"Mary to the Saviour's tomb
Hastened at the early dawn;
Spice she brought, and sweet perfume,
But the Lord she loved was gone."
At the rising of the sun came Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, and brought sweet spices that they might anoint the body of Jesus; and they queried among themselves Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? but when they looked, behold, the stone was rolled away! From the angelic messengers they learned that he whom they sought was not there "He is risen."
On Easter-day the Christian world still observes this event in token of the Resurrection. In so far as this observance tends to inculcate the true doctrine of the Resurrection and to bring human thought and purpose into truer and better conceptions of the lesson thereby taught, it is well. In so far as it degenerates into a mere ceremonial or formal observance, or is made the occasion of material festivities, it is idle and meaningless. Better were Christmas and Easter, unobserved than to become mere holidays (not holydays), having about them none of the seriousness and earnest contemplation which alone befit them.
