The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-15

DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
BY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT rALMAeg. D. Q.

s"iuS, Niio dt hfsl came To Jesus by night and brought 8 mixture of myrrh and aloes' about a hundred weight Then took they the body of Jesus and wound 1t in linen clothes with the spices as the man ner of the Jews is to bury"
 Now what is the deduction of these two thoughts? Why, as Nicodemus, the rich man, gave the expensive spices with which to preserve Christ's body for the puflaL and as Joseph of Armathea. an other~rich man. gave Christ his sepulcher Tor the burial, therefore fl means that all the rich men of the world and all the brains of the world shall yet stand by the empty tomb of Christ and declare him Lord of lords and King of kings. Oh, my friends, l am glad Christs cradle was in manger. That proves that Jesus came a Christ for the poor and the outcasts, : the sorrowing and the afflicted. But I am also glad that Chrisf's dead body was wrapped In. the spices of Nicodemns and laid in the family vault of Joseph. That symbolizes to ne this other fact that some day all the mightiest men of the earth shall yet acclaim him not only as the risen Lord, but also their Redeemer and Friend. May the glorious day be not far distant! 1t is said that just over his study desk al Hararden, William r.. Gladstone had these words framed and hung upon the wall: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is StdAeu ol inee. so may all me great and honored men of this day find their perfect peace in risen Lord; as Nieode- mus and Joseph of olden times honored him at the sepulcher.
 Another Startling Fact.
 But as we approach little near to the rifled sepulcher we find another start ling fact. "The body of Christ is gone,'' you say. Is that the startling fact? oh, l expected to find the body gone. All his torians have alluded to this one fact. expected to find the body of Christ gone. Next l want to call your attention to the fact that the graveclothes were lying in the crypt; just as they were put there by Christ's friends when Jesus body was laid away in the tomb How can these things be? you ask. Then you realize that stones and doors and barred windows were no barriers for him. When Jesus arose on the first Easter morn he did not come forth, as did Lazarus. bound hand and foot and with graveclothes. He did not get up as we do of q morning by throwing the bedclothes from off our bod ies. but he arose silently, swiftly He arose. and the graveclothes were left in just the same positions that Christ's friends had placed them. Come see the place where the Lord lay Let me read to you from Johns story, And he stoop- ing down and looking in. saw the linen clothes lying* and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the lin- en clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself" Christ arises. moves out of his grave garments and moves through the stone walls of his prison and yet does not change the position of one stone Only the great stone at the entrance was moved. and that by an angel
 What is the significance of all this? It means that when we are resurrected we shall leave all earthly associations and infirmities behind. We shall not arise with a struggle. but we shall simply move quietly out of the struggles, all the heart aches. all the sufferings of this world It means that when you get up at the trum- pet blast of resurrection your back will never ache again. your head will never be weary, your heart will never bleed. All these sorrows and trials of earth have had their mission in fitting for the future life, but when that life comes the mission of Paufs thorn in the flesh shall be forever done away with. Oh, the glorious day when WIS shall be emancipated from our binding graveclothes which have always been the symbol of sin and sorrow and of earthly parting! In heaven we shall all have new wearing apparel Would you like to catch a glimpse of the garments of the resur- rectlon? ''Who are these which are array ed in white robes, and whence came they?" is asked in the apocalypic vision. "These are they which come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.' Glorious glorious is to be the change of our resurrection garments. Thank God that. like Christ's, our bind Ing shrouds of earth shall be left in the sepulcher and be exchanged for the cor onation robes of heaven.
 Every note with wonder swell.
 Sin o'erthrown and captive hell;
 Where is hells once dreaded king,
 Where. O death thy mortal sting?
 Angels at the Tomb.
 There is another startling fact about this emptied sepulcher to which most people give but little heed. That fact does not deal so much with the emptied crypt. emptied of Christ s body, as that the angels of God were watching by that silent tomb. In the last chapter of Matthews we read that an angel of heav- en descended on the first Easter morn and rolled away the stone that was in front of the door of the tomb and sat up- on it. This was the angel who was speak ing to the Mary Magdalen of my text In the twentieth chapter of John we read that there were more angels than one there. There was "one al the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain" There may have been