The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-10

Blessed be the God ana rather or our
Lord Jesus Christ. which, according to His
abundant mercy, hath begotten us again
unto Il lively hope by the resurrection Oh
Jesus Christ from the dead TO an inherit ei.
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you'll Peter j. 3, 4.
The text itself is an argument. 1t ex-
presses a change in the minds of the disci-
pies from dependency to hope, from gloom
to joy, from doubt to faith. If there be no
adequate cause to explain this change, a
psychological miracle has been wrought
without reason.
The resurrection of our Lord alone meets
the exigencies of the problem. That is the
explanation which the disciples themselves
give Such an occurrence is absolutely nee
essary to explain their marked transition
from the deepest dependency to a faith
and hope which welcomed persecution and
death itself. 1t was the birth of the worlds
new hope.
Consider some of the elements of this
hope. Its keynote is victory. 20 death,
where is thy sting? grave, where is thy
victory? Thanks be unto God who giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ" That is the meaning of Easter.
Let the bells ring. Let the flowers breathe
their fragrance. Let music float out in in
spring strains. Our Lord hath triumphed
over death, and has given to the rich
assurance that we, too, may be conquerors.
There is also involved the hope of the final
victory of holiness. IT was not possible
that He should be holden of DEATH" be-
cause holiness cannot be kept in any sepul-
cher. Thou wilt not suffer Thy holy one
to see corruption 1t was the power of
holiness that raised Jesus from the dead,
nd hxyf fob lad 10 holt hot
holiness the day will win. 1t has it's tenn
porary defeats, but it is unconquerable.
On every field of conflict where wages the
battle between right and wrong the banner
of Christs holiness shall yet float victori-
ously. This elemental principle will burst
every grave in which it may be temporarily
buried. 1t will ride over every foe which
stands in the path of it's victorious march.
Clothed with this holiness, we are endued
with the power which raised Christ from
the dead and which shall also quicken our
mortal bodies, and which even in time is
irresistible and incapable of permanent de-
feat.
Furthermore, there is involved in this
hope the deep desire and the earnest ex-
pectation that we shall meet the loved ones
gone before, and shall one day be presented
TO the illustrious dead of all the ages. They
are living somewhere in the far away, and
because they live we cherish the hope that
when we pass hence we shall greet them
This is part of the gladness of Easter. I'VE
sorrow not as those who have no hope"
This is the reason we bring our flowers and
our songs and our loud hallelujahs. Our
dead are not shut up in any sepulcher.
They enjoy the liberty of life.
Those we call the dead
Are bredtherS of amDler GaV.
For ever nobler ends
And so this love in our hearts for them
this love that we feel to be undying-
leads us to think Of the joyous day of re-
union.
Through this hope, again, we rest in the
assurance of realized possibilities. If man
cannot fix his soul in the conviction of i'm
mortality, then he alone of all Gods crea-
ton strikes the note Of incompleteness. The
day fulfills itself in the dawn; the bud in
the flower, the seed in the harvest, the river
in the sea. But no man has ever lived-no
matter how long his life-whose desires, as
pirations and intimations could find fulfil
ment in time. Life is too short. We do but
just begin to develop here, and if there be
no future life man alone will be the great
exception to the universal law which gives
to every thing and every being an oppor-
tunity to realize its life. His broken song
shall yet round itself out into glorious
melody. His highest dreams shall yet come
true. His soaring imagination shall yet
find that it's loftiest flights have not trans
cended reality.
Here sits he, shaping wings to fly,
His heart forebodes a mystery,
He names the name Eternity"
Christ's resurrection is the answer to his
foreboding and the wings he is shaping
will find ample scope for their exercise.
Cur text tells us that we have been be-
gotten again unto living hope. It is liv-
ing in it's vividness and intensity. The
world has ever entertained the hope of i'm
mortality but not until the resurrection of
Christ did it become clear and luminous.
Prior to this time it was as the twilight,
dim and uncertain. The glorious and full
light of the sun flooding the earth with
brightness was wanting. Now the dawn
has given place to the day. 1t is sunrise in
the world. The green grass is bediamonded
by it's light; the waters mirror back its
glory; the flowers are tinted by its beauty,
and the orchestra of nature under it's in
spiration is pouring forth such melodious
and triumphant strains as might almost
make the angels envious. There is light
and warmth and beauty for all the sons
as a dream, but as a. conviction founded
on the sure word of promise Because
live, We shall live also"
This hope shows itself to be living in that
it has energized every department of life
and of thought. AS the tree feels the life
giving sap flowing through it's trunk and
making it's presence known in every branch
and twig and leaf, so the w orld's civiliza-
ton has grown and expan led and bios
somed as it has yielded itself to this warm
current of hope flowing through every vein
and artery of its many-sided life. 1t has
given to literature strength and virilty 1t
never knew in those days. when the skies
were ashen and sober, and the leaves were
crisped and sere." Poetry without this hope
is a wail-a beautiful utterance with no
throbbing heart to take away its chill;
a frozen angel with no power to soar and
inspire AS representative of such poetry
take these lines:
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free.
We thank with brief thanksgiving whatever
gods may be
That no life lives forever.
That dead men rise up never.
That cen the weariest river winds some
where 20 sea-
Over against this lugubrious plant, this
moan of a soul that feels mo bright shoots
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