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Show Dead hiilsTslIE A brooding -f0nn . Lsthss forest whispering a song-jAi' -feJOf mystery, . --L jh tMAnd sorrow cringing at the gates "of blch ' . ' But lo! afleanvJights up the .sombre hills," 'jSrzMTw "T.'-Theead-trees Itir, .V. .' . - -IJ, MA A T. ; Across the4ievy night steals the sweet' scent fkfyjp'i'wQl C' iOf spice aAd"Mrrh. '.-'V' (lMlM-' iCfepld&i halo kL a coH-J WKife Sepulchre- 7 ---- vjjj . ?And in thatow, an angel robed in. whiteWf) -tanull-alonei ' j ) WeKSd upon a chariot of starSr-T- J$JjCfoe on the stone -ftlpP ilifima't seals the grave of Him the grieving Qod . sMas named His Owci.Jj iL. a i n i 7- 0 jgMnff And, all unseen by man, or beast, or birdiT' Ere night has spun w-fel- fff i Her sable woof across a saddened world, ""SC. The sleeping One MJIw ' . Answers the call thatHoats adown the stars,plT " C6me, my dear Son!" ; -- Tiusnnstarase from His whiteepulchre, "" "i if r' n jumeyed home, 'o . 4fAnd where the angels knelt, a lily grew , v Beside the tomb, x " CjTAnd those who came saw Christ in its glad face, And sweet perfume. .Tragedy Calvary Challenged co Faitlp it-n.r': I At ICnster wu face the challenge of the Cross. There Is no fact In all the Christian Chris-tian story which Is at the same time so Inspiring and so disquieting as the fact of Calvary. We cannot can-not come within vision of the little hill that lay beyond be-yond the wall of Jerusnlom and fall to feel our hearts Mrongly uplifted and profoundly dis-t dis-t urlied. It Is the scene of supreme love for humanity, of unfaltering loyalty loy-alty to God. In the former aspect it brines to 11s hope and consolation ; In the latter It challenges us to examine 1 he nature of our faith and the manner man-ner of its exercise. Looking at the universe from the Kaudpolnt of the Cross we discover the tremendous truth that back of all ph nomena Is love. No matter how much of surface contradiction there may lie; no matter how many things appear In the history of the race. In the facts displayed by science, in tin; experience of the Individual, which run counter to love. Calvary, If It has any meaning at all. means that the ultimate, controlling fact Is love. God Is love that Is what the Cross means And If the ultimate significance signifi-cance of life and the universe Is God. then love Is the supreme motive and power, which, In the end. must explain ex-plain all. must reconcile all, must restore re-store everywhere and In nil life the harmony and happiness which our fn 11-ur 11-ur to understand and to believe lhl truth have lost to us for a lime. Faith's Foundation. When faith lays hold upon this fact it gets solid ground beneath Its feet. Nor run It be easily confounded by up-iwuninccs. up-iwuninccs. It has learned that the contradictions of appearance ore due to (he Incompleteness of vision when life Is regard: d from any other standpoint stand-point than that of Calvary. Only at foot of the Cross, on the summit i f the little hill, can we see tilings in u.elr completeness. We must keep coming back to It for a renewed realization real-ization of the truth that when life Is viewed steadily and as a whole, from this focal point of God's purpose, love Is seen to be the heart of it. But when faith finds the comfort of this fact It faces, also, the challenge which lies in it. The practical significance of the fact rests In the response which faith makes to It. The fact must be acted upon. We derive no benefit from the universal uni-versal atmosphere If we do not breathe It Into our lungs. A man with nostrils stopped and mouth closed, dying of suffocation, does not disprove the existence ex-istence of air. He proves only his own folly In failing to appropriate the essential es-sential element abundantly provlde-l for his life. If the room becomes stifling sti-fling and respiration dlfllcult we throw open the window, acting upou our faith that God's supply of air Is ample. God's Love All Powerful, Calvary Is a challenge to faith to act upon Its belief that love is the supreme su-preme force In the rnlverse to dare all things and to suffer all things In unhesitating reliance' upon the certainty cer-tainty and sufficiency of God's love to conquer where every other power falls. Jesus, as He turned Ills steps toward Jerusalem, faced the apparent collapse col-lapse of His mission. If men were to Judge by the surface indications, by the part picture which was visible to them the picture of Jesus standing alone in the grip of Ills enemies; Jesus with the organized prejudice of hierarchical Judaism against Him; Jesus with the might of Imperial ltome against Him; Jesus without a human friend who had the courage to stand by Him men could only say that this was catastrophe and defeat. So Judging. Jesus Himself could not have felt otherwise. The failure of religion to conquer the world In the name of Jesus Is chiefly due to the fact that, too often. It Is thus that its exponents have Judged. They wanted immediate, visible visi-ble results. They have shrunk from apparent failure, with all that It entailed en-tailed of material loss and physical suffering; they have compromised and resorted to other sources of seeming strength. They have bullded up an apparent success, measured In terms of wealth, or prestige, or numbers. But they have sacrificed the only thing worth while the spiritual regeneration regenera-tion of humanity through the power of love. Savior Chose Victory. Jesus saw all the gloomy appearances appear-ances of defeat long before they overwhelmed over-whelmed His disciples and sent them scurrying to cover; but lie saw that the only real defeat possible lay In His surrender to appearances. In His losing faith in the love-purpose of God. Had He said, "By n little concession to tha Temple authorities, by a small !; RASTER i the time of the revel j ! ! '-'of the lilies. They ere seen In ' ', the hats and in the hands of the ',' 1 ladies real or artificial lilies. J I ' They are found at the bedsides ; J ! of pain, in the hospitals and the ! ; rooms of the shut-ins. They are ', ' held in the hand and cherished J I. in the heart. But they are in the J J ! gardens also, or in the windows ! ' I of homes and held in crystal vases. ; They are regnant and royal and ; ! sweet, according to the particular ' J J type of lily. The rose will have its ! ;J day after awhile, and it will be a j! ' long summer day. But at Easter )' the lily has sway. WvHWWHWVHWVHWW yielding to Annas nnd Pilate, I can prolong My life and My service to My people ; I can continue for another ten or twenty years to teach and to heal and to help ; 1 can gather a large following fol-lowing and lay a stronger foundation for the work that must go when I am no longer able to direct It," that would have been tragic, that would have meant utter failure, hopeless defeat. And yet how wise nnd conimon-sensical conimon-sensical It all sounds, and how often men wdio count themselves His followers follow-ers have shaped their service of Him by just such considerations as these. Jesus went to the cross because He believed that love was mightier than organized prejudice and hatred, mightier than the armies of Rome, mightier than death, and that the way of God's triumph ran like a path of glory through all the midnight darkness which men termed catastrophe. catas-trophe. Call to Christians. And when we turn back to Calvary, and salute with grateful and worshiping worship-ing hearts the Man who did not flinch from It, we acknowledge that Jesus Judged truly. When will Christians answer the challenge of the Cross, and declare that they are willing to risk everything, every-thing, to lose everything, in order to demonstrate anew the truth that love Is Hie only redemptive power for life, that love Is the only answer to Iti problems, that love Is the only solvent for lis His? When will Christians courageously and with the heroism of their Master, build all their plans, rest all their hopes, chance everything upon the faith that the significance of life Is love, that the controlling Impulse of the universe Is love? When that day comes the Cross will return, not as a symbol, but as an experience. ex-perience. There may be another such appe;ir;'.nce of failure and defeat as made midnight for the' timid at Calvary; Cal-vary; hut beyond It will lie the dawn of which Jesus spoke when He' said, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto mel" |