San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-04-18

There is nothing in all the world that
succeeds like success; nothing that
| fails like failure; nothing that hopes
like hope. Hope is the one thing that
prevents the world from suicide. Blot
out the sun of hope, hope for better
days and better times and better liV-
ing, blot out this sun of hope and the
world staggers on in darkness of des-
peration until it suicides.
Easter says to every respondent son
and daughter of earth, as they come
looking into the old sepulchre where
their old self lies buried, shaking their
head in dismal hopelessness, He is not
here He is risen" Out of the old clods
come the new flowers. Out of the old
deafness the new life. Planted in
grief, watered with tears, how many
of the trees thus cultivated have borne
perfect fruit for the satisfying of the
hunger of thousands. There is the
lesson of hope that the Easter time
teaches. Out of the darkness into
day. Out of sorrow into gladness. Out
of weakness into strength that shall
grow to it's perfeCtness. Out of disin-
tegration and decay into new organi-
zatiOn of life, into new life itself.
But you must plant your seed before
it will sprout and terminate and bring
forth, first the blade, then the bud,
then the blossom of it's fragrance and
beauty. So you must bury yourself
before there can be any resurrection
come to you. The old self must die in
order that the new self must live.
This also teaches that there is an or
derby succession in all this uprising.
Calvary must come before the Mount
of Ascension. We rise on the stepping
stones of our dead selves to nobIer
things. There is a truth as wide as
human experience in this resurrection
idea. 1t suits the framework of the
thought of all religions. all cults, all
sciences. 1t is accepted by all, it is
denied by none, therefore in it's wider
applications should find none to refuse
its gracious enCouragements.
This Easter time comes to tell us
that the days of fasting and mourn
ing and sackClOth and ashes are past.
That these symbols of our own dead
ness are now a thing of the past and
that leaving behind we should rise
and so forth leaving them behind.
The trouble with us is that we think
the saCkclOth suits our peculiar style
of beauty and we prefer to wear it.
IT is much harder to wear white
clothes and keep them clean than it
is to wear black for steady toilet.
1t is not the business of the Light
preacher to prescribe for these pecu-
liar people. This is a purely voluntary
congregation and only those who
choose come under it's description, or
,rrIa in, he ,f 4
free and ever growing membership.
Your own life and habits and ideas
and manners and thoughts, My Below
ed! need continual renewing, just as
much as your plants and your carpets
and your furniture and your book
shelves. The old plants die and new
ones take their place, so the old
thoughts die and the new ones must
be born to take their place or there is
no new thing about your thoughts.
So it is with the old manners and habits
and life. Renewal is the only way to
keep them fresh. If you would not
stagnate you must renew yourself. 1t
is done within and without and the one
needs it as much as the other. Ma
| ture Tenews the old body every seven
years so the physicists tell us. Some
| of the souls and minds of this gener-
alton are not renewed in seventy-seven
times seven years, judging from the
manner in which their lives stagnate
and the scum thiCkens on them.
To you this morning the admOnitiOn
| Of Easter comes. Plant yourself. Hav-
| ing planted yourself and buried your
| old deafness, confidently look for your
resurrection into better things. The
power to do this is in you. The dispO-
| sition is in you or it is not at all,
| You are at once your own life and
| deliveTanCe, your own death and your
| own resurrection. Look yourself over
carefully this morning. See what hab-
| its, ideas, practices, thoughts, should
go under ground and put them there.
| Put your foot on that ground and press
| it firmly upon that buried old self of
yours. Do the work properly and then
watch your resurrection. Carefully
| tend the, new plant that first appears.
| Watch and water and guard it and see
| it grow. By and by when it is a love-
| ly flower dig down to it's roots and see
what has become of the old dead body
out of which it sprang. You will find
| ii is not there 1t is risen.