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Show The Hope, Memory and Reality of Easter By Rev. Albert Parker Fitch. (Of tho ConKri'Kutlonnl Church.) rSHK Resurrection, which wo cole-rff. cole-rff. brnto on ICastcr day, means ono of two things to most people It s olthor a memory or a hope. To tho young Into whoso souls tho wlso years havo not ground their expcrlcnco of pain, their proof of tho utter unreasonableness unrea-sonableness nnd malignant cruelty of lifo. If this llfo hero woro all, to them Knstor Is a far-off fading memory which has no especial significance for to-day. Jesus' resurrection Is an In-llnltoly In-llnltoly remoto event, n magical wonder. won-der. It occurred under other skies. In n distant land, nmld a wornont and forgotten civilization. To ho suro thero Is historical ovldenco for It, but they accept It, If they accept t at all, with about as much vividness of por-coptlon por-coptlon ns thoy accopt tho death of Alexander or tho assassination of Julius Cnesar. Thon, to older men nnd women, tho resurrection Is not so much a memory as a hope. It Is a hopo born of a dospornto necessity. Wo remember llttlo children who sleep In tiny graves to-day and our hearts demand that thoy ho Easter graves. Wo ro-1 member great souls, passed on now, to whom wo gave our worship In our youth. Wo havo lived beside them and seen their deathless effort, tholr fnr-reachlng -nsplrntlon, tholr virtue, strength, wisdom, power, light all the persistent heroism ot tho soul. And then, when tho highest station had been reached, when tho noblest song was quivering nt last upon tholr triumphant lips, we've seen it all end. Virtue, strength, wisdom, power, light, nil vanished! Nothing left but dust to dust, nshes to ashes, rottenness rotten-ness to mother earth. And, scolng all this, tho resurrection Is not a fading memory to such souls, O, no I it stands for a desporato hopo. Thero must bo something boyond. Somewhere, Some-where, somettmo theso shall llvo again. Hut to the Christian, to that happy man whom Jesus has found, tho resurrection resur-rection Is not a memory and not a hope; ho forgets both ot these In his Joy In Its present reality. Tho Easter nssuranco of Immortality Is not a far-off far-off promlso, It Is a present gift; not a future hopo, but an Immedlato possession. pos-session. For Qod hascomo Into him and taken possession of him, and he Is living for tho things of Qod In tho eternal light and power of God, nnd he is already ono ot tho Immortals. |