The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-04-14
THE RISEN CHRIST.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage Discourses
on the Resurrection.
The Risen Christ the PrehguratIon OF the
Life Beyond the Grave-The Nor
tai Body Shall Then Put
On Immortality.


On Immortality
The following Easter sermon was de
lvered by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in
the Brooklyn tabernacle on the sub
tect: THE Sleepers Awakened" the
text being;
Now 10 Christ risen from the dead and DO
come the first fruits OF them that slept.-1 Cor
NV. 20.
On this glorious Easter morning,
amid the music and the flowers, give
You Christian salutation. This morn.
ing, Russian meeting Russian on the
streets of St Petersburg halls him with
the salutation, ''Christ is risent' and
Is answered by his friend in salutation,
''He is risen indeedr In some parts OF
England and Ireland, to Ethis very day,
there is the superstition that on Easter
morning the sun dances in the heavens;
and we'll may we forgive such a super
stition which illustrates the fact that
the natural world seems to sympathize
with the spiritual
Hail! Easter morningl Flowersl
Flowersl All of them a-voice, all of
them a-tongue, all of them full OF
speech to-day. / 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 Solo
mon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these" I bend over d rose,
and it seems to whisper: "I am the
Rose of Sharon" And then 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, shall lie not much more clothe
you 0, ye of little faith?" Flowers
Flowers! Braid them into the brides
hair. Flowers! F1owersl Strew them
over the graves of the dead, sweet
prophecy of the resurrection. Flowersl
Flowersl 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 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 think of Christ and His religion,
that brightens our character, brightens
cverythingl You who go with gloomy
countenance pretending that you are
better than l am because of your
righteousness, you can not cheat me-
Pretty case you arc for man that pro-
fesses to be more than a conqueror 1t
is not religion that makes you gloomy,
1t is tie lack of it. There is just as
Eluch religion in a wedding as in a
burial, just as much religion in smile
rs in a tear. Those gloomy Christians
we sometimes see are the people to
whom l like to lend money, for 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 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 maui
soleum or how costly the sarcophagus
or however beautifully parterred the
family grounds, we want them all
broken up by the Lord of the resur-
rection. They must come out. Father
and mother-they must come out. Hus-
band and wife-they must come out
Brother and dsister-they must come out.
Our darling children-they must come
out. The eyes that we close with SUCH
trembling fingers must open again in
I, r.
we folded in dust must join ours in an
embrace of creunion. The voice that
was hushed in our dwelling must be
retuned. Oh, how long some of you
seem to be waiting-waiting for the
resurrection, waitingl And for these
broken hearts to-day L make a soft,
cool bandage out of Easter flowers.
My friends, find in the risen Christ
a 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 resurrec-
tion harvest. He 1.-The first fruits of
them that slept" Before 1 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 from the Gospel-a rose
of hope, lily of joy on every tomb
the child's tomb, the husbands s tomb,
the wife's tomb, the fathers grave, the
mothers grave, and while we cele-
brate the resurrection of Christ, we
will at the same time celebrate the res
direction of all the good. Christ the
first fruits of them that slept"
If / should come to you this morning
and ask you for the names of the great
of the world, you would
say Alexander, Cesar, Philip, Napoleon
/. All! my friends, you have forgotten
10 mention the name of a greater con-
queror than all these-a cruel, ghast-
ly conqueror He rode on a black
horse across Waterloo and Atlanta and
Chalons, the bloody hoofs crushing the
hearts of nations. 1t is the conqueror
Death.
He carries black flag, and he takes
no prisoners He digs trench across
the hemispheres and fills it with car
casses of nations Fifty times would
the world have been depopulated had
not God kept making new generations.
Fifty times the world would have
swung lifeless throughth the air-no man
on the mountain, no man on the sea.
an abandoned ship plowing through
immensity. Again and again has he
done this work with ali generations.
He is monarch as well as n conqueror;
His palace n sepulcher- His fountains
the falling tears or a world. Blessed
be God, in the light OF this Easter