Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-04-25
SERMON
Rev. Dr.. CaInlaee

Subject: The Rssurreetioa Of Christ-Tha
Season of Spiritual Gladness and Re-
freshment-victory Over Death and
the Grave-Ths Mission OF Klowers.
lCopyrieht lsoeI
WASHINGTON, D. C.-This sermon OF DR..
Talmage rings all the bells Of gladness,
especially appropriate at this season, when
all Christendom Is celebrating Ohrist's
resurrection; text, John XIX, II, "In the
garden u new supulcher."
Looking around the churches this morn.
ing, seeing flowers In wreaths and flowers
in stars and flowers In crosses and flowers
IL crowns, pillows Of beauty. conhaGration
Of beauty, you feel as II you stood In q
small heaven.
You say these flowers will fade. Yes, but
perhaps you may see them again. They
may be immortal. The fragrance OF the
flower may be the spirit of the flower; the
body Of the flower dying on earth; its
not say 1t will be SO. l say 1t may be so.
The ancestors OF those tuberoses and
camellias and japonicas and jasmines and
heliotropes were born In paradise. These
apostles OF beauty came down In the regu-
lar line of apostolic succession. Their an
cestors during the Hood, underground,
afterward appeared.
The world started with Eden; It will end
with Eden. Heaven Is called q paradise OF
God. Paradise means flowers. While theo-
logical geniuses in this day are trying to
blot out everything material from their
idea OF heaven, and, SO far as I can tell.
their future state Is to be floating around
somewhere between the Great Bear and
Cassiopeia, should no. be surprised II at
last can pick up daisy on the evsrlast
glorifed flowers Of earth. Don't you re-
member me? I worshiped with you on
Easter morning in 1900"
My text introduces us into q garden. 1t
is q manor in the suburbs Of Jerusalem
owned by a wealthy gentleman of the name
OF Joseph. He belonged to the court of
seventy who had condemned Christ, but
he had voted in 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. It being hot climat
I suppose there were trees broad branehed.
and there were paths winding under these
trees, and here and there were waters drip
ping 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 suburban re-
treat, botanical and pomological!
Wandering In the garden, behold some
rocks which have on them the mark of the
sculptor's chisel. I come nearer, and
| find there Is a subterraneaD recess. leone
down the marble steps, and l come to a
portico, over which there Is IN 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 niohe large enough to
hold dead body. Here Is one room that
| Is especially wealthy OF sculpture.
The fact is that Joseph realizes he cannot
always walk this garden, and he has pro-
l A<l ~. .v,l. fDw 1aok els nI.-
what a beautiful spot I'm which to wait for
| the coming of the resurrection Mark well
this tomb, for 1t Is to be the most celebrat-
ed tomb in all the ages. Catacombs OF
Egypt. tomb OF Napoleon, 4ahal Tai OF In
i din. nothing compared with II. Christ has
juet been murdered. and His body will be
thrown to the dogs and the ravens, like
| other crucifed bodies, unless there be
prompt and efficient hindrance. Joseph,
| the owner of this mausoleum in the rocks,
begs for the body Of Christ. He washes
the poor. mntilated frame from the dust
and blood, shrouds it and perfumes it.
1 think that regular embalmment was
omitted. When in olden time a body was
to be embalmed, the priest, with some pre-
tension OF medical skill, would point out
| the place between the ribs where the in
cision must be made, and then the operator,
having made the incision. ran lest he be
slain for violation OF the dead. Then the
other priests would come with salt Of inter
| and cnssia and wine Of palm tree and COM
piete the embalmment. But think this en-
balmment Of the body OF Christ was
| omitted. It would have raised another
contention and another riot.
The funeral hastens on. Present, !
| think, Joseph, the owner Of the mauso-
leum; Nicodemus, the wealthy man who
had brought the spices, and the two Marys.
Heavy burden for two men as they carry
Christ's body down the marble stairs and
| into the portico and lift the dead weight tc
| the level of the niche in the rock ami push
| the body of Christ into the only pleasant
resting place It ever had. Coming forth
! from the poitico, they close the door OF
rock against the recess.
The government, afraid that the dis
ciples may steal the body OF Christ and
| play resurrection, order the seal OF the
| sanhedrin to be put upon the door OF the
tomb, the violation Of that seal. like the
| violation of the seal OF the Government OF
| the United States or Great Britain, to be
| followed with great punishment. A co H.
| pany Of soldiers from the tower of Antonia
Is detailed to stand guard.
At the door of the mausoleum n fight
takes places which decides the question
| for all graveyards and cemeteries. Sword
OF lightning against sword OF steel. Angel
! against military. No seal of letter was
ever more easily broken than that seal OF
the sanhedrin on the door of the tomb.
The dead body In the niche In the rock
begins to move in its shroud OF fine linen,
slides down upon the pavement, moves out
of the portico, appears In the doorway, ad-
vances into the open air, comes up the
attire behind Him, He comes forth in work.
mans garb, as take 1t, from the fact that
| the women mistook Him for the gardener.
That day the grave received such shat
tering It can never be rebuilt. ALI the
trowels Of earthly masonry can never mend
EnRaUaP M q hrnt AN
| tomb. Death, taking side with the mill.
| tary In that fight, received a terrible cut
| from the angels spear OF flame, SO that he
himself shall go down after awhile under
1t. The king Of terrors retiring before the
King Of grace! The Lord Is risenl Let
| earth and heaven keep Easter to-day!
Hosanna!
Some things strike my observation while
stan ding III this garden with new sepul.
cher. And. first, post mortem hOnors in
contrast with ante mortem ignominies. II
| they could have afforded Christ such a
costly sepulcher, why could not they have
given Him an earthly residence? viii they
| give this piece Of marble to a dead Christ
instead Of q soft pillow for the living Jesusl
II they had expended half the value OF that
| tomb to make Christ comfortable. 1t would
not have been so sal story. He asked
| bread; they gave Him a stone.
| Christ, like most OF the worlds bcnefac-
| tors. was appreciated better after He was
| dead. Westminster Abbey and monu.
mental Greenwood are the worlds attempt
to atone by honors to the dead for wrongs
the living. Poets corner in Westnin.
ster Abbey attempts to pay for the suffer.
| ings OF Grub street.
Go through that Poets corner in West
minister abbey. There Is Handel, the great
musician, from whose music you hear to-
| day; but while look at his statue l cannot
| help but think OF the discords with which
| his fellow musicians tried to destroy him.
] There Is the tomb Of John Dry den, n beau
/ tiful monument; but 1 cannot help but
think at seventy years OF age he wrote Of
his being oppressed in fortune and Of the
contract that lac had just made for thou
sand verses at sixpence u line. And there,
too, you find the monument OF Samuel But.
ler, the author of "Hudibi as" but while
look at his monument In POETS corner
cannot but ask myself where he died. In