The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-05-27
THE RISEN CHRIST.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage Discourses
on the Resurrection.
The Risen Christ the Prefiguration Of the
Life Beyond the Grave-The Nor
tai Body Shall Then Put
On Immortality.


The following Easter sermon was de-
hvered by Rev. L. Dewitt Talmage in
the Brooklyn tabernacle on the sub
3cct: 1.-THE Sleepers Awakened" the
text being:
Now is Christ risen from the dead and be-
come the first fruits OF them that slept Cor
~, 90.
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 risenv' and
is answered by his friend in salutation.
He is risen II aeed!' In some parts Of
England and Ireland, to Ithis very day,
there is the superstition that on Easter
morning the sun dances in the heavens;
and well may we forgive such super
stition which illustrates the fact that
the natural world seems to sympathize
with the spiritual.
Hail! Easter morning! Flowersl
Flowers! 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" bend over a rose,
and 1t seems to whisper: 81 am the
Rose of Sharon" And then / stand and
listen. From all sides there comes the
chorus of flowers, saying: eff God SO
clothed the grass of the field, which to-
day is. and tomorrow is cast into the
oven, shall He not much more clotbe
You. o, We of little faith?" Flowers I!
Flowers! Braid them into the brides
hair. Flowers! Flowers! Strew them
over the graves of the dead, sweet
prophecy of the resurrection. Flowers!
Flowers! 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 it was in
the beginning, is now. and ever shall
be-"
Oh, how bright and how beautiful
me think of Christ and His religion,
that brightens our character, brightens
society, brightens the church. brightens
everything! You who go with gloomy
countenance pretending that you are
better than / am because of your
righteousness, you can not cheat me.
Pretty case you are for a man that pro-
fesses to be more than a conYueror. 1t
is not religion that makes you gloomy,
"a : Al T.. r. 4 -
much religion in a wedding as in a
burial, just as much religion in smile
as in tear. Those gloomy Christians
we sometimes see are the people to
whom i 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-
bard and wife-they must come out
Brother and 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 of that morn. The arms
we folded in dust must join ours in an
embrace oforeunion. 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, waiting! And for these
broken hearts to-day 1 make soft,
cool bandage out of Easter flowers.
NV friends, find in the risen Christ
q 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-
ton harvest He 1.-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
loved ones are buried, and will pluck
off these flowers, and will drop a
sweet promise from the Gospel-a 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 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"
II I should come to you this morning
and ask. you for the names OF the great
conouerors of the world, you would
saw Alexander, Cesar, Philip, Napoleon
/. All! my friends. you have forgotten
10 mention the name of greater con-
oueror than all these-a cruel, ghast-
w conqueror. He rode on o 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
cases of nations Fifty times would
the world have been depopulated had
- "a liant making new generations.