The Caucasian., 1907-03-26
picture which symbolizes the joy and
the guspel triumph of Easter morn.
The Empty Cross.

The Enpty Cross.
But this empty cross Of Jesus Christ
teaches us another Easter lesson II is
a reminder Of the glorious fact that,
though fer a little chile the scepter of
sin may seem to have the w~r,d for its
kingdom, Yet III the end eternal right
shall surely triumph. 1t implies the
promise that. though for Il little while
Christ may be put upon the cross and
hidden away in the tomb, yet there
will surely come day when he shall
step out of his tomb and all his enc
mics shall be scattered. even as the
Easter morn chases away the darkness
of the midnight.
1t is not the power making the great
enduring strength Neither is it the
day of evil which has the longest twi-
light what are you making such &
fuss about%" | asked a bitter january
wind some years ago among the Mich
igan hills. oh answered the wind,
Il am going to bring down a blizzard
from the far north. Then I am going
to pile these fields up with great snow
drifts. Then | am going to freeze ths
lakes SO thick with ice that the lum-
bermen can drive their sleds loaded
down with heavy logs over them. Then
am going to freeze up the ground so
tight that it will be as hard as rock
Then | am going to stop all the traffic
upon the railroad tracks. Then 3 am
going to starye the snowbirds and the
rabbits and freeze to death the deer IN
the forest ravines. Yes, am going
to make all living creatures eremble In
terror before my scepter of ice.~ And
we'll did the January wind keep its
word. 1t blew until the billiards. came
1t blew until the fences disappeared
under the falling snow. Ut blew until
it seemed as though man must flee
those Michigan hills for his life. But
after that north wind had exhausted
all its fury and piled up the great
snow banks everywhere and hung myr-
lads Of icy stalactites from every tree
branch quietly and gently the warm
sun came out Then the bright sun
beams kept kissing this snowflake AMI
kissing that snowflake and changing
this blade of ice into Il bar of gold
and that blade of ice into another bar
of GOLD and burrOWing here aud bur
rowing there until after awhile that
same sun brushed away every snow
bant>and began to WOO the buds out
of the trees and the grass ont of the
ground. and the sap began to flow
and the birds began to build their
nests, and spring and summer took the
place of the bIiZZards and the frostS
of winter All. no. it is not the power
making the greatest noise which al
ways has the most enduring strength
An Old Legend.
Many centuries ago there was il great
assemblage of the forces of nature. and
they said: let us build a tower of
Babel Let lis erect Il huge fortress OF
rock which shall be forever Il monu
ment to our strength SO the earth
twist this old earth all out of shape
We will throw the rocks aslant. and
we will pile them one upon the other
Then the fervent heat said. Il will
strike this Old earth and make it shriy-
ell up like dried orange Then the
volcanoes said "Out of the center of
the earth we will vomit up great noun
tains of lava We will build a huge
mountain range of rocks that the fires
cannot burn and the eternities cannot
level" SO these forces of nature Went
to work They piled up huge mountain
ranges which seemed to be impregna-
BILE and inaccessible fortresses for all
time But after these rough forces OF
nature had finished their work col
lection of white fieecy clouds began to
sail across the heavens. Then they
came to the great mountains and said,
Let us undo the work of the earth
duakes. the volcanoes and the fervent
heat" SO these white fieecy clouds
went over to the sea, and they dro., ped
their golden buckets into the deep and
filed up their reservoirs. Then with
their white wings they flew away to
the mountains and began to let that
water fall upon the mountain side
Then that water gradually and yet
surely began to wash away the dirt
and the rocks of those mountains
1t washed those mountains down into
the valleys. and it kept on washing
them down until after awhile the little
drops of water were able to level the
unscalable fortresses which the vol
canoes and the earthquake had piled
up into great mountain ranges, seem
ingly strong enough to defy the eter
mites themselves. 1t is not the power
making the greatest noise which al
ways has the enduring strength.
"Aha,' cried the sanhedrin. 'Aha.
cried the synagogue. Aha" cried the
Roman profligate. "Aha.' cried all the
intrenched forces of sin. I'VE shall
forever live and triumph if we can
only slay this upstart, Jesus Christ
So what did they do? They united
their forces of evil. They defied and
overrode every law of justice. They
captured Jesus by night. They ran
him to court and tried him by night
which was contrary to every known
Hebrew and Roman usage. Then in the
early morning they hanged him upon
tha cross Then they Stood at the foot