News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-04-15
EASTER SUNDAY.
"A Paper Appropriate to the Season by
Mrs. Geo. wilkins of Stowe.

Mrs. Geo. wilkins OF otOWe.
Easter Sunday is day when near
~ all the churches in this country, as
well as in foreign lands, are filled to
overt owing; while the air is soft and
fragrant with the perfume of plant
and flower and resonant with the
voice of song and praise, in duet,
chorus and oratory. All nature
seems to rejoice, while the "birds, even,
dart forth and vanish, singing as
they pass" 1t is on this Easter Sab
bath morning, more than on any
other in the year, perhaps, that we
more fully realize the meaning of the
words, Christ is risen." He is, in
deed risen! "And if he is risen, then
shall we also be raised in his likeness
and image" This is a glorious
thought, that there is a life beyond.
That Through all ages one increas-
ing purpose runs, and the thoughts
of meu are widened with the process
of the suns" 1t is, indeed, a Joy and
comfort to know that when the whole
world was cropping in darkness, feel
ing after God, specializing upon the
purpose and questioning as to the
origin and destiny of man, that one
should rise from the dead to bring
life and Immortality to light.
Jesus said unto Mary, ego TO my
brethren and say unto them, | as
cend unto my Father andyour Faith
er; unto my God and your God"
Thus, as it we're, uniting in one divine
handclasp the frailest mortal on earth
with the divinest being in the uni
verse, the Father of all; thus as it
were uniting all life, all intelligence in
one continuous chain, which joins
heaven and earth, mortal and di-
vine, verifying the saying that mo
being any pain or bliss can know, but
touches some above and some below"
Can there be more inspiring view Of
life than this, that every effort is be-
ing made by all the unseen, invisible
forces in heaven and on earth to as
suage our griefs and Tighten our bur
dens? Every force in nature and in
the universe is calculated to benefit
mankind when rightly used and I'M
derstood. 1t is only our ignorance,
and blindness, perhaps, that stands
between us and happiness.
We have only to compare the con.
ditions and relations of human life
among the masses of the present age,
with those of past ages, to realize,
that, In so far as our yes are opened
TO see the tendency and the effect OF
the great moral and divine truths
taught by Christ and to accept them
and to live up to them, arc we
brought into harmony with God and
10 so far as we are prepared to use the
knowledge God has given us for the
benefit of all, just in that proportion
are the treasures that lie locked up in
the laboratory of nature brought to
view, and in just that degree are our
eyes opened and our minds enlight-
ened, and thus are we enabled to
catch the thought of omnipotence and
grasp the weapons and use the means
God has put into our hands. just in
that proportion are our burdens
ligntened and our tasks made easy,
while the gains and fruits in their sea-
son are made to flow through vari-
Gus channels into our granaries and
our markets, and the sheep and cattle
upon a thousand hills, the birds of
the air, the fowls of the earth, and
plants and trees, coal and iron from
the bowels of the earth, are by the
aid of forge, factory and furnace
made to minister to our wants, fur
nishing not only food but clothing of
the most beautiful and comfortable
material, affording warmth and pro-
lection to every human being. No
nation was ever so blest as ours and
no nation ever enjoyed equal rights
in go high degree as ours.
In so far as man lives up to the
golden rule, by doing unto others as
he would be done by, just in that pro-
portion he so improves the condition
of the race; so improves the mental
and moral faculties OF man that he is
put in frame of mind to think. re-
feet and invent. 10 fact, it Is in just
this ratio that men are raised to a
higher plane of intelligence and en-
abled to take in Gods thought and
to work in His ways, according to
his methods, the forces in nature, air,
water and electricity, making of them
machines by which all the hard labor
shall be performed, and instead of be-
ing obliged to carry all these heavy
burdens, men shall themselves be
carried, nurs9d and served in the
arms of nature by thepower that has
for ages lain hidden in the rivers, the
mountains, the coal beds, the winds
and the lightning. Had the hidden
power In these elements and forces,
been worked out in ignorance, bar
barism and superstition it would have
been used to Cypress the people,
crushing out all Infinite genius. But
the secret OF all this power lies in the
great soul of intelligence, divine and
human, and cannot be worked and
utilized upon any other basis than
that upon which God works. This is
upon the basis and principal of love.
"If We love me-" says Christ Eye will
love my brethren" 1t is only by low
ing one another, dealing justly and
kindly with all, that men can be put