Connecticut western news., 1900-04-19
EASTER REJOICINGS.
OR. TAlMAGE DlScoURSES ON THE
 RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
The Season of Spiritual Gladness and Rcfreshment-Victo over Death and the Graye-The Mission of EInxXnra


 Flowers.
 WASHINGTON, April 15.-This sermon of pr. Talmage rings all the bells of gladncss. especially appropriate at this season. when all Christendom is cele brating ChriSt's resurrection; text, John xix. fl. Tn 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. conflagration of beauty, you feel as if you stood in a 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 spirit may appear in better worlds. I do not say it will be so. l say it may be so. The ancestors of | those tuberoses and camellias and ja- ponicas and jasmines and heliotropes l 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.
 The world started with Eden; it will | end with Eden. Heaven is called paradise of God. Paradise means flow CTS. While theological geniuses in this | day are trying to blot out everything material from their idea of heaven, and, so far as l can tell their future state is to be floating around some | where between the Great Bear and | Cassiopeia, should not be surprised I if at last I can pick up daisy on the | everlasting hills and hear it say: T am one of the glorified flowers of earth. l Don't you remember me? I worshiped with you on Easter morning in 1900." l My text introduces us into garden. | It is a manor in the suburbs of Jeru- l 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 in the negative, or, being a timid man, had absented himself when the vote was to be taken. At great expense he laid out l the garden. Ii being a hot climate, suppose there were trees broad branch | etl, duu tutIe NeIt pdluS "lhtiilS uu- 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 fla | tigues of the Jerusalem courtroom, how refreshing to come into this sub | urban retreat, botanical and pomolog- ical! | Wandering in the garden, I behold some rocks which have on them the mark of the sculptor's chisel. I come nearer and I find there is subterra- mean recess. I come down the marble
 steps, and I come to a portico, over | which there is an architrave, by the chisel cut into representations of fruits and flowers. I enter the portico. On ! either side there are rooms-two or
 four or six rooms of rock, the walls of
 these rooms having niches, each niche large enough to hold 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 l slumber Oh, what beautiful spot in
 which to wait for the coming of the | resurrection! Mark well 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- l 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.
 I think that regular embalmment was omitted. When in olden time a
 body was to be embalmed, the priest,
 with some prctension 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 hitter |
 complete the embalmment. But I
 think this embalmment of the body of
 Christ was omitted. It would have
 raised another contention and another
 riot.
 The funeral hastens on. Present, l
 think, Joseph, the owner of the mau-
 soleum; 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
 forth from the portico, 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 ol
 Great Britain, to be followed with
 great punishment. A company of sol , diers from the tower of Antonia is de tailed to stand guard.
 | Tn Sanhcdrin's Seal.
 At the door of the mausoleum fight
 takes place which decides the question , for all grayeyards and cemeteries ' Sword of lightning against sword oi
 steel. Angel against military. No sea . ] If Iattar u-oe oxor ,,,o,o ooc;I1- broJ-a a- than that seal of the sanhedrin on thu
 door of the tomb. The dead body il
 the niche in the rock begins to move il ! its shroud of fine linen, slides dowI upon the pavement, moves out of th' portico, appears in the doorway, ad l vances into the open air, comes up th'