RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

THE MESSAGE OF EASTER.

(BY THE LATE DEAN LEFROY.) More than sixty generations of human lifo have passed sinco tho first Easter sunrise touched with the accolade of triumph tho tomb of tho Christ. The glory of that awful dawn has never paled. Through all tho centuries it has shone, with increasing brilliance, commemorating the victory of the risen Lord; proclaiming His power over sin, over death,' over the gates of the invisible, and. inspiring His Evangelists, often at tho cost of life, to anuounco His resurrection message to those who, ignorant of its news, sorrowed for the dead as those who had no hope; trembled in slavish fear as they reached their end, and were oppressed by the burden of guilt, ever heaviest when nearest to tho temporal limits of life. The' Gospel of tho Resurrection ennobles this season with spiritual royalty. Gregory of Nazianzcn calls Easter "The Queen of Festivals." That name has fastened upon our Feast for sixteen hundred years. And God be thanked for tho right royal deeds that were dono at Easter in the distant past. The "Queen of Festivals," the "Sunday of Joy," relaxed the rigidity of labour. It sweetened the: acrimony of litigation. It bestowed a respite on the wretched ( whose sufferings.and sorrows were elements' in tho sports and pastimes of a jaded civilisation. It brought liberty to many a'- captive, and it whispered the still, small voico of charity to the selfish and the sordid. ■But'the inquiry rises to mind and. to mouth—What was tho hearing, of - all this on my life, my character, my influence? No man is to-day warmed by last year's sunshine.. 'True, but it is ,the same, sun that-shines, but the Christ of our Easter is.the Light of the World and tho Lifo and the Light of .Man. The' message borne from Him to those whose nature Ho assumed is individual, is momentous, is restful. To', listen to its accents wo accept the; Christian standpoint. ;, The;, Lord Christ's death is, in its typology, its predictivo anticipations, its New Testament assertions, associated with the endured because of sin. Hebrew priest and prophet, apostle, evangelist, missionary; martyr, and ; angel all agree upon this. Tho sinless Saviour died for. sinful men. _

The Resurrection proves that the' sins were not his own. They were ours. Ho was stronger to overcome them than they wero to bind Him. Tho message of.this is to me deliverance, 'and. deliverance is far more precious thanpar.don. Forgiveness: of sin is one of the grandest •xercises of sovereign- and Divine'power.'

Shall not my praise he full when I look into the words of Christ, and when I contemplate His work and see that Ho tasted death for every man, and that as in Adam all die'even so in. Christ shall all.ho made'alive, and that such is the inexhaustibility of .the Be-. deemer's grace, power, love, and relationship. ■ His' Cross has an attraction for all, in all ages, in, all. places, in all conditions, and His Easter is a golden sunrise for poor humanity, sad because sinful, restored by ■■[ faith in Him.- Whose' empty grave proclaims Him tho victor over that which vanquished pur race. ,