The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-04-12
EASTER MORNING.

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John, NN., l.
l imagine that establishment reached its
utmost limits when the people OF Jerusa-
lem learned that some one had rolled the
stone away and that the tomb was
empty. A great many declared, and
with some show OF reason, that what
had apparently happened had certainly
not really happened. How could 1t hap
rem. they asked each other disdainfully.
Was He not dead. and was not His
death attested by the spear which en-
tered His sides Were not specially in
strueted guards sent to watch the place,
and do Roman soldiers fail in their duty
when death is the penalty OF neglect:
How, then. does Il come about that so
strange a rumor fills the airs
There was scarcely 4 household in the
whole magnificent city which on the
morning Of that third day was not pro-
foundry stirred. Cheeks were flushed as
the facts were related. and the discussion
Of possibilities waved hot. Some
shrugged their shoulders with contemp-
tuous incredulity, and others simply re-
piled: He said He would rise again,
and He has kept His word"
We Of a later generation. living in an
environment OF scientific marvels. hest
tate before declaring thar anything Is
impossible. Experience has taught us
caution. for What our fathers could not
believe we do not only believe but ex-
plain by aws hitherto unknown.
When we have been told heretofore that
Christ appeared to the disciples IN that
upper room. the doors being shut. even
the most reverent among us have been
unwilling II not unable to argue the mat
ter. But recent discoveries have opened
up a new world to our wondering eyes
We have hardly yet recovered from our
bewilderment at the statement Of what
has been accomplished. and scarcely dare
think of the further miracles that may
be achieved IN the near future. Has not
the foremost science just declared that
among other miracles it may yet be able
TO pass a solid through 4 solid. and have
not all our notions Of thu impossible
been thus scattered to me four winds?
on this Easter morning. for the tirst time
in twenty centuries, ihe sudden appear
ance of Christ IN that una,r room strikes
rs ne Act entirely strange. A whole
series Of higher laws-iRws which thrill
Us with wonder and gratitude, laws the
very contemplation Of which moistens
the eyes and makes the heart feverish
with e-xcltement-are being discovered.
1t seems as though heaven itself were
struck when Christ, who once said, Il
rave yet many things to say unto you.
but We cannot bear them now mad be-
gun to make a second revelation
How are the dead raised up? And
with what body do they conner" These
are questions to which answe are easily
found. Nature has herself suggested
them. For instance, on that leaf in
your garden crawls a common grub. 1t
is ungraceful in its motions and unat-
tractive in appearance. You doubt my
word when l tell you that within the
body OF that crawling creature are
packed away a pair OF wings which will
some day come into use; that from this
low form OF existence will he evolved
something so entirely different that you
cannot recognize any relation between
the two: that It will slough off this Shiny
coil n become a thing Of beauty, cut
ting the air with many colorsd wings
and slipping honey from every fragrant
flower. You doubt all this, unless you
nave had experience in such matters;
refer me. to the sharply drawn lines be-
tween the possible and the impossible,
and hint something about the credulity
Of those who believe in fairy tales.
Nevertheless, the new creature is hidden
in the old, and in good time the grub
will stitch away at its own shroud. 1t
will fall upon sleep, and when the deli
cate n marvellous change has been
made It will burst its bonds and emerge
a butterfly.
Hardly more strange than that is mans
passage from the mortal 10 Immortality.
Cntried faculties are hidden in every hu-
man soul, like the wings in the grub,
and at no time in this lower life do they
come into full ply. We crawl, but by