Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-05-01
KEW. DR. TAlMAGE
eHE BROOKLYH DIvfNRP0 SUN.
DAY SERMON
Subject: "Easter JubIiee."

the earth. In France Tor thro5 ce..tuTleS tn
almanacs made the year begin at Easter un
til Charles lX made the year begin at Jan. 1
In the Tower OF London there is royal IN,
roll OF Edward 1. on which there is an entr,
OF eighteen pence for 400 colored and pic
tured Easter eggs, with which the peopl'
sported. In Russia slaves were fed and aim!
Were distributed on Easter.
Ecclesiastical councils met at Pontus. a
Gaul, at Rome. at Achaia, to decide the par
ticuiar day, and after q controversy NOR
animated than gracious decided 1t, and nov
through all Christendom in some way th
first Sunday after the full moon which hap
pens upon or next after March 81 is fllIet
with Easter rejoicing. The royal court o
the Sabbaths is made up of flfty-two. Fifty
one are princes in the royal household, bu
Easter is queen. She wears a richer diadeI
and sways n more jeweled sceptcr: and il
her smile nations are irradiatod. We vel
come this Gueenly day, holding high up il
Christ's sepulcher and holding high nj il
her left hand the key to all the cemeteries il
Christendom.
My text is an ejaculation. 1t is spun out
of halleiuiahs. Paul wrote right on in hi!
argument about the resurrection and OBJ
served all the laws of logic, but when he
came to write tne words Of the text his
fingers and his pen and the parchment or
which he wrote took FIRE, and he cried ont
"Death is swallowed up in victory!' 1t is q
dreadful sight to see an army routed and
flying. They scatter everything valuable on
the track. Unwhee!ed artillery. Hoof O,
horse on breast OF wounded and dying
man. You have read OF the French falling
back from Sedan. or Nspoleon's track oi
80, 900 corpses in the snowbanks OF Russia or
OF the fivc kings tumbling over the rocks OF
Bethoran with their armies, while the hail
storms of heaven and the swords of Joshua 9
hosts struck them with their fury.
PVT II. t.axr. t- Is
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
temper5 and epidemicS of the ages. He
marched them down, drilling them in tine
northeast wir1, amid the slush of tempests.
He threw up harricades of grave mound. He
pitched tent OF charnel house. Some of the
troops marched with slow tread, commanded
by consUmptions: some In double quick,
commanded by pneumonias. Some he took
by long besiegenent of evil habit and some
by one stroke of the battleax of casualty.
With bony hand he pounded at the doors OF
hospitals and sicSrooms and won all the vic.
five continents. Forward, march! the con-
queror of conGuerers. and all the generals
aad commanders-in-chiefa and all presidents
and kings and sultans and czars drop Unda,
the feet of his war charger.
But one Christmas night his antagonist was
and despntisms came out Of the east it 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 SEQ the de-
cisive battle. When Christ shall lead forth
His two brigaGes, the brigade of the risen
dead and the brigade Of the celestial host, the
black giant Will fall back. and the brigade
rom 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 braggar. 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 assemblaces,
written on the sculptured door Of the family
vault, is victory Coronal word. emban.
nered word, apocalyptic word, chief word OF
triumphal arch under which conquerors re-
turn. victory! Word shouted at Culloden
and BIia'ilava and Bienheim; at
Me;iddo and SJlferino; at Marathon, where
the Ath enans drove back the Meies; at
Po:ctiers. where Charles Martel broke the
ranks OF the Sararens: at Salamis. where
Them !stOcles in tie great sea fight coniound-
ell the Persians, and at the door of the eass-
eTn cavern of chise!ed rock, where Christ
came out through Il recess and throttled the
king of terrors and put him back in the
niche from which the celestial c)nqueror
had Just emerged. Ana, when the Jaws of
the eastern mausoleun took down the black
giant, "death was swallowed up in yictoryI'
proclaim the abolition of death. The old
is driven back into. mythology
with ell the lore about StySian ferry and
Charon with oar and boat. We shall have
no more to do with death than we have with
the cloakroom at governors or presidents
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
go out Of this world we are going to a king 9
banquet, and to a reception of monarchs, and
at the door of the tomb, we leave the CLOAK
Of flesh and the wrappings with which We
meet the storms OF the world. At the close
of our earthly reception, under the brush and
broom Of the porter, the coat or hat may be
handed to US better than when we resigned
IT, and the cloak of humanity will finally be
returned to us improved and frightened and
purified and glorifiei. You and l do not
want our bodies returned to us as they ara
nesSes. and all their suSceptibilities to IA
tigue. and all their slowneSs of locomotion.
They will be put through chemistry of soil
and heat and cold and changing seasons out
of which God will reconstruct them as much
better tnal they are now as the body of the
rosiest ami healthiest child that bounds over
the lawn is better than the s;ckest patient in
the hospital.
Bat as to our soul, We will cross right over,
not waiting for obsequies, independent of
obituary. into a state in every way better,
with wider room and velocities beyond COM
putation; the dullest of us into companion
ship with the very best spirits in their very
best moods, in the very best room OF the uni
verse, the four walls furnished and paneled
and pictured and glorifed with ali the splen-
dors that the infinite God in all ages has been
able to invent. Victory!
This view of course makes 1t of bu. little
Importance whether we are cremated or
sepuitured. II the latter is dust to dust, the
former is ashes to ashes. II any prefer in-
let them have it without carica-
ture. The world may become so crowded
that cremation may be universally adopted
by law as well as by general consent, Many
of the mightiest and best of earth have Sons
through this process. Thousands and tens
of thoucands of Gods children have been
oremated. 2. T. Bliss and wife. the evange-
list singers, cremated by accident at Ashta-
bule bridge: John Rogers crema.ed by perse-
cution, Larlner and Ridley cremated at OK
ford, Pothinus and Blondina, a slave, and
Alexander, physician, and their comrades,
cremated at the order of Marcus Aurelius.
At least a hundred thousand of Christ's dis
ciples cremated, and there can be no doubt
about the resurrection of their bodies. Ifthe
world lasts as much longer as it has already
been built, there perhaps may be no room
for the large acreage 3et apart for the resting
places, but that time has not come. Plenty
Of room yet, and the race need not pass that
bridge Of fire until it comes to it. The most
of US prefer the old way. But whether out
of natural disintegration or cremation we
shall get that luminous. buoyant, gladsome.
magnificent, ,fnexpa.cabiestruc.
lure called the resurrecetion body you will
have it, will have it. / say to you to-day
as Paul said to Asrippa, "Why should It be
thought a thing incredible with you that Goo
should raise the dead?"
That far up cloud. higher than the hawk
flies, higher than the eagle flies, what is 1t
made Off Drops of water from the Hudson,
other drops from the East River, other drops