THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 58

THE GARLAND.

FOB THE QUIET HOUR

No. 294.

By Dtjncan Weight, Dunedin. HE IS RISEN. No sound of shouting men with victor's palms, No ainging maddens with triumphant lay, No splendid priests with offerings and psalms, Went forth to keep with Christ first Easter day Poor Mary's sigh, Her joyful cry, Her flying feet, Her message sweet Unto the brethren in their bitter needi "The Lard is risen! THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED I" This was the pealing song, the Easter cry. The thunder in the trumpets that should blow The joyful news to lands both far 'and nigh ' Till every sky with Easter light should glow, And every race Know Eiaster grace, In every tongue Be sweetly sung The Easter song that Mary still doth lead: "The Lord is Risen! THE LORD IS RISEJN INDEED!"

"Of all festivals in the Christian calendar, Easter is the dearest and most welcome to the faith and affection of true believers. And as such it has been observed in all branches of the Church, from the inception of the Christian economy down to our own. day; preachers and poets of all schools have vied with each other in eloquent laudation of 'the queen of days,' 'the chief and sovereign of all festivals,' as it is styled in early ecclesiastical literature. And surely, whatever may be our feeling as to the keeping of days and seasons, it is well that the Christian world should mark the recurrence of the day when Christ rose in triumph over death with some sort of becoming celebration. Or what if the precise day be doubtful ? The season is well authenticated as being that of the Jewish Passover, which is decided and rendered permanent by the movement of the heavenly bodies, the vernal equinox defining the time of the great Hebrew festival and of its Christian successor. Easter thus falling in springtime with us, all nature seems to conspire in awakening feeling of a grateful gladness 'as the day of Ressurrection' comes round. At such time, therefore, with the great inspiring truths of Christian faith brought fresh to mind, and with all nature leaping to new life around us, it is fitting that believers in Jesus should let their feelings go forth in igrateful exaltation—'that we should bring the emblems of our Eastern gladness into 'the House of Prayer,' filling the Holy Place with the fragrance of flowers, and pouring forth the anthems of a lusty praise in commemoration of Christ's victory over death."

I quote now from Hymns A. and M.: Our Lord is.risen indeed; Now is His work performed; Now is the mighty Captain freed, Andl death's strong castle stormed. The Lord is risen indeed; Then hell has* lost his prey; With Him is risen the ransom'd seed To reign in endless day. The Lord is risen indeed; Ho lives to die no more; He lives, the sinner's cause to plead, Whose curse and shame He bore. The Lord is risen indeed; Attending angels hear! Up to the Courts of Heav'n speed The joyful tidings bear. Then take your golden lyres And strike each cheerful chord.; Join, all ye bright celestial choirs, To sing our risen Lord. Canon Drew wrote : —"The reality of a man's Easter joy is a fair test of his' Christian sincerity. If we have at all felt sympathy with Christ in_ His sufferings, we must rejoice at the triumph which has ended them. If we do account our Christian faith as indeed the pearl of great price, we must rejoice at the event, which, more than any other, demonstrates its value. If we have staked our all upon the eternal future,.our hearts must indeed be glad at the memory of that majestic fact which shows that we have not wasted our efforts on some unsubstantial fancy. May our Lord vouchsafe to deepen in us this joy in His blessed Ressurrection; to give more and more practical expression in our lives ; and to satisfy it perfectly hereafter in that world, where, through His Death and Ressurrection, we shall be like Him, and shall see Him as He is." "In his short memorial" (Miss Stoddart tells us) "Mr George Russell says Canon Harry Drew, a son-in-law of Mr Gladstone, that on Easter Day, March 27, 1910, the rector of Hawarden wrote in his diary : day, very happy services. Up to 5 a.m I took the 8

o'clock choral celebration. One hundred and seventy-three communicants at 7 a.m. service. I took the 11 a.m. service, and midday celebration, Litany in afternoon, and the service again at 6.30. Total

number of communicants in Parish Church to-day, 432—1 think the largest number there has ever been. Laus Deo."

Morning! the utter gloom did wane to grey; Then waned the grey to silver like tho gloom: And) that o'er wider heaven to euch a bloom That all the landscape cast its ■ grief away.. And singing toward the Orient bailed Tho Bey! In all the mighty champaign was no room For e'en one mournful memory of that tomb Where in so late, thro' night so long, it lay. So didst Thou rise, O Light of Light! iso eye •. Beheld Thy first dawn from the grave, ana few Were those elect who in Thy vision knew The earnest of their immortality. But from that morning there shall grow ere long The whole world's glorious Day and Easter eong. HAVE YOU HAD AN EASTER? "If Christianity were nothing more than a pleasing sentiment, it might not only seem an ungracious thing, but an impertinence to proffer such an inquiry as that raised above. But while Eastertide is ushered in with peons of exaltation, with lilies, and the symbols and gifts that mark a season of festivity and joyfulness, the question may properly be asked : On what basis do all these things rest? To the Christian the answer is easy : Easter means a Risen Dord. And what is 'a Risen Lord ' Does it mean that His reasonable soul has been received into the heavens? But there is nothing extraordinary in that. We believe that the souls of the good and just have biaen for ages ascending, and are every moment ascending to God. That Christ's soul should have been freed from the power of death is what holds true of multitudes that have passed into the heavens before Him. ~No one, we imagine, whatever we may think of Christ, supposes that His soul was crucified on the Cross. Yet all the world keeps Easter Day. The music of Eiaster anthems comes down to the assembled worshippers like the voices of angel choir, while the breath of Easter lilies is more fragrant than the incense wafted by the high priests amid the solemn and gorgeous ritual of the Temple service. "Easter means a Risen Lord. It means a Saviour who died on the Cross, and who burst the fetters of the tomb; it means that His body saw no corruption, and that He brought that body back to newness of life from whose eyes the light had gone, and whose heart-beats" were stilled in that new tomb. Meaning that, it means that Christ had > won His double victory over death, a victory which man, too, must win, or be forever lost. For sin not only destroyed man's moral nature, but his physical nature as well; and it was necessary that, as Christ had won His victory in th© spiritual realm, He should also assert His sovereignty in the physical realm, so that through Him spiritual and physical death should be conquered. That Is what a Risen Christ means; that is what the solemn joy and exultation of Easter means."—(Anon). AN EASTER BLESSING. 0 Easter Day, bright day of days, My weary soul bursts forth in praise, As, radiant from the opening tomb, 1 see the Lord, my Saviour, come! 0 Eiaster sun, rise full and bright To greet the Risen Lord of light; Shine with His radiance and) confess Thy God—the Sun of Righteousness. O Easter lilies, fair and sweet, Beneatb the Risen Saviour's feet. His gracious breathings shall suffice To make y© flowers of Paradise. The Easter breezes, freshly borne Around the pathway of the morn, TTi'a loving words in mercy given, Transform to gentle "gales of heaven." Maidens and youth in happy throng, Carol to-day their sweetest song; Holy and humble aged hearts In the loud chorus bear their parts. As, Lord, with waiting feet they stand, Oh help them with Thy loving hand; Thro' ways of death which Thou hast trod, To rise, like Thee, THOU -SON OF GOD!