Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-04-18

apparel, that we may not De lmpeoeu IN |
the brilliant round Of the drawing room. |
Well, my friends, when we go out OF this |
world, we are going TO kings banquet, |
and to a reception Of monarchs, and at the |
door Of the tomb we leave the cloak Of flesh |
and the wrapptngs 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 re-
signed 1t, and the cloak Of humanity will
finally be returned to us improved and
frightened and purified and glorifled. You
and do not want our bodies returned to
us as they are now. Wewant to get rid of
all their weaknesses, and all their suscepti-
bilities to fatigue, and all their slowness OF
locomotion. They will be put through a
chemistry of soil and heat and cold and
changing seasons out of which God will
reconstruct them as much better than they
IRE now as the body of the rosiest and
lealthiest child that bounds over the lawn
Is better than the sickcst patient In the
hospital.
As to the Soul.
But as to our soul, we will cross right
over, not waiting for obscquies, independ-
ent Of obituary, into state In every way
better, with wider room and yelocities be-
yond computation, the dullcst of us into
companionship with the very best spirits
in their very best moods, in the very best
room of the universe, the four walls fur
nished and paneled and pictured and glori-
fed with all the splendors that the infinite
God in all ages has been able to invent.
Victoryl
This view, of course, makes 1t of but lit
tie importance whether we are cremated or
sepultured. If the latter is dust to dust,
the former is ashes to ashes. If any pre-
fer incineration, let them have it without
caricature The world may become so
crowded that cremation may be universal
ly adopted by law as well as 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 cremated. p. P. Bliss
and wife, the evangelist singers, cremated
by accident at Ashtabula bridge; John
Rogers, cremated by persecution; Iatimer
and Ridley, cremated at Oxford; Pothinus
and Blondina, slave, and Alexander,
physician, and their comrades, cremated
ut the order of Marcus Aurelius. At least
| 100, 900 of Christ disciples cremated and
therecan benodoubt about the resurrection
Of their bodies II the world lasts as much
longer as it has already been built, there
| perhaps may be no room for the large acre
age set apart for 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
O.. Il \ 1QY.A ,f
natural disintegration or cremation we
shall get that luminous, buoyant glad
some, transcendant, magnificent, inexplic.
able structure called the resurrection body,
you will have it, will have it. say to
you today, as Paul said to Agrippa, "Why
should it be thought thing incredible
with you that God should raise the dead?''
That farup cloud, higher than the hawk
flies, higher than the eagle flies, what is 1t
made OFF Drops of water from the Hud-
son, other drops from East river, other
drops from stagnant pool out on Newark
ilats. Up yonder there, embodied in a
clond, and the sun kindles it. If God can
make such q lustrous cloud out of water
drops, many of them soiled and impure
and fetched from miles away, can he not
| transport the fragments Of human body
| from the earth, and out of them build q
/ radiant body? Cannot God, who owes ali
the material out of which bones and mus
Gle and flesh are made, set them up again
If they have fallen? If manufacturer oi
| telescopes drop a telescope on the floor, and
it breaks can he not mend it again so you
can see though it2 And If God drops the
human eye into the dust, the eye which he
| ;r.t, l,y hn ,ofv.
Aye, If the manufacturer Of the telescope
by change Of the glass and a change Of
focus, can make better glass than that
which was originally constructed and ac
tually improve it, do you not think the
fashioner of the human eye may improve
its sight and multiply the natural eye by
the thousandfpld additional forces of the
resurrection eye?
Why Is the Resurrection Incredible?
"Why should it be thought with you al
incredible thing that God should raise the
dead?" Things all around us suggest it
Out of what grew all these flowersp Out
of the mold and earth. Resurrected. Res
urrected. The radiant butterfly, where
did it come from? The loathsome caterpil
i lar. That albatross that smites the tenn
pest with its wing, where did it come from
A senseless shell. Near Bergerac, France
in a Celtic tomb, under a block, were
found flower seeds that had been buried
1900 years. The explorer took the flowel
seed and planted it, and it came up il
bloomed in bluebell and heliotrope. Two
thousand years ago buried, yet resurrected
A traveller says he found in mummy pit
in Egypt garden peas that had been buried
there 5000 years ago. He brought them out
and on June 4, 1874, he planted them, ant
In 30 days they sprang up. Buried 5000
years, yet resurrected.
"Why should it be thought thing in
credible with you that God should rails,
the dead?" Where did all this silk come
from--the silk that adorns your person!
and your homes? In the hollow of stat
Greek missionary brought from China tx
Europe the progenitors of those worm!
that now supply the silk markets of many
nations The pageantry Of hammered hos
and the luxurious articles Of commercial
emporium blazing out from the silkworms
And who shall be surprised If out of thii
insignificant earthly life our bodies unfolt
into something worthy of the coming eter
nifty. Put silver into diluted inter, and i
dissolves. Is the silver gone foreverp No
Put in some pieces of copper, and the sill
yer reappears. If one force dissolves, an
other force reorganizes.
"Why should 1t be thought a thing in
credible with you that God should raise th
dead?" The insects flew and the worm
crawled last autumn fcebler and feebler
and then stopped. They have taken n,
food; they want none They lie dorman
and insensible, but soon tho south wine
will blow the resurrection trumpet, an,
the air and the earth will be full of them