The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-04-28
Easter. the Birthday Of Hope.

No matter what our religious beliefs,
whether we are numbered among the !,
people who regard times and seasons
or not, this festival has for all Chris
tians sweet significance. We may
not decorate our places of worship with
garlands, or ring chimes from our
spires, or fill the day with music and
praise but however silently we show
it, the season cannotl fail to make US
clad. If We consider for moment
what the condition of the Christian
world, would have been had the dead
Christ never risen, the Easter tide of
thankfulness that he did arise will be-
gin to stir at once in our hearts. What
that resurrection meant to the sorrow
ing and disheartened disciples, 1t ls
impossible to compute, nor can we es'
innate its significance to each genera
ton of struggling and sorroWing hu-
man souls since that earliest Easter.
dawn. What it means to us children
of to-day can only be measured II we
sum up the Christian influence OF the
centuries, and recognize its power up-
on the life of the world of our own
time. Our freedom from wars and
strife. our development in education,
our growth in all pbilanthroples that
mean the spread of goodwill among
men, our elevation OF womanhood, our
blessed homes, our missionary enter
nrises-almost all that we have and are
| is an outgrowth of conditions when
would not have existed had Christ not
risen from the dead.
Have we not, then, reason to be
Glad. and to remembnr this day as
sort of birthday of hope for human
sonls? TO assure us of the immortal1-
| tv of which no revelation or philosophy
has opened more than an inference, no
one but the living Christ. and the few
who were called back by his voice and
touch have returned from the dead.
One brother only he gave back to sor-
rowing sisters, one daughter to the
breaking heart of her father, one son
to the mother who was widow, yet
down from the beginning how have
hearts of sisters and fathers and moth.
ers ached for their lost brothers and
daughters and cons! That the doors
of the grave might not seem too cruelty
shut, these three came back to life ana
TO their loved ones hearts; and he, the
elder Brother of US all, came back for
every one. In his coming every strlck-
en- heart may find the promise OF the
resurrection or its own. The grave can
not hold our beloved. The bands OF
death are not strong enough to bind
them. He who for himself conquered
this last enemy holds victory in his
hands for our beloved ones and for Us.
For this, if for nothing else, we should
welcome the Easter dawn; and make
the day one of real rejoicing for the
heart. 1t is the celebration OF victory
over our conqueror, won at sore cost Dy
the struggle of our best ana oraVest
Friend.
The real paean should be sung this
in the heart Of the race the spirit and
every Easter morn, because, OF Christ
has risen. 1t is the spirit of love over
coming hate, it is the spirit which
reaches out to help where help Is.
needed most; it is the spirit that clothes
the naked, feeds the hungry, heals the
sick, visits the afflicted, comforts every
where. 1t is the spirit Of life working
against sin and despair and death in
the soul. 1t softens the harsh word,
slays the unkind hand. holds surly
tenipers in check. 1t quiets anxiety,
and overcomes evil with good. With
this spirit active in our hearts, we are
alive to God.
In US he has risen indeed, and
broken the bonds of death, so that its
sting is taken away. Until this blessed
work begins Christ is risen for us after
it begins he is risen for us; and forms
with US no matter how poor and ins1g-
nificant we are, the hope of glory--a
hope sure to become glad frultlon IN
his own good time.