BLACKWELL FAMILY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL SUBJECT FILE Greeting Cards1947 Christmas and New Year Greetings from ALICE STONE BLACKWELL Though wild the world and stormy, Confused, and lacking light, Still Christmas holds a promise That life shall yet be bright. The Christmas bells say "Courage! Faint not, but do your share To bring the world a future That shall be great and fair. Lift up your eyes to heaven! No more in darkness grope." Starry with Christmas candles, The night is bright with hope! - A.S.B. The earth may become a flowering garden, on a sterile desert - and we may make the difference. - Dwight D. Eisenhower. It matters not that I am blind I plant my garden in my mind; Emma Roseline Gifford, Hingham, Mass., Aged 90. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us; but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over. - Nehru. And how to build a better world? Well, not by chart or plan, unless we start to teach the boy to be a better man. - Emma Carleton. "Remember, what ever ought to be done can be done." - Harriet Beecher Stowe. 15 1944 Christmas and New Year Greetings from ALICE STONE BLACKWELL Though dark the world and stormy, With battles near and far, Still Christmas wakes glad music, And lights a steadfast star. What the New Year will bring us No mortal can foresee. Meet it with hope and courage, Whatever it may be. Let us be strong and faithful, And strive with all our might To make this world a better world, More loving and more bright! -A.S.B. "Make the world better." - Lucy Stone's dying words to her daughter. "Living for a high purpose is as honorable as dying for it." - Carrie Chapman Catt. Worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due. - Dean Inge. Yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision; but today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day! Such is the salutation of the dawn. - From the Sanscrit. "If you cannot make light of your trouble, keep it dark." 15 Miss Blackwell kept a file of quotations from which to draw for her annual messageTo a GOOD GUY Happy BirthdaySO LONG AS THERE ARE HOMES So long as there are homes to which men turn At the close of day, So long as there are homes where children are - Where women stay, If love and loyalty and faith be found Across these sills, A stricken nation can recover from Its gravest ills. So long as there are homes where fires burn And there is bread, So long as there are homes where lamps are lit And prayers are said: Although a people falters through the dark And nations grope, With God himself back of these little homes We still can hope. - Light of the Years, by Grace Noll Crowell Harper & Bros., publishers IT PAYS TO FOLLOW ONE'S BEST LIGHT; TO PUT GOD AND ONE'S COUNTRY FIRST, AND OURSELVES AFTERWARDS. -SAMUEL C. ARMSTRONG THERE IS NO BROTHERHOOD FOR HUMAN BEINGS IF THERE IS NOT A COMMON FATHERHOOD. - F.W. MAURICE WAR IS THE NEGATION OF REAL CIVILIZATION. YOU ONLY GET RID OF YOUR ENEMIES BY MAKING THEM YOUR FRIENDS; AND YOU CAN ONLY DO THAT BY LOVING YOUR ENEMIES; THAT IS ONE OF THE GREAT "LAWS OF LIFE". - SIR WILFRED GRENFELL THE ONLY HOPE OF AVOIDING WAR IS TO ACCEPT CHRISTIANITY AS A WAY OF LIFE, NOT ONLY IN OUR PRIVATE AFFAIRS, BUT IN ALL PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS. - CANON SHEPPARD I Am Calling I am the best friend of mankind. I am hung about with sweet memories. In the minds of the greatest men on earth, I find constant dwelling-place. I live in the lives of the young and the dreams of the old. I safeguard man, with a friendly hand. I am the essence of good-fellowship, friendliness, and love. I give gifts that gold cannot buy, nor kings take away. I bring back the freshness of life, the spirit of youth. I meet you with outstretched arms and with songs of gladness. Some time in the future you will yearn for the touch of my friendly hand. I am your comforter and best friend. I am calling you! Now! I am the Church! - The Christian Century RELIGION IS NOT A WAY OF LOOKING AT CERTAIN THINGS, BUT A CERTAIN WAY OF LOOKING AT ALL THINGS. -ANON. THE WAY OF THE CROSS MOULD US, O CHRIST, BENEATH THY SWIFT, CREATIVE HAND, TO DO THY WILL, TO SHOW GOD'S LOVE, TO MAKE HIS WORLD MORE FREE, MORE JOYFUL, TO COMBAT PAIN AND WRONG, TO PAY, IN OUR OWN FLESH, OUR SHARE OF WHAT IT COSTS TO HELP AND SAVE. - J.S. HOYLAND GREAT DEEDS CANNOT DIE; THEY, WITH THE SUN AND MOON, RENEW THEIR LIGHT. - TENNYSON Make Me an Instrument Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; and Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so Much seek to be consoled as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved, as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and It is in dying, that we are born to eternal life. Amen. - St. Francis of Assisi My Soul and I As treading some long corridor, My soul and I together go; Each day unlocks another door To a new room we did not know. And every night the darkness hides My soul from me awhile - but then No fear nor loneliness abides; Hand clasped in hand, we wake again. So when my soul and I, at last, Shall find but one dim portal more, Shall we, remembering all the past, Yet fear to try that other door? - Charles Buxton Going Death stands above me whispering low I know not what into my ear; Of his strange language all I know Is, there is not a thing to fear. - Walter Savage Landor WITH BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY EASTER. -Alice Stone Blackwell Like Easter blossoms from the clay, So let our souls arise today! We agree to deny ourselves, so far as possible, every expression of complaint, fault-finding, resentment, or bitterness. We will not complain of our circumstances, however uncomfortable or lonely. We will not complain of the weather, or the state of our health. If we can say nothing good of a neighbor, we will say nothing at all. We will henceforth turn our forces in the direction of good. We will discover all the good there is in our conditions and our circumstances. We will count up the full value of the assets that belong to us, every item of good health that remains, all beautiful scenery, all memories of sunny days, all our comforts, every loyal friend. We will find out and appreciate whatever good there is in our friends, our neighbors, and our attendants. We will be good-natured if they do not agree with us. We will never say disagreeable things for the satisfaction of saying them. This is the Order of Peace and Good-will. We aim to give no one needless pain; we aim to stop strife; we aim to overcome evil with good. - Rev. Charles F. Dole.EASTER Easter Scripture The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.-Romans 6:23 Like as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life.-Romans 6:4. I am that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive and evermore. -Revelations 1:17. Easter Thoughts Easter will be meaningful and beautiful only when it is bountiful, with quickened desire for real partner- ship in God's great work.-John M. G. DARMS, in The Spirit of Missions Tne world has reached a point at which it must become either a world of justice and love and brother- hood, or a world of chaos and destruction. The only road open to day to men and to nations is the road of Him who says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." It is the Easter message that we need to give us confidence and courage for this life and certainty for the life to come.- BISHOP T. MANNING. The joy of Easter is not in its flowers, nor its glori- ous music not its fashion parade., The joy of Easter is its faith, its power and its inward peace that comes when we see clearly eternal values satisfied. It sounds a joyous note not to be found in any other religion. A new conception of God and of life sends us forth with a courage and a hope that cannot extin- guished- REV. PAULL T. SARGENT Out of the Easter comes new light after the darkness of night. And we call it morning. Out of the Easter morning came a wondrous new light-the light of life after the darkness of sin's night. And it has been the first gleam of a morning, the morning of a new day for all men. - L.D. GORDON He died! And with Him perished all that men hold dear; Hope lay beside Him in the sepulchre; Love grew corse cold, and all things beautiful beside Died when He died. He rose! And with Him hope arose an life and light. Men said, "Not Christ bit death died yesternight." And joy and truth and all things virtuous Rose when He rose. - AUTHOR UNKNOWN From The Evangelical Christian An Easter Prayer ETERNAL Son of God, Who hast brought life and immortality to light, we pray that the gladness of Easter may fill our lives. May those who mourn, be comforted with the assurance that Thou art the resurrection and the life. May those at the eventide of life, find light and serenity and peace in the promise that Thou art with them always. May those in the strength of years, gain courage and high resolve for the tasks of today through the indwelling of Thy living spirit. May those who rejoice in the vigor of youth and are lured by its visions and challenged by its ideals, learn the lessons of life that lead to noble service in companionship with Thyself. Thus speak Thou to all on this holy day. May Thy presence make this Easter radiant with Thy glory and may our hearts glow within us because in faith and hope we are partakers of Thy victory over death. AMEN. HELP DEFEND THE BILL OF RIGHTS "When I want to find the vanguard of the people, I look to the uneasy dreams of an aristocracy, and find what they fear most." --WENDELL PHILLIPS1932 BUT WE SEE JESUS I don't look back, God knows the fruitless efforts, The wasted hours, the sinning the regrets. I leave them all with Him who blots the record, And mereifully forgives , and then forgets. I don't look forward, God sees all the future, The road that, short or long, will lead me home, And He will face with me its every trial, And bear for me the burdens that may come. But I look up--into the face of Jesus, For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled, And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness, And perfect peace and every hope fulfilled. --ANNIE JOHNSON FLINT. SENTENCE SERMONS By Rev. Roy L. Smith Faith-- --Makes highways out of obstacles. --Makes character out of hardships. --Makes monuments out of criticisms. --Makes courage out of difficulties. --Makes fact out of visions. --Makes molehills out of mountains. --Makes God seem nearer than trouble. The Grateful Man-- --Is one of the princes among the chosen people. --Is one of the last to be involved in a town quarrel. --Is one who lives in a perennial garden. --Is one who creates his own rewards in life. --Is a leading citizen in the kingdom of Heaven. --Is never besmirched by the breath of suspicion. --Is the builder of the heaven he lives in. Rev. F. W. Boreham of Australia (Presbyterian Minister and Author) visited Montreat, N. C., the summer of 1928 and later preached in New York ad- vising in his sermon "TO GUARD FRIENDSHIPS AS A TREASURE"; saying in part: "FRIENDSHIP, the heart-to-heart relationship, is one of the most precious things in our possession, is one of those things which we must make a business of keeping in repair. Take the time to meet your friends often, let nothing be too much trouble to guard this treasure. These ordinary friendships are like our relationship to Him." ATTAINMENT Use all your hidden forces. Do not miss The purpose of this life, and do not wait For circumstances to mold or change your fate. In your own self lies destiny. Let this Vast truth cast out all fear, all prejudice, All hesitation. Know that you are great, Great with divinity. So domenate Environment, and enter into bliss-- Love largely and hate nothing. Hold no aim That does not chord with universal good. Hear what the voices of the silence say, All joys are yours if you put forth your claim, Once let the spiritual laws be understood, Material things must answer and obey. --ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. GOOD MEMORY RULES Forget each kindness that you do as soon as you have done it; Forget the praise that falls to you the moment you have won it; Forget the slander that you hear before you can re- peat it; Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer wherever you may meet it. Remember every kindness done to you what'er its measure; Remember praise by others won and pass it on with pleasure; Remember every promise made and keep it to the letter; Remember those who lend you aid and be a grateful debtor. Remember all the happiness that comes your way in living; Forget each worry and distress, be hopeful and forgiv- ing; Remember good, remember truth, remember heaven's above you, And you will find, through age and youth that many hearts will love you. --GRENVILLE KLEISER. "There is no duty that we so much under-rate as the duty of being happy: by being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world, which remain un- known even to ourselves. When discovered they sur- prise nobody so much as he benefactor." --T. HSIEH. (The T. R. of China.) RESOLVE BUILD on resolve, and not regret, The structure of thy future. Do not grope Among the shadows of old sins, but let Thine own soul's light shine on the path of hope And dissipate the darkness. Waste no tears Upon the blotted record of lost years, But turn the leaf, and smile, oh, smile, to see The fair white pages that remain for thee. Prate not of thy repentance. But believe That spark divine dwells in thee: let it grow. That which the upreaching spirit can achieve The grand and all-creative forces know; They will assist and strengthen as the light Lifts up the acorn to the oak tree's height. Thou hast but to resolve and lo! God's whole Great universe shall fortify thy soul. --ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. Trust in thine own untried capacity As thou wouldst trust in God himself. Thy soul is but emanation from the whole. Thou dost not dream what forces lie in thee, Vast and unfathomed as the grandest sea. Thy silent mind o'er diamond caves may roll; Go seek them, but let Pilot Will control Those passions which thy favoring winds can be. No man shall place a limit to thy strength; Such triumphs as no mortal ever gained May yet be thine if thou wilt but believe In thy Creator and in thyself. At length Some feet will tread all heights now unattained-- Why not thine own! Press on! Achieve! Achieve! --ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. "The thing thou cravest, so waits in the distance, Wrapt in the silence unseen and dumb-- Essential to thy soul and thy existence, Live worthy of it, call, and it will come"! --ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. THE LADDER OF ST. AUGUSTINE "We have not wings we cannot soar, But we have feet to scale and climb; By slow degrees, by more and more The cloudy summits of our time. "No deem the irrevocable past As wholly wasted, wholly vain, If rising on it's wrecks, at last To something nobler we attain." --LONGFELLOW. THE OPTIMIST I sing a song to the OPTIMIST, To the man both brave and strong, Who keeps his head when times are right, And smiles when things go wrong. I like the way of the OPTIMIST Who sees the bright, and best, And scatters sunshine as he goes To leave his fellow blest. I'm glad to meet the OPTIMIST With his message of good cheer; He gives new hope and confidence To men obsessed by fear. So here's a song to the OPTIMIST Who gladly works and sings, And daily points this gloomy world To brighter, better things. -GREENVILLE KLEISER. SENTENCE SERMONS - Rev. Roy L. Smith GOD Is- - The righteous man's confidence. - The coward's stern judge. - The exploiter's enemy. - The hypocrite's nemesis. - The brave man's strength. - The honest man's defender. - The just man's ally. A Handful Of - - THOUGHTFULNESS is worth more than a ton of regrets. - FORGETFULNESS is worth more than the sweetest revenge. - ECONOMY is worth more than much clever financing. - CAUTION is worth more than many bandages. - GOOD EXAMPLE is worth more than hours of powerful preaching. - FACT is worth more than any noisy argument. - CONSCIOUSNESS OF RIGHT is worth more than ten good lawyers. I would rather have a big burden and a strong back than a weak back and a caddy to carry life's luggage. - ELBERT HUBBARD. Don't bark against the bad, but chant the beauties of the good. - EMERSON. PRAYER, PERSEVERANCE, PATIENCE.EASTER MEDITATIONS Lazarus was reanimated. Jesua was resurrected. The stone was required to be rolled away to permit Lazarus to come out of the tomb. Jesus did not require ths stone to be rolled away in order that he might come forth. Lazarus brought with him out of the tomb the wrappings of the grave that were about him. Jesus came forth from the tomb with- out the winding sheets of death. He did not need to be loosed and let go. He was the Prince of Life. It was im- possible that he should be holden of death. At the word of God, who raised him from the dead, he sprang in his new, powerful, spiritual body out of the wrappings, thus evidencing him to be the Son of God with power. --J. Campbell White EASTER When Easter bells are ringing, When Easter flowers are fair, When Easter choirs are singing The risen Christ is there. When Easter faith is given, When Easter joy has birth, The Christ looks down from heaven To bless His own on earth. --Lalia Mitchell Thornton The world cannot bury Christ. The earth is not deep enough for his tomb, the clouds are not wide enough for his winding-shhet. He ascends into the heavens, but the heavens cannot contain him.--Edward Thomson RING, EASTER BELLS Ring, snow-white bells, your purest praise To glorify this Easter day, And let our risen Savior's joy Your voiceless, fragrant breath emply-- Fill every valley with perfume And lighten death's appalling gloom, Teach ye our troubled hearts the way To trust our Savior every day. --W. J. R. Taylor 12 RESURRECTION POWER For resurrection stillness There is resurrection power; And the prayer and praise of trusting May glorify each hour: And common days are holy And years an Easter-tide For those who with the Risen One In risen life abide. --Anon. Chinese Christians never speak of death; they do not like its sound.It is always, "The soul returning to the Father," "Going back to be with Jesus" --some such happy euphemism.--Patton RESURRECTION Through the length of the year the grave must take, 'Tis the Easter earth that can only give; Then bury the meaner self, and wake To the life that the nobler self may live. Before the dawn of the Easter sun Hide deep in the mold the dearest sin, The unnoted lie or the wrong begun; Let the shadeless right once more begin. Bury the pride that has sprung from naught, The envy and hate of a blackened hour; Arise to the Christlike purity fraught With love as white as the Easter flower. --M. A. DeWolff Howe If you have no share in the living Lord, may God have mercy upon you! If you have no share in Christ's rising from the dead then you will not be raised up in the likeness of His glorified body. If you do not attain to that resurrection from among the dead, then you must abide in death.--Spurgeon EASTER LILIES The lilies bloom on Easter Day. "There is no death," I hear them say. They are God's lovely messengers Of life, Hope's smiling harbingers. --Clarence Edwin Flynn The Gospel Trumpet THE LIVING ONE He died, yet is the living One From age to age the same, And countless hosts with one accord His power and love acclaim. His presence glorifies our days, His love makes burdens light; He leads us on to victory, We triumph in His might. He walks with us on common days, And when death draweth near With hand in His we'll venture forth-- He lives! we need not fear. --Gordon Cooper Christ's resurrection effectually alters our view of death. The fact of death cannot be sufficiently counter- balance by a surmise, a hope, a loging, but only by a fact as solid as itself. Such a fact is Christ's resur- rection. From this fact spring strength, consolation, hope. Already there lives beyond the grave. One in whom we live. "Because I live, ye shall live also," said our Lord on the eve of his own death, confident thet he would rise again. Whosoever receives his words is armed against all the graver terrors of death. --Marcus Dods DEATH HARH NOT CONQUERED LIFE Ring, joyos bells of Easter Death hath not conquered life; Victorious is our risen Lord And finished all His strife; From Calvary's mount of darkness, Lo! starry lilies bloom; For by the cross we conquer And fearless face the tomb. --Mary E. Sangster The life of a true Christian seems to me to be con- tinually full of Easters. The partial and imperfect and temporary are always being taken away from us and buried, that the perfect and eternal may rise out of their tombs to bless us.--Phillips Brooks April 4, 1942 Preach the defeat of death and the triumph over the grave as historic facts. Preach it as the great middle truth, as the potent truth out of which all others of our faith flow forth. Keep it ever lifted up as the justi- fication of all our best endeavors. Hold it out as the beacon across all the dark waters of time's tumult. Throw it out in the face of human fears and tell it in- creasingly with joy.--I. M. Haldemann GLAD EASTER MORN Glad Easter morn, when Jesus rose, O resurrection day! When angels came in shining clothes And rolled the stone away. Oh, help us, Lord, this Easter morn, To consecrate anew; When Christ arose new hope was born-- Our resurrection, too! --Kenneth Robinson A happy and glorious Easter will this on be to all of us who get a new vision of the risen Christ and prostrate ourselves in humble adoration at His feet and cry out: "Rabboni! Rabboni!" --Theo. L. Cuyler SEE THE LAND See the land her Easter keeping Rise as her Marker rose; Seeds so long in darkness sleeping Burst at last from winter snows; Earth with heaven above rejoices, Fields and garlands hail the spring, Hills and woodlands ring with voices While the wild birds build and sing. --Charles Kingsley The supreme event in the his- tory of our worls is the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Without it his incarnation would have terminated at his crucifixion. Without it the Chris- tian church would not have been born. Without it all the marvelous power and progress of Christian- ity would have been impossible. From the beginning, the Apostles and all the faithful have held it to be vital to the faith of the church and indispensable to its life. --Warren Akin Candler 13 My Belief in Immortality Earl L. Martin If a man die shall he live again?" This is a question found in what is possibly the oldest book in the Bible. Job asked it a long time ago. It is a question which I myself ask. I ask it of my own heart. In ma- ing my plans, in determining my principles of action, in stocking my heart with motives for action, I find myself profoundly influenced by the answer I give to the question. Am I to live out my threescore years and ten, per- haps, and then go back to nothingness? Or am I to live straight on, this life being but the first phase of a life that has no end? Death is a certain fact. That I shall die is not a matter of mathematical probability; it is certain. And to me--in my way of looking at it--death is a supreme- ly tragic fact. By "tragic" I do not mean "sad," a popular misuse of language. I mean that there is a irresolvable, inexplicable tension in every human death. I mean that death is tragic if death has the last word. It is a tragic contradiction of life. If death is an everlasting "No," then life is a mocking and irrational gloss. If what we call death is the ende of life, then life can be only despair. But death does not have the last word. Life has it. Over against the "No" of death I put the everlasting "Yes" of my heart and of God. Life means faith and not despair. The reply to Job's question, if it is to be of much account, must be made, not in some high-flown senti- ment uttered in words upon the occasion of Easter, but rather in the things upon which I set my heart and in the course of action I map out for my life day by day. It may be well enough for me to eat, drink, and be merry in open indifference to higher and holier interests if tomorrow I die and come to the end of it all. But if the consequences of my choices and my deeds stretch on endlessly, then life is altogether an- other matter. In view, therefore, of the searching question of Job and of the vital interests that are bound up in the reply that I make to it, I am searching my heart for the grounds upon which I base my hope of an endless life. In seeking an answer to this ques- tion I cannot go to the scientists. They have no way of kinowing what the hereafter is like. Some of them would say "No, the man who dies does not live again." Their answer would be simply a negative form of belief for in the very nature of the case they can have no evidence on way or the other. Nor can I go to the logician, for the answer is not to be found by the processes of logical reason. My an- 14 swer to the question does not rest upon proof but upon moral faith, for in the very necessities of the case our belief in immortality cannot rest on scientific or logical proofs, but must rest on faith in certain con- siderations. Perhaps it is as well; "the best things are felt rather than proved." My first reason for a positive answer may seem weak to some, but to me it is strong. Simply stated it is:I wish to live on after death. I desire immortality. But this is not just a personal wish. It is a well-nigh if not an absolutely universal instinct, longing, or urge. And its universality makes it highly significant. Not only the lowest savages but the highest of human minds have desired immortality. The great poets, the great philosophers, the great religious leaders of all ages have desired and hoped and believed. It would seem like casting contempt upon the processes which pro- duced these hopes and convictions, preserved them clarified them, to call their fruitage an empty delusion. It would seem like not only questioning the validity of our mental processes but the very integrity of the universal order which has wrought this result, should I deny the truth of immortality for which these ages of aspiring men have yearned and for which I find myself wishing. My second reason for answering "yes" is that I need to live on after this life. I not only desire it, but I need it. I find hopes, aspirations, dreams, longings, and potentialities in the very fabric of my being that can never be realized or come to perfect fruition in one short lifetime, even though that lifetime be long. Jesus, that Master of moral values, has said, "Be perfect." I want to be perfect; I am trying to be here and now. My human and spiritual aspirations accord with the command of Christ, take up the call, and cry to me, "Be perfect!" Poetry and song, speaking in tones which kindle the best within me, utter the same summons, "Be perfect!" The logic of growth, of which I feel my soul has limitless possibilities, says, "Go on, be perfect!" But do the best I can, I find a sense of incompleteness, and I need a future life for the highest development of life and the realiza- tion of my aspirations and the fruition of my hopes.Surely these hopes are not going to be mocked! Surely my faith is not founded on an eternal mis- take! How could the great saints and seers of the past and present have wrought what they have except by "the power of an endless life"? My soul rebels at the thought of such a thing! No, not until I can believe that figs grow upon thorns ans grapes upon thistles will I believe that such The Gospel Trumpet Christ had not risen there would have been no ascen- sion attended by angels of heaven declaring the joy- ful news that Jesus shall come again attended by all the holy angels, and then the dead shall arise, and the righteous shall be "caught up together with them in the clouids, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thess. $:17). If Christ had not risen, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Revelation would not have been written, forthey are based upon a risen Savior. We would not have the record of Saul's conversion, had Christ not arose. We would not have Paul's mag- nificent testimony: "I am now ready to be offered. . . . . I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (II Tim. 4:6-7). Are You Like Thomas? Jonathan C. West After the eleven disciples had seen the risen Christ they told Thomas about their experience. "We have seen the Lord," they said. In reply Thomas said, "Ex- cept I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Eight days later Jesus appeared to the disciples again, Thomas included. After greeting them, Jesus turned immediately to Thomas, saying, "reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." Thomas replied promptly, joyouly, "My Lord and my God." People who have doubts about religious matters fre- quently compare themselves with Thomas. "I am just like Thomas," they say. "I cannot believe unless I have definite proof. I must have evidence." Perhaps you, too, have said this. But are you really like Thomas? Let us see. If you are like Thomas you do not enjoy your un- belief, you do not revel in your doubts. The joy and promptness with which Thomas exclaimed. "My Lord and my God," reveal the strain which he had been under. He had not been enjoying his doubts; his whole soul had longed to have his torturing doubts settled. Some people speak of their doubts concerning Christ, prayer, divine healing, the Bible, etc., as though they were rather proud of them. They act as though they believed that their critical, doubting attitude toward everything pertaining to religion is an indication of superior intelligence. They express something closely akin to contempt for the simple faith that believes the Bible as tit is. Such persons are not like Thomas--ah, no. Thomas did not always have doubts. At lenght he found the facts which he needed and vital faith then took the place of doubt. So many people eho have doubts are making no effort to settle their doubt. They are doing no thinking, no studying, no praying. A per- son said one time, "I doubt if there is an experience such as sanctification." Another said, "I doubt very much if, after all, God actually heals people, as they April 4, 1942 It is the living Christ who gave the world the marvel- ous plan of salvation. Through a living Savior all who will may drink deep of the wells of salvation. He is our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, our Advocate with the Father, our Mediator, our Intercessor, our Unifier. Those of us who are saved from sin have let the living Christ into our hearts to reign and rule there. "Without controversy great is the mystery of god- liness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, be- lieved on in the world, received up into glory" (I Tim. 3:16). God has entrusted us with this great mystery. Have we been true to the trust he has left us? Have we done our utmost to spread the goof news of a risen, living Savior to the world? say." Both of these persons had very real doubts yet neither was willing to put forth any effort to solve his doubts. They were unwilling to read books which might have helped them. They were unwilling to undertake research work to discover if any in past ages or of the present age had enjoyed an experience of sanctification or if any had been miraculously healed. Such people are not like Thomas. There is certainly nothing sinful in honest doubt. All thinking people sooner or later encounter doubt. The wrong lies in lazily refusing to put forth effort to clear up doubt. There is a solution for every doubt. The so- lution is more thought, more study, more prayer. A young man in a state university had doubts about cer- tain religious matters raised in his mind. He tried un- successfully to think the matter through., His relatives and friends, most of whom had not had educational ad- vantages, were unable to help him. Finally one day he fell on his knees and humbly, sincerely told God all about his perplexities, his doubts. He arose from his knees, peace in his heart. He felt, as he expressed it, as though God had put his arms around him, assuring him that he loved him and was anxious to help him solve his doubt. A day or so later when in the public library he glanced over a row of books, idly picked one up, opened it, and there was a discussion--and solution!--of the very problem which had been bother- ing him. You could never make him think that God himself did not direct his hand to that book, to that particular page! That is what prayer can do. If we are honest. God will somehow help us solve every doubt. Let us be like Thomas. Let us seek to settle our doubts and be willing to accept evidence. We need not be in doubt about any Bible teaching or doctrine. God wants us to be "established" in the truth, to know his will. All heaven stands ready to assist us in our search for truth, if we are only honest and willing to be taught. Are you like Thomas? If you are, Christ will make a special trip to see you, as he did with Thomas, and present evidence to settle all your doubts. 11 Man Marches On Beyond the smoke and the thunder Where pain-crazed wounded cry A world of joy is rising Where star-bright banners fly. Have faith in this world of tomorrow For man shall gain control By power of conquering spirit, By light of jubilant soul! - MARY STONG.To find in all men worth and good; To see and meet another's need, And treat him as a brother should This is my creed' Harry [Porter?] Presbyterian [Advance?] 'Work and learn in evil days, in insulted days, in days of debt and depression and calamity. Fight best in the shade of the cloud of arrows . . . .' Ralph Waldo EmersonBox 806 Pasadena California - "There are mights of terror and blackout in many parts of the world. But so long as the enemy cannot blackout the human soul, there is no cause for despair." Anup Singh Anup Singh - Sec of the India League of America and author of "Nehru, the Rising Star of India"1946 EASTER GREETINGS from ALICE STONE BLACKWELL Easter birds our souls arise, Under bright or cloudy skies. With the coming of the spring, New life stirs in everything. Dark may be the world without, Red with slaughter, dim with doubt; Yet, like flowers of cheerful hue, In the heart hopes bud anew. Courage wakes, and strength to bear, And the wish to help and share. -A.S.B. To ease another's heartache, is to forget one's own. - Lincoln. Truth is like a vast tree, which yields more and more fruit the more you nurture it. - Gandhi. Be not afraid, though men parade The desolations war hath made, Beneath, unknown, good seed is sown; Deserts shall be as gardens grown, Merciful streams in drought shall flow For the seed the Sower went forth to sow. - W.P.M. Miss Blackwell's eyesight has grown less, but she can still move freely about her flat. She sends good wishes to all her friends. 15ALICE STONE BLACKWELL 1010 MASSACHUSETTS AVE. CAMBRIDGE, MASS. March 17, 1940. When Easter time draws near near, My grateful memories turn to you. May you, and Guy, and Babara dear, Have Easter joy and Easter cheer! May all the good that you have done2 Return to you in love and fun! I send good wishes without end. This rhyme is from your grateful friend, Alice Stone Blackwell.A Happy Easter ALICE STONE BLACKWELL What is your mental climate? Each one lives in his own, for the human mind is an island surrounded by an infinite ocean of thought.- 'The Christian Register. Death is no fiend; he is the truest of friends. He gives us new chances, new hope. - Gandhi What is excellent, As God lives, is permanent. Hearts are dust, heart's loves remain: Heart's love shall meet thee again. -Ralph Waldo Emerson. Security is to be found not through winning war, but through preventing it. -Jessie Woodrow Sayre. 13 1931 A Happy Easter ALICE STONE BLACKWELL What is your mental climate? Each one lives in his own, for the human mind is an island surrounded by an infinite ocean of thought.- 'The Christian Register. Death is no fiend; he is the truest of friends. He gives us new chances, new hope. - Gandhi What is excellent, As God lives, is permanent. Hearts are dust, heart's loves remain: Heart's love shall meet thee again. -Ralph Waldo Emerson. Security is to be found not through winning war, but through preventing it. -Jessie Woodrow Sayre. 13 Christmas and New Year Greetings from ALICE STONE BLACKWELL Though all the world is darkened With wreckage left by war, Still Christmas lights a candle That sheds its beams afar. The Christmas bells are chiming, A song of joy and birth; They bid us speed the brave new day That yet shall bless the earth. -A.S.B. "Those who are gone would not wish themselves to be a mill-stone of gloom around our necks. -Ernie Pyle. "Intelligent people are not isolationists." -General Eisenhower "No one has ever done any thing great or useful by listening to the voices from without. You want to do the thing that is good, whether people call it suitable for a woman or not." -Florence Nightingale. The work is peace-more than an end of this war, an end to the beginning of all wars, to this impractical, unrealistic settlement of the differences between governments by the mass killing of peoples. -from Franklin D. Roosevelt's last written address 15 Easter Greetings from Alice Stone Blackwell The flowers of Easter smile and say, "The longest winter must give way; The darkest night must have its morn. A better world shall yet be born"! All nature's voices wake and sing To hail the coming of the Spring. The Easter bells ring out, "Take heart! With cheer and courage, do your part." -A. S. B. No blast of war can scathe the soul; No hate can dim eternal love; Though dark the way we'll reach our goal With faith unshaken-look above! -Everett W. Lord. Remember the world is only dark when it turns its back upon the sun. -Wm. P Gest. The darkness itself is a holy of holies of which no one can rob me. -Kagawa, (from "Meditations in the Darkness") "Strive not to banish pain and doubt In pleasure's noisy din; The peace thou seekest from without Is only found within." Let me straighten after pain As a tree straightens after rain Shining and lovely again. -Grace Noll Crowell. 15 With affectionate remembrance to all of you, from K. Barry Blackwell, Mary A. Wood, Ida Porter-Boyer, and Alice Stone Blackwell. Please remember me also to Mrs. Mitchell and her daughters. A.S.B. With affectionate remembrance, With love, [gratitude?] and a donation A Merry Christmas and A appy New Year ALICE STONE BLACKWELL LET US stand by our duty fearlessly. Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances, groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man. . . . Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the gov- ernment, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the ende, dare to our duty as we understand it. --Abraham Lincoln. I live for those who leve me, for those I konw are true . . . For the cause that lacks assistence, for the wrong that needs resistence, For the future in the distance, and the good that I can do. --G. Linnaeus Banks. 15