Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-04-02
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THE EASTER HOPE.
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AoC CAS LAs IlO1
By Rev. II. W. Harrington.
But now is Christ risen from the
dead and become the first-fruits of
them that slept. Cor, XIV. 20.
The days of spring come laden with
promise. 1t is strange nature that
Is not stirred into rejoicing at the vic
tory of the new season over the old,
at the return Of life after death. Ev
cry swelling bud and opening flower
Is pennant waving in triumph over
the field where the long fight between
life and death has been waged. The
flowers speak Of more than the passing
Of time; they speak of the passing Of
the tyrant who robbed us of them last
year.
Easter is more than a church festi-
val; it IS the festival Of all nature. AS
at the creation the morning stars sang
together, SO at this new creation Of
another years beauty the birds, the
trees, the flowers, the weeds Of the
Of happiness. 1t is the birthday of
hope. He who had never seen the
changes Of the season might we'll have
wept bitterly when autumn's winds
swept bare the trees and the flowers
dropped in the gardens, thinking that
he was bidding them farewell forever.
How now would he rejoice at their re-
turn to learn, in spring, that death
had been with them no more than a
seeming, its victory a pretense. Grad
ually, as the spring came year after
year, he would learn the great secret
Of nature, that all its endings are but
beginnings, that life can never cease
to be.
Easter Is the birthday of hope in a
greater realm. Our lives are but as
single seasons; then comes the
autumn, the falling leaf. We say this
is the end; there will be no more the
flower. the leaf, the life; the dread
winds of winter sing their dirges Of
despair. But If the weed of the way
side Is worth bringing back to it's brief
beauty, if the buds break forth again
On the trees, is 1t possible that our
lives have no returning spr,ngtide
after their winter? Is there only one
set Of seasons for humanity? Are we
separated from the law that no, life
can cease to be? Sown in sorrow, like
seeds in the fall, shall we not come
to fa1rer life? And every living thing
IN all our fair world answers clear
that life is ever lord Of death"
This IS the message of the Easter
tide, a new life out of the old DEATH
Death has lost it's terrors. Instead
OF prison 1t has become an avenue.
just as we now rejoice when a new
lie comes into our world, SO shall we
also rejoice when a life goes out.
knowing that it goes into larger Iiv-
Ing fairer springtide awaits it. We
see that God makes winter as we'll as
summer, our exits as well as our en-
frances; that the winter is essential
to the spring, the exit on one level to
the entrance on another.
Why, then, did men, with this les
son OF nature writ broad before them,
sit SO long in darkness? Why failed
they to read the promise of natures
acted parable? Great souls did see
its meaning; large hearts hoped for
larger things. Many dimly felt that
their longing would be satisfied, and
they waited for a more sure word.
Then came One who so lived as to be-
come the authority on life He so
lived as to make all listen when he
spoke on life. He so lived as to teach
men how to die and 50 died as to
teach them the secret Of life forever.
He faced death without fear, with the
sublime confidence that in some meas
ure has come to 80 many men In that
hour when delusions fall away. He
went down into the shadows with the
light of the coming dawn on His face :;
He went down declaring he would re-
turn.
Then somehow, 1t Is little matter
how or even just why, men learned
that He who had taught them how to
live had not felt the lesson half com
pleted; He had faced and solved the
greatest mystery Of life. He had
shown that beyond the winter there
was springtide for their lives, too
They did not stop to discuss foolish
questions; they knew that His life had
not been overcome by death, that the
great law Of nature held true here,
that no life could cease to be. 1t was
word for which the word had wait
ed. They saluted one another, saying,
"He is risen" Henceforth men had
their part in the springtide anthem of
all nature.