The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1901-04-13
AN EASTER SERMON.
Or. Talmage Delivers a Timely Dis
course on the Risen Savior.
. Prophecy on Our own Resurrection
As Ckrist Has Risen So VIII
HI .~~s.~ ssss~-She IE-
mortal Body.

Washington, April !.
{, Washington, April THE great
Christian festival celebrated in all the
churches is the theme of DIR. Talmage's
discourse; /. Corinthians, 1920: Now
As Christ risen from the dead and be-
come the first fruits of them that
slept"
On this glorious Easter morning,
amid the music and the flowers, | give
you Christian salutation. This morn
ing, Russian meeting Russian on the
streets of st. Petersburg, hanls him
with the salutation: Christ is ~risen!"
and is answered by his friend in salu-
tation: He is risen indeed" In some
parts of England and Ireland to this
very day there is the superstition that
on Easter morning the sun dances in
the heavens. And well may we forgive
such a superstition, which illustrates
the fact that the natural world seems
30 sympathize with the spiritual.
Hail, Easter morning. Flowers!
Flowers! All of them a~-vOice, all of
them a-tongue. all of them full of
speech to-day. ] bend over one of the
lilies, and heal il say: Consider the
lilies of me valley. how they grow;
they toll not, neither do they spin, yet
Solomon in all his glory was not ar
rayed like one of these" | bend over
a rose, and it seems to whisper: 81
am the rose of Sharon" And then |
stand and listen. From all sides there
comes the chorus of flowers. saying:
IF God SO clothed the grass of the field
which to-day is and tomorrow is cast
into TIE oven, shall He not much more
clothe you, o We of little faith?"
Flowers! Flowers, Braid them into
the brides hair. Flowers, Flowers.
Strew them over the graves Of the
dead, sweet prophecy of the resurrec-
tion. Flowers Flowers, Twist them
into a garland for my Lord Jesus on
Easter morning, and "Glory he to the
Father, and To the Son. and 10 the
Holy Ghost; as il was in the beginning.
As now and ever shall be-" The women
came 10 the Savionr's tomb. and they
dropped spices all around the tomb.
and those spices were the seed that
began to grow. and from them came
all the flowers of this Faster morn.
The two angels robed in white took
hold of the stone at the Saviour's tomb.
Snd they hurled il with such force
clown the hill that ii crushed in the
poor OF the worlds sepulcher, and the
stark and the dead must come forth.
l { care not how labyrinthine the MAUI
soleum or how costly the sarcophagus
or however beautifully parterred the
family grounds. we want them all
broken up by the Lord of the resur-
rection. They must come out. Fa-
fher and mother-they must come out.
Husband and wife-they must come
out. Brother and sister-they must
come out. Our darling children-they
must come out. The eyes that we
closed with such trembling fingers
must open again in the radiance OF
that morn. The arms we folded in dusr
must join ours in an embrace of re-
nnIon. The voice hat was hushed in
our dwelling must be returned. Oh.
% long some Of you seer to be wait
ing for the resurrection! And for
these broken hearts to-day / make a
soft, cool bsndage out of Easter
flowers.
N1'his morning find in the risen
Christ a prophecy of u own resur-
r~ecfion, my text setting forth the idea
that as Christ has risen so His people
will rise. He. the first sheaf of the
resurrection harvest. He. "the first
1rnits of them that slept" Before I
get through this morning | will walk
through all the cemeteries of the
dead, through all the country grave
yards. where your loved ones are
buried. and will pluck off these flow
'ers, and viii drop a sweet promise
~of the Gospel-a rose of hope, a lily
sDf foy-on every tomb-the child's
tomb, the husbands tomb. the wife's
bomb, the fathers grave the mothers
grave. And while we celebrate the res
direction Of Christ we will al the same
time celebrate the resurrection of all
the good. Christ, the first fruits Of
them that slept"
~ ! should come TO you and ask You
for the names of the great ~conquerors
of the world. you would say Alexander,
Caesar, Philip, Napoleon /. All, you
nave forgotten to mention the namp
of a greater conqueror than all these
"a cruel, a CHASTITY conqueror. He
rode on a black horse across Waterlou
and Chalons and Atlanta, the blood,
hoofs crushing the hearts of nations
II is the conqueror Death. He carrie,
n black flag, and ne takes no prisoners
He digs a trench across the hem
fspheres and fills it with the carcass.I
of nations. Fifty times would tn,
world have been depopulated had no
God kept making new generations
Fifty times the world would hay,
swung lifeless through the air-no ma
on the mountain. no man on the sea
an abandoned ship blowing through
immensely. Again and agHin has h,
done this work with all generations
Ha 10 a monarch ny xua1l M. -