Flowers! Easter lilies! Speak to me this morning the same sweet lesson of immortality you have been speaking to so many sorrowing souls for years.

Wise old Book! Let me read again in your pages the steady assurance that “to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Poets! Recite for me your verses that resound the gospel of eternal life in every line. Singers! Break forth once more into hymns of joy—let me hear again my favorite resurrection songs.

Trees, blossoms, and birds; and seas, skies, and winds—whisper it, sound it anew, sing it, echo it, let it beat and resonate through every atom and particle on earth, and let the air be filled with it. Let it be told and retold again and again, until hope rises to become conviction, and conviction becomes the certainty of knowing. Let it be told until, like Paul, even when we face our death, we will go triumphantly, with our faith secure and a peaceful and radiant expression on our face.

O sad-faced mourners, who each day are wending Through churchyard paths of cypress and of yew, Leave for today the low graves you are tending, And lift your eyes to God’s eternal blue!

It is no time for bitterness or sadness; Choose Easter lilies, not pale asphodels; Let your souls thrill to the caress of gladness, And answer the sweet chime of Easter bells.

If Christ were still within the grave’s low prison, A captive of the Enemy we dread; If from that rotting cell He had not risen, Who then could dry the gloomy tears you shed?

If Christ were dead there would be need to sorrow, But He has risen and vanquished death today; Hush, then your sighs, if only till tomorrow, At Easter give your grief a holiday.

A well-known preacher was once in his study writing an Easter sermon when this thought gripped him: “My Lord is living!” With excitement he jumped up, paced the floor, and began repeating to himself, “Christ is alive. His body is warm. He is not the great ‘I was’ but the great ‘I am.’”

Christ is not only a fact but a living fact. He is the glorious truth of Easter Day!

Because of that truth, an Easter lily blooms and an angel sits at every believer’s grave. We believe in a risen Lord, so do not look to the past to worship only at His tomb. Look above and within to worship the Christ who lives. Because He lives, we live. ABBOTT BENJAMIN VAUGHAN

Arise! for He is risen today; And shine, for He is glorified! Put on thy beautiful array , And keep perpetual Eastertide.

A little lad was gazing intently at the picture in the art store wind ow: the store was displaying a notable picture of the crucifixion. A gentleman approached, stopped, and looked. The boy, seeing his interest, said: “That’ s Jesus.” The man made no reply , and the lad continued: “Them’ s Roman soldiers.” And, after a moment: “They killed Him.”

“Where did you learn that?” asked the man.

“In the Mission Sunday school,” was the reply .

The man turned and walked thoughtfully away . He had not gone far when he heard a youthful voice calling: “Say , Mister ,” and quickly the little street lad caught up with him. “Say , Mister ,” he repeated, “I wanted to tell you that He rose again.”

That message, which was nearly forgotten by the boy, is the message which has been coming down through the ages. It is the Easter message— the story of the eternal triumph of life over death, the promise and pledge of man’ s immortality .

The grave to Him was not a terminus!

This is the day of glad tidings! Go quickly , and tell the message! He has risen! Hallelujah ! Christ has risen! Hades could not hold Him! Corruption could not devour Him! “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18). Blessed be God! Jesus lives to die no more! Go quickly , and tell everywhere the glad news!

And I think the Shining Ones marvel much As they gaze fr om the world above, To see how slowly we spr ead the news Of that Sacrifice of love.

There is, to my mind, a natural sequence in one of the accounts of that first Easter morning, as beautiful as it is suggestive. It is the story of the women who hastened to the sepulcher , and it says: “They came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun” (Mark 16:2 KJV).

The glory of Easter morn is the sacrificial r ed on the morning sky!

The man Christ Jesus.—Made in the likeness of men . . . found in fashion as a man.—Forasmuch . . . as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.—Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.—What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before?—He raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.—In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God.

I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.

I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.

My peace I give unto you.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Woe is me! for I am undone; . . . mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Fear not; . . . I am he that liveth.—Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.

We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.—He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.—Ye are complete in him, which is the head.

Forasmuch . . . as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil: and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

For Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest.

The priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.—When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.

Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.