Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-04-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME IN THE
MN YORK PREACHER.
Subject; Easter Jubilee"

About 1861 Easter mornings have waksned
the earth. In France for three Centuries the I
almAnAcs made the year begin al Easter un-
I'll Charles TX made the year begin Al Jan. /.
In the Tower Of London there Is royal pay
roll OF Edward |. on which there Is an entry
OF eighteen pence for 400 colOred and pie /
tured Easter eggs, with which the people |
sportei. In Russia slaves were led and aims
were distributed on Easter.
Ecclesiastical councils met at POntus. at {
GAul, at Rome. at Achaia. 20 decide the par
ticular day, and after controversy more /
animated than gracious decided u, and now
through all Christendom in some way the
flrst SUNDAY after the full moon which hap
pens upon or next after March n is filled ]
with LaSier rejoicing. The royal court Of
the Sabhaths is made up Of tfty-twO. Fifty !
one are princes In the royal household. but /
Easter Is queen. She wears "a richer diadem
and sways Il more ieweled scepter; and in
her smile nations are irradiated. We well |
come this queenly day. holding high up in
her right hand the wrenched OF bolt OF
Christ's sepulcher and holding high up in
her left hand the key TO all the cemeteries In
Christendom.
NV text is an ejaculation. II is spun out
of hRlleluiahs. Paul wrote right on in his
argument about the resurrection and OBJ
served all the laws of logic, but when he
came TO write the words of the text his
fingers and his pen and the parchment on
which he wrote took fire, and he cried out,
death IS swallowed up in victory" II is
dreadful sight to see an army routed and
fying. They scatter everything valuable on
the track. Unwheeled artillery. Hoof or
horse on breast Of wounded and dying
man. You have read of the French falling
back from Sedan. or Napoleon's track Of
&c, 900 corpses in the snowbanks Of Russia, or
Of the five kings tumbling over the rocks OF
Bethoran with their armies. while the hail
, storm. Of heaven and the swords of JoshuRs
hosts struck them with their fury.
But In my text is a worse discontinue. 1t
seems that n black giant proposed to con-
quer the earth. He gathered for his host all
the aches and pains and maladies and dis
tempers and epidemics of the ages. He
marched them down, drilling them in the
northeast wind, amid the slush Of tempests.
| He threw up barricades Of grave mound. He
| pitched tent of eharnel house. Some Of the
/ troops marched with slow tread, commanded
| by consumptions; some in double quick,
/ commanded by pneumonias. Some he took
| by long besiegement of evil habit and some
| by one stroke of the battleaX Of casualty.
| With bony hand he pounded at the doors of
| hospitals and sickrooms and won all the VIC
| tories in all the great battlenelds OF all the
| five continents. Forward. march, the con-
| uueror of conquerers, and all the generals
| aad commanders-in-chief.a and all presidents
! anu kings anu sultdlS anu CZdTs uGOp unueE
| the feet of his war charger.
But one Christmas night his antagonist was
born. As most ofthe plaques and sicknesses
and despotisms came out Of the east II was
! appropriate that the new conqueror should
| come out of the same quarter. Power is
| given Him TO awaken all the fallen Of all the
centuries and OF all lands and marshal them
against the black giant. Fields have already
| been won. but the last day will see the de-
/ "A, hot Wban ThriGt chill -
His two brigades, the brigade of the risen
dead aud the brigade Of the celestial host, the
| black giant will fall back. and the brigade
| from the riven sepulchers will take him from
| beneath, and the brigade OF descending i'm
mortals will take him from above, and
death shall be swallowed up in victory"
The old braggart that threatened the con-
quest and demolition of the planet has lost
his throne, has lost his scepter. has lost his
palace, has lost his prestige, and the one
word written over all the gates Of mausoleum
and catacomb and metropolis, on cenotAph
and sarcophagus on the lonely cairn of the
Arctic explorer and on the catafalque OF
great cathedral, written in capitals of azalea
and Gala lily, written in musical cadence,
written in doxology of great assemblages,
written on the sculptured door OF the family
vault, is Victory" Coronal word, emban-
nered word, ap0calyptic word. chief word OF
trumpnal arch under which conquerors re-
turn. Victory! Word shouted at Culloden
and Balaklaya and Blenheim; at
Megiddo and Solferino; at Marathon, where
the Athenlans drove back the Modes: at
Poictiers where Charles Martel broke the
ranks of the Saracens; at Salamis, where
Themistocles in the great sea fight confound-
ed the Persians, and at the door OF the east
ern cavern OF chiseed rock, where Christ
came out through recess and throtted the
king of terrors and put him back in the
niche from which the celestial conuueror
had just emerged. Aha, when the jaws of
the eastern mausoleum took down the black
giant, death was swallowed up In victory
/ proclaim the abolition OF death. The old
antagonist is driven back into mythology
with all the lore about Stygian ferry and
Charon with oar and boat. We shall have
no more to do with death than we have with
the cl0akroom at governors or president +
levee. We stop at such cloakrOom and leave
in charge OF the servant our Overcoat, our
overshoes, our outward apparel that we may
not be impeded in the brilliant round Of the
drawing room. Well. my friends, when we
so out of this world We are going TO king,
banquet and to q reception Of mOnarchs and
at the door of the tomb, we leave the cloak
OF flesh and the wrappings with which WI
meet the storms of the world. At the closC
of our earthly reception, under the brush ant
broom Of the porter the coat or hat may b,
it, and the cloak Of humanity will finally b,
returned to us improved and frightened anC
purified and glOrifled. You and / do no
want our bodies returned to us a. they ar,
now We want to get rid Of all their weak
nesses, and all their susceptibilities Ito fa
tigue, and all their slowness of locOmotion
They will be put through chemistry OF sol
and heat and cold and changing seasons on
of which God will reconstruct them as mucf
better than they are now as the body of tn,
rOsiest and healthiest child that bounds owe
the lawn is better than the sckest patient il
the hospital.
But as to our soul, we will cross right over
not waiting for obsequies, independent o
obituary. into state in every way better
, with wider room and vdocities beyond com
putation; the dullest of us into companion
! ship with the very best spirits In their yer,
best moods, In the very best room Of the uni
, verse, the four walls furnished and paneleC
: and pictured and glorfed with all the splen
, doris that the infinite God In all ages has beer
able to invent. Victory!
This view OF course makes it of but it'll
Importance whether we are cremated O
sepultured. II the latter is dust to dust, tn
former is ashes to ashes. II any prefer in
cineration, let them have 1t without carica
;. ture. The world may become so crowde,
:. that cremation may be universally adopte,
!; by law as well as by general consent. Man
q OF the mightiest and best of earth have gon
i through this process. Thousands and ten
Il of thousands of Gods children have bee
oremated. T. 2. Bliss and wife. the evange
7. list singers, cremated by accident at Ashta
= bula bridge; John Rogers cremated by perse
I cution, Latimer and Ridley cremated at Ok
ford, Pothinus and Blondina, a slave, an
Alexander, physician, and their comrades
cremated at the order of Marcus Aureius
At least hundred thousand of Christ's dis
Al plDlpS rrpmptpd and fbara ha 40,
about the resurrection of their bodies. 18th
world lasts as much longer us it has alread
been built, there perhaps may be no roor
| Tor the large acreage set apart for the restin
= places but that time has not come. Plent
OF room yet, and the race need not pass tina