The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-04-02
THE MURMUR
OF THE WORLD

The dawn of this day marks Easter mofns
Ing. 1t marks a time for rejoicing in thu
Christian world. and so brings rejoicing to
every Christian heart the globe around.
The days of fasting and penance ard
past; and they day of gladness is come.
Great banks of flowers rest upon the altar
and festoons swing In the chancel There
are light and life and color with the wors
shippers. The dull trappings Of dark old
winter have been laid aside. The peniten-
tial shadow has passed from the face Of
the maiden, and her pure heart, chastened
by rejecting upon the counsel of the priest,
bounds with a new life and new purposes,
and the world in all its beauty can scarce
contain her expanding soul. From the sa-
cred desk the servant of the Most High
tells again the old story of the resurrection,
and his voice rings with a higher note of
cheerfulness than one is wont to hear.
The music of the choir is triumphant and
glorious, and the very atmosphere quivers
with the exultant notes of praise.
Hail, Easter morn! Hail. man of God
musician; maiden at prayer; children chas-
ing butterflies across the flowery garden
all hail! Farewells will come in the full
ness of time. 1t is all hail today. The
darkness and dreary cold are past. Dis
content flies away like some phantom fig
ure in disordered mind. Care casts an
Choir in the harbor of a dream" All our
yesterdays, blessed or damned, are forgot.
Today is the glad Easter, gladdest ami
versary in the scroll of the worlds redemp-
ton. In the white light that beats from
the cross in there happiness. The sun
kisses the summit of Calvary, and no
shadow falls. Everywhere we read the
sign by which we shall conquer. 1t is in
the face of men and maidens, and little
children laughing their little souls out in
the sunshine 1t is in every flower bursting
in sweetness and beauty upon every bank
and in every nook on this great round foot.
stool of God. 1t is emblazoned upon every
tree that filings it's giant arms upward as IL
in some sabine hosanna to that divine
power which created it. 1t glisters upon
the peak, and is blessed shrine in the VAL
ley. The sign given us of old is every
where.
High above the ringing of the bells this
morning are the voices of truth and justice
and mercy, of charity and benevolence and
BTdleluiHeSS. IL Easter teach us not 10
hearken to these notes, then it teaches US
nothing save vanity. The bells ring
mighty anthem in the cathedral of space
where rolls the earth. In their notes is
something of wild exaltation, as if they
were living entities in the divine plan for
the redemption of man. So let US compre-
bend the music of the bells; and let us
hear above their notes the roar of univer-
sal Truth, subject to which is every virtue
known to humanity. The Eternal Verify
is antocrat of all the moral world, and
from its DEGREES there can be no appeal and
no escape. This is the most impressive les
son of the Easter. From a million affairs
today it will be taught, and in hundred
million human hearts it will find echo that
is in reality the voice of Truth. And truth
is the soul of liberation, of gentleness, of
hope. of consideration for others, of the
wider human sympathies!
Love thyself less; cherish those hearts that
hate thee:
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
TO silence envious tongues. Be just and
fear not:
Let all the ends thou aim st at be thy coun-
trys,
Thy Gods and truths then, if thou falrst.
o Cromwell,
Thou fall'st blessed martyr. Serve the
king,
And-pr'ythee, lead me in:
There take an inventory of all I have
10 the last penny: tbs the kings: my robe,
And my integrity to heaven, is all
dare now call mine own. Cromwell,
Cromwell,
Had l served my God with half the zeal
i SpTW'1 m inc he
Have left me naked to mine enemies
Wolsey did "by indirection find direc-
ton out" He came at last to truth, but
at what cost! The first man of the world.
he fell victim to his lust for yet greater
power and to his actual inhdeity to the
king. AT last he who scared so high fell
so low that he came to 'beg little earth
for charity The fate of Wosey is the fate
spiritually of all men who betray. There
Is no escape from the penalties of unrighte-
BUSINESS. The way of the transgressor
must be forever hard. The liar, the bigot.
the intolerant, the murderer, the thief
all must tread the thorny path and come at
last with bleeding feet to repentance that
may be unavailing. Sin may faunt its
for day, but there comes a night that
may not end in all the vast sweep of the
hereafter. 1ll-got gains of any sort are
dearly bought. Retribution is Inevitable
As Wolsey found it, so must every man
and woman in this world find who goes the
way of the unrighteous.
But upon the just and the unjust alike the
rain falls and the sun shines. God is good
In the plans of the Father "every prospect
pleases, and only man is VILE" For the
sun shines on us all! as the negro min
strel song ran in the long ago. when youth
scared into the empyrean The flowers
bloom, children laugh, birds sing. the sun
beams play hide-and-seek amongst the DAT
1odils and the violets. These gifts from
the gods are to mankind. The miserab, est
beggar in the street can enjoy them ON This
glad Easter IL he so Wills. Diogenes had
nothing to ask of Alexander except THAI
the greatest of all the world-conquerors
should not obstruct the sunlight that fell
upon the PHILOSOPHER s'What NAV do