Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1914-04-30
TO LIVE ETERNALLY
Such Is the Glorious Message Of
Easter Revealed by the
Empty Tomb.

Rkxu 4puOt- LDuB UcAVtG We O ~ tAnS ~.
Easter morning. Easter bells and an
thems toll around the world. Up and
down the Rhine, over the German
ocean, through Merry England, across
the Atlantic, beyond America and the
Pacific to Sunny Japan one continu-
Gus roll and resonance of music, de-
claring Jesus is Risen. and the Tomb
is empty!
Twenty-four hours of gladstone
music! felt in every home and heart;
heard in every street and boulevard:
heralded on land and sea. Think of
1t! And all about the Incompatible
Christ!
So was it in the remote past, on the
resurrection day. Men and women
spake in superlative terms and gave
evidence to enthusiasm that beguiled
the mind OF its doubts, and intensified
the heart in it's love. Christ was the
inspiration of the soul in the first
great Easter. and he Is that today. His
face is not In eclipse now. His glory
fills the earth. and humanity responds
to it. gratefully singing.
Glory Of Easter.
But why Is this? How came it
about that his name is the theme of
eulogy and song. OF prayer and thanks
givings
The heart answers In loud acclaim:
Christ is the glory of Easter, be-
cause he lays bare to man the infinite
tenacity and vitality OF the soul. He
assures the world that the soul en-
dures and persists. The body alone
goes down. but personality continues
forever"
Therefore, there is ring Of triumph
to Easter day; 1t declares and attests
the Immortality of the soul. 1t evil
dences beyond the shadow of doubt
that what we essentially are endures.
The soul, with its great hopes, per-
sistent aspirations and spiritual at
tainments, is as eternal as God. The
breath OF life, that was breathed into
man at the beginning, is imperishable.
A million years cannot exhaust 1t,
death cannot annihilate 1t. We began
in God and God is our goal. Immor-
tally is the logical and indisputable
predicate of our nature, and the resur-
rection of Jesus Christ is fact that
we can believe, because our nature an
ticipates it, Jesus Christ we crown
Lord of All, because he converts
human hope into certainty, and mans
fear of death into Astounding optimism.
Now this concerns everyone of us
and appeals strongly to each heart.
for In the last year many new graves
were dug in the Greenwoods of the
world In spite of the brilliant and
beautiful Easter colors, the signs of
mourning greet us on every side.
Under the draperies Of sorrow is the
heart that never ceases to inquire:
IF a man die shall he live again ?"
There have been tears, and there will
be more. There have been painful,
separations; ties, that endured for
years, are broken. There are vacant
chairs. and every one Of them is an
Interrogation point. The path to the
tomb is in constant use; men and
women are coming and going. Though
1t be Easter day, the surrounding
world is kneeling in the Gods Acre
of Time, and bordering the great
thought of Job And oh! the JOY
that the spring breeze bears in it's
bosom the soul-stirring message--the
tomb is empty, the grave is shorn Of
its powers, death is swallowed UP
in victory! Though the sepulcher were
of granite, sealed and rebound with
bronze and iron, it cannot hold the
soul in Bondage; it leaps In majestic
aff1uence and vigor to continue unin-
terruptedly in the presence of the
eternal God.
ImperishabIe Life Ours.
With the Christ we live externally.
Our lot is not that of the grass which
withers, Ior that of the beasts that
perish. We are not like star-dust, that
CLEANS in the night and drops in the
abyss of space and is no more. The
stone is rolled away, and the angels
speak to US, as to the disciples of old.
Seek not the living among the dead;
the Gibraltar Of Death Is taken and
dismantled, and he who was its pris-
oner is as free as the air that stirs
III the trees ana KISSES the 1mmeaSur-
able deepi"
Come, friends, as we live and jour
ney together, let US plan our lives in
the light of this great day. Let us hold
ever in our thoughts that immortality
is postulate of being and eternity is
our native cline. Let us not imagine
for moment that death is an inter-
ruption of life's plans; the dismal end
of virtue; the fruition of sorrow; the
destroyer OF hope. But. like Victor
Hugo, let US meet the future, believing
that we are rising toward the sky, to-
ward heaven our home. Rev. Calvin
w. Laufer.