"From these first bulbs brought to America has come much of the beauty which is now so widespread at Easter time. The earth is full of the perfume of the Easter lily today.
"How typical is this little illustration of the Savior whose resurrection we celebrate today. While He was on the earth, the beauty of his life brightened everyone, and all that time He knew that He must give up his life that we might live.
"How typical also of our lives may this Easter lily be. What seems more lifeless than the bulb of a lily? Plant it, bury it, and lo! it is resurrected into a thing of wondrous beauty. That which seemed like its tomb has proven to be the gateway into true life. Thus our faith gives us the blessed assurance, with Paul, that 'if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.'"
THE WOUNDED TREE
—Steadfastness
—Constancy
It Tells the Story of Courage and Patience that Approaches the Sublime.
THE LESSON—That steadfastness in the right not only keeps the life upright but it restores the repentant one to righteousness.
Each one of us needs the quality called steadfastness—not the obstinacy which denies us the right to judge fairly every condition about us, not the bigotry which prevents us from a charitable consideration of the views of other people—but the steady adherence to positive Christian principles which keep us constant in our faith and unwavering in our hold on heavenly virtues.