Easter, The Glory of the Lord is Risen Upon Thee

1906--

EASTER -- festival of the springtime, commemorative of the great event which is the foundation of our religion and upon which is builded our hope of better things -- is the great Christian holiday. The resurrection and its lesson -- these are the keynote of our belief; around them gather our hopes and upon them is firmly established our faith. There is no heart that does not respond to the inspiration of the Easter thought; there is no soul that is not awakened by the lesson that it brings.

Hope and faith -- these are the suggestions of Eastertide. Hope of better things and faith that these things are to be, these are as natural to the human heart as is the song of the bird in the spring sunshine. The faith for which Easier stands is inherent; it "depends upon a sense of it begotten, not upon an argument for it concluded." As the spring sunshine, obscured for a time by lowering clouds, finally bursts forth in renewed splendor, so this faith, weakened perhaps at times by doubts, conquers them at last and finds strengthening power in the passing trials of this life.

And our hope, renewed by this faith, finds proper expression in the jubilant note of Easter, the highest thought of the soul. The Christian church has not invented this festival; the human heart has ordained it in response to the demand born within us for an expression of the reviving hope of eternal life. The austerity of the old Puritans frowned upon this, as upon other church festivals, but it has survived as all ceremonies must endure which have their origin in some deeply rooted necessity of the human nature.

In the awakening of living things from apparent death which takes place at the Easter season, we find the symbol of the eternal life for which we hope and in which we have faith. Our physical being responds to the inspiring call of the springtime and our spirits answer to the call of Easter; we find abundant reason for singing its carols; these songs are the expression of the heart's desire; they are the voicing of our strengthened hope. It is the song which the prophet sang, ages ago: "Arise, shine; for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord is arisen upon thee."

--The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, April 15, 1906, page 1 of editorial section.