Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-04-03

the very best spirits in their very best
mood. in the very parlor of the uni
verse, the four walls FURNISHED and
paneled and pictured and glorified With
all the splendors that the infinite Gcd
in all the ages has been able to invent.
Victory!
This view, OF course, makes II Of but
little importance whether we are ere
mated or sepultured. II the latter Is
dust to dust, the former Is ashes to
ashes. II any prefer Moderation, let
them have 1t without cavil or protest.
The world may become so crowded that
cremation may be universally adopted
by law as well as by general consent.
Many of the mightiest and best spirits
have gone through this process. Thou
sands and tens of thousands of Gods
children have been cremated-P. p.
Bliss and wife. the evangelistic singers.
cremated by accident at Ashtabula
bridge; John Rodgers, cremated by
persecution; Latimer and Ridley. ere
mated at Oxford; Pothinus and Blan-
dina, slave, and Alexander, a physi-
clan, and their comrades cremated at
the order Of Marcus Aurelius; at least
a hundred thousand of Christ's disci-
pies cremated, and there can be no
doubt about the resurrection of their
bodies. Whether out Of natural disin-
tegration or cremation we shall get
that luminous. buoyant, gladstone.
transcendent. magnificent, inexplicable
structure called the resurrection body.
You will have it; I will have 1t.
/ say to you to-day, as Paul said to
Agrippa. why should It be thought a
thing incredible with you that God
should raise the dead?" That far up
cloud, higher than the hawk flies. high
er than the eagle flies, what is it made
Of? Drops Of water from a river, other
drops from lake, still other drops
from stagnant pool, but now embod-
led In cloud and kindled by the sun.
Ii God can make such lustrous cloud
out OF water drops. many OF them soil
ed and impure and fetched from miles
away, can he not transport the frag-
ments Of human body from the earth
and out OF them build a radiant body?
Cannot God. who owns all the material
out Of which bones, muscle and flesh
are made. set them up again II they
have fallen? II manufacturer of tel
escopes drops telescope on the floor
and 1t breaks. can he not mend II
again SO you can see through 1t? And
II God drops the human eye into the
dust. the eye which he originally fash
Toned. can he not restore It?
why should it be thought with you
an incredible thing that God should
raise the dead?" Things all around us
suggest it. Out of what grew all these
flowers? Out of the mold and the
earth. Resurrected! Resurrected! The
radiant butterfy-where did 1t come
from? The loathsome caterpillar. That
albatross that smites the tempest with
Its wings-where did 1t come from? A
senseless shell. Near Bergerac, France,
in a Celtic tomb near q block, were
found flower seeds that had been bur-
led 1000 years. The explorer took the
flower seed and planted It. and 1t came
up. 1t bloomed In bluebell and hello
trope. Two thousand years ago bur-
led, yet resurrected A traveller says
he found in a mummy pit in Egypt
garden peas that had been buried there
5000 years ago. He brought them out
and on the 4th Of June, 1914. he plant
ed them and in thirty days they sprang
up. Buried 5000 years, yet resurrected!
why should 1t be thought a thing
incredible with you that God should
raise the dead?"
Where did all this silk come from
the silk that adorns your persons and
your homes? In the hollow Of q staff
Of Greek missionary brought from Chi
ma to Europe the progenitors of those
worms that now supply the silk mar
kets of many nations. The pageantry
Of hammered host and the luxurious ar
ticles of commercial emporium blaz-
ing out from the silkworms. And who
shall be surprised II out of this insig-
niflcant earthly body, this insignificant
earthly life. our bodies unfold into
something worthy Of the coming eter-
mites? Put silver into diluted inter,
and 1t dissolves. Is the silver gone
forever? No. Put In some pieces of
copper, and the silver reappears. II
one force dissolves. another force or
ganizes.
why should 1t be thought thing
incredible with you that God should
raise the dead?" The insects few and
the worms crawled last autumn fee
bier and feebler and then stopped.
They have taken no food. They want
none. They lie dormant and insensi-
BILE. but soon the south wind will blow
the resurrection trumpet, and the air
and the earth will be full of them. Do
you not think that God can do as much
for our bodies as he does for the wasps
and the spiders and the snails? This
morning at half-past o'clock there
was a resurrection. Out of the night
the day. In a few weeks there will be
q resurrection in all our gardens. Why
not some day resurrection amid the
graves?
Ever and anon there are instances of
men and women entranced. A trance
Is death followed by resurrection after
a few days; total suspension of mental
power and voluntary action. Rev. Will
liam Tennent, great evangelist OF the
last generation. OF whom DR.. Archl-
bald Alexander, man far from being
sentimental, wrote in most euloglstic
terms-Rev. William Tennent seemed
to die. His spirit apparently left the
body. People came in day after day
and said. "He is dead, he is dead"
But the soul that fed returned, and