Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-06-03

DOoh Oi nature IS as leSlDle as the
printed page The lily adorns it, the
wheat-fields enhance it, the waters
simmer in it, the mountains shadow
it, the birds fit over it. the winds rus
tie il, the stars illuminate it. And each
object-animate and inanimate.
teaches its lesson to the beholder.
If the undevout astronomer is
mad, what shall be said of him who
can walk amid the unfolding beau
ties of the spring, or the ripening
glories of autumn, and be unmoved
by the splendors that surround him.
Great doctrines are written in the
hieroglyphics of nature. carved on the
rocks or traced on the leaf or written
with pen of lightning ON the midnight
sky. II only needs the open eye to
read the story.
Nature is full of parallels, and IL
Illustrations and arguments for the doc
trine of the Resurrection-they key
stone fact of Christianity. We see 1t
in the recurrence of night and day.
The day dies and is buried; but II
rises again in the morning. You may
have watched the resurrection of the
day from some mountain summit.
Darkness hangs like a pail over all
the earth. But as you watch
the arrows of light begin to fly toward
the zenith. The King of Day is COM
ing out of his pavilion. Redder and
redder grow the Eastern banners of
flame. Leaping cohorts of fire fill the
sky. Darkness recedes into the val
legs, and the sunlight breaks on the
white crests The mountains in en-
circling amphitheatre, tier on tier,
peak backed by higher peak, are as
sembled to greet the God of Day, and
he crowns them with glcry as re-
ward. The arrows of light, shot from
heaven, begin to make the gloom Of
the valleys strike tent The mists go
skurry.ng up and down like horsemen
stampeded. Gradually the green fields
are uncovered. man goes forth to his
labor, and the world is wide-awake.
What is all that sublime scene but
the voice of nature crying, "Resur-
rectiOn!"
The same truth is taught in the rev.
olution of the seasons. The autumn
comes and nature puts on a shroud of
white and passes into the grave OF
winter Everything is frozen, rigid.
lifeIess, the days are brief, the light
a. H.. n,,t -Dripo oouaac ont Of tho
South and cries, Come, it is time to
arise!" She rolls off the cerements
of ice and snow, and nature awakens
into a grander beauty than ever.
Every leaf a psalm. Every flower
censor Every bird chorister. Every
sight a beauty. Every sound music.
Every breath odorous Honeysuckle
challenging heliotrope, syringas, vying
with apple-blossoms and orange
blooms through the long summer.
What is that but the voice of nature
crying Resurrection"
This truth gives dignity to the COM
mon grub which lies in our pathway,
and which we trample under foot
without a single thought The insect,
a creeping worm, crawls on the earth.
Its home the ground, or some humble
plant The time of its first change ar
rives. II weaves itself a shroud; it
makes itself a coffin; and under the
soil, or in some Granny of the wall,
as in a cataeomb. it finds a quiet
grave. Shrouded, coffined, buried, to
all appearances dead, it lies till its ap-
pointed change. But when that hour
arrives ii bursts these cerements, and
a pure. winged. beautiful creature the
butterfly emancipated from its chrys-
ais, and arrayed in rainbow glories,
fitting from bush to bush in the
garden and sporting in the vault Of
the crystal dome, becomes a flying SER
mon on the Resurrection.
Every farmer walks amid analogies
of this great fact He sees the grave
of man in the furrow of the plough;
the burial of the man in the corn
dropped into the soil; the decay OF
man in the change undergone by
the seed: and the Resurrection of
man. as, bursting its sheath and push
ing aside the clod. it rises green and
beautiful. to wave its head in summer
DAYS high above the ground that was
once its grave, and crowned in autumn
with its golden coronet- So also Is
the resurrection of the dead. 1t is
sown in corruption; 1t is raised in in
corruption; it is sown in dishonor, it
is raised in glory : it is sown in weak
ness. it is raised in power; it is sown
a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
body.
Until the resurrection Of Jesus
Christ. there had hung on all the
grass. and sepulchres and mauso-
leums of the ages a darkness that no
earthly lamp could lift. but on the
morning of the worlds first Easter.
the gloom was shattered, never to set
tie more.
How this great doctrine enlarges
lifel am not a limited, crippled.
cramped. cabined, confined, tempo
rary creature. Wrapped up in me, un-
der many a covering and fold. but yet
in me. are everlasting powers. The
seed of my immortality is only waiting
for the coming of its springtime. The
most reverent thing in this universe,
expecting God, is a human life that
is certain of immortality. For eigh-
teen centuries a great superstructure
has been growing in breadth, in
height. in adornment, in gran