The Leon reporter., 1902-04-03

paneled and pictured and glorifled with
all the splendors that the infinite God
In all the ages has been able to invent
Victoryl
This view, Of course, makes 1t of but
little importance whether we are cre-
mated or sepultured. II the latter is
dust to dust, the former is ashes to
ashes. II any prefer incineration, Let
them have it without cavil or protest.
The world may become so crowded that
cremation may be universally adopted
py law as we'll as by general consent
Many OF the mightiest and best spirits
nave 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. Gre
mated at Oxford; Pothinus and Blan-
una, slave, and Alexander, a physi-
clan' and their comrades cremated at
lhe order OF Marcus Aurelius; at least
hundred thousand of Christ's disci-
pies cremated, and there can be no
aouDt about the resurrection Of their
Dodles. Whether out of natural disin-
tesration or cremation we shall get
that luminous. buoyant, gladstone,
transcendent, magnificent, inexplicable
structure called the resurrection body.
you will have it; will have it.
say to you to-day, as Paul said to
Agr1ppa, why should it be thought
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 1t 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 a 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 a human body from the earth
and out of them build radiant body?
cannot God, who owns all the material
out OF which bones, muscle and flesh
are made, set them up again If they
nave fallen? II manufacturer of tel
escopes drops telescope on the floor
ana 1t breaks, can he not mend it
again so you can see through it? And
II GOD drops the human eye into the
dust, the eye which he originally fash
Toned. can he not restore it?
why should 1t be thought with you
an Incredible thing that God should
raise the dead?" Things all around us
suggest 1t. Out of what grew all these
mowers! Out of the mold and the
earth. Resurrected! Resurrected! The
radiant butterfy-where did 1t come
from? The loathsome caterpillar. That
alDatross that smites the tempest with
Its wings-where did it come from? A
senseless shell. Near Bergerac, France,
IN a Celtic tomb near block. were
found flower seeds that had been bur.
led 1000 years. The explorer took the
flower seed and planted 1t, and it came
up. 1t bloomed in bluebell and hello
trope. Two thousand years ago bur-
LED, yet resurrected! A traveller says
he found In 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 it 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 a 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 bannered host and the luxurious ar
ticles OF commercial emporium blaz-
ing out from the silkworms. And who
shall be surprised if out of this insie-
nificant earthly body, this insignificant
earthly life. our bodies unfold into
something worthy of the coming eter-
mites? Put silver into diluted inter.
and it dissolves. Is the silver gone
forever? No. Put in some pieces of
copper, and the silver reappears. If
one force dissolves, another force Or
ganizes.
why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you that God should
raise the dead?" The insects flew 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 insenst-
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 4 o'clock there
was resurrection. Out of the night
the day. In a few weeks there will be
a resurrection in all our gardens. why
not some day resurrection amid the
graves?