Cleveland County herald., 1919-04-10
VICTORY OF HOPE
Easter's Teaching Is the Dis- polling of Gloom From the
 Hearts of Mankind.

" ToPE that springs eternal in the
 E- human breast does not de-
 n pend upon the latent fatalism
 in humanity for it's justifica- tion-such a hope holds no key to event. And without this key hope is but in reality a hopeless expectancy. Events, governed by that outstanding law of reproduction by which degen- eracy and decay follow all things in the mutable course of nature, would bring mankind back to the stage of savagery and leave to him naught but the material environment of his imme- diate activities. Events must be con- quered, regulated, subordinated, con- trolled, even glorified. Hope springs exultant in the human breast, because there is something that can certify to hope. This is the divine spark in the human breast, becoming in many cases luminous ray that shines up- on the entire pathway of life. It was fitting that when the women came to the tomb early upon the first Easter morning they should find that an an-
  of hope over the most malignant ad- verse event of experience-the event of death. Nor is it strange that the consciousness of this victory for all men has transformed human life and causes the Christian to take on a glory of effulgence that is to be derived from nothing else.
 That Sure and Certain Hope.
 If there were no resurrection from the dead then were we, of all men, the most miserable, wrote the apostle | whose life was luminous with the light of certified hope-a hope vic torious over events that drove him for ward in his missionary itineraries l throughout Asia and into Europe. Ma ture was turnedr to by him to disclose | the analogy for the open doors of the l tomb; scripture was likewise turned | to, and his own knowledge of the res urrection of Jesus was, last of all, l called into play in order to point his l marvellous discourse upon the resur- l rection of the dead. Nature, revela- l tion and personal testimony all give | the same account that death is robbed | of sting and grave of victory. Easter | is precious to human kind, because it l teaches that all things may be con- quered by hope that is based upon | living faith in God and his good pur- pose to give life rather than to de- stroy, to impart blessing rather than to withhold, to grace human life and | to wipe out the disgraces of human failure.
 The undimmed hope of humanity in the final triumph of the good is based | largely upon the testimonies to the | triumph of the ineffably good one over the might and dominion of death. | Faith has garlanded hope; thus graced | it scorns to consort with fatalism. l Faith has given of it's precious blos- sons for the decking of hope, and it | will not companion in the dark with mere material destiny. The skies look [ down upon the riven tomb. The open | tomb reveals the glorified angel. The | angel discloses the fact of the resur- rection of the dead. Event, direful ! and universal event-death itself-tes- tifies to the power of the undimmed l hope of mankind made precious | through Jesus.
 Hope Eternal.
 . The undimmed hope cannot be | clouded by the shedding of blood. Did | not the old law that pointed to the 1 stricken form of Calvary say that