Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1898-04-09
THE LESSON OF EASTER.
Lilies that Bloom Today out of
the Soil of Easter.


Religion was born when man felt
within him soul, and when he saw
in the miracle OF the creation about
him power beyond bis comprehen-
sion. With his recognition of god
head came the impulse to worship
and propitiate, and then that long,
ing after spirituality which has
raised men, in the course of long
ages, to those mountain peaks of
clear vision from which they can
look unafraid into the eyes of Deity.
When our Teutonic ancestors, In the
depth OF their dark forests, raised
an altar to the goddess of Easter,
and brought thereto the first fruits
of the year, they were given host.
ages to hope. When, further back
in the childhood of the race, our
Persian forefathers, watching from
their hill-tops the rising OF the sun
of spring-time, chanted hymns to
the god Of light, and rejoiced that
the night of winter was over and
the morn OF promise was at hand,
they were shadowing forth the most
solemn mystery and miracle of the
ages. When the fathers OF these
Persians, rocked in the cradle of hui
manity. saw in the egg the the sym.
Dol OF the universe, they were un-
consciously proclaiming the most
enlightened of all the cosmic theor-
les, and wherever we look, amid the
gods OF heathendom, we see seeds
of the flower Of thought OF the pres
emit.
Now, from the Himalayas where
the first feeble roots Of our race was
planted, round the whole wide cir.
Gle of the globe, the ringing OF the
Easter bells proclaims the enlarged
orbit of hope. The old gods, the
gods that were for man and were
made servants to bis lusts and his
needs, are dead, and the Col in man,
the Christ that shall redeem him
from his errors, is risen, and is
Lord indeed. Long has been the
night. Nations have risen, grown
gray and fallen civilizations have
passed as tales that are told, but
through the wreck of systems man
has toiled toward the morning. Lit
tie by little, with bleeding feet,
stumbling and struggling, he has
still climbed upward. The gods 10
which he yearned, in his infancy, he
approached ITO find but clay to be
trodden in the dust. Their cast of
garments, moldering temples and
broken affairs mark his pathway, but
he, himself, is type of the miracle
of the resurrection. Out Of the old
sprang ever the new. Out OF error,
suffering and disappointment, the
iruition of grief. Out Of bloodshed
and brutality the institutions that
are the conservators Of peace and
progress. Out of the death OF ma
tons, the birth of new people and
| grander conditions.
Time was when death was queen
OF night, brooding amid the symbols
of decay and dissolution, yelled with
grief beyond which could be seen no
ray of light. Upon the breast of
this calm-eyed mother OF the uni
verse Christ's head was lain, and no
longer does her face wear the terror
of mystery. Devout as Christians,
or soothing as unbelievers, we may
still see In the divine story OF the
resurrection the wisdom which leads
the soul to peace. Gethsemane. the
world-old struggle between the evil
and the good, with the good victor.
ions. Calvary, the rugged heights
that we're trodden under the burden
OF the cross, brings the triumph Of
the immortal over the mortak for
where self is crucified the Son Of
God is purified Of sordid clay.
Wonderful and beautiful story.
that which is cofsmemorated noon
this dayl A man was born upon
earth, walked the ways of mankind.
suffered their griefs, was "a man OF
torrow.r
| So deep and fervid was His spir-
ituality, that all were drawn to Him
as to great light. Son of God. be
taught to his brethren the beauty
OF holiness, and His sel6ess life was
crowned with a death the most
shameful known 20 His times, that
the world might be taught that ig-
nominy borne for truth is glory, and
that pity and love can transcend the
utmost cruelty and wrong. These
are the Easter lilies that bloom for
us today out Of the soil OF the past
and as the way OF sorrow has been
sanctified by the feet that have trod-
den 1t, We may go forward joyfuIly,
knowing that 1t viii lead us 10 that
| grand Easter where we shall be glad
| when angel choiEs sing of our soul
that .'Christ has risen from the dead
and become the first fruit OF them
that slept.