The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-04-07

tory, 1t is herbarium Of exquisite |
beauty. If you want to illustrate the |
brevity of the brightest human life you
will quote from job: "AIan cometh |
forth as a flower and is cut down" Or
you will quote from the psalmist: "As
the flower of the field, so he perishcth;
the wind passeth over it, and it is gone"
Or you will quote from Isaiah: "All
flesh is grass, and the godliness thereof
is MS the flower of the field" Or you
will quote from james the apostle: "As
the flower of the grass, 50 he passcth
away What graphic Eiblc sym
bolism!
All the cut flowers will soon he 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 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 nourishmcnt, they
eat, they drink They are sensitive,
They have their likes and dislilies. 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:
| O Thou who changest not abide with me!
Flowers also afford mighty symbol
| ism of Christ, who compared Himself to
the ancient queen, the lily, and the mod
ern queen. the rose, when lie said: 81
am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of
the valley" Redolcnt like the one,
humble like the other. Like both, APP
| propriate for 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 a chalet on the pulscless
heart of the dead. o Christ, let the per-
fume of Thy name he waited all around
the earth-lily and rose, lily and rose
until the wilderness crimson into a 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
grander use than when on Easter morn
ing we celebrate the termination of
Christ from the catacombs. The flowers
spell resurrection. There is not a nook
or corner i'm 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 Ct the tomb hurled it with such
violence down tho Hill that crushed
in the door of til worlds sepurL r, and
millions of dead sail come for h.
However labyrinthne the mat OF am
however costly the sarcophagus. how
ever architecturally grand the necrop
oils, however beautifully parterred the
family gounds. we want them al
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 com,
out. Husband and wife, they must come
out. Brothers and sisters. they mus
come out Our darling children, they
must come out. The eyes that will
trembling fingers we closed must opeI
in the luster of resurrection morn
The arms that we folded in death mus
joins ours in embrace of reunion. TIT
beloved voice that was hushed must b.
returned, The beloved form must COM
up without its infirmities, without il
fatigues. 1t must come up. Oh, hov
long il seems to some of You! Waiting
waiting for the resurrection. How
long. how long! make for your broker
hearts to-day cool, soft bandage o
lilies. | comfort you this day with tn
, thought of resurrection.
Nnen l4Oru NelSOn was Dufleu IN ~
, Paurs cathedral in London, the hear
of all England was stirred. The pro
cession passed on amid the sobbing of
nation. There wrrn 30 trumpeters sta
, toned at the door of the cathedral, WITT
instruments of music in hand, waiting
: for the signal, and, when the illustri
Gus dead arrived at the gates of st. Paul
! | on tbpGrn1 thaca az trum NOT ers trave on
, united blast, and then all was silent
: Yet the trumpets did not wake tn
! dead He slept right on. But have t
tell you, what 80 trumpeters could no
do for one man, one trumpeter will d
for all nations. The ages have role
on and the clock Of the worlds destin
strikes 0, TO- II, 12, and time shall be n
lnnUerl