The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-03-27


his hope buoys him up and leads him 10
his task, and he feels sure that Its prom
ise shall some day become true.
Ever the Easter morning comes round
again to the doubter, to the disiilusioned,
TO the one who has failed; snd he sees
this great mass of humanity reasserting
over and over again this everlasting hope
and faith. Hope and faith In what?
What does Easter mean? l wish to separ-
ate the one thread into three strands,
that may trace out each one OF them q
little by ITSELF
Easter means faith In the fact that
light is stronger than darkness, that Joy
is stronger than sorrow, and that life Is
stronger than death. that good Is might
Ter than all things that We call evil and
that II will triumph at the last. Do you
know as look over the history OF the
world, as SEQ the condition OF men, age
after age and even today, the persistence
of this Easter faith Is one OF the most
wonderful things In all the earth. Why,
just think against what obstacles 1t has
asserted itself Think of the ignorance, the
past history OF man, and then see this
same human race, after all this long, dis
couraging experience, asserting year after
year the belief in light, the belief In
truth, the belief that.th darkness Is only
transitory, the belief that the shadows
will fee away-aye, the belief that the
clouds themselves are caused by the light!
We know that in the physical world. Let
the clouds shut down ever so dark, dreary
and drippingly around us. chilling and
discouraging in their drizzling mist, and
we know that the storm will last only
little while. We know there is a power
up there mightier than all the storms Of
the world, and we know, furthermore,
that II Is just this all conquering sun
that has created the storm. There would
not be cloId in the sky IL 1t was not
for the absolute supremacy OF the. light.
IL Is sunshine that makes all the shadow.
So men have believed concerning the
intellectual, spiritual light, for which the
external in all ages has stood as symbol.
Get US see how another element OF this
Easter faith has asserted itself In the face
OF most stupendous obstacles. wonder
sometimes that men and women continue
to believe that Joy Is possible or attain
able. Take any one OF our human lives,
as we look back over il from the time
when we were ushered upon this stage OF
earth with a wall. Our whole life seems
one valley of sorrow. We call the earth a
"vale OF tears" We remember the dis
appointments, the sorrows, the many
bright hopes withered as we held them,
leaving the bare stems in our hands. How
many friends have gone away from our
sides! How many disappointments we
have met How many Of the things we
expected to do have eluded us! In some
phases, as we look at it, our whole life
seems TO US failure ana disappoint-
ment. And as we look over the history
OF the world they tell us the same story.
And yet, in the face Of all these things
and II is the significance OF this fact that
j am wishing to bring out-in face OF all
this disappointment, humanity still dares
to assert its hope. its undying faith that
there is a good time coming. Men believe
today that in some shape q perfect condi-
~ ha ~ Tn asta or
hope animates them, in spite of all disap-
pointment-a perfect republic, perfect
monarchy, a perfect condition OF things
In some shape and in some form. Men
believe in the millennium; and. IL they
despair of 1t here on earth, still they cling
to the dream in the heart and VIII have
heaven in the skies.
Think of the significance of this death
less hope, this deathless beliefi
And we believe In this Easter hope;
and just because the hope cannot be
crushed out, the achievement some day
shall come.
And then one more aspect Of the Easter
faith, the grandest and strangest OF all.
Doesn't it seem strange that this old
world of ours still persists in believing
that there is not any death? Ii is one of
the most wonderful things in the world
10 me that men have not surrendered this
faith ages ago. Why, the whole human
race from its beginning down there in
the dark until now at ever step of adj
vance has marched over a grave. And
still the world says there is not any
death. 1t Is all an illusion. Only life
persists. And IL tells itself this tale of
faith, in story after story, parable after
parable, legend after legend, clinging to
1t and refusing to surrender the trust.
And yet wnst have we as ground OF be-
lief? Scientific evidence, perhaps, we
have none. The wise men of the world
tell US that all these stories from the
ancient time were illusions or dreams.
They tell us that Jesus slept like any
other man and He never walked again.
We have learned one thing as TO this
matter, and know about it to certainty
that nothing in this physical world
ever dies. And in spite of the fact that
we so often--moth hers, husbands, wives,
children look upon cold, silent faces.
turned white because the flush of life has
left them, still this faith remains in the
heart, and it will not down. 1t cries out
and asserts itself, and says, this death
is not real--it is an illusion. The body
is here, we say, but where is the love,
where is the thought, where is the gener-
osity, where is the friendship. where is
all that subtle com animation of qualities
and powers that made my friends? Those
are not here. And so the world moves on
and marches over graves, asserting all
the while that the graves are lie, and
that only life Is.
demonstrstive. i simply want you to
fasten your thought on the grand signiii-
canoe of this fact-that in the face of uni
versal death, from the beginning, in all
time, this wonderful contradictory
human race of ours says: 81 will not be-
lieve it; life and not death Is the reality.
There is no death; what seems so is transi~