80 dill not half try when
he contriv5d your bodily mechanism. Mind
you, believe with all anatonists aud with
all Psychologists and with all scientists and
with the pSalnist that I'VE are felriuily aud
wonderfully made" But l believe and
know that God can ana will get us better
physical equipment
Is it possible for a man to make improve
ment in almost anything and God not be
able TO make improvements in mans phySi-
cal machinery Shall canal boat give way
to limited express train? Shall slow letter
give place to biography, that places San
Francisco and New YORK within a minute OF
communication? Shall the telephone take
the sound of a voice s xty miles and instant
" bring back another voice, and God, who
made the man who does these things, not be
liable to improve the man himself with inf.
mite veiociuies AMI infinite multiplication9
beneiicsnt Death comes in and makes tn
| necessary removal to make wa For these
| supernatural improvements. So also our
slow process of getting information must
lave a substitute
Through prolonged staiy we learned the
alphabet, and then we learned to spell, and
then we learned to real Then the book is
put before us and the eye travels from word
to word and from page to page AMI we take
whole DAYS to read the book, and if from
that BOOK o. four or five hundred pages we
have gained one or two profitable ideas we
feel we have done well Tdere must be
some swifter way and more satisfactory
way of taking in Coils universe of thoughts
and facts and emotions an information.