The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-03-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIviNE's sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Easter in Greenwood" !"

ne borders round about. lrere mad sure unto
Abraham. ."--Genesis xxiii., IL. IL.
Here IL the first cemetery ever laid out.
Machpelah was Its name II was an arbo-
rescent beauty. where the wound OF death
was bandaged with foliage. Abraham. a
'lcb man. not being able TO bribe the king OF
'errors, proposes hcre, rs far as possible. TO
'over up the ravages. He had no doubt
previously noticed this region. and now that
Sasah. his wife. Ind died that remarkable
oerson who, nj ninety years ot age. had born
o her the son isaac. and who now. after she
iad reached l27 years. had expired -Abra-
ram is negotiating for a family plot for her
,ast slumber.
Epbron owned this real estate, and after,
n mock sympathy for Abraham. refusing to
AXE anything for II, now sticks on n big
price 900 shekels OF silver The cemetery
,ot Is paid for. aud the transfer made in the
presence OF witnesses in u pubic place, for
here were no deeds and no halls OF record
IN those early times. Then In n cavern OF
limestone rock Abraham put Sarah, aud n
Few years after himself followed, and then
Isaac nnd Rahekah. and then Jacob and
Leah. EmOowerrd. picturesque and mem-
ornbe Machpelah That Gods acre dedi-
,a'rd by Abraham has been the mother OF
innumcrable 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
iuneral vase and archet glteways and col
umns ani plrterres In honor OF the inhum-
ited. The Appian way OF Rome was bor-
ierei 10y sepulchral commemorations. For
this purpose Pisa has its arcades OF marble
sculptlred into excellent bas-reliefs and the
features OF dear faces that have vanished
Henoh mas its terraces cut into tombs, and
Constantinople covers with cyprus the silent
hahhat,ons, and Paris has its pere In Chaise,
on whoss heights rest Balz,c and David and
Marshal Ney and Cuvisr aud la Place aud
hollere aud mighty group OF warriors and
poets AMI painters and musicians. In all
foreign nations utmost genius on all sides Is
expended in the work OF interment. mummi-
Hcatlon and inciueratou.
bur own country consents 10 he second to
none IN respect TO the lifeless body. Every
eity and town and neighborhool of an intel
ngcn'e or virtue has not many miles away
us sacred inr'osurr. where affection has en-
gagged srulptor's chisel and florists spade
and nrtifrsr in metals. Our own city has
shown its religion ~ we'll ~ It's art in the
manner which It holds the memory OF those
VINO nave passed forever away 10y its Cypress
NUS. ani ts Evergreens. and its Calvary
AMI Holy Cross and Friends cemeteries.
All the world knows OF our Greenwood,
with now abou; 2T0 900 inhabitants sleeping
smong the hills tlat overlook the sea and
oy lakes eubosomcd in an Eden OF flowers.
our American Westminster abbey. au Aero.
poIls OF mortuary architecture. At Pantheon
OF mighty ones assembled. elegies In stone
ilisds in marble, whole generations In peacs
waiting for other generations to join them.
Nodormitory OF brca,hless seepers In all the
world mas 80 many mighty dead.
Among the preachers OF the Gospsl Be-
thune and Thomas DE Witt and Bishop James
ind Tying and Abeel. the missionary. and
Beech"r aud Buddington, aud McClintock
ana lnskiP, and Bangs and Chaplin. and
Noah Schenck and samuel Hanson Cox.
Among musicians. the renowned Gottschalk
and tho holy Thomas Hastings. Among
philanthroD!sts. Peter Cooper and Isaac =
Hopper. and Lucreta Mott ann ,s ella
Graham. ana Henry Bergh. the apostle OF
mercy to the brute creation. Amcny the
Stterau. the Carys-Aiice and pbnhe-
James h. Paulding and John q. SAKE.
Among journalists. Bennett and R1ymond
and Greeley. Among scientists, Ormsby.
Mitchell, warrior as we'll as astronomer aud
lovingly called bv his soldiers 'Old Stars =
Professor Proctor and the Drapers -
splendid men. as / well Know. one OF them
my teacher. the othe- my clqssmstp
Among inventors Elias Howe, who through
the sewing machine did more to alleviate
ihe tolls ot womanhood than any man thar
ever lived, an Professor Morse, VINO gave
Us magnetic telectaphy. the former doing
US WIN WIN tHt nttlle. lnt lAltef with the
thunderholt. Among PHYSICIANS aud sur
seons Joseph &. Hutchinson and Marion
Sins and DIR, Nalautins Mott, with the fol-
lowing epitaph. which he ordered cut in
honor OF Cbrislian religion MY implicit
taiih asi hope IL in a mercitul Rsdeemer.
who - the resurrection and the life. Amen
ana Amen This is our American MachDe-
lah. as sacred To us as the Machpslah In
canaan, OF whtch JacOO uttered that past oral
poem in one vers. "rh-re thsy buried
Abraham aud Sarah. his wife there they
buried Isaac aud hebekah, his wife. and
here | buried I.osh."
Al this Easter service I ask and answer
what may seem n novel question but IL will
% found, before get through. practical
ana useful and tremendous question, What
VIII resurrection day do for the csmsteri z
First, remark, II will bs their supsrnal
Oeauiification. At certain seasons IL Is cus-
lomary IN all lands 10 strsw flowers over tue
mounds Of the departed. IL may have been
suggested by the fact that Christ tomb was
IN garden. And when say garden | do
not mean garden OF these latitudes. The
ate frosts OF spring and the early frosls OF
nutumn are so near each other that there
sre only u few months OF flowers in the field
All the nowers We see to-day had To he
petted and coassd and put under shelter. OF
hey would not have bloomed at all. Tney
are the children otthe conservatories. But
dt thls season ana through the most OF the
year the Holy Land is all a5lush with floral
opurnre.
You find all the royal family OF flowers
there, some that you suppose indigenous TO
he lar north and others indigenous 10 the
FAR south--the daisy and hyacinth, crocus
ana anemone. tulip and water lily, gsranium
ana ranuncu!us, miRnonette and sweet mar
iorsm. In the college al Beirut YOU may sea
Dr. Posts collection of about 1900 kinds OF
Holy Land flowers, while among trees are
ihe oaks OF frozen cllmes, aud the tamarisk
otthe tropics, walnut and willow, ivy and
hawthorn. ASA and elder. pine and sycamore.
II such roral and botanical beauties are the
Wild growIhs OF the Held, think OF what a
garden must be in Palestine! Aud in such "A
garden Jesus Christ slept after. on the
soldiers spears, His last drop OF blood had
coagulated, And then see how appro pirate
that all our cemeteries should be foralized
and tree shaded. In June Greenwood Is
Bro0klyn's garden.
We'll, then you say. show can you
make out that the resurrection day will
beautiiy the cemetsriesg Will 1t not leave
hem piowed up ground On that day
there will be an earthquake. and will not
this split the polished Aberdeen granite AS
well as the plain slab that can afford but two
words--'Our Mary or Our Charley? "
Well, | will tell you how resurrection day
VIII beautiiy all the cemeteries IL will bs