Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-04-04


pendent or obituary, into state In ev-
cry way better, with wider room and
velocities beyond computation, the
dullest or us into companionship with
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 God
i'm all the ages has been able to invent.
Victory!
The Urn or the Tomb.
This view, of course makes IL of but
little importance whether we are Gre
mated or sepultured. IL the latter is
dust TO dust, the former is ashes TO
ashes. IL any prefer incineration, let
them have it without cavil or protest.
The world may become 80 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. +.
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-
dina, n slave. and Alexander, a physi-
clan, and their comrades cremated at
the order OF Marcus Aurelius; at least
n hundred thousand OF Christ's disci-
pies cremated, and there can be no
doubt about the resurrection of their
bodies. If the world lasts as much Ion
hos fhtrc 20 fhnr n nc rt,0 "
be no room for the large acreage set
apart for resting places, but there is
plenty of room yet, and the race need
not pass that bridge of fire until 1t
comes TO it. The most Of us prefer the
old way. But whether out of natural
! disintegration or cremation we shall get
that luminous. buoyant. gladstone,
| transcendent, magnificent, ineXplicable
structure called the resurrection body.
| You will have it; will have it.
l say to you today, as Paul said to
| Agrippa, why should il 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 it made
of? Drops of water from a river, other
| drops from a lake. still other drops
from a stagnant pool. but now embod-
| led i'm cloud and kindled by the sun.
| If 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 aud flesh are
made, set them UP again il they have
| fallen? IL manufacturer OF telescopes
| drops q telescope on the floor and IL
breaks, can he not mend it again so
| you can see through It? And IL God
drops the human eye into the dust. the
eye which he originally fashioned. can
he not restore it? Aye, If the manu-
| facturer of the telescope. by the use of
\ a new glass and change OF material
| can make n better instrument than that
| which was originally constructed and
| actually improve il. do you not think
| the fashioner OF the human eye may
improve its sight and multiply the pat-
ural eye by the thousa ndfold additional
forces OF the resurrection eye?
4
"Why should ii be thought with you
| an incredible thing that God should
raise the deadY Things all around us
suggest Ii. Out OF what grew all these
flowers? Out of the mold and the
earth. Resurrected, Resurrectedl The
| radiant butterty-where did IL come
| from2 The loathsome caterpillar. That
aibatross that smites the tempest with
its wipgs-where did it come from? A
senselcss she'll Near Bergerac. France.
in n Celtic tomb under block, were
found flower seeds that had been bur-
led 1000 years. The explorer took the
flower seed and planted II. and II 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 I'm Egypt
garden peas that had been buried there
5000 years ago. He brought them out.
and on the 4th ofsInne. 1914. he plant
ed them. and in thirty days they sprang
up. buried 5000 years, yet resurrect
ed! why should IL be thought thing
Incredible with you that God should
raise the dsadY'
Where did all this silk come FROM
the silk that adorns your persons and
your homes? In the hollow OF u stan
or Greek missionary brought from Chi
ma To Europe the progenitors of those
worms that now supply the silk mar
Sets OF many nations. The pageantry
OF hammered host and the luxurious
articles OF commercial emporium blaz-
| Ing out from the silkworms And who
shall be surprised II out of this insia-
nifcant earthly body, this insignificant
| earthly life, our bodies unfold into
something worthy Of the coming eter-
mites! Put silver into diluted Mter,
and IL 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 a thing
| incredible with you that God should
raise the dead?" The insects dew 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-
bic. but soon the south wind will blow
and the earth will be full OF them. Do
you not think that God can do as much
Tor our bodies as he does for the wasps
and the spiders and the snaiis? This
| morning at half past 4 o'clock there
| was resurrection. Out OF the night
the day. In few weeks there will be
a resurrection In ell our gardens. Why
not some day a resurrection amid the
graves?
Ever and anon there are instances of
men and women entranced. A trance
Is death followed by resurrection after
few days: total suspension of mental
! power and voluntary action. Rev. Will
liam Tennent, q great evangelist of the
last generation, OF whom DR.. Archi-
bald Alexander, a man far FROM being
sentimental. wrote in most eulogistjo
terms-Rev. William Tennent seemed
to die. His spirit apparently left the
body. People came in dey after day
and said. He is dead, he 10 dead"
Rnt the conf HaA