Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-04-05
EASTER DAY-THE PASSOVER


.Jews. the days of the Passover are days
of festival and gladness, because Of their
freedom from bondage and delivery
from brutal task-masters by Divine in
terposition and guidance, while to the
christians, their forty days of Lenten
services are days of contemplation upon
The goodness and beneficence of God, in
delivering them from the bondage of
sin through the one obiatiOn and sacri-
fice-Christ Jesus. Now, whether
we are Catholic, Jew, or Episcopa-
liam, the customary Observance OF
facts so momentOus to the religious
world commands, if not a tributary as
siStance. at least our respect. eli we are
christians, we cannot ignore the beauu-
fuI significance of the passover of the
lew. both in q historic and religious
poiut OF view; and if we are neither
FDiscopalian nor Catholic, we cannot
withhold at least a passive assent to GER
euouies commemorative of the most
momentous facts in the history of the
Redeemer-the chief cornerstone and
foundation of the best of all the religious
systems known to men. We may pro-
test ever so much, as some Of US do, that
these customs and Observances are like
" TO be made a means of detractiDg
from the simplicity that char
acterized the early church, and
10 come between the creature ana the
creator as so much show and glitter
and tinsel, wanting the plain directness
of the liberty wherewith Christ has
made US free; but, while enjoying our
own notions, let us not erect them into
barriers, hiding out of sight all the good,
the beauty and the typical loVeliness of
these commemorative services. We
aIl have our ways and pc
culiarties; We have our beliefs,
and perhaps disbeliefs; these are
precious TO US, they are of the cherished
hefrlooms which have come to US
through tests and trials OF centuries, and
while differing radically, are worthy at
least with each one of being perpetu-
ated. Thus, those of us who love not
Lent, nor Passover, have our Tevivais
and love-feasts, our periods of solemn
contemplation, repentance, and re-
claiming from sin. We differ, therefore,
only i2 name. The same results are
reached by Lenten services rs by re-
vival, and by Passover and Easter as by
love feast. The Catholic church and the
Episcopal provide in their Lenten serv-
ices for the renewal of vows and result
mission to discipline by their membels.
Indeed, the whole tenor of these serv-
ices, as of the Jewish Passover, is to
draw the mind out of the world and into
tile contemplation of the goodness of
God and the self-abnegation and victory
over temptation of Him through whom
All hope. There is then no room for
objection to these commemorative per-
DDS in the life of those churches, which
are every day fastening themselves upon
our national lie, and, let us hope, with
the best effects. Only few years ago,
sud Lent and Easter were confined
10 a limited few; now, in all
the great centers of our Union,
that tew have grown into the many
whose ways set an example that is being
more aud more largely followed every
wear. compelling acquiescence even
from commerce, always slow to yield
where il Is supreme. To-day, in all the
cities of christendom, and wherever the
name of Christ is heard, there are ser
vices commemorative of bis ascension
from the dead, the one fact which over
and above all others TO the devout and
believing Christian, attests his godhead,
the completion of his mission, the end
OF his work on earth, carrying convic-
gion OF his survival of the sting of
death and his victory over the grave.
Whether the church was correct in
fixing the time of Easter We will not
discuss, but coming as it does IN the
early springtime, when nature is renew
IN field and meadow, we think it most
admirably set, cOmmemorating the rals-
Jug Of Christ from the dead, the very buds
and flowers symbolizing the great event
and enforcing it to every eve and heart.
The early christians, it will be remem-
bered, made use of these striking types
of the resurrection, illustrating, as
st. Paul did, first, by the seed,
and so to the full fruition OF
the glory OF a world whose beauties,
wisely withheld from our view, are thus
an hundred-fOld enhanced in the heart
of all humanity. And as the early
christians, so those of to-day. On
altar, on lecturn, on pulpit and reading
desk, flowers will be upheld to the view
OF the wOrshiper, pleasing every sense
Bv their beauty and odor, reminding,
shem that, as the flower lives and dies,
and rises again to renewed beauty and
glory, so the spirit shall pass from earth
I, heaven, there TO live in everlasting
conditions of beatitude, supreme beyond
al temptation, far above the soToWs,
the trials, the vanities and mortifica-
tions Of the world, in the enjoyment OF
AN enduring bliss, happy in the knowl-
edge and love of God; seeing not, as
now. through the shadowy and obscure
mists Of q world growing better, but
ybat l. not good. but by the full flood
light of the Easter morn that knows no
even, whose matin song never dies, and
whose glories no human tongue may
ever paint To-day, with the flowers,
the christian church makes its annual
revival; to-day it Tenews its contest
with sin and sinners; to-day it recalls
fy,.4 great fact OF a risen Lord,
10 ;uspire afresh the devotions
of ito members and increase its fold,
aud nrove that to the many it yet comes
as with healing on its wings, balm
and solsce to the weary of heart, and a
r,asent means OF strength to the weak
aud faint-hearted. In this sense we hall
the advent of Easter, and in this glad
sense we hope it viii come to every
heart in Memphis to-day, and IN the
.Iavs 10 follow, in 1874, that it may pro-
sluce the good fruit of broad and liberal
charity, a more neighborly feeling, 9
blessed revival of estrayed friendships,
and that all NAV feel that as for him and