The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1911-04-15
AN EASTER MESSAGE

Power of His resurrection"
This is The way Paul puts it i'll
his letter to the Philippians, and hard
ly could an Easter prayer tind better
utterance. Paul was not satisfied to
know simply the truth OF Chrst's res
direction; he wanted to know The
POWER OF His resurrection; the
two sorts OF knowledge are as far apart
as Information and experience 1t is
one thing to know that the electric
battery holds a shock; it is another
and much ilore intimate thing to feel
the POWER OF thai shock surging
through ones own body You know
music-its place in the development OF
civilization. its standing as a fine art,
its actually, its character, maybe its
technique; you know its POWER when
some full tide OF melody comes pour
ing into your own soul as you hear
The pealing organ blow,
To the full-voiced choir below,
In service high and anthems clear,
AS may with sweetness, through mine
ear,
Dissolve me into ecsrasies,
And bring all Heaven before mine
eyes
10 know thing, and to know its
POWER, the VIDE distinction must
not be lost. TO make our Easter per-
feet is to understand the distinction,
and make Paul 5 prayer ours. 1t is
little to know thai Jesus burst the
bands OF death that He, who was
''crucihed, dead and buried" on the
.I,rI lo,, ,,,' H. 1. IL
promised; that on that eternally mem
orabie Easter morning eager visitors
to Joseph tomb lound it empty; the
Roman soldiers knew that, HAD TO
know it, and the knowledge meant
nothing or little to their lives As it
will mean little to our lives, as Easter
can be nothing more to us than an in
cident or fashion, un,ess we make
Pauls prayer ours-that we may know
the POWER OF His resurrection"
that the power of Christ's resurrec-
ton may pass into our lives, until
those lives are possessed and formed
transformed II may be- by it.
Wherefore else should we sons OF
men be saying one to another thar
THE Son OF Man is risen? Is it sim
ply the gladness Of men who see that
the tyranny o, dea.h is broken? Is it
merely that Life and Immortality are
brought to light; that what the world
has guessed at. it is now assured OF,
that continued existence is demon
strated fact; that because he lives we
shall live also Ii this were all it
would be little enough. Who among
us would dare count immorta ity a
boon il al it meant hrre simply the
endless continuance Ci lie: Are these
poor, purposeless lives OF burs so very
precious even in our own sight as that
we count it valuable to know that they
may last forever. Last forever: TINS
endless struggling, laundering. stumbl-
ing, falling: IS this all the message
the resurrection has to bring us? Is
that What Paul prayed for when he
prayed to know its fOWER? Or ra-
Their was it not that tins power might
so be his as that he should rise with
Him into newness OF lie 1t is not
the endless continuance OF the old life
for winch he or any man can pray; it
is the endless unfolding o. the lie that
is new, new in its perceptions, new in
lis purposes, new in its possibilities,
new IN ITS loves and hopes and ambl-
tons. 1t is the new man for the new
world, that is now and eyermorc.
This is the nearing Of the resurrec-
ton OF Jesus Chris. to him who knows
its power and in the content OF that
meaning lies al, lis JOY, all its sp!endor,
all its rich appeal. Ou' OF the squalor
a ndpoverty OF our poor lives. out OF
their struggle and sin, we come beg
ging this great boon-that we may
know the power OF HIS resurrec. ion;
that we may rise with Him into new
ness o. life. that the man | am may
cease to be-; and this is the Easter
prayer in which men OF all creeds and
al parties may join, without dissent or
reserve, because we are men. and not
brutes.