Arise! for He is risen today; And shine, for He is glorified! Put on thy beautiful array , And keep perpetual Eastertide.

A little lad was gazing intently at the picture in the art store wind ow: the store was displaying a notable picture of the crucifixion. A gentleman approached, stopped, and looked. The boy, seeing his interest, said: “That’ s Jesus.” The man made no reply , and the lad continued: “Them’ s Roman soldiers.” And, after a moment: “They killed Him.”

“Where did you learn that?” asked the man.

“In the Mission Sunday school,” was the reply .

The man turned and walked thoughtfully away . He had not gone far when he heard a youthful voice calling: “Say , Mister ,” and quickly the little street lad caught up with him. “Say , Mister ,” he repeated, “I wanted to tell you that He rose again.”

That message, which was nearly forgotten by the boy, is the message which has been coming down through the ages. It is the Easter message— the story of the eternal triumph of life over death, the promise and pledge of man’ s immortality .

The grave to Him was not a terminus!

This is the day of glad tidings! Go quickly , and tell the message! He has risen! Hallelujah ! Christ has risen! Hades could not hold Him! Corruption could not devour Him! “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18). Blessed be God! Jesus lives to die no more! Go quickly , and tell everywhere the glad news!

And I think the Shining Ones marvel much As they gaze fr om the world above, To see how slowly we spr ead the news Of that Sacrifice of love.

There is, to my mind, a natural sequence in one of the accounts of that first Easter morning, as beautiful as it is suggestive. It is the story of the women who hastened to the sepulcher , and it says: “They came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun” (Mark 16:2 KJV).

The glory of Easter morn is the sacrificial r ed on the morning sky!