The Quiet Hour.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 1025, 7 April 1925, Page 2

The Quiet Hour.

EASTER. '.-• ,(By H.P.) * " " A writer has said if is significant that no theory which has gathered about the life and death of Jesus has obscured the reality aud force of His position and power. These are independent of all theories. As the ages roll on. He stands out more clearly, more commariilingly, * more alluriugly than ever. The significance' and grandeur of the sacrifice Jesus made, and the value of His life arid message are manifest, and nothing can '« minimise the same. The cost of the Cross is not Simply 4n little self-deuials that do hot inconvenience us overmuch, but by courageous sacrifice matching the fight of -those who give life 'and. all it holds to the work of Christ m non-cbristian as well as supposed Christian- lands. To give the. equivalent is to give all. If the offence of the Cross has not ceased, surely the appeal of the Cross has not passed. The cost of the Cross includes the disciples' sacrifice. It is their privilege to fill up that which is behind the sufferings of Christ. Jesus was God manifest m the flesh. He (suffered, and died for us. He reconciled ns-to God. ' He brought redemption --to tbe world : He .was lifted up so that all who believe m Him may be gaved from evil and from spiritual death . ' He sealed His witness to the truth with His blood. When Jesus came the world was strewn with the memorials of shattered faiths and extinguished altar fires. Even the flame of Israel's hope_eemag_fl| flickering to extinction under the 1 stifling formal ties of ceremoniali&u* A ybung Rabbi from Nazareth had created -A; Sensation m Jewry by* pro* clai_iihs ihe' Kingdom of God w*a %t hand. ■" Away with him " the etkMUf cried. The paschal moon swung _JL into which had gone the pathetic . prayer to G9d : " Father\ fqtigiVetieyi for they know not what they dot* A modern poet, Matthew Arnold, surely knew not what he did when of Jesos i he sang : ."'•> A f . " Far off he lies In that lone Syrian town ; • And on his grave, y^ith pitying ey«s, Thesilent stars, look dawn." # A' man who sees only the unbroken grave of the dead Jesus might well himself be looked upon with pity by the silent stars. " Now is Christ eisen . from the dead." Resurection sue* coeds the crucifixion Christ rose again from the darkness. We can really believe that the Christ m whow we trust is living to-day in'theftitlexercise of 'His far- reaching' claim. " All power ia given unto meiri-heaftyß and on earth." There came' __*__ from the grave on that first; Easter morning, arrayed m the power of an endless life, One' whose purpose <ai mercy is. as wide as the bolinda <rfhuman habitation, and wkrose announced intention to gain w_ii_rsal dominion no craft of men or devils ca* set aside. Pcn tecos t with the: baptism of the Holy Spirit came after. "I am He that liveth and was dead, and b&- „ hold I am alive for evermore.": *