The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-06
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
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 oy pr Tainage from the text 1. Cor, tory"
 About 1870 Easter mornings have walk ehed the earth. In France for three cen- turles the almanacs made the year begin at Easter until Charles TX. made the year begin at January l. In the Tower or London there is a royal pay roll of Edward ]. on which there is an entry of iS pence for 100 cohored and pictured eggs. with which the people sported In Russia slaves were fed and aims were distrib-
 uted on Easter. Ecclesiastical councils met Tn Pontus in Gaul, in Rome, in Achaia, to decide the particular day and after controversy more animated than gracious decided it, and now through all Shristendom fr some "ay the first Sum day after the full moon which happens upon or next after March 2l is filled with
 Easter rejoicing
 The royal court of the Sabbaths is
 made up of fifty-two. Fifty-one are
 princes In the royal household, but Easter Is queen. She wears richer diadem, she
 sways a more jeweled scepter, and in her
 smile nations are irra1iated. How well come she is when, after a harsh winter
 ana late spring She seems to step out of
 the snow5ank rather than tine conserya-
 tory. to come out of the north instead
 or the south out of the arctic rather
 than the tropics, dsmounting from the
 icy equinox. but welcome this queenly
 day holding high Tn her right hand the
 wrenched off bolt of Christs sepulchar
 and holding high in her left hand the key To all the cemeteries of Christendom. My text is an ejaculation. It is sSan out Of halleluiahs. Paul write right on m his argument about the resurrection and observed all the laws of logic, but when he came to write the words of the text his fingers and his pen and the parch- ment on which he wrote took fire, and | he cried out, Death is swallowed up in victory!' It is an exciting thing to see an army routed and flying. They run each inty l. uable in the track. Unwheeled artillery; hoof of horse on breast of wounded and dying man. You have read of the French | falling back from Sedan, of Napoleon's track of 90,000 corpses in the snow banks of Russia of the retreat of our armies | from Manassas or of the five kings tumb- ling over the rocks of Beth horan with their armies while he haiIstorms of Heaven and the swords of Joshua's host struck them with their fury.
 The Charge Of the Black Giant. In my text is worse discontinue It seems that a giant proposed to conquer the earth. He gathered for his hosts all the aches and pains and malarias and
 distempers and epidemics of the ages
 He marched them down. drilling them in
 the northwest wind and amid the slush
 of tempests. He threw up barricades of grave mound. He pitched tent of charnal
 house. Some of the troops marched with
 slow tread commanded by consumptions,
 some in double quick commanded by pneumonias. Some he took by long be-
 sfegement of evil habit and some by one
 stroke of the battleax of casualty With bony hand he pounded at the door of hos pltals and sickrooms and won all the vic- tories in all the great battlefields of all the five continents. Forward, marchi or dered the conqueror of conquerors, and all the generals and commanders dn chief and all presidents and kings and sultans and czars dropped under the feet of his war charger. But one Christmas night his antagonist was born.
 As most of the plagues and sicknesses and despotisms come out of the east, it was appropriate that the new conqueror should come out of the same quarter Power is given him to awaken all the | fallen of all the centuries and of all l lands and marshal them 9gainst one black k | giant. Yields have already been won, but the last day of the worlds existence will | see the decisive battle. When Christ sha III | lead forth his two brigades, the brigade | of the risen dead and the brigade of the
 celestial host, the black giant will fall | back. and the brigade from the riven l sepulchres will take him from beneath | and the brigade of descending immortals | will take him from above. and death l shall be swallowed up in victory
 The old braggart that threatened the conquest and demolition of the planet has lost his throne, has lost his scepter, has lost his palace, has lost his prestige, and the one word written over all the gates Of mausoleum and catacomb and necrop- oils. on cenotaph and sarcophagus. on the lonely khan of the arctic explorer and on the catafalque of great cathedral. writ
 ten in capitals of azalia and calla lily written in musical cadence, written in doXology of great ass3 3.nblages. written on the sculptured door of the family vault is Victory" Coronal word. embannered | word. apocalyptic word. chief of tri- umphal arch under which conquerors re- turn.
 Rout of the King of Terrors. Victory! Word shouted at Culloden and Balaklava and Blenheim, at MegIddo and | Solferino, at Marathon, where the Athe- nians drove back the Medes: at Poitiers where Charles Martel broke the ranks of | the Saracens; at Salamis. where Themis- | tocles in the great sea fight confounded the ePrsians, and at the door of the east | ern' cavern of chiseled rock. where Christ | came out through recess and throttled the king of terrors and put him back in
 the niche. from which the celestial Con queror had just emerged. Aha! When the jaws of the eastern mausoleum took down the black giant. death was swallowed
 up in victory" l proclaim the abolition of death
 The old antagonist is driven back into
 mythology with all the lore about Stygian ferry and Charon with oar and boat. Mel
 rose abbey and Wentworth Castle are no more In ruins than is the sepulcher We shall have no more to do with death than we have with the cloakroom at d gov ernor's or Presidents levee. We stop | at such cloakrooms and leave in charge 1 of servant our overcoat our overshoes. | our outward apparel that we may not | be impeded in the brilliant round of the | drawing room. Well. my friends. when | we go out of this world we are going to | Kings banquet and to a reception of | monarchs, and at the door of the tomb | we leave the cloak of flesh and the wrap | pings with which We meet the storms | of this world. At the close of an earthly | reception. under the brush and broom of | the porter, the coat or hat may be | handed to us better than when we re- | signed it, and the cloak of humanity will 1 finally be returned to us improved and | frightened and purified and glorified. | You and l do not want our bodies re- rid of all their weaknesses and all their
 susceptiblities to fatigue and all their l sloWnes of locomotion. We want them put through @ chemistry of soil and heat | and cold and changing seasons, out of l which God will reconstruct them as much | better than they are now as the body of l the rosiest and healthest child that | bounds over the lawn iR Central Park
 is better than the sckest patient in Belle I cross right over, not waiting for obse- l quies, independent of obituary. into q | state in every way better. with wider room and Velocities beyond computation | the dullest of us into cOmpanionship with | the very best spirits in their very best | mood in the very parlor of the universe. 1 the four walls furnished and paneled and | pictured and gloriiied with all the splen- | dors that the infinite God in all the ages The Urn CT the Tomb.
 This view of course. makes it of but | little importance whether we are ere l ,l.l, | IA 1D ffEe fC d tzf