The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-19

Against a whole regiment of skcpticism.
I will march these two champions. Mar
/ vel not at this, for the hour is coming
when an who are In their graves shall
come forth " The Lord shall descend
from heaven with shout. and the voice of
the archangel, and the trump Of God, and
the dead Ia Christ shall rise first You
see ] stick 20 these two passages Who
art thou, Oh fool, that thou rcpliest
against Godl Hath ne promised, and
shall he not do it, Hath he commanded,
and shall he not bring it 10 pass, Have
YOU not confidence in his omnipotence'
II he could, in the first place. build my
body, after il is torn down, can he not
build it again2
80" you say, Il would believe that if
YOU would explain it, ] am not disposed
TO be skeptical but explain how it can be
done" My brother, you believe a great
many things you cannot explain. You
believe your mind acts on your body Elk
plain the process. This seed planted comes
up a blue flower. Another seed planted
comes up a yellow flower. Another seed
planted comes up a white flower. Why9
Why that wart on your tinger3
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 per
cussion} What is the subtle energy that
dissolves solid in a cruciblel What
makes the notches on an oak leaf differ
ent from any other kind of a leaf2 What
makes the orange blossom different from
that of the rose} How can the almighti-
ness which rides on the circle of the
heavens find room to turn its chariot on
heliotrope} Explain these. Can YOU not
do it, Then l will not explain the resur-
rection. You explain One-half of the
common mysteries of everyday life and
viii explain all the mysteries of the res
direction You cannot answer me very
plain questions in regard to ordinary
affairs. am not ashamed to say that ]
cannot explain Cod and the judgment,
and the resurrection. | simply accept
them 9s facts, tremendous and infinite.
Before the resurrection takes place,
everything will be silent. The mausoleums
and the labyrinths silent. The grave
yards silent, the cemetery silent, save
from the clashing of hoofs and the grind
ing of wheels as the last funeral process
sion comes in. No breath of air disturb
ing the dust where Persepolis stood, and
Thebes and Babylon. No winking of the
eyelids long closed in darkness. No stir
ring 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 clutching of swords
by the men who went down when Persia
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 cav
erns, across the fields, deep down into the
nlrs,s -
leviathan sports with his fellows-every-
where, layer above layer, hight above
hight, depth below depth-dead! dead
dead! But in the twinkling of an eve, as
quick as that as the archangel's trumpet
comes pealing, rolling reverberating,
crashing across continents and seas, the
earth will give one fearful shudder and
and the door of the family vault, without
being unlocked, will burst open; and all
the graves of the dead will begin to throb
and heave like the waves of the sea; and
the mausoleum of princes will fall into
the dust; and Ostend and Sebastopol, and
Ansterlit2 and Gettysburgh, stalk forth
in the lurid air: and the shipwrecked rise
from the deep, their wet locks looming
above the billow; and all the land and all
the sea become one moving mass of life
all generations, all ages with unturned
countenances-some kindled with rapture
gazing in one direction, upon one object,
and that the throne of resurrection
On that day you will get back your
Christian dead. There is where the com
fort comes in. They will come up with
the same hand, the same foot and the
same entire body; but with a perfect
hand, and perfect foot, and a perfect
body; corruption having become incor-
ruptiOn, mortality having become immor-
tality. And o, the reunion; O, the en-
brace after so long an absence Comfort
one another with these words.
While l 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 by2
You have sometimes come down to %
river Mt nightfall, and you have been
surprised how easily you could hear
voices across the river. You shouted
over to the other side of the river, and
they shouted back. 1t is said that, when
George Whitfield preached in Third
street, Philadelphia, one evening time,
his voice was heard clear across to the
New Jersey shore. When was little
while chaplain in the army, remember
how at even-tide we could easily hear the
voices of the pickets across the Potomac
Just when they were using ordinary tones
And so we come to-day and stand by the
river of Jordan that divides US from our
friends who are gone, it seems to me we
stand on one bank and they stand on the
other, and it is only narrow stream, and
our voices go and their voices come
Hark! Hush / hear distinctly what
they say: "These are they who came 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: eve hunger no
more, eve thirst no more; neither shall
the sun light on us, nor any heat, for the
lamb which is in the midst of the throne
leads us to living fountains of water,
and God wipeth away all tears from our
eyes"
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