The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1910-03-24
LIFE EVERLASTING.

from Heaven, which is our home" In
these words Wordsworth gives voice to the
faith, hope, expectation and longing of the
human heart. Easter Day is the browning
glory of the year. 1t is the day which
makes all other days worth living. "Take
its inspiration away and not only is the
Christian 'of all men most miserable"
but man is of all animals the most pitiable.
Reviving life spreads over the northern
portion of the globe these spring days, and
it is north of the equator that the first
Easter Day was kept. The shroud which
the dead winter wore has been removed
from the landscape. The whole world
breaks forth into bud and blossom, into
leaf and flower, into song and brightness.
The leaves which fell rustling to the ground
in the chill winds of the dying year have
again been placed upon the branches left
vacant by Death, and they stand forth
beautiful Gin newness of life." Bird and
stream and whispering wind all sing their
anthem of the resurrection.
Creeds may change, may die, may dis
appear. interpretations of creeds which
meant much to human souls may wither,
may be forgotten. The Easter hymns of
the past may be obsolete to-day. Theories
as to how the body shall be raised up may
give way to newer views. The apostles
metaphor of grain cast into the ground
and his notions of "bodies terrestrial -
may grow little dim to the eyes of the
chemist and biologist of the present time.
But the mind of the scholar to-day holds
just as tenaciously to the hope of immor-
tality as did that of the plain fishermen of
the Sea of Galilee, who saw the Master
appear to them alive from the dead.
. The verse above from the poet expresses
the view of Bishop Butler in the "Analo-
gy," that the soul is a creation separate
from the body, comes from heaven, and
''returns to God who gave it, We may
conceive of the soul as an integral part OF
our being, created with the body and form
ing the real essence of our being, the true
ego on which personality depends-"the
foundation of all our hopes and of all our
fears, of all our hopes and fears at least
which are of any consideration
The scalpel of the surgeon may fail to
show the soul as he strips muscle from
muscle, nerve from nerve, and member
from member of the body. The alembic
of the chemist may fail to intercept the
soul as he dissolves the tissues and liquids
of the body into their ultimate elements.
The rapt gaze of love may never have
seen the soul, as the beloved companion OF
many years, child or parent, wife or hus-
band, breathes the last breath. But
through all these impossibilities to reach
physical demonstration of the SOULS ex-
istence, the human heart refuses to give
up its hope or to relinquish its highest as
pirations. The eye of human faith will not
be turned downward into the dark recesses
of the cold and cherries grave. We will
not have it that the ''touch of vanished
hand" is lost forever, and that "the sound
of voice that is still" here on earth is
not heard in s'sweeter, nobler strains" in
a world where death can come no more.
There is thrill in the cry so death, where
is thy sting, O grave, where is thy VIC
tory?" which touches the profoundes'
chords of our being. 1t seems like natu-
raj echo of our Utmost selves. Materialism
may proclaim its sway over this world
death may point to the tombs and grave
yards of all the ages and say: "There
reign alone," but humanity with thou
sand voices replies: "Yes, but not for
ever, and not in the great Beyond" Faith
still sings on:
'There is no death;
The stars go down to rise upon fairer shore,
And there in heavens jeweled crown
They shine for evermore.'
Logic and rhetoric may interpose the
objection that the poets smile is faulty.
The human soul replies: "But yet am
and shall be for ever and ever" Daily
experience may point to deaths frequent
footsteps all along the paths of our daily
life, and to his many monuments reaching
back through all the ages. But the real
personality within US will still proclaim
1.-THE material world is not all the universe.
Matter is not the only fact. Matter is un-
stable and all its forms are transient -
There is above all matter the Father OF
spirits, who is without varisbleness or
shadow of turning" and we are His Off
spring. He cannot die, and because He
lives we shall live also.