“I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for Evermore.”
It cannot be pleasing to Jesus to be spoken of as though He was once more in the hands of His enemies.
While we regret that so many people in our country should make this day one of rioting and extravagance, we are sure that it is in some degree a reaction from the usages of those who would have us spend the day in sorrow. That which is unreal must in time become unsatisfactory, and those who would compel us to live over again the sorrows of Calvary, may drive us to football, or that which is worse! Let men once think that the church has turned actor, and they will say, “No, we will go to the theatre, for there the acting is better done.”
Every day we should visit in spirit the cross of Jesus, for every day we need the merit of the atonement, and the stimulus of that example of self-forgetfulness. Let us turn away from the so-called realism which would hang the world in black, and, at the same time let us avoid those who would make this a day of revelry. There is a middle path, one upon which Christ smiles, and a path we can tread any day, and thus make it good—we mean the
pathway of self-sacrifice.
For the joy of blessing others, let us be willing to endure shame or pain. There is always pleasure to be earned by
those who are willing to pay the price,—the pleasure of unselfishness,—but this cannot be tasted except by those who seek their highest joy in the wellbeing of others. Our risen and glorified Lord tastes this joy every day, Good-Friday not excepted, and we think it will lead us to spend the day according to His will, if we seek for ourselves all the blessings He purchased with His blood, and none more earnestly than that sanctifying Spirit who will help us to follow His blessed example, and, by caring others,
make every good.
The CROWN cannot be
INDEPENDENT
of the SPADE!