The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-04-04
eENUInE EASTER SERMON
TExT OF THE DiscouRsE peLiv-
Erred SUNDAY ~ REV.
ANpReAs BARD.
To illustrate Gees Love for Man
Christ Points 70 the Laws
Of Mature.

Easter services at st. Paurs church
yesterday morning were largely at
tended despite the rather Indictment
weather. Special music was rendered
by the choir. Rev. Bard took as his
text for hts sermon:
IF God 80 clothe the grass Of the
field, which today is, and tomorrow il
cast into the oven, will He not much
more clothe you, o We Of little faith?''
Christ.
my text is a genuine Easter sermon.
To illustrate Gods love for man Christ
points his hearers to natures laws
There we see that not the tiniest flower
is forgotten by it's Creator. Not only
the lilly, but the violet is remembered,
not only the oak, but the acorn; not
only the stars of heaven, but the grass
of the field. This 50 not poetry; it is
science. We find as much care and
wisdom in the straying thread Of a
spiders web as in the formation of Mt
back of the hand is as miraculous as
the grandeur of the milky way. A
mosquitoes wing is as carefully design
ed as the icebergs of Greenland. 1t is
therefore not a dreamer's Illusion, but
truth based upon closest observa
ton, when the Master exclaims: IF
God so clothe the grass of the field
which today is, and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, will He not much more
|clothe you, o We of little faith"
Beloved, you have come here this
morning by the hundreds to hear some
words of hope. In world where the
fairest rose must crumble, where loves
sweet dreams must fade, where tomb
stone ends human struggles-who
would not eagerly look for a message
| which might tighten the dreary path
with the star of hope and point beyond
life's dull routine to higher purpose
| and design.
But the message alone does not suf
| flee. Anybody can theorize. We want
facts. BE the illusion of grand here
| after ever so charming, it is nobler far
| to have bitter truth than to run after
senseless fairy tales. If thought for
moment that the star which cher
ish for the Immortality of the human
that the wish or reward was it's sole
motive and a final disillusion it's end,
that science and philosophy demanded
belief in the humiliation Of all we
value and hold dear-I say if thought
80 for a moment should certainly de-
cline to make myself the mouth-piece
of pulpit phrases long-worn-out, 1
should certainly be the first one to ex-
claim: LET us throw aside these rags
Of hase.ess comfort, let us face facts
like men. ,et us deal with the inevi-
table, though horrible outcome of
l
But thanks be to God, we have no
reason to haul down the old flag of
faith. Proudly it floats above the
realms of doubt, inviting the lonely, the
longing, the heavy-laden! AS long as
the world stands humanity has rallied
around it! Even the most benighted Of
tribes have seen the star of hope.
Wherever people have struggled to
find the truth and received naught
but the dumb despair of death; where
ever hearts have been woven to-
gether in love and finally parted at
open graves; wherever life has ap-
peared as a mystery ending as it
where in the greater mystery Of the
tomb; in fact wherever minds have
thought, hearts have felt, ideals have
been cherished, there we hear the gos-
pei Of hope, not the fad of time, but
the great topic Of all times, not the
opinion Of few. but the universal be-
lief, not limited to the simple, but &C
cepted by the wise-almost the one
common test of humanity! Culture be-
longs to a few; race is changeable;
color is differing: but the cry of the
human soul for God. for truth, for i'm
mortality comes from the soul of the
savage as well as from the lips Of the
sage; from the brain Of Socrates and
voltaire as well as from prayer of the
lowliest denizen Of Kamshatka!
well may ask: Has this common
cry Of the human heart no basis in.
fact? Is it all grand illusion. a dream
irridescent a notion. a fad? We know
indeed that nature has never created
an impulse without purpose We see
the migratory bird arising at the COM
ing Of winter and looking for warmer
chimes. We watch the little insect
placing its eggs upon leaf where ma