The Glenwood post., 1911-04-15
A. ]. DICKSON, Editor and Proprietor
Saturday, April 10, 1911.
THE SIGNIFICANCE oF'EASTER

1t is not quite Easter, but it is noe
ont of the way to contemplate the tire
mendous significance of the event it
celebrates at any time. 1t stands out
by itself alone; it is a day that has
no duplicate in all the rolling ages.
Men had entertained angels; ii was
told that gods had talked with men; :;
but the dividing line that separated
the mortal from the immortal had new
er been broken down; the one was 10
live on and on forever; the other hal
been given divine faculties, thoughts
that compassed all the heights ana
depths. from the stars to the deepest
abysses; it thought to go up among
the angels and feel all their joys; to
mount the heights of literature and
touch its divinest chords; to open door
wonders to the light; to grasp and hold
for little space the ecstacy of love:
to feel the clinging arms of their chill
rem around them; to scale the heights
of glory and feel the thrill-that thrill
that comes when human valor tried by
fire triumphs; to feel the Joy of com
manding wealth and power; but just
before them always they knew there
awaited funeral pyre or grave ani
that the point of an arrow, the kiss
of a serpent or 4 breath of fever was
enough in an hour to convert them inrc
dust
So they lived as century after cen,
century unrolled. and the question was
continually asked: is this all:' with
no answer except its own echo coming
back from empty space,
Men clung to the belief that there
must he something beyond they in
vented gods and gave them immortal
ity: they filled the earth and air with
them; when the spring came and kiss
ed the earth and the SHOWS disappear
ed and the world again put on its
spring habiliments. they ascribed it to
god or a goddess and built altars to
him or her and offered their Obligations.
When a storm shook the world and
left its path only wreck and death,
then some god was offended and must
he propitiated; when they went into
battle they offered sacrifices to their
gods; the blaze of lightnings, the fight
of birds. the roll of thunder down the
stairs of the sky. were signs of them
which cunning men interpreted to the
masses to suit their own designs and
called the interpretations messages
from the gods
But the old doubts continued to dis
tress them for back from the immemor.
lal past there came no sight, no sound.
IF man die, shall he live again.
remained unanswered. But at last the
seal was broken. \ devoted woman
went to the grave of one whom she be
heved was divine, who has been slain,
TO weep for him there. But the tomb
was empty. and looking within, a radi-
ant one seated there thrilled her soul
with the words: He is not here; He
is risen
At last the answer had come and
the glory of it, the comfort of it, the
mighty significance of it, is as start
ling and as sweet as when those
words We're first pronounced to the
lowly woman. She could not begin to
comprehend the wonder. The wisest
man who has since lived cannot com
prehend them in their significance to
man.
In ancient days when in the capitals
of southern Europe and western Asia,
the storm-t tones went out of the winds.
the frost disappeared, the earth awoke
from her winter S sleep and put on her
spring blooms; when the migratory
birds returned and men heard the robin
call and the lark when she rose to hail
the sun; they set aside a day of
thanksgiving and praise that the
world had awakened from the death
of the winter and spring had come.
With the event described above
new wisdom had come to men; this
ancient day Of praise and thankfulness
for material blessings which come to
the proof that this life is but the dawn
of an everlasting golden day c. c.