The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-05-01

change OF focus, can make a DeIler grass lnan
that which was originally constructed and
actually improve it, do you not THINK tne
fashioner of the human eye may improve It's
sight aud multiply the natural eye by the
thousandfold additional forces Of the resur.
rection eye2
"Why should 1t be thought with you an in
credible thing that God should raise the
dead?" Things all around us suggest it. Out
of what grew all these flowers? Out OF the
mold and earth. Resurrected. Resurected.
The radiant butterfly, where did it come
from? The loathsome caterpillar. That al
batross that smites the tempest with its wing,
where did it come from2 A senseless shell.
Near Bergersc, France. in Celtic tomb, un-
der block, were found flower seeds that had
been buried 1000 years. The explorer took
the flower seed and planted it, and 1t came
ND. It blomed in bluebell and heliotrope.
Two thousand years ago buried, yet resur-
rected. A traveller says he found in num-
my pit in Egypt garden peas that had been
buried there 5000 years ago. He orousns
them out, and on June 4, 1874, he planted
them, and in thirty days they sprang up.
Buried 5000 years, yet resurrected.
"Why should 1t be thought a thing In
credible with YOU that God should raise the
dead?" Where did all this silk come from
the silk that adorns your persons ana your
honest In the hollow of stall Greek
missionary brought from China to europe
the progenitors of those worms that now
supply the silk markets OF many Nations.
The pageantry of banuered hosts and the
luxurious articles Of commercial emporium
blazing out from the silk worms! And VINO
shall be surprised If, out OF this insignificant
earthly life, our bodies unfold into something
worthy OF the coming eternitiesI Put silver
into diluted inter, and it dissolves. Is the
silver gone forever No. Put in some pieces
of copper, and the silver reappears. Ii one
force dissolves. another force reorganizes;
.Why should 1t be thought thlne IN
credible with you that God should raise the
dead?" The insects flew and the worms
crawled last autumn feebler and feebler and
then stopped. They haye taken no tood;
thew want none. They lie dormant and In
sensible, but soon the south wind Will DloW
the resurrection trumpet, and the air and the
earth will be full of them. Do you not think
that God con do as much for our bodies as he
does for the wasps, and the sp ders, and the
snails? This morning at half past oclocH
there was resurrection. Out OF the night,
the day. In few weeks there will be a res
surrection in all our gardens. Why not some
day a resurrection amid all the graves?
Ever and anon there are instances OF men
and women entranced.
A trance is death. followed by resurrection
after few days-total suspension OF mental
power and voluntary action. Rev. Wllllam
Tennent, a great evangelist OF the last gen.
GRAFTON, Of whom DR.. Archibald Alexander, O
man far from being sentimental, wrote In
most eulogistic terms-Rev. William len
nent seemed to die. His spirit seemed to
have departed. People came in day after
day and said, "He Is dead; he Is dead" But
the soul returned, and William Tennent lived
to write out experiences OF what he had seen
while his soul was gone. 1t may be found
some time what is called suspended anlma-
tion or comatose state is brief death, giving
the soul an excursion into the next world,
from which it comes back-a furlough OF
few hours granted from the conflict OF life to
which 1t must return.
Do not this waking up Of men from trance
and this waking up OF grains buried 3OOO
years ago make 1t easier for you to believe
that your body and mine, after the vacation
of the grave. shall rouse and rally, though
there be 5000 years between our last breath
and the sounding of the archangelic reveille?
Physiologists tell us that while the most of
our bodies are built with such wonderful
economy that we can spare nothing, and the
loss of finger is hindrance. and the in
Jury of q toe Joint makes us lame. still We
have two or three apparently useless physt:
cal apparati, and no anatomist or phystolog-
ist has ever been able to tell what they are
good for. Perhaps they are the foundation
OF the resurrection body. worth nothing to
us in this state, to be indispenstbly valuable
in the next state. The Jewish rabbis appear
to have had hint OF this suggestion when
they said that in the human frame there was
q small bone which was to be the basis OF the
resurrection body. That may have been
delusion. But this thingi certain, the Chris
tian scientists Of our day have found out
that there are two or three superhuities OF
the body that are something gloriously sug-
gestive OF another state.
I called at my friends house one summer
day. I found the yard. all piled up WITH rub
b;sh. Ct carpenters and masoa's work. The
door WAS of. The plumbers had torn up the
floor. The roof was being lifted In cupola.
All the pictures were gone, and the paper
hangers doing their work. All the modern
improvements were being introduced into
that dwelling. There was not room In the
house fit to live in at that time, although a
month before, when I visited that house,
everything was so beautiful could not have
suggested an improvement. My friend had
gone with his family to the Holy Land, e1-
pecting to come back at the end of six months,
when the building was to be done.
And, oh, what was his Joy when at the
end of six months he returned and the old
house was enlarged and improved and glo-
rifled! That is your body 1t loooks we'll
now. All the rooms filled with health, and
we could hardly make suggestion. But
after awhile your soul will 60 to the Holy
Land, and while you are gone the old house
of your tabernacle will be entirely recon-
structed from cellar to attic, every nerve,
muscle and bone and tissue and artery
must be hauled over, and the old
structure will be FURNISHED and adorned
and raised and coupolaed and enlarged,
and all the improvements Of heaven intro
duced. and you will move into it on resurrec-
tion day. "For we know that, il our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building Of God, house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens" Oh,
what day when body and soul meet againl
They are very fond of each other. Did
soul not re-echo it2 Or, changing the
question, did your soul ever have any
trouble and your body not sympathize
with it. growing wan and weak under
the depressing influence? Or did your
soul ever have a gladness but your body
celebrated 1t with kindled eye and cheek and
elastic step. Surely God never intended two
such good friends to be very long separated.
And 40 when the worlds last Easter morning
shall come the soul will descend. crying,
"Where is my body2" And the body will
ascend, saying, Where is my soulY' And
the Lord of the resurrection will bring them
together. and it will be perfect soul in a
perfect body, introduced by perfect Christ
into perfect heaven. Victory!
Only the bad disapprove OF the reSurrec-
ton. A cruel heathen warrior heard MIR.
NIoffat, the missionary, preach about the
resurrection, and he said to the missionary.
"Will my father rise in the last day?" Yes"
said the missionary. will all the dead in