The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-04-08
A DAY FOR REMEMBRANCE.

Next Sunday all the Christian nations,
comprising more than four hundred million
people, will celebrate in one fashion or
another the anniversary OF the wonderful
resurrection of Christ. In all lands and
countries where the Christian religion pre-
walls, people will celebrate Easter Sunday
as the anniversary of the rising from the
dead of the Savior of fallen man. Chris
tan people may differ as to creeds and
articles Of faith, they may dispute about
points Of doctrine or practice. and they
may worship God under different forms
and church organizations, but all may
unite in the one fundamental belief of the
Resurrection and it's significance. In
some form Easter Sunday appeals to all
who believe that there was a Christ, that
he died on the cross and that he rose on
the third day. The broad and tolerant
spirit of our common humanity and COM
mon Christianity is sufficient to overcome
minor difference and unite all on the one
paramount fact for which Easter stands.
One ching is certain: The Christ who was
nailed upon a cross two thousand years
ago has made upon the human race such
an IMPRESSION as no other man has made,
and His power in the world to-day sur
passes, in q degree beyond computation,
that OF all other men who have ever lived.
After the lapse of twenty centuries His
faithful followers are counted not by mil
lions, but by scores Of millions, the spirit
of His teachings is embodied in benificent
laws atl over the civilized world, and the
nations living under them are, in every
case, the most enlightened, the most highly
civilized, the richest and the most progress
sive. These facts are beyond the reach of
controversy.
There is no other day that so profoundly
possesses the spirit of hope and courage
as Easter. Hope and courage truly we
have in the concerns of this present stage
of existence, but to circumscribe hope with
the borders Of the grave and to close
courage with the coffin lid, this is but
melancholy and self defeating employment
of these virtues.
Easter gives us the true hope and cheer
that which Tennyson desired when he wrote
that rather than the glory Of warrior, glory
of statesman, glory of song-"G me the
glory Of going on and ever to be'-a
thought and anticipation which immediate
ly puts real value on human life-on it's
efforts, SO sadly baffled; on it's achieve
ments, so transient; on its requirements,
SO incomplete. We can work with brave
hearts, We can delight without alloy, for in
the good we aim for, yet cannot attain, we
have the earnest, in the light of Easter, of
the good that we shall have otherwheres
for recompense.
Easter is a natural festival as we'll as a
religious one. 1t is the season of the year
when buds and flowers, the grass and
leaves first put in their appearance. They
are fifty called the perennial celebration of
the feast of the Resurrection. There are
certain flowers that are peculiar to the
Easter season, though they sometimes ap-
pear before this great day. The chief of
these is the Easter lily. 1t is known under
different names. Dante calls it the Lily of
Arna; Tasso, the golden lily; while our
Savior names it the field lily, which tolls
not, neither does it spin, but which sur
passes in loveliness all things else. The
hyaclnth, the narcissus, the violet, all
these are Easter flowers, each in itself
tiny symbol of the greatest feast of the year.
In all this beauty, this sweetness of
natures heart, which breathes and blesses
the divine life, is taught the central truth
that the end of all things is "to glorify
God and enjoy him forever