The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-04-07
THE RESURRECTION.
EASTER SERMON AT THE TABERNA
Gle BY DR.. TAlMAGE.

AtiscuS Ahc - ANisSh Ahueou.'
Wonderful Scenes win he Witnessed o,
That Day.
BROOKLYN, April 2.-The Tabernacle
was deliberately decorated with flowers
today, and an unusually large audience
assembled to hear Rev. DIR. Talmagos
Easter morning sermon. The subject
was, "The Sleepers Awakened" the text
chosen being from Corinthians XIV, 20,
Now is Christ risen from the dead and
become the first fruits of them that
slept"
On this glorious Easter morning, amid
the music and the flowers, / give you
| Christian salutation. This morning Rus
sian meeting Russian or the streets Oh
st. Petersburg halls him with the sal
utation, "Christ is risenp and is an.
swered by his friend in salutation, "He
is risen indeed" in some parts Of Eng
land and Ireland, to this very day, there
is the superstition that on Easter morn
ing the sun dances in the heavens, and
well may we forgive such a superstition
| which illustrates the fact that the nat
Iural world seems to sympathize with
the spiritual
Hail. Easter morning! Flowers!
Flowersl All of them a-voice, all OF
them a-tongue, all of them full of speech
today. bend over one of the lilies and
4 hear 1t say: Consider the lilies of the
f, field. how they grow; they toll not
neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one Of
these" bend over a rose, and it seems
to whisper: II am the rose of Sharon"
And then stand and listen. From all
sides there comes the chorus of flowers
saying: IF God so clothed the grass of
the field, which today is and tomorrow
is cast into tho oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, 0 We of little faith?"
Flowers! Flowers! Braid them into
the brides hair. Flowers Flowers!
Strew them over the graves of the dead
sweet prophecy of the resurrection.
Flowers, Flowers! Twist them into a
garland for my Lord Jesus on Easter
morning GLORY be to the Father, and
to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it
was in the beginning, is now and ever
shall be"
TIE FLOWERS OF EASTER.
Oh. how bright and how beautiful the
flowers, and how much they make me
think of Christ and his religion that
brightens our character, brightens soci-
ETY. brightens the church. brightens ev
erything! You who go with gloomy
countenance pretending you are better
than am because of your lugubrious-
ness. you cannot cheat me. Pretty case
you are for a man that processes TO be
more than conlueror. It Is not reli-
gion that makes you gloomy, tits the lack
of it. There is just as much religion in
Il wedding as in a burial. just as much
religion in a smile as in tear
Those gloomy Christians we sometimes
see are the people to whom like to lend
money. for never see them again. The
women came to the Saviour's tomb, and
they dropped spices all around the tomb.
and those spices were the seed that be-
gan to grow, and from them came all the
flowers of this Easter morn. The two
angels robed in white took hold of the
stone at the Saviours tomb, and they
hurled 1t with such force down the hill
that it crushed in the door of the worlds
sepulcher. and the stark and the dead
must come forth.
care not how labyrinthine the mau-
solemn or how costly the sarcophagus or
however beautifully parterred the fami-
ly grounds, we want them all broken up
by the Lord of the resurrection. They
must come out. Father and mother
they must come out. Husband and wife
they must come out Brother and Sis
ter-they must come out. Our darling
children-they must come out. The eyes
that we close with such trembling fin
gers must open again in the radiance of
that morn. The arms we folded in dust
must join ours in an embrace of reunion.
The voice that was hushed in our dwell
ing must be returned. Oh, how long
some of You seem to be waiting wait
ing for the resurrection, waiting! And
for these broken hearts today make a
soft, cool bandage out of Easter flowers,
THE FIRST FRUITS OF THEM THAT SLEPT.
My friends. find in the risen Christ a
prophecy of our own resurrection, my
text setting forth the idea that as Christ
has risen so his people will rise He-the
first sheaf of the resurrection harvest.
He'the first fruits Of them that slept. "
Before got through this morning will
walk through all the cemeteries of the
dead. through all the country graveyards,
where your loved ones are buried, and
will pluck off these flowers, and | will
drop a sweet promise of the gospel-a
rose Of hope. IL lily of joy on every tomb
= the child's tomb. the husbands tomb
the wife's tomb. the fathers grave, the
mothers grave. and while we celebrate
the resurrection of Christ we will at the
same time celebrate the resurrection Of
all the good. Christ the first fruits Of
them that slept"
y If should come to you this morning
and ask you for the names of the great
conquerors of the world, you would say
Alexander, Cesar, Philip, Napoleon l.
Ali my friends. you have forgotten tc
mention the name of greater conquerol
than all of these-a cruel CHASTITY con.
rueror. He who rode on black horse
across Waterloo and Atlanta and Chal
ons. the bloody hoofs crushing the hearts
of nations. 1t is the conqueror Death.
He carries black flag, and he takes
no prisoners. He digs trench across
the hemispheres and fills it with the car
casses of nations. Fifty times would thu
world have been depopulated had mo-
God kept making new generations. Fifty
times the world would have swung life
less through the air-no man on thu
mountain. no man on the sea, an aban
doned ship blowing through immensity
A.5ain and again has he done this worl
with all generations He is monarch
as well as conqueror; his palace sep
ulcher; his fountains the falling tears O
world. Blessed be God, in the light O
this Easter morning see the prophec'
, silat his scepter shall be broken and HI
palace shall be demolished. The hou
is coming when all who are in thei
graves shall come forth Christ riser
, we shall rise. Jesus ''the first fruits &
| Thorn that slnnt " Now around thiS dor