Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-04-12
CHRIST IS RISEN!
Or. Taimage's Sermon on The Lesson
Embodied in Our SaviOur's
Resurrection.
Awaiting the Day When "All Who Are 10 Their
Graves Shall Come Forth"
copyright 1901


fruits of them that slept"
On this glorious Easter morning, amid
the music and the flowers, | give YOU
Christian salutation. This morning Rus
san meeting Russian on the streets of ST.
petersburg halls him with the salutation
christ Is risen indeed!" In some parts
of England and Ireland to this verv day
morning, the sun dances in the heavens,
ana wei may We forgive such supersti
uon, Which illustrates the fact that the
natural world seems to sympathize with
the spiritual.
tiail, Easter morning! Flowers! Flow.
ers! All of them a-voice. all of them a.
tongue, all of them full of speech to-day
1T say: Consider the lilies of the field
how they grow: They toll not, neither do
they spin, vet solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these 1 bend
over rose, and it seems to whisper, 81
am the rose of Sharon" And then I
stand and listen. From all sides there
comes the chorus of flowers, saving, "Jf
To-Day 1se and tomorrow is cast into the
o ye of little faith?"
" Flowers! Flowers! Braid them into
the BRIDES hair. Flowersl Flowers!
Strew them over the graves of the dead,
sweet prophecy of the resurrection. Flow
ers! Flowers! Twist them into gar
land for nv Lord Jesus on Easter morn
ing, and GLORY be to the Father and to
the Son. and to the Holy Ghost; as it was
IN the beginning, is now and ever shall
bel: 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
txf-a u, Ill l. L. l. Ill e
the stone at the Saviour's tomb, and
they hurled it with such force down the
hill that it crushed in the door of the
worlds ssepulcher, and the stark and the
dead must come forth.
1 care not how labrinthine the mau.
soleum or how costly the sarcophagus or
however beautifully parterred the family
grounndsI,wee want them all broken up by
the Lord Of the resurrection. They must
come out. Father 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 dust must join ours in an
embrace of reunion: the voice that was
Oh. how long some of you seem to be
waiting for the resurrection! And for
these broken hearts to-day make a soft,
cool bandage out of Easter flowers.
This morning I find in the risen Christ
u prophecy of our own resurrection. 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 fruits of them that slept Be.
fore I get through this morning L will
walk through all the cemeteries OF the
dead. through all the country graveyards.
where your loved ones are buried, and l
will pluck off these flowers, and L will
drop a sweet promise of the gospel-.a
rose Of hope, lily of JOY on every tomb
the child's tomb, the husbands tomb,
the wife's tomb, the fathers grave, the
mothers grave, and. while we celebrate
the resurrection of Christ we will at the
same time celebrate the resurrection of all
the good. "Chrst, the first fruits OF
them that slept"
If 1 should come to you and ask you
for the names of the great conq1erors OF
Caesar, Philip, Napoleon I. All! You
have forgotten to mention the name of a
greater conqueror than all these-a cruel,
a CHASTITY conoueror. He rode on black
horse across Waterloo and Chalons and
ATLANTA, the bloody hoofs crushing the
hearts of nations. 1t Is the conqueror
Death. He carries black nag, ana ne
II
acrbss the hemispheres and fills it with
the carcasses of nations. Fifty times would
the world have been depopulated mad not
God kept making new generations. FIFTY
times the world would have swung life
less through the air-no man on the noun,
tain, no man on the sea, an abandoned
ship blowing through immensely Again
generations. He is monarch as well as
a conqueror; his palace sep!ulcher; ms
fountains the falling tears of world.
Blessed be God in the light of this
Easter morning! see the prophecy that
his scepter shall be broken and ms palace
shall be demolished. The hour is coming
when all who are in their graves snail rise;
> Now, around this doctrine OF the res
direction there are great many mys-
teries. You come to me and say, III the
bodies of the dead are to be raised, how
is This and how is that?" And you ask
me a thousand questions / am lncompe,-
tent to answer. But there are great
many things you believe that you are not
foolish man to say, II won't believe any
thing | can't understand" Why, putting
down one kind of flower seed, comes there
mn this flower of this color? Why, putting
Jpwn another flower seed, comes there up
flower of this color? One. flower
white. another flower yellow. another flow
or crimson. Why the difference when
the seeds look to be very much alike-are
verv much alike? Explain these things;
exnlain that wart on the hnger; explain
the difference-why the OAK, leaf is differ,
emf from the leaf of the hickory. Tell
me how the Lord Almighty can turn the
obariot of His omnipotence on rose leaf.
Won ask me questions about the resurrec-
t;on I cannot answer. l will ask you. a
tboueand questions about everyday lie
YOU cannot answer. .Au
7 find nv strength in this passage, AZ
,rbo are in their graves shall come forto.
W. AZ aot pretend to make the explanation;
Vou on on and say: Suppose returned
,,,;SS;enary dies in this city. When ne
,HaS in China, his foot was ,a,nputntea.
He lived years after in England, ana Inel5
he had an arm amputated. ne Is nurie .
to.dav in yonder cemetery. In Inc
direction will the foo. come from Jn nnI
will the arm come from Si Isd,, " re.
will the different parts OF me s oSuy How Ov IS
constructed in the reSulie'''on'
that possible! u,l human body changes
you say We Years and by seventy years
every sey nan has had ten bodies. -, In the
OF ag age which will come up; lou
resuiie "a man will die and his Dody crnlll,
say ;+o the dust and that dust De taken
pre ; INTO the life of the vegetapaie, , o an
W; ny NAV eat the vegetable. men Ia da'
aha ANIMAL in the resurrection :nas DI how
dSi;s e in so many dirscIlons o n an~
ohaIl II be gathered up nav CONF
more questions of thus stylee u ~ to am.
on and ask them. l 40 nI' pnon the an
swer them of Gods word, "All who are
nouncehe sball come forth.