Putnam patriot., 1918-03-22
Extract from an Easter Sermon
BY REV. F. D. SARGENT

BY REV. +. ID. SARGENT
Do you know of any one who cannot
tell what day this is? He must indeed be
blind or deaf or mentally clouded who
has not had his attention again and again
called to the fact that this is the anniver-
sary of the day when Jesus, the Christ,
came out of the grave. With merchants
labelling their wares with Easter memoir
ials, churches advertising their song ser
vices, and ministers announcing the
theme of their sermons, he must be dull
who does not know when Easter comes.
1t is the religious festival of the year.
True 1t is that the significance of the day
is appreciated by only comparative
few. As day of commemoration it has
without doubt degenerated and become
well-nigh a caricature of what it was and
might be. And yet we cannot afford to
lay aside the form, or abate one whit the
public advertisement of the day. From
one point of view it is sacreligious-butI
should hesitate to change it-this refer
ence to Easter as time for new adorn-
ments for the body. 1t would doubtless
shock our Puritan ancestors to see adVer-
tiSementS in our drVgoOds stores of new
Easter gloves, Easter jackets, Easter
dresses, Easter bonnets, etc But notice
that the day by this very fact finds
Judgment in many heart that otherwise
might not know anything ABOUT II.
No matter what the thoughtless throng
or the gay world may think or make of it,
it is and will be Christian institution. 1t
is day of gladness: day of flowers
and bright blossoms; a day of eXultant
music; a day of joy and esctatic anticipa-
ton.
The whitest line that Christ drew
across the black surface of his time was
that which he made in his teaching and
demonstration concerning death. He 1t
was that led captivity captive; and men
saw with amazement the king of terrors,
spoiled of his arms and fettered, walking
in the train of his triumph. Previous to
Christ the grave was mystery. Where
did the millions go? Was there another
life? Was there another and brighter
shore beyond the gloomy line? What
fortunes fell to the dead? Shall the dead
live again? With such questions men
were baffled, and ignorance, as is always
the case, begat superstition. Someone in
speaking of it says, Crude and horrible
fancies filled the world. These passed in
to literature and the widest fancies be-
came in time standards of conception.
Art shared in the delusion Death was
pictured as goblin shape brandishing
dreadful spear, and the tomb became
synonymous with dread. No wonder
men feared to die No wonder the fu-
ture wore a hopeless look.
But when Christ came all this was
changed. You remember what an incred-
ible saying it was to the disciples that he
should be buried and on the third day
rise again They could not understand it.
When he called to the dead Lazarus to
arise and come forth, he did more than
make demonstration of his miraculous
power: he gave shock to the entire sys-
TEN of superstition touching death which
dominated over the ancient world. The
scepticism of Thomas. He had seen Jesus
nailed to the cross He had seen His bos-
ON transfixed with a spear, he had heard
His death cry, and watched Him as He
gave up the ghost. He knew that He had
died and been buried, and was he to be-
leve those who painting with excitement
told him that Jesus was actually alive
again? 1t was impossible; fiat contra
dction of the laws of nature and all hu-
man experience. Was death, that dread
power the whole world feared, whose
shadowy sceptre ruled over all king
doms, whose lightest whisper the might
lest obeyed, at whose touch love shrivel-
led in the arms of love, and was dropped
from its embrace with shriek,-was
this awful event no more than a mantle
which a man assumes and lays off at
pleasure? Was a sepulchre of hewn
rock, only a bower in which this man
might sleep for night or two, and then
come forth refreshed? Well might he
say. Except | shall see in His hands the
nrint of the nails and put nv fingers in