The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-14

from His Resurrection and Miracles.
{ John 2: 1-46; Luke z; lily; 3: Al,
q. 1856.
BY WILLIAM. T. ELLIS.
Easter is the day of triumph. It
tells of stones rolled away, of obstacles
overcome, of sin and the grave mas
tered and of the great victory which is
/ synonymous with life. The eternal de-
feat of the forces of darkness and
death is celebrated at this anniversary.
Christ has won in the supreme conflict.
and henceforth 1t is possible for the
least of US to live eonquering and
songful life.
The gardens unsealed tomb should
be the grave of gloom.
No man understands death. though
all understand that it is sure. The
/ Christian knows this, however, and the
knowledge should strengthen him to
meet it with unblanched cheek and
fearless eye; death Is only the servant
sent to conduct US to Christ. So why
fear that which means bliss unutter-
able and uncomfortable.
The grave is no longer dark since
the Sun of Righteousness once dwelt
therein.
Hope is the worlds need-as larger
/ purer, and better-founded hope. Much
| of the world is discouraged and much
! is despairing- It has no hope beyond
/ today or the satisfaction of the merest
material needs. Few people rise above
a bread-and- butter ambition. So this
/ old world needs an Easter, to fill 1t
with noble and Christly hope-hope
for a larger life today and for divine
/ life tomorrow. The Easter gospel of
hope is the only help for the needs Of
mankind.
It is always Easter in heaven.
Thousands of men have braved the
dangers of mountain and precipice
and avalanche and hunger and snow
and ice and rocks and rapids for the
sake of reaching the barren north
where gold lies buried. If for earthly
! treasure they lightly esteem those
perils. shall we, before whom is set
eternal riches shrink from the swift
] passage which men call death, into
that better country, where alone true
riches abound?
When for US to live is Christ then to
die is gain.
Through the open grave faith sees
an eternity of fellowship and JOY with
loved ones.
Physicians say that nature usually
prepares the body for its final dissolu-
/ ton. so that in most cases physical
death is painless and unconscious.
Thus God saves his children from
bodily suffering while they are leaving
this house of clay. If. then, our peace
| is made with God, so that the souls
life is assured, what possible cause is
there for brooding over a death that
is without pain or fear2
They alone are of high birth who
are born from above.
We shall leave behind us IN the
i grave all things that make life burden
! some.
The Christian loves to linger at the
! cross. to look upon Him who was
i pierced; to behold the wounds that are
Il forever the memorials of infinite love,
/ and to gaze in adoring rapture upon
1 the SaviOur's tender smile of compass
son which bespeaks a worlds pardon.
\ Yet we should also go often to the
garden wherein there was a new sepul-
cher When our eyes behold the open
tomb and the stone that was rolled
4 aWay"death's eternal defeat-and
| when our ears hear the Easter mes
4 sage: He is not here; he is risen. "
, we should join in the redeemed's
shouts of triumph: 20 death, where
is thy sting? o grave, where is thy
victory"
The famous words of Victor Hugo
!, OF Immortality are pertinent to the
SUBJECT
ST feel in myself the future life. I am
like a forest that has been more than
once cut down. The new shoots are
stronger and liyelier than ever I am
rising I know. toward the sky. The
sunshine is on my head. The earth
gives me its generous sap, but heaven
lights me with reflections of unknown
worlds You say the soul is nothing
but the resultant of bodily powers
| Why, then, is my soul the more
luminous when my bodily powers begin
to fail? Winter is on my head and
eternal spring is in my heart. breathe
at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs
the violets and the roses as at twenty
years. The nearer I approach the end
the palmer I hear around me the i'm
mortal symphonies of the worlds
which invite me. It is marvellous. vet
simple. For half a century I have
been writing my thoughts in prose
verse. history. philosophy. drama. ro-
5 nance, ode. song-I have tried all But
feel that I have not said the thou
sandth part of what is in me. Wher
. go down to the grave can say. like
so many others, 7 have finished my
ished my life Ny days work viii
begin again next morning. The tomb
IS not blind aIIev. It is a thorough
fare. It closes in the twilight to oper
with the dawn. Ny work is only be
ginning NY monument is hardly
above its foundation. would be GLAD
to see it mounting and mounting for
ever. The thirst for the INFINITE proves
infnity."
NEWS AND NOTES.