The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-05-09


About 1861 Easter mornings have wssonei
he earth. In France for three ce..turies thu
elmanacs made the year begin at Easter ur.
til Charles X made the year begin at Jan. L
In the Tower Of London there is a royal pa.
roll Of Edward I. on which there is an entry
of eighteen pence ior 400 colored and pic
turei Easter eggs, with which the people
sported. In Russia slaves were fed and aim;
were distributed on Easter.
Ecclesiastical councils met at PcntUS. a
Gaul, at Rome. at hchG;a. to decide the par.
ticu ar day, and after = controversy mort
animated than gracious decided it, and nov
through all Christen@om in some way tht
first Sunday after thn fI!l moon which hap
pens upon or next after March 81 is fnet
with Easter rejoicing. The royal court o
the Sabbaths is made up OF dfty-two. Fifty
one are princes in the royal household, bu
Easter is queen. She wears q richer dladen
and sways q more jeweled scepter; and il
her smile nations are irradiated. na vel
coma this queenly day, holding high up ii
her right hand the wreEchcd Off bolt 0
Christ's sepulcher and holding high up il
her left hand the key to all the cemeteries il
Christendom.
Ny text IS an ejaculation. It is spun or
Of halleluiahs. Paul wrote right on in hi
argument about the resurrection and. oh
served all laws Of logic, but when hi
cams to wriUe 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" It is g
dreadfu sight to see an army routed and
flying. They scatter everything valuable on
the track. Unwheeled artillery. Hoof OF
horse on breast Of wounded and dying
man. You have read OF the French falling
back from Sedan. or Napoleon;s track oi
90, ,O00 corpses in the snowbanks Of Russia, or
of the flvc kings tumblins over the rocks o!
Bsthoran with Iheir armies, while tae hail
storms of heaven and the swords Of Joshuas e
hosts struck them with their fury.
But in my text is worse discontinue. Il
seems that q black giant proposed to con.
ouer the earth. He gathered for his host all
the aches and pains and naladies 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 barncades 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
tories in all the great battlehelds Of all the
five continents. Forward, march! the con-
queror Of conquerers, and all the generals
aad commanders.in-chief,a and all presidents
land kings and sultans and cZars oiop under
he ieet Of his war charger.
Bit one Christmas night his antagonist va!
bonn. AS most ofthe plagues and sicknesses
and despotisms 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 bave already
beerl won, but the last day viii see the de-.
cisire battle. When Christ shall Lad forth
His two brigades, the brigade Of She risen
dead and the brigade Of the celestial host, the
black giant will fall back. and the brigade
frora the riven sepulchers Will take him from
beneath, and the brigade Of descending i'm.
moltals 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 Setes OF mausoleum
and catacomb and metropolis, on ceno!apl!
and sarcophagus, on the lonely cairn OF tne
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 scul lptured door OF the family
vault, is "victory.S Coronal word, emban-
nersd word, apocalyptic word, chief word Of
triumphal arch under which conquerors re-
turn. Victory! Word shouted at Culloden
and Balaklava and Blenheim; at
Me,iddo and Solferino; at Marathon, where
the Athenans drove back the Nedes; at
Poictiers, where Charles Martel broke the
ranks Of the Saracens; at Salamis, where
Thenistccies in the great sea fight confound-
ed che Persians, and at the door OF the east
ern cavern Of chiseled rock, where Christ
came out through recess aud throtted 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, s'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 a governors or presidents
ley,e. 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
20 out Of this world we are going to king s
banquet, and to reception Of monarchs. and
at the door of the tomb, We leave the cloak
of aesh and the wrappings with which we
meat 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
ha1,ded to US better than when we resigned
Il, and the cloak Of humanity will finally De
returned to us improved and frightened and
purified and glorifed. You and do not
want our bodies returned to US rs they are
now. We want to get rid Of ali their weak
nesses, and all their suscepti3iiities TO IA
ticlIe, and all their slowness OF locomoticn.
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 than they are now as the body or t:le
rosest 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 q state in every way better,
with wider room and yelocities 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 q the uni
verse. the four walls furnished and ranr!ed
and pictured and g!oriled with ell thespIea.
dors that the infinite God in all ages has bceu
aba to invent. Victory!
This view Of course makes it Of but little
importance whether we are cremaied o:
sepultured. If the latter is dust to dust, tire
former Is ashes to ashes. If any prefer in
cineration, let them have it without car;ca.
turs. The world may become 50 crowded
that cremation may be universally ad"p.cd
by law as we'll as by general consent. Many
Of the mightiest and best Of earth have sona
through this process. Thousands and tens
of thousands of Gods children have been
oremated. P. P. Bliss and wife. the evanse.
list singers, cremated by accident at Ashta'
buIa bridge: John Rogers cremated h. nerssc.
cution, Lat1mer and Ridley cremated a. OK.
fori, Pothinus and Blondina, q slave, ant
Alexander, physician, and their comrades
cremated at the order OF Marcus Aure:ius
At least a hundred thousand of Christs dis
ciples cremated, and there can be no douiN
about the resurrection Of their bodies. Il the
world lasts as much longer as it has already
BEEN built, there perhaps may be no room
Sor the large acreage set apart for the resting
-. ~