Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1893-04-19
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE's SUM-
DAY SERMON.
SUBJEor: 1.-THE SLEEPERs AwAK-
ENED."

On THIS glorious Easter morning, amid the
music an tho flowers, give you Chris
tan saIutatlon. This morning Russian
meeting RUSSIA. on the sire It's of st. Peters,
bnrs halls him with the salutation, 'Christ
Is rlsenp and Is answere by his friend in
saIutation, "lle Is risen indeedW In some
parts of England and Ireland, to this very
day, there is the superstition that on Easter
morning the sun dances in the heavens and
well may we forgive such n superstition
which illustrates the fact that the natural
world seems TO sympathize vita the spirit.
ual.
Hail, Easter morning. Flowersl Flow
ers' All of them a.yoice, all of them
a-tongue, all Of them full of speech to-day.
ben 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
li2e one OF these" bend over rose. and
1t seems to whisper: I'll am the rose of Sha-
ron" And then stand and listen. From
all sides there comes the chorus OF flowers,
saying; III God so clothed tho grass of the
field. which to-day is AMI tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall He not much more
clothe you o We OF little fathgn
| Flowers flowers! Brai them into the
brides hair. Flowersl Fowersl Strew
them over tho graves of the dead, sweet
prophecy OF the resurrection. Flowersl
FlowerSl Twist them into garland for my
LORD Jesus on Easter morning. "Glory be
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost; as 1t was IN the beginning, is
now and ever shall ben
Oh, how bright and how beautiful the
flowers, and how much they make me think
of Christ and His religion mat brightens our
character, brghtens society, briJhtens the
church. brightens everythingl You who go
with gloomy countenlnce ling you
are better than am because of your lugu-
Drlousness, you cannot cheat me. Pretty
case you are for man that processes to he
more than conqueror. 1t is not religion
that makes you gloomy, it is the lack OF il.
There Is Just as much religion in wedding
as in burial, Just as much religion in a
| smile as in a tear.
| These gloomy Christians we sometimes
see are the people to whom / like to lend
money, Tor never see them again. The
women came to the Savior's tomb, and they
dropped spices all around the tomb and
those spices were the seed that began tn
| grow, and from tIem came all the flowers of
this Easter morn. The two angels ROBBED in
white took hold Of the stone at tbs Sayior's
tomb and thsy hurled it with such force
down the hill that it crushed in the door of
the worlds sepulchre, and the stark and the
dead must come forth.
care not how labyrinthine the mauso-
leum or how costly the sarcophagus or how
ever beautifully parterred the family
grounds, we want them all broken I'D by the
Lord OF the resurrection. They must come
out. Father and mother-they must como
Out. Husnaha and wife-they must come
OUT. brothtr ana Sister-they must come
out, Our darling children-they must come
out. The eyes that we close with such
trembling fingers must open again in the
radiance oil tnat morn. Inc arms we folded
III dust must JOIN ours in an embraces of re-
union. The voice that was hushed in orr
dwelling must be returned. Oh, how long
some of you seem TO be wating-watine
for the resurrection, waiting! And for
these broken hearts to-day | make a soft.
cool banaage out OF Easter flowers
My friends, | find in the risen Christ n
| prophecy OF our own resurrection, my text
setting forth the idea that as Christ has arisen
so Hispeople will rise. He-the first sheaf of
the resurrection harvest He-'the first
fruits of them that slept.n Before | get
through this morning | will walk through
all the cemeteries Of the dead, through all
the country graveyards, where your beloved
ones are buried, and will pluck off these
flowers ard | will drop 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
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
| a 10 IN . 4,
ors of the world, you would say Alexan Ter.
Caesar, Philip, Napo.eon |. An! my friends,
| you have forgotten to mention the name of
a greater conquerOr than all OF these-a
cruel, ghastiy conqueror. He who rode on
a black horse across Waterloo AID Atlanta
and Cha ons the bloody boots crushing the
hearts OF nations 1t is the conqueror Death.
Again and again has he done this WORK
with all generations. He is monarch as
well as conqueror; his palace sepulcher;
his fountain, the falling tears If a world.
Blessed be God, in the light of this Easter
morning see the prophecy that his scepter
shall be broken AMI his palace shall be de-
mollshed. The hour is coming when ali VINO
are III their graves Shall come forth. Christ
risen, we shall rise. Jesus "the first fruits
o. them that sept" Nov, around this uuc-
| trlne OF the resurrection there arc great
|
! You come to me this morning AMI say,
"li the bodies OF the dead are to be raised,
how is this an how is tnat" AMI you ask
mea thou'Hn Questions | AN incompetent
10 answer, but there are a great mapy
things you believe that you are not able ia
explain. You would be very foolish man
| 10 say, Il won't believe anything | cant
understand"
lind my strength in this passage. "Al
VINO are IN their graves shall come FORTH
/ 60 not pretend TO make the explanation
You can go on and say: Suppose n re-
turned missionary dies in Brooklyn. When
he was in China, his foot was amputated.
lie lived years after in England. and there
he had an arm amputated. He is buried
to-day in GREENWOOD. In the resurrection
VIII the foot come from China, will the arm
come from England, and will the different
parts OF the body be reconstructed in the
resurrection2 How is that possibler
You say that ''the human body changes
every seven years, and by seventy years Of
age a man has had ten bodies. In the
resurrection which will come up| You say,
"a man will die and his body crumble into
dust and that dust be taken up into the life
OF the vegetable. An animal may eat the
vegetable; men eat the animal. IN the
resurrection that body, distributed in so
many directions, how shall it be gathered
upI' have you any more questions Of this
style to ask? Come on and ask them. | do
hoO pretend to answer them. | fall back
upon the announcement of Gods word. "Al
who are in their graves shall come forth"
=, y on have noticed | suppose, in reading
the story OF the resurrection that almost
every account of the Bible gives the idea that
the characteristic of that day will be a great
! M IA lynn tl,nt
loui, but know it will be very penetrating
In the mausoleum, where silence has reigned
thousand years, that voice must pane.
trate. In the coral cave Of the deep that
voice must penetrate.
All along the sea route from New York to
Liverpool at every few miles where a steam
o. went down departed spirits coming back
lowering over the wave. There is where
the CITY OF Boston persisted, Found at last.
There is where the President persisted.
Steamer found at last There is where the
Central America went down. Spirits
hoverlng-hundreds OF spirits lowering,
waiting for the reunion of body aud soul
Out on the prairie spirit alights. There il
waere traveller died in the snow. Crashl
goes Westminster Abbey, and the poets and
orators come forth; wonderful ming ling OF
good and bad. Crash! go the pyram ids of
Egypt and the monarchs come forth.
Who can sketch the scene? / SUPPOSE that
one moment before that general rising there
will be an entire silence save as you hear the
| grinding OF wheel or catter of the hoofS
OF procession passing into the cemetery.
Silence in all the caves of the earth. Silence
on the side Of the mountain. Silence down
in the valleys and far out into the sea.
Silence.
But in moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, as the archangels trumpet comes peal.
ing, rolling, crashing across mountain and
ocean, the earth will give one terrific shui-
i lar and hn INA, LAnl ,,,il hna,r