The Globe-republican., 1894-03-30
RESURRECTION DAY.
DR.. Talmage Asks What Will It
Do for the Cemeteries.
A Novel Question Answered The Supernal
Identification Of the Places OF the
Dead The Idea Of the
Resurrection.

LiOn aJ bToOklyn IL on Easter III uTecu-
wood" the text being taken from Gene
sis xiii Il. IS: .'And the field of
Ephron, which was in Machpelah,
which was before Mamre, the field and
cave which was therein, and all the
trees that were in the field, that were
in all the borders rOunda bout, were
made sure unto Abraham DIR. Tai
mage said:
Here is the first cemetery ever laid
out Machpelah was its name. 1t was
an arborescent beauty, where the
wound of death was bandaged with
foliage. Abraham. a rich man, not
being able to bribe the King of Terrors,
proposes here, as far as possible, to
cover up the ravages. He had no doubt
previously noticed this region, and now
that Sarah, his wife, had died-that re-
marka BILE person, who, at 80 years of
age. had born to her the son Isaac, and
who now. after she had reached 127
years, had expired-Abraham is
negotiating for family plot for
her last slumrer. Ephron owned
this real estate, and after,
in mock sympathy for Abraham,
refusing to take anything for it, now
sticks on "A big price-40O shekels of
silver. The cemetery lot is paid for,
and the transfer made, in the presence
of witnesses in a public place. for there
were no deeds and no halls of record
in those early times. Then in a cavern
of limestone rock A braham put Sarah.
and a few years after himself followed,
and then Isaac and Rebekah, and then
Jacob and Leah. Embowered. pictur-
esque and memorable Machpelah!
That Goods acre" dedicated by
Abraham has been the mother of in
Vulnerable mortuary observances. The
metropolis of every civilized land has
We'd with its metropolis.
The most beautiful hills of Europe
outside the great cities are covered
with obelisk and funeral vase and
arched gateways and parterres in honor
of the inhumated. The Appian Way
of Rome was bordered by sepulchral
cOmmemora tiOns. For this purpose
Pisa has its arcades of marble sculpt-
ured into excellent baS reliefS and the
features of dear faces that have van
ished. Genoa has its terraces cut into
tombs, and Constantinople covers with
cypress the silent habitations. and
Paris has its Pere la Chaise, on whose
heights rest Balzac and David and
Marshal Ney and Cuvier and La Place
and Moliere. and a mighty group of
warriors and poets and painters and
musicians. In all foreign nations ut
most genius on all sides is expended in
the work of interment, mummi flea tion
and incineratiOn.
Our own country consents to be Sec
ond to none in respect to the lifelesS
holy Every city and town and neigh
borhood of any intelligence or virtue
has. not many miles away, its sacred
inclosure. where affection has engaged
scul ptor's chisel and florists spade and
artifcer in metals Our own city has
shown its religion as well as its art, in
the manner which it holds the memory
of those who have passed forever away,
by its Cypress Hills, and its Evergreens,
and its Calvary. and Holy Cross. and
Friends cemeteries All the world
knows of our Greenwood. with now
about 215. 900 inha bitants sleeping
among the hills that overlook the sea,
and 10y lakes embosomed in an Eden
of flowers. cur American Westminster
Abbey. an Acropolis of mortuary arch
itecture, Pantheon of mighty ones
aScended. elegies in stone, Iliads in
marble. whole generations in peace
waiting for other generations to join
them. No dormitory or breathless
sleepers in all the world has SO many
mighty dead.
Among the preachers of the gospel.
Bethune and Thomas Dewitt, and
Bishop James and Tying, and Abeel. the
missionary. and Beecher and Budding
ton. and McClintock and Inskip. and
Bangs and Chaplin. and Noah Schenck
and Samuel Hanson Cox. Among
musicians. the renowned Gottschalk
and the holy Thomas Hastings. Among
philanthropists. Peter Cooper and Isaac
L. Hopper. and Lucretia Mott and Isa-
BELLA Graham. and Henry Bergh. the
apostle of mercy to the brute creation.
Among the literati, the Carys. Alice
and Phoebe: James h. Paulding and
John &. SAKE. Among journalists Ben
nett and Raymond and Greeley. Among
scientists Ormsby Mitchell. warrior as
well IS astronomer. and lovingly called
by his soldiers old Stars" Prof. Proc
tor and the Drapers. splendid men. as
well know. one of them my teacher,
the other my classmate.
Among inventors, Elias Howe who.
through the sewing machine. did more
to alleviate the tolls of womanhood
than any man that ever lived. and Prof
Morse. who gave us magnetic telegra-
ply. the former doing his work with the
needle, the latter with the thunderbolt
Among physicians and surgeons Joseph
C. Hutchinson and Marion Sims. and
DIR, Valentine Mott with the following
epitaph which he ordered cut in honor
of Christian religion: my implicit faith
and hope is in a merci!ul redeemer. who
is the resurrection and the life. Amen
and Amen" This is our American
Machpelah as sacred to us as the Mach
pelah in Canaan. of which Jacob ut
tered that pastoral poem in one verse:
There they buried Abraham and
Sarah. his wife: there they buried Isaac