The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-04-19
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Isubiect: "The sleepers Awakened

jsubiect: "The Sleepers Awakened
TEXT: "No,D IS Christ risen from, the dead
and become the first fruits of them tho,
|slept"-l Corinthians xv., 20.
On this glorious Easter morning, amid the
music and the flowers, I give you Chris
titan salutation. This morning Russian
meeting Russian on the streats OF st. Peters,
|bnrg halls him with the salutatiou. "Christ
,is risen" and is answered by his friend in
isalutaton, ''He is risen indeedw In some
parts of England and Irelanj, to this very
day, there is the superstition that on Easter
morning the sun dances in the heavens, and
well may we forgive such a superstition
which illustrates the fact that the natural
world seems to synlpathizs with the spirit
ual
Hail, Easter morning. Flowers! Flow
ersi All OF them a-voice all OF them
a-tongue. all of them full of speech to-day.
I ben over one OF the lilies and hear it say:
i'Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they toll not neither do they spin,
yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
Ike one of these" I bend over a rose. and
it seems to whisper: 81 am the rose OF Sha-
ron" And then stand and listen. From
ALI sides there comes the chorus OF flowers,
saying: 'If God so clothed the grass Of the
field. which to-day is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall He not much more
clothe you. . ye OF little faith"
F,wersl Flowers! Braid them into the
brides nair. Flowers! Flowers. Strew
them over the graves Of the dead. sweet
prophecy OF the resurrection. Flowers!
Flowersl Twist them into garland for my
Lord Jesus on Easter morning. ''Glory be
to the Father. and to the Son, and to thu
Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is
now and ever shall be-"
Oh. how bright and how beautiful the
flowers. and how much they make me taink
OF Christ and His religion. That brightens our
character, brightens society, brightens the
church, brightens everything! You who go
with gloomy countenance pretending You
are better than am because OF your lusu-
lbriousness, you cannot cheat me. Pretty
case you are for man that processes to be
more than a conqueroS. 1t is not religion
that makes you gloomy, it Is the lack OF it.
There is just as much religion i'll wedding
as in burial, Just as much religion in
smile as in tear.
These gloomy Christians We sometimes
see are the people to whom I like to lend
money, for never see them again. The
women came to the Ssvior's tomb, and they
dropped spices all around the tomb, and
grow, and from them came all the flowers Of
this Easter morn. The two an gels rooed in
white took hold uf the stone at the Sayicr's
tomb, and tn ~ hurled it with such forcs
down the hill tnat it crushed in the door of
the worlds sepulchre, and tho stark and the
dead must come forth.
! care not how iebyrinthine tho mauso-
leum or how costly tie sarcophagus or how
ever beautifully parterred the family
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 sster-thsy must come
out. Our darling children-they must come
out. The eyes that we close with sucn
trembling. fingers must open again in the
radiance or that morn. Inc arms we folded
In dust must join ours in an embrace Of re-
union. The voice that was husaed in our
dwelling must be returned. Oh, how long
some OF you seem to be waiting-waiting
for the resurrection, waiting! And for
these broken hearts to day I make soft,
cool bsndage out OF Easter flowers.
NV friends, find in the risen Christ a
prophecy o. our own resurrection, my text
setting forth the idea that as Christ mas arisen
30 His people will rise. He-the first sheaf of
tho resurrection harvest. He-''the first
fruits OF them that slept" Before I get
through this morning 1 will walk through
Ill the cemeteries Of the dead, through all
the country graveyards, where your beloved
ones are buried, and will pluck Off these
aowers. and will drop a sweet promise Of
the gospel rose Of hope. 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
pat tahr L. -
the good. ''Christ the first fruits Of them
that slept
IT snould come to you this morning and
ask you for the names Of the great conquer
ors Of the world, you would say Alexander
Cesar, Philip, Napoleon I. Ah! my friends,
you have forgotten to mention the name Of
greater conqueror than all OF these-a
cruel, a CHASTITY conaueror He who rode on
black horse across Waterloo AID Atlanta
aud Chalons, the bloody hoots crushing the
hearts Of nations. 1t is the conqusror Death.
Again and aga,u has hs done this work
with all generations. He is monarch as
his fountains the falling tears Of world.
Blessed be God, in ths light Of this Easter
morning see the prophecy that his scepeer
shall be broken and his palacs shall be de-.
molished. The hour is coming when all wno
are in their graves shalt coma forth. Christ
risen, we shall rise. Jesus "the first fruits
OF them that slept" Now, around tnis DOC
trine OF the resurrection tners are a great
many mysteries.
You come to me tais morning AMI say,
sIt the bodies Of the dead are to DO raised,
how is this and how is th4t% AMI you ask
ne q THOUSAND questions l AN incompetent
to answer, but there ara a great many
, things you believe that you ara not able to
explain. You would be very foolish man
to say, i won't believe anything I can't
understand"
l findmy strength in this passage. "Au
who are in their graves shall come forta."
l co not pretend to make the explanation.
You caD 60 on and say: Suppose a re-
turned missionary dies in Brooklyn. When
he was In China. his foot was .amputated
He lived years after in England. and there
he had an arm amputated. He is buried
to-day in Greenwood. In ths resurrection
will tue foot come from China, will the arm
come from England, and will the different
parts OF the body bs reconstructed in the
resurrection How is that possible?'
You say that ''the human boiy changes
every seven years, and Ly seventy years Of
age man has had ten bodies. In the
resurrection which will come upe' You say,
"A man will die and his body cru nhls into
dSst and that dust be taken up into the lifs
OF the vegetable. An animal may eat the
vegetable; men cot the animal. In the
resurrection that body, distributed in so
many directions, how shall it be gathered
Ip? Have you any mors questions Of this
style to askg Come on aud ask them. do
not pretend to answer them. tall back
upon the announcement Of Co.'s word. 'All
VINO are IN their graves shall come FORTH"
You have noticed. suppose, in reading
the story OF tha resurrection that almost
every account OF the Bible gives thu idea that
the CHARACTERISTIC Of that day will be great
sound do not know that it will be very
iou5, but know it will bs very penetrating.
In the nlausoleum, where silence as reigned