Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-31
REAL LESSON OF EASTER

In many churches today Will De
preached and from many pulpits VIII
be expounded the lesson Of Easter. In
set phrase and in studied period, pastor
and priest will tell Of the resurrection
Of Christ and Of the glorious promise
It holds for mankind. All over the
Christian world the day will be COM
memorated in peculiarly sacred fashion.
and the exordium drawn from 1t Will
sink deep into many hearts.
But there Is a sermon Of Eastertide
preached away from every sacred edi-
fee and voiced by no human lecturer,
which it behooveth mankind especially
to heed this Easter day. And 1t is SO
simple, so easy Of comprehension, so
beautiful withal that none need miss
it If he will but give ear to 1t, and find
sermons in stones" or in the higher
forms of natures own books.
Go you forth into the field today and
hear what nature has to say Of Easter.
Remember that the history of man
does not contain a time when an
Easter of some sort were not celebrated
in the spring. Ask why this is-why
the Christian Easter is merely the
most modern form of this festival; why
the resurrection day was placed coin
cident with the festival Of the spring,
and ponder. Then learn:
Spring is the season of resurrection
for everything that grows, save and
alone mankind. That is implanted by
GOD, inherent The very earth, at this
time, clothes herself in the green OF
youth. The flowers bud, the leaves
burst forth, the grub becomes the but
terfy, the chick breaks its egg, the
animals are with young. The regnant
power of rejuvenation is found in every
thing, animate and inanimate, and the
surging of new life is unconquerable.
Easter is the day of new birth, the sea-
son of new aspirations, plans, hopes,
achievements, from the lowest order of
created things. And all mankind's cele-
bration of it has this for a basis, and
has had from the earliest day recorded.
Only man has no rebirth at this time.
His span of life continues on it's natural
side and plane, without interruption.
His blood may stir a bit at the beauty
about him, but he puts forth no new
glories-he starts no new life. He is
alone exempt from the physical mani
festations of this yearly miracle.
This is because man, of all created
things, has within himself the option
of planning his own career. He alone
may pick and choose; may reason and
discriminate. The earth, the flower,
the fish and the fowl merely follow the
laws of their being without asking why
or whence. Man alone questions.
But with that power to question, to
select, to choose, comes mans RESPONSE
bility. He may follow his own path, but
emust accept its end and consequences.
If he would be good he must move
along the line of goodness; if he depart
therefrom he finds evil inevitably.
Now the lesson for his Easter that
denied him physical revival of his
forces at this season, God has provided
for him spiritual one. Easter, as con
ceived by some Christians along mar.
row lines, appertains only to Christ's
rising, but as taught by Mother Nature
and God it means that every man may
have such a resurrection in his own
soul; that this is the time when he
should look to it that his path is to-
ward that possibility; that he celebrate
his own Easter season in his own heart
by cleansing it of the old, dead desires
and evils and filling it with the new
born longings and hopes for better
things and times. AS nature blooms
into beauty, so let him permit his own
soul to expand into glorious flower, to
be renewed with the green of youth
and hope and growth, to glow with the
chromatic hues of the blossoms of
aspiration and achievement, and the
achievement and the golden fruit OF
good deeds we'll done.
Thus may man create for himself an
Easter of joy and blessing untold. 1t
is his to choose; nature shows him that
it exists; Christ has pointed out to him
the possibility of gaining it and has
made it real and tangible. 1t rests with
the man alone. Let him then learn
of his powers from both, and by a re-
surrection Of the better part of himself
within his heart make this Easter not
merely a time of memory of Christs
holy rising from the tomb, but an
actual, living season Of rejuvenation
for his own soul.