The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-05-01
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
SUNDAYS SERMON IN THE NEW
YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC.
Subject: "Easter Jubilee"

fOIys II Ave- oA'
About 1861 Easter mornings have wakened
the earth. In France for three ce..turies the
almanacs made the year begin at Easter un-
til Charles IN made the year begin ut Jan. l.
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 pic
tured Easter eggs, with which the people
sported. In Russia slaves were fed and aims
were distributed on Easter.
Ecclesiastical councils met at Pontus. at
Gaul, at Rome, at Achaia, to decide the par
ticular day, and after a controversy more
animated than gracious decided it, and now
through all Christendom in some way the
first Sunday after the full moon which hap
pens upon or next after March 81 is filled
with Easter rejoicing. The royal court OF
the Sabbaths is made up of fifty-two: Fifty
one are princes in tho royal household, but
Easter is queen. She wears richer diadem
and sways more jeweled scepter; and In
her smile nations are irradiated. we vel
come this queenly day, holding high up in
her right hand the wrenched on bolt OF
Christ's sepulcher and holding high up in
her left hand the key to all the cemeteries In
Christendom.
, NV text is m ejaculation. 1t is spun out
of halleluiahs. Paul wrote right on In his
argument about the resurrection and OBJ
served all the laws Of logic, but when he
fingers and his pen and the parchment on
which he wrote took fire, and he cried out,
..'Death is swallowed up in victory" 1t is
dreadful sight to see an army routed ana
flying. 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 track OF
90. 600 corpses i'll the SnowbankS OF Russia, or
of the flvo kings tumbling over the rocks OF
Bethoran with their armies, while the hail
storms of heaven and the swords Of Joshua's
hosts struck them with their fury.
But in my text is q worse discontinue. 1t
seems that black giant proposed to con-
uuer the earth. He gathered for his host all
the aches and pains and maiadles and ols-
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 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 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
4ories in all the great battlef1elds of all the
five continents. Forward, march! the con-
dueror Of conquerers, and all the generals
AID commanders-ir-chief,a and Ill presidents
and kings and sultans and czaIs drop under
the feet of his war charger.
! But one Christmas night his antagonist was
born. As most of the 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 IL
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-
cisiye battle. When Christ shall lead forth
His two brigades, the brigade OF the risen
dead and 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, ont he 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 assemblaSes,
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 Balaklava and Blenheim; at
Megiddo and Solferino; at Marathon, where
the Athenians drove back the Medes; at
Poictiers, where Charles Martel broke the
raIts Of the Saraeens; at Salamis, where
Themistocles in the great sea fight coEtt2;IEI;:s
ed the Persians, and at the door Of the east
Sc Oh laI rrhn vic
came out through recess and throttled the
king of terrors and put him back in the
niche from which the celestial conqueror
had Just emerged. Aha, when the jaws OF
the eastern mausoleum took down the black
giant, "death was swallowed up in victory!'
I 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 cloakroom at governors or president 8
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
90 out Of this world we are going to kings
banquet, and to 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
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 glorihed. You and I do not
want our bodies returned to us as they are
now. We want to get rid Of all their weak
nesses, and all their susceptibilities to fa-
tigue. and all their slowness of locomotion.
will ha ahn Iof Nfe coil
and heat and cold and changing seasons out
OF which God will reconstruct them as much
better than they are now as the body Of the
rosiest and healthiest child that bounds over
the lawn Is better than the sickest patient in
the hospital.
But as to our soul. we will cross right over,
not waiting for obsequies, independent of
obituary. into 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 glorified with all the splen-
dors that the infinite God in all ages has been
able to invent. Victory,
This view Of course makes it Of but little
importance whether we are cremated or
sepultured. If the latter is dust to dust, the
former is ashes to ashes. If any prefer in
cineration. let them have it without carica-
ture. The world may become so crowded
that cremation may be universally adopted
by law as well a. by general consent. Many
of the mightiest and best of earth have gone
through this process Thousands and tens
of thousands Of Gods children have been
oremated. 7. P. Bliss and wife. the evange-
list singers, cremated by accident at Ashta-
bula bridge; John Rogers cremated by perse-
cution, Latimer and Ridley cremated at OK
ford, Pothinus and Blondina, slave, and