The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-03-30
RESURRECTION DAY.
DIR. Talmage Asks What VIII It
Do for the Cemeteries.
A Novel Question Answered-The supernsl
Identification of the Places ef the
Dead-The Idea of the
Resurrection.

On Easter Sunday Rev. 7. Dewitt
Talmage preached to large congrega-
ton at Brooklyn on Easter in Green
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 roundabout, 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 handaged with
foliage. Abraham. a rich man, not
being able to bride 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-
markable person, who, at 30 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 sumter. EphrOn owned
this real estate, and after,
in mock sympathy for Abraham.
refusing to take anything for it, now
sticks on a big price-40) shelzels 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 Abraham 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 Gods acre dedicated by
Abraham has been the mother OF in
numerabl 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 sepuIchral
commenorations For this purpose
Pisa has its arcades of marble seulpt-
ured into excellent has 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
1-I i
musicians In all foreign nations ut
most genius on all sides is expended in
the work of interment, mummifcation
and incarceration.
Our own country consents to be sec
Ond to none in respect to the lifeless
body. Every city and town and neigh
bOrhood OF any intelligence or virtue
has, not many miles away. its sacred
inclosure, where affection has engaged
sculptor'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 275. 900 inhabitants sleeping
among the hills that overlook the sea,
and by lakes embosomed in an Eden
of flowers, our American Westminster
Abbey, an Acropolis of mortuary arch
itecture, Pantheon of mighty ones
assembled, 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 50 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 McCiintock 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 |
7. 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 X Paulding and |
John e. SAKE Among journalists, Ben
nett and Raymond and Greeley. Among |
Ormsby Mitchell warrior as
well as astronomer, and lovingly called
by his soldiers old Stars" Prof Proc
tor and the Diapers. splendid men. as |
well know, one of them nv teacher. |
the other nv 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
Dr.. Valentine Mott with the following
epitaph which he ordered cut in honor
of Christian religion: MY implicit faith
and hope Is in a merciful 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 Ms y A4c- Inert lucE buried isaac
and Rebekah, his wife, and there I
buried Leah"
At this Easter service I ask and an
swer what NAV seem a novel question.
but 1t VIII be found before I get
through a practical and useful and
question: What viii res
direction day do for the cemeteries
First, remark, II will be their super
nal Identification At certain seasons
il Is customary il all lands TO strew
flowers over the mounds of the depart
ed II may have been suggested hy