The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-04-06
TEE LESSON OF EASTER.
ssThe Life of the Soul In The Heart OF
GOd."

by Rev. Augustus NJ Lord at the first
Unitarian Church yesterday was from
John 14:19, "Bccause live ye shall live
nlso.v
A synopsis Of what Mr.. Lord said is as
follows
Every great truth. and among them
this truth OF eternal life, is comprehend
ed by putting at its center from the very
start, not our own lonely, silent soul, but
our life as it is bound IN with the life
about us, and the life of Others as 1t is
bound in with our own. Then as that
common life grows in intensity and In
luminousnesss, it shall gradually light
mp the whole circle OF any truth at the
renter OF which IL may be placed.
Before we star; out after the fnni as
scrtion or the final denial that may be
Set TO our knowledge OF the hereafter, let
us gather together all that is OF the light,
all that brings 10 US the sense OF lite,
the Joy and the glory OF IL here and now;
let us know it's nearest causes, reasons,
enes. Ii shall need neither great intellect
nor arduous study, neither ecstatic exal-
Nation OF feeling, nor unquesticning faith
to do his, but IL shall need clear, honest,
sober thinking and clean, sincere heart
dealing with zeal things and noble expert
ences. Neither are these special gifts, fac
ulties, the results of which we need TO ac-
cept at second hand from someone else.
They are at tho nttermost requirements
within the roach of all who heartily ask
and earnestly seek for them. Whatever
light is thrown upon the problem Of the
life hereafter must be kindled from the
materials that make up the living flame OF
love and faith which warns the life we
live together here.
There Is the foundation OF all that
Jesus taught concerning eternal life to
those ne loved. is il a firm foundation?
Surely you know, perhaps you have dis
covered you are only beginning to know
those who carry you In their hearts, those
whom you carry in your heart II Is to
these that the Easter season again and
again leads us back, and II Is in our
thoughts Of these that would find my
Easter Gospel.
why.do 1 live? do not mean simply
exist, but why do live with any zest
and Joy and earnestness and hope? The
sources OF my best life are not in myself
but in others, those who have thought
individual or as part OF the community
or the race.
No man could trust himself alone with
his life. There are times for every one
when his life Is OF no great value or con-
sequence to him, because of sorrow, be-
cause OF shame, or defeat, because Of sheer
WEAKNESS, because a bad mood is on
him.
What held the treasures OF the larger
life for us, what kept us true to wait for
what we could not see? The cause that
1s closest for most OF US and SO Is easiest
to grasp, is In the life OF those who lived
for US when we let go our firm and manly
hold on life.
To him who has never found how he
lives simply because OF some life above
and around him, or who has never known
moment VIXEN he lived simply for the
sake OF some weaker life, the conc ption
OF immortality is a closed book, but that
discovery and that knowledge once mast
ereu and thought out the rest follows.
Well, that experience Mt one point or an
other is within the reach OF the hum
blest life, the thought Is within the grasp
of the simplest mind.
See how plain ii is. You stand back
there with the men and women who were
the friends and companions Of Jesus and
you sec that quality, that power in the
noble human soul; because he lives many
other men may live also, he cannot live
without them any more than they can live
without him, and their future life is de-
termined in its character, its rich fruitage,
by the motives, the purposes, the un-
conscious influence which at the present
are passing from him TO them.
But we may not think of the life OF God
in any image less winning, less inclusive
than this. God lives, no sane man doubt
that; but II Goo lives, men cannot be left
by Him to die. II is a necessity of His
life, as of all life which shares Ills right
eousness and love, that It must lift every
life IL touches into its own safety and
power; but what life does not the life of
God touch? We shall live then moro and
more as He lives How He lives I'm Ills full
glory and power we do not begin TO under
stand; but at the least He lives 40 we have
begun to understand the larger life that
has made this world for us worth living
IN. Even here, however. 1t is the begin
ming and not the end TINT our under
standing Is dealing with. The seed which
the love and wisdom and patience OF
Others SOW in our hearts barely strikes
foot before the opportunity for IL to
bud and blossom and bring forth its
perfect fruit In earthly places, for most
OF as, has passed away. Well, then, It
shall be this unexhausted means OF de-
veloping and Increasing our life that
God shall use in heavenly places, out OF
the body as In the body. Into the charge
of those who bear US I'm their hearts,
kindred and friends, lovers and thinkers
saints and prophets, shall DO given the
preparation OF the places that wait for us
Ia the life thst Is TO be. Thank God the
certainty OF those places does not rest
: without wavering faith, our wandering
steps, but again end 8gain through Joy
and through sorrow, through honest
shame or honest pride, through whole
some defeas OF well earned victory.
through the revelations OF high tnd
noble affection and companionship,
through the pathetic awakenings of lore
liness, wo feel the leading Of n power
greater than our hearts, the pressure OF a
life greater than cur life that lifts and
guides us ON. Ibis Is no dream. IL is
the logical consequence OF the plainest
facts and the deepest realities we know.
We hear II said that although we may
argue with some degree of probability
that there Is a life after death we cannot
Say at ell what the nature of that life
shall be. The direct reverse Is true. We
can know something OF the nature OF the
HE TO come, and II IL on this knowledg &c
alone we can base any assumption what
ever regarding the probability that there
r. such life. That is 80 OF any material.
physical fact or condition. You krow
something OF It's inherent. uncbsngeab bic,
undying nature before you tegin TO see
Into the widest SEQ es. the future cor &C.
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