New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-22
in their own and their children's breasts BY
-..I,;rc, rooI and paor tha aooaons when Cbr;st

in their own and their children's breasts BY
making real and near the seasons when Christ
died on Calvary. or the day when He returned
from death, bringing into the world for the
first time certainty of that life which waits
for us beyond tho stiff cold body, the coffin,
and the grave. The whole Christian world
every week celebrates Sunday as the day
of His resurrection. Why then do so large
n portion fout the observance Of Easter Z
Common sense would dictate. that if the life
and death of Jesus of Nazareth are really
meant to influence our daily thoughts and
actions, the closer and more actual they arc
made. by seasons devoted to their cOnsdera-
ton, the better. The widow who would teach
her children how to initiate and love tho
father who is lost to them, hangs bis portrait
on the wall, makes them familiar with the
daily events Of his life, tells them OF his last
words of love for them, leads them often 10
his grave. But perhaps the very reason why
Passion Week and Easter appear to so many
only vague superstitions t. that Christ himself
and his life and death in that far away age,
appear Vague and unreal in this, with Its
steam Dc,Ser, telegraph, and newspapers.
Nixon, q man who attends to business rs
Strictly, perhaps, as any on Wall-st, and has
very proper notions of fair dealing and liber-
atty, so far as his own interests and those OF
New York are concerned, goes to church oc-
casionally to hear clever preacher The line
of thought Is different from that OF week
days, and stimulates his brain whoesvMeiy;
he likes to listen, too, when the broad prIncI-
pies of morality or humanity are urged; he
is shrewd enough to see that these ara tho
lcayen which must raise the lump. Bat the
actual founder OF this faith is very dim
Presence to him, for whom, indeed, be feels
strange ignorant reverence, very dIt-
fercnt from the critical acquaintance
ship which he processes with the
dealings of "Providence; ;" and it really has
never occurred to him, as fact, that jesus
who was wont to stand by the Sea OF GalIIee,
and who died outside Of Jerusalem, nearly
two thousand years ago, can have any SUD-
stantial connection with him, Nixon, IN his
bank on Wal-st., or new house on Murray
Hill. His pretty daughter. who will wear her
new hat, trimmed with viOlets, on Sunday,
delights in the hymns Of the church the boy
choristers, she tells you, have as sweet voices
as half the travelling tenors, and sometimes,
when she is out of spirits, the prayers bring
the tears to her eyes. But Christ himself u,
in fact, no more real to her than Lohengrln,
or any other hero of familiar drama.
Some of these days, when great tempta.
ton or sudden calamity meets Nixon and
drags him out of his routine of bank and club
and fashionable home life, and forces him to
face the reality of his own soul and its fate.
he will surely put out his cropping hands Tor
the Christ of whom he knows 50 little, and
having no knowledge of Him beyond this
vague idea, turn away it may be IL despair
Some day too when the pretty girl Is WIFE
and mother her heart will cry out Tor belp
to keep her husband at her side, or to make
Of the child upon her breast strong, good
man, such as her own weakness cannot
fashion. Are any means wasted which would
make Christ to these people, or to any OF us,
living, actual Helper Whenever by tho
closer study of His life, or by the observance
of anniversaries in that life, we do bring it
near to us, the centuries between vanish, and
We find Man like unto ourselves. There Is
no temptation which assails us on Change or
in our homes which this Man has not felt and
cannot teach us to endure; no plan OF life.
however wise and potent which we can de-
wise to suit our experiences In office, shop. or
house, which is not embodied in some of HIS
simple utterances. At every turn of the road
His hand is stretched out to us; lie has trod-
den the path before. Every man and woman
trying to be honest, clean and helpful in this
world, finds that tie highest work set before
them is that of self-sacriiice. 1t may come to
the overworked laborer's wife, in housefm
of children it may come to tho millionaire in
the hordes of Ignorant poor who neel his
hardly saved earnings; but in some shape or
other it is sure to come. Very few of us will
have the chance of heroic self devotion. There
are not many openings in life for the work OF
Robert Shaw or the captain of sinking ship,
but every day brings the petty wearing sacri-
fee which weighs full weight in Gods scales.
1t is the self-sacrifce of this Man who was the
brother of us all that is brought before us IN
this week. Surely it is better for our souls
health to stop and look on it than to make
more haste III our struggle for riches.
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We are curious to see what il to be the ultimate
action of the Legislature on the legal newspaper