Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-04-16
EASTER REJOICINGS.
DR.. TALMAGE DIsCOURSES ON THE
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

WASHINGTON, April 15.-This sermon
of Dr. Talmage rings all the bells of
gladness, especially appropriate at this
season, when all Christendom is ceie
brating Christ's resurrection; text, John
xix, Al, I'm the garden new sepul-
cher
Looking around the churches this
morning, seeing flowers in wreathS
and flowers in stars and flowers in
crosses and flowers in crowns, pillows
Of beauty, conflagratfOn of beauty, you
feel as if you stood in small heaven.
You say these flowers will fade. Yes,
but perhaps you may see them again.
They NAV be immortal. The fragrance
of the flower may be the spirit of the
Hover; the body of the flower dying on
earth, its spirit may appear in better
worlds. l do not say it will be SO. l
say 1t may be so. The ancestors of
those tuberoSeS and camellias and ia
ponicas and jasmines and heliotropes
were born in paradise. These apostles
of beauty came down in the regular
line of apostolic succession. Their an
cestors during the flood, underground,
afterward appeared.
end with Eden. Heaven is called
paradise of God. Paradise means flow
ers. While theological geniuses in this
day are trying to blot out everything
material from their idea of heaven,
and, so far as / can tell, their future
state is to be a floating around some
where between the Great Bear and
Cassiopeia / should not be surprised
If at last i can pick up a daisy on the
everlasting hills and hear it say: 81 am
one of the glorified flowers of earth.
Don't you remember me? l worshiped
with you on Easter morning in 1900"
My text introduces US into a garden.
III is a manor in the suburbs of Jeru-
salem owned by wealthy gentleman
of the name of Joseph. He belonged
to the court of seventy who had con-
demned Christ, but he had voted ia the
negative, or, being a timid man, had
absented himself when the vote was to
be taken. At great expense he laid out
the garden. 1t being a hot climate, l
suppose there were trees broad branch
ed, and there were paths winding I'M
der these trees, and here and there
were waters dripping down over the
rocks into fish ponds and there were
vines and flowers blooming from the
wall, and all around the beauties of
kiosk and arboriculture. After the ia
tigues Of the Jerusalem courtroom,
how refreshing to come into this sub
urban retreat, botanical and pomolog-
ical!
Wandering in the garden, l behold
some rocks which have on them the
ri OP %1,.0 IyNtA - oh
nearer, and / find there is a subterra-
mean recess. l come down the marble
steps, and | come to a portico, over
which there is an architrave, by the
chisel cut into representations of fruits
and flowers. | enter the portico. On
either side there are rooms-two or
four or six rooms of rock, the walls of
these rooms having inches, each niche
large enough to hold a dead body.
Here is one room that is especially
wealthy of sculpture.
Most Celebrated Tomb.
The fact is that Joseph realizes he
cannot always walk this garden, and
he has provided this place for his last
slumber Oh, what beautiful spot in
which to wait for the coming of the
resurrection, Mark we'll this tomb,
for it is to be the most celebrated tomb
in all the ages. Catacombs of Egypt,
tomb of Napoleon, Mahal TAI of India,
nothing compared with it. Christ has
Just been murdered, and his body will
be thrown to the dogs and the ravens,
like other crucified bodies, unless there
be prompt and efficient hindrance. Jo-
seph, the owner of this mausoleum in
the rocks, begs for the body of Christ.
He washes the poor, mutilated frame
from the dust and blood, shrouds it
and perfumes it.
/ think that regular embalmment
was omitted. When in olden time a
body was to be embalmed, the priest,
with some pretension of medical skill,
would point out the place between the
ribs where the incision must be made,
and then the operator. having made
the incision, ran lest he be slain for a
violation of the dead, Then the other
priests would come with salt of inter
and cassia and wine of palm tree and
complete the embalmment. But l
think this embalmment of the body of
Christ was omitted. 1t would have
raised another contention and another
riot
The funeral haStenS on. Present, /
think, Joseph, the owner of the maui
solemn; Nicodemus, the wealthy man
who had brought the spices, and the
Two Marys. No organ dirge, no plumes,
no catafalQue. Heavy burden for two
men as they carry Christ's body down
the marble stairs and into the portico
and lift the dead weight to the level of
the niche in the rock and push the
body of Christ into the only pleasant
resting place it ever had. Coming