Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-04-03
THE RESURRECTION.
EASTER SERMON At THE rheeRNA
Gle BY On. TkLMAGe.

Christ Il Risen" ole IL Itlsen Indeed. .''
Wonderful scenes WIN Bs witnessed on
That Day.
BRoogLyr, April o.--The Tabernacle
was elaborately decorated with flowers
today, and an unusually large audience
assembled TO hear Rev. DR.. Talmage's
Easter morning sermon. The subject
was. 1.-THE Sleepers Awakeued," the text
chosen being from Corinthians XIV, 20,
Now is Christ risen from the derd and
become the first fruits OF them that
slept"
On this glorious Easter morning, amid
the music and the flowers, I give you
Christian salutation. This morning Rus.
sian meeting Russian on the streets o.
st. Petersburg halls him with the sal
utation, "Christ is risenr' and is an.
swered by his friend in salutation, "He
is risen indeedr 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 superstition
which illustrates tho fact that the nat.
ural world seems to sympathize with
the spiritual.
Hail, Easter morning! Flowers
Flowers All of them a-voice, all of
them a-tongue, all of them full of speech
today. bend over one of the lilies and
| hear it say: 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 like one of
these" bend over a rose, and it seems
to whisper: 81 am the rose of Sharon
And then l 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 the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, o ye of little faithY
Flowersl Flowers! Braid them into
the brides hair. Flowers! Flowers!
Strew them over the graves Of the dead
sweet prophecy of the resurrection.
Flowersl 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 ii
was in the beginning, is now and ever
shall be-"
THE 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 l am because of your lugubrious-
ness, you cannot cheat me. Pretty case
you are for man that processes to be
more than a conqueror. 1t is not reli-
gion that makes you gloomy, it is the lack
of it. There is just as much religion in
a wedding as in burial, just as much
religion in 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 Saviour's tomb, and they
hurled it 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-
soleum 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 retuned. 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
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 get through this morning will
walk through all the cemeteries OF the
dead, through all the country graveyards,
where your loved ones are buried, and l
will pluck off these flowers, and ! will
drop sweet promise of the gospel-a
rose of hope, lily of Joy on every tomb
the childs 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"
II should come to you this morning
and ask you for the names Of the great
conquerors Of the world, you would say
Alexander, Caesar, Philip, Napoleon l.
Ahi my friends, you have forgotten to
the name ofa greater conqueror
than all of these-a cruel. CHASTITY con-
queror. He who rode on a black horse
across Waterloo and Atlanta and Chal-