Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-04-08

discourse; L Corinthians xv, 30, Now
is Christ risen from the dead n be-
come the first fruits Of them that
slept"
On this glorious Easter morning,
amid the music and the flowers. 1 give
you Christian s~alutatiOn. This morn-
ing Russian meeting Russian on the
streets of St. Petersburg halls him
with the Salutation, Christ is risenr!'
and is answered by his friend in salu
tation, He is risen indeedr' 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 Il superstition, which illustrates
the fact that the natural world seems
TO sympathize with the spiritual.
Hail. Easter morning! F1owersi
Flowers. All of them a-vo1ce. all of
them a-tongue, all Of them full of
speech today. l bend over one of the
lilies, and / heal it say: Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow. They
toll not, neither do they spin. yet Solo
mon in all his glory was not arTayed
like one, of these" l bend yer a rose,
and it seems to whisper, II am the
rose of Sharon" And then I stand and
listen. From all sides there comes the
chorus of flowers, saying, IF God SO
clothed the grass of h field, which TO-
day is, and tomorrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more c1othe
you, o We of little faith?'
Flowers. FlowerSi Braid them into
the brides hair. F1owerst Flowers!
Strew them over the graFes of the
dead, sweet prophecy of the resurrec-
ton. Flowersi Flowers! Twist them
into 4 garland for my Lord Jesus on
Easter morning, and GLORY he to the
Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is
now and ever shall ber The women
came to the SaviOur'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 Easter morn. The
two angels robed in white took hold of
the stone at the Sayiour's tomb, and
they hurled it with such force down
the hill that it crushed in the door of
the worlds Sepulcher. and the stark
and the dead must CONE forth
l care not how l~abyrinthine the maui
SOlCu1A VI INV NOSA} thE sal SOiJ1dSu Us
or however beautifully parterred the
family grounds-we want them all bro
ken up by the Lord of the resurrec-
ton. They must come Out Father
and m0theP-they must come out: huS-
band ana wife-they must come out;
brother and sister - they must come
out; our darling c~hildren-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 dust must join ours
in an embrace of reunion the voice
that was hushed in our dwelling must
be returned. Oh. how long some of you
seem 10 be waiting for the resurrec-
ton! And for these broken hearts to-
day 1 make Z soft, cool bandage out of
Easter flowers,
Prophecy of Resurrection.
This morning l find in the risen
Christ Il prophecy of cur own resurrec-
ton, 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, 1.-THE first
fruits of them that slept Before l
get through this morning will walk
llIOuSH I'LL the ceiI4oIGI1eS OI Inc QPdu,
through all the country grayeyards,
where your loved ones are buried. and
/ will pluck off these flowers. and /
will drop 4 sweet promise of the COS
pel-a rose of hope, a lily of JOY on ev-
cry tomb. the child's tomb. the huS-
bands tomb. the wife's tomb, the IA
theirs grave, the mothers grave. and,
while we celebrate the resurrection Of
Christ, we will at the same time cele-
brate the resurrection of all the good.
Christ, the first fruits of them that
slept"
If l should come to you and ask you
for the names of the great conquerorS
of the world. you would say Alexan-
der, Caesar, Philip. Napoleon /. All!
You have forgotten to mention the
name of a greater conqueror than all
these-a cruel, a CHASTITY conqueror.
He rode on a black horse across Wa
terloO and Chalons and Atlanta. the
bloody hoofs crushing the hearts of
nations. 1t is the conqueror Death. He
carries a black flag, and he takes no
prisoners. He digs a trench across the
hemiSphereS and fills it with the car
casses of nations. Fifty times would
he world have been depopulated a
not God kept making new generations.
Fifty times the world would have
swung lifeless through the air-no man
on the mountain. no man on the sea,
an abandoned ship blowing through
immensely. Again and again has he
done this work with all generations.
He IS a monarch as well as a con-
queror; his palace a sepulcher: his
fountains the falling tears of a world.
Blessed be God in the light of this
Easter morning! i see the prophecy