How vast, how immeasurable, are the responsibilities which this great victory in righteous war has laid upon the Allies and America.  God help us to live up to them.  God help us to sow the future not with dragon’s teeth, but with seeds of blessed harvest.  God paint upon the broken storm-cloud the rainbow of eternal hope.  God help us and our friends to make a peace that shall mean good to all mankind.  God send upon our victory the light of the cross of Christ our Saviour, where mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other.

III

The Power of an Endless Life

Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

—­Hebrews 7:16.

The message and hope of immortality are nowhere more distinctly conveyed to our minds than in connection with that resurrection morn when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene.  The anniversary of that day will ever be the festival of the human soul.  Even those who do not clearly understand or fully accept its meaning in history and religion,—­even children and ignorant folk and doubters and unbelievers,—­yes, even frivolous people and sullen people, feel that there is something in this festival which meets the need and longing of their hearts.  It is a day of joy and gladness, a day of liberation and promise, a day for flowers to bloom and birds to sing, a day of spiritual spring-tide and immortal hope.

Mankind desires and needs such a day.  We are overshadowed in all our affections and aspirations, all our efforts, and designs, by the dark mystery of bodily death; the uncertainty and the brevity of earthly existence make us tremble and despair; the futility of our plans dismays us; the insecurity of our dearest treasure in lives linked to ours fills us with dismay.

Is there no escape from Death, the Tyrant, the autocrat, the destroyer, the last enemy?  Why love, why look upward, why strive for better things if this imperator of failure, ultimate extinction, rules the universe?  No hope beyond the grave means no peace this side of it.  A life without hope is a life without God.  If Death ends all, then there is no Father in Heaven in whom we can trust.  Who shall deliver us from the body of this Death?

Now comes Easter with its immortal promise and assurance, Jesus of Nazareth, who died on Calvary, a martyr of humanity, a sacrifice of Divinity, is alive and appears to His humble followers.  The manner of His appearance, to Mary Magdalene, to His disciples, is not the most important thing.  The fact is that He did appear.  He who was crucified in the cause of righteousness and mercy, lives on and forever.  The message of His resurrection is “the power of an endless life.”

The proof of this message is in the effect that it produced.  It transformed the handful of Jesus’ followers from despair to confidence.  It gave Christianity its growing influence over the heart of humanity.  It is this message of immortality that makes religion vital to the human world to-day, and essential to the foundation of peace on earth.