The Penn's Grove record., 1893-04-07
REv. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Brooklyn Diyine's
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: 1.-THE sIeepers Awakened"

TEXT "No1e IS Christ risen from the dsac
dhd become the first fruits of them tha
sfspt."-l Corinthians XIV, ~.
On this glorious Easter morning, amid the
music an the flowers, 1 give you a Chris.
uan situation. This morning Russian
meeting Russian on the strs Is of st. Peters
bnrs halls him with this salutation. "Christ
Is risent and is answered by his friend in
salutatlon, He is risen indeadr Ia some
parts of En- gland and ~IrslanI, to this very
day, there is the SUI lerstition that on E istar
morning the sun dances in the heavens. and
well may we forgive such a superstition
whlch Illustrates the fact that the natural
world seems to sympathize with the spirit
ual.
Hall, Easter morningl Flowersi Flow
ersl All OF them a-voice, all of them
a-tongue, all Of them full of speech today.
l BENT 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,
ges solomon IN al ms glory was not arrayed
II e one OF these" l bend over a rose. and
1t seems to whisper: II am the rose of Sha-
ron" 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 to-day is and tomorrow is cast
INTO the oven, snail He not much mo.e
clothe you, y ye of little faith?"
Flowers FIowersl Brazil them into the
brides hair. Flowersi Flowersi 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, .sGlory 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-"
oh, how bright and how beautiful the
nowers. and how much they make me THINK
of Christ and His religion that brightens our
character, ~brightens society, brightens the
church, bflghtens~ everytbingl You who 90
with gloomy counter tnce preten ling YOU
are better than | am because OF your lugu.
briousness, you caDno cheat me, Pretty
case you are Tor a man that PROCESSES to be-
more than a conqueror. 1t is not religion
mat make you gloomy, it is the lack OF it.
lhere is Just as much religion in a wedding
as IN a burial, just as much religion in a
smile as in a tear.
These gloomy Christians Wa sometimes
see are the people to whom | like to lend
money, for | never see them again. The
women came to the Savior's tomb and thew
dropped spices all around the tomb. and
those spices were the seed that began to
grow, and from them came all the flowers OF
this Easter morn. The two angels robed in
white took hold Ut the stone at the Savior's
tomb, and tn ~ hurled it with such forcs
down the hill that it crushed in the door of
the worlds sepulchre, and the stark and the
dead must come forth.
l care not how labyrinthipe the mauso-
leum or how costly the ~sarcophagus or how
ever beautifully parterred the family
grounds, we want them all broken nm nv tha
Lord OF the resurrection. Ihsy must come
out. Father and mother they must come
out. Husband and wife-they must come
out. Brother and sister-they must e ,ma
out. Our darling children-they must come
out. Inc eyes that We close with such
trembling fingers must opsn again in the
radiance OF tnat morn. In arms we foldai
IN dust must JOIN ours in an embrace of re-
union. The voice that was hushed in our
dwelling must be returned. Oh, how long
some OF you seem to be waiting-waiting
for the resurrection, waitingi And for
these broken hearts today | make a soft.
cool b~andage out OF Easter flowers.
My friends, | find in the risen Christ a
prophecy OF our own resurrection, nv text
setting forth the idea that as Christ mas arisen
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 1 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, and | will drop a sweet promise of
the gospel a rose OF hope, a lily of joy Oh
every tomb-the cbild's tomo, the husbands
tomb, tue wile's tomb, tue 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 L should come to you this morning and
ask YOU for the lanes of the great copuuer-
ors of the world, You would say Alexander,
Caesar, Philip, Napoleon |. Ali my friends,
you have forgotten to mention the name OF
a greater conqueror than all of these-a
cruel, a CHASTITY conqueror. He who rode on
a black horse across Waterloo AID Atlanta
and Chaions, the bloody hoofs crushing the
hearts of nations. Ii is the conqueror Death.
Again and again has he done this work
with all generations. He is a monarch as
we'll as a conqueror; his palace a sspulcher;
his fountains the falling tears of a world.
Blessed be God, in the light of this Easter
morning l see tine prophecy that his scepter
shall be broken ami his palace shall be de-
molished. The hour is coming when all who
are in their graves shall come forth, Christ
risen, we shall rise. Jesus 'the first fruits
OF them that slept" Now, around this doc
trine Of the resurrection there are a great
many mysteries.
You come to me this morning and say,
"lt the bodies of the dead are to be raised,
how is this and now is thstF' And you ask
mea thousan / questions l am incompetent
to answer, but there are a great manv
things you believe that you are not aba Ia
explain. You would be a very foolish man
10 say, u won't believe anything I can't
understand"
l my strength in this passage. .Al
VINO are in their graves shall CONS forth"
/ 60 not pretend to make the explanation.
You can go on and say: Suppose a re-
turned missionary dies in BROOKLYN. When
ne WAS IN China hia fnnk r-,-
be 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
resurrection How is that possibler
You say that 'the human BODY oh anpes
every seven years, and by seventy years Of
age a man has had ten bodies. In the
resurrection which will come upt" You say,
"A man will die and his body crumhle 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
upr Have You any more questions of this
style to ASK Come on and ask them. do
not pretend to answer them. I fall back
Upon tue announcement of Go rs word, IAN
who are IN their graves shall come forth"
You nave noticed. l 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 re a great
sound. do not know that it will be very
lou, but know it will be very penetrating.
In the maYsoleum, where silence has reigned
a Thousand years. that voics must psne-
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
er went down departed spirits coming back
lowering sver the wave. There is where
the City of Boston perishei, Found at last.
we're is where the President persisted,
Steamer found at last. There is where the
Central America went down. Spirits
Observation-Disclosures of spirits lowering,
waiting for the reunion OF body and SOU.
Ont on the nrairia q snirit aIirhta Thar. 4.