The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-06-30
!. Against a wnole r giment Of

skeptieism l will march these two
champions: Marvel not at this, for
the hour is coming when all who are in
their graves shall come forth" The
Lord shall descend from Heaven witha
shout. and the voice of the archangel,
and the trump OF God. and the dead in
| Christ shall rise first You see stick
| to these two passages Who art thou
oh. fool. that thou repliest against God?
Hath He promised and shall He not do
| it? Hath He commanded. and shall He
not bring it to pass Have you not
confidence in His omnipotence? If He
could. in the first place, build my body,
after it is torn down. can He not build it
again?
oh you saw: II would believe that
| if you would explain it am not dis
posed to be skeptical but explain how
il can be done" NV brother, you be
lieve great many things You cannot
explain You believe your mind acts
on your body. Explain the process
This seed planted comes up blue
flower. Another seed planted comes
up a yellow flower Another seed
planted comes up white flower. Why7
Why that wart on your finger? Tell me
why some cows have horns and other
cows have no horns. Why. when two
obstacles strike each other in the air,
do you hear the percussion? What
is the subtle energy that dis
solves solid in a crucible? What
makes the notehes in an oak leaf differ
ent from any other kind of leaf? What
makes the orange blossom different
from that of the rose? How can the
almightiness which rides on the circle
of the heaven find room to turn it's
| chariot on a heliotrOpe? Explain
these. Can you not do ito Then will
not explain the resurrection You ex-
plain one-half of the common mysteries
of everyday life, and will explain all
the mysteries of the resurrection You
cannot answer me very plain questions
| in regard to ordinary affairs. sm not
ashamed to say that 1 cannot explain
| God. and the Judgment. and the resur-
| rectiOn. l simply accept them as facts,
| tremendous and infinite.
Before the resurrection takes place,
| everything will be silent The nauso-
leums and the labyrinths silent The
gravevards silent. the cemetery silent,
save from the clashing of hoofs and the
grinding of wheels as the last funeral
procession comes in No breath of air
| disturbing the dust where Persepolis
stood. and Thebes and Babylon No
| winking of the eyelids long closed in
| darkness. No stirring of the feet that
once bounded the hillside. No opening
of the hand that once plucked the
flower out of the edge of the wild
| wood. No elutching of swords by the
men who went down when
Persia battled and Rome fell
| Silence from ocean beach to
| mountain cliff and from river
to river The sea singing the same old
| tune. The lakes hushed TO sleep in the
bosom OF the same great hills No
hand disturbing the gate of the long
barred sepulcher All the nations of
| the dead motionless in their winding
sheets. Up the side of the hills, down
| through the trough of the valleys, far
/ out in the caverns, across the fields,
| deep down into the coral palaces of the
| ocean depths where leviathan sports
with his fellows layer
above layer, height above height.
| depth below depth-dead. deadl dead,
| But in the twinkling of an eye, as quick
as that. as the archangers trumpet
comes pealing, rolling, reverberating,
| crashing across continents and seas,
the earth will give one fearful shudder
/ and the door of the family vault, with
out being unlocked, will burst open;
and all the graves of the dead will be-
| gin to throb and heave like the waves
| of the sea: and the mausOleum OF
| princes will fall into the dust, and Os-
tend, and Sebastopol, and Austerlitz,
/ and Gettysburg. stalk forth in the
lurid air; and the ship-wrecked rise
| from the deep. their wet locks looming
| above the pillows; and all the land and
/ all the sea become one moving mass CT
| life-all generations. all ages with up
| turned OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES kindled
/ with rapture and others blanched with
despair, but gazing in one direction.
upon one object. and that the throne of
| resurrection
| While present these thoughts this
morning, does it not seem that Heaven
comes very near to us, as though our
| friends, whom we thought a great way
| off. are not in the distance. but close
| by? You have sometimes come down
| to river at nightfall. and you have
been surprised how easily you could
| hear voices across that river. You
| shouted over to the other side of the
river, and they shouted back 1t -
said that when George Whitefield
preached in Third street, Philadelphia,
one evening time. his voice was heard
| clear across to the New Jersey shore
| When / was a little while chap
lain in the army, l remember
how at eventide we could easily
hear the voices of the pickets
across the Potomac just when they
were using ordinary tones And we
come to-day and stand by the river OF
| Jordan that divides us from our friends
who are gone, it seems 70 me we stand
on one bank and they on the other, and
it is only a narrow stream, and Gus
voices go and their voices come Hark!
Hush, hear distinctly what they say:
These are they who come out of great
| tribulation, and had their robes washed
and made white in the blood OF the
Lamb" Still the voice comes across
| the water, and / hear: I'VE hunger
no more, we thirst no more; neither
shall cthe sun light on US, nos
any heat. for the Lamb which is in the
| midst of the throne leads rs to living
fountains of water, and God wipeth
away all tears from our eyes"
| Equal to the Occasion.