The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-05-11

slain. If had my way, would cover
up all the drcamless sleepers, whether
in golden-handled casket or pine box,
a kings mausoleum or pot
ter's field, with radiant or aromatic ar
The Bible says: in the
midst of the garden there was sepul-
cher" I wish that every sepulcher
might be in the midst OF garden.
If you asked me the question: ''What
are flowers good for?" Ianswer: For
religious symbolism" Have you ever
studied Scriptural fora? The Bible is
an arboretum, it is Divine conserva-
tory, it is herbarium of exquisite
beauty. If you want to illustrate the '
brevity of the brightest human life you
will quote from Job: 'Man cometh
forth as flower and is cut down." Or
you will quote from the psalmist: "As
the flower of the field, so he perisheth;
the wind passeth over it, and it is gone"
Or you will quote from Isaiah: "All
flesh is grass, and the godliness thereof
is as the flower of the field.' Or you
will quote from James the apostle: "As
the flower of the grass, SO he passeth
away" What graphic Bible SYM
b)lism!
All the cut flowers will soon be dead,
whatever care you take Of them.
Though morning and night you baptize
them in the name of the shower, the
baptism will not be to them a saving
ordinance. They have been fatally
wounded with the knife that cut them.
They are bleeding their life away; they
are dying now. The fragrance in the
air is their departing and ascending
spirits. Oh, yes! Flowers are almost
human. Botanists tell us that flowers
breathe, they take nourishment, they
eat, they drink. They are sensitive.
They have their likes and dislikes. They
sleep, they wake. They live in families.
They have their ancestors and their de-
scendants, their birth, their burial,
their cradle, their grave. The zephyr
rocks the one and the storm digs the
trench for the other. The cowslip must
leave its gold, the lily must leave its
silver, the rose must leave its diamond
necklace of morning dew. Dust to
dust. So we come up, SO we prosper, we
spread abroad, we die, as the flower
as the flower!
Change and decay in all around see:
0 Thou who changest not, abide with mel
Flowers also afford mighty symbols
ism of Christ, who compared Himself to
the ancient queen, the lily, and the mod
ern queen, the rose, when He said: II
am the rose of Sharon, and the lily Of
the valley" Redolent like the one.
humble like the other. Like both, ap-
propriate tor the sad who want sympa-
thizers and for the rejoicing who want
banqueters. lowering over the mar
riage ceremony like a wedding bell or
folded like chalet on the pnlseless
fume of Thy name be waited all around
the earth-lily and rose, lily and rose
| until the wilderness crimson into gar
den and the round earth turn into one
great bud of immortal beauty laid
against the warm heart of God. Snatch
down from the worlds banners eagle
and lion and put on lily and rose, lily
and rose.
But, my friends, flowers have no
srander use than when on Easter morn
ing we celebrate the termination Of
Christ from the catacombs. The flowers
spell resurrection. There is not nook
or corner in all the building but is
touched with the incense. The women
carried spices to the tomb of Christ,
and they dropped spices all. around
about the tomb, and from these spices
have grown all the flowers of Easter
morn. The two white-robed angels
that hurled the stone away from the
door of the tomb hurled it with such
violence down the hill that it crushed
in the door of the worlds sepulcher, and
millions of dead shall come forth.
However labyrinthine the mausoleum,
however costly the sarcophagus. how
ever architecturally grand the necrop-
oils. however beautifully parterred the
family gounds, we want them all
broken up by the Lord of the resurrec-
ton. The forms that we laid away
with our broken hearts must rise again.
Father and mother. they must come
out. Husband and wife, they must come
out. Brothers and sisters, they must
come out Our darling children, they
must come out. The eyes that with
trembling fingers we closed must open
in the luster of resurrection morn.
The arms that we folded in death must
ioins ours in embrace of reunion. The
beloved voice that was hushed must be
retuned. The beloved form must come
up without its infirmities, without its
} fatigues. 1t must come up. Oh. how
long it seems to some of you! Waiting
J waiting for the resurrection. How
long, how long! make for your broker
searts to-day cool, soft bandage d
: lilies. / comfort you this day with th,
!, thought of resurrection.
When Lord Nelson was buried in st
: Paurs cathedral in London. the hear
Of all England was stirred. The pro
: cession passed on amid the sobbing OF ,
nation There were 80 trumpeters sta
tinncd at the door offhe cathedral wifi