Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-04-01
The MESSAGE OF EASTER.

Walter Williams, In Pueblo Chieftain.
Easter is a promise thai weeping
may endure for a night. but Joy
cometh in the morning. There are no
cemeteries in the New Jerusalem.
There is no sorrow there, nor tears.
It Is always Easter morning in heaven.
So Easter means a shutting up of
the fountains of grief. an enclosing OF
the sources of smiles. 1t brings back,
In the bloom of health, the stricken
form we laid away but yesterday. out
worn with LIES battles, In the vault OF
earth. In it's giorius lige we see. tod
ding up from the tomb, the dear little
figure, so dear To use that we listen for
its pattering feet with every passing
hour, SO dear that we can never close
pur eye to the memoir of it's face on
pur ears to the echo of its long silent
goice-the little child comes back to
fwell with use forever. There shall
be nc night there" and no tired chill
ningtide to rest.
Bearer dead than child or friend or
brother somtise are hopes and aspira-
tons. No mourners go about the
Btreets when We lay therese away. We
wear no Grape, WE chow no outward
eigns OF grief. save q certain grimness
about the mouth or downward droop
IF the eyes. Only when we sit alone
IN our chamber or when we unbare our
hearts holy of holes to our closest
friend do we aver admit the death and
burial. Yet when q great hope is put
In %crernent forever. when an aspira-
Lion Is stricken unto death, the soul is
bowed In sorrow deeper than that for
which we wear the worlds sack cloth.
Easter comes to bring comfort even
here. There is resurrection even for
the graces OF buried hopes. No right
eous cause is ever lost. Nc hope has
come l n to mans heart to uplift and
inspire that will not bless him again in
the days to come beyond. Buried as
%pirations have their Easter mornings.
No great thought, no great desire. no
large and loving ambition. has eve
yet or will exist in vain.
Defeat Is sometimes success. The
largest disappointment often means
the greatest victory. The hymn of the
conquered is to be desired, many times.
more than the aeans Of triumph. The
failures of history are. I'm the Easter
lime OF the present, the worlds great
est successes. Paul was executed, Lati-
lmer beheaded. Savonorola burned at
he stake. Ignatius Loyola was misin-
terpreted and misunderstood, Roger
Williams was driven from Boston.
John Wesley was made q social out
past and John Knox an exile. The
Master died upon the cross-but
Easter came.
The happiest Of all funerals Is that
Where we bury ourselves. There Is this
lesson in Easter also. We amount to
little in this world az long as we are
.hnburied. We must lose this sna-ling
thing we call self before we can be of
Service. He who would save his life
must lose it. This is the glorious par
ndox that comes as corollary to the
treat truths of Eastertime. When we
ling self we find service and tranquil
lty. With service and peace comes
happiness. The death of self must
precede the Easter Of the soul. We
must be crucified before we can rise
from the dead. When self learns this
lesson there will be Easter all the
1t will no longer be "A yearly
miracle. but a daily fact, 1t will bring
punshine to every soul n peace to
every heart. We shall all dwell con-
tent. for having lost our lives we shall
found them our own forever.
And when the world learns this para
nox and lives 1t. there Will be no more
poverty and var n b%loodshed, The
Master will lie no longer in the tomb,
nor any of His children suffer.
The Easter lily mods at the altar. II
ts prophecy Of purity to come when
the Wilderness of soul shall never more
be tailned with seeking Of self. 1t ia
yet dark. but the stone has beer rolled
from the sepulcher and Dawn is
1T hanl.