Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-04-10


- theme of DIR. TalInage's discourse;
l. Corinthians XIV, 20. Now is Christ
risen from the dead aud become the first
fruits of them that slept"
On this glorious Easter morning. amid
the music and the flowers, | give you
Christian salutation. This morning.
Russian meeting Russian on the streets
OF St Petersburg halls him with the
salutation. Christ is risen" and is an
swered by his friend in salutation. He
is risen indeed" In some parts of Eng
land and Ireland TO this very day there
is the superstition that on Easteg morn
ing ths sun dances in the heavens. And
well may we forgive such a superstition,
which illustrates the fact that the nat
ural world seems to sympathize with the
spiritual.
Hail. Easter morning. Flowers. Flow
ers. All of them a-yoiee, all of them
a-tongue, all of them full of speech to-
day. bend over one of the lilies, and
hear it say, Consider the lilies Of the
field, how they grow; they toll not, nei-
Their do they spin, get solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these.
/ bend over a rose, and it seems to whls-
per. Il am the rose of Sharon" And
then l stand and listen. From all sides
there comes the chorus of flowers, Say
ing, If God so clothed the grass Of the
field which to-day is and tomorrow is
cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, o we of little faith!o
Flowers. Flowers, Braid them into
the brides hair. Flowers. Flowers!
Sirew them over the graves of the dead,
sweet prophecy of the resurrection.
Flowers Flowers. Twist them into a
garland for my Lord Jesus ON Easter
morning, and GLORY be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was i'll the beginning, is now and
ever shall be-" The women came to the
Savior'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 Sa-
vior'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 come forth.
l care not how labyrinthine the maui
solemn or how costly the sarcophagus or
however beautifully parterred the fam
lily grounds, weawant them all broken up
by the Lord of the resurrection. They
must come out Father and mother
they must come out. Husband and wife
-th"y must come out. Brother and sis
ter-they must come out. Our darling
chilCren-they must come out. The eyes
that we closed with such trembling fin
gers must open again in the radiance of
that morn. The arms we folded in dust
must join ours in an embrace of reacion.
The voice that was hushed in orr dwell
ing must be returned. Oh. low long
some of you seem to be waiting tor the
res irrectiont And for these broken
hearts to-day l make a soft, cooi bandage
out of Easter flowers.
This morning | find in the risea Christ
a prophecy of our own resur"e, ton, my
tie, t setting forth the idea that,,s 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 | get through this morning l will
walk through all the cemeteries of the
deld, through all the country graveyards,
where your loved ones are buried and /
will pluck off these flowers. and / will
drop a sweet promise of the gospela
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
al, the good. Christ, the first fruits of
them that slept"
The Worlds Great Corquerors.
If | 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 have
forgotten TO mention the name OF Il great
er conqueror than al these--a cruel, a
CHASTITY conqueror He rode on black
horse across Waterloo and Chalons and
Atlanta. the bloody hoofs crushing the
hearts OF nations 1t is the conqucror
Death He carries Il black flag, and be
takes no prisoners. He digs trench
across the hemispheres and fills it with
the carcasses of nations. Fifty times
would the world have been depopulated
had not God kept making new genera
tons. Fifty times the world would have
swung ifeless through the aii--no man
on the mountain, no man on the sea, an
abandoned ship blowing through i'm
mensity. Again and again has he done
this work with all generations. H., is a
monarch as we'll as Il coaqueror; his pal
are a sepulcher; his fountains the falling
tears ~ world. Blessed be God. In
the light OF this Easter morning ! see
the prophecy that his scepter shall be
broken. and his palace shall be demol-
ished The hour is coming when all who
are in their graves shall come forth.
Christ risen. we shall rist. Jesus. the
FIRST fruits of them that slept"
Now. around this doctrine Of the res
direction there are great many mys-
turies. You come to me and say. Il the
bodies of the dead are to be raised, how
is this ana how is that? And you ask me
thousand questions / am incompetent
to answer. But there are a great many
things yoa believe that You are not able
to explain. Yod would be a very foolish
man L. say. Il won't believe anything |
cant understand" Why. putting down
one kind OF flower seed, comes there up
this flower Of this color: Why. putting
down another flower seed. comes there MP
a flower of this color: One flower white,
another flower yellow another flower
crimson Why the difference when the
seeds look To be very much alike-are
very much alike? Explain these things.
Explain that wart on the finger. Ex-
plain the difference why the oak leaf is
different from the leaf of the hickory.
Tell ne how the Lord Almighty can turn
the chariot Of his omnipotence on rose
leaf You ask me questions about the
resurrection | cannot answer. ] viii ask
sou a thousand questions about everyday
life ron taunAr ansx-s-