The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-04-07
EASTER.
The Resurrection Season One
of Joy and Thanksgiving.
Former Dispute as to the Date OF
the Festival-How the Cues
ton was Determined.

peculiarly pOetical and picturesque aspect
and tn. ides of them is inseparable from
the 81 ason IN which they are celebrated
CRYSTAL clear heavens aud frosty dark as a
Part of Christmas, bursting blossom and
fragrsn' flower Of early Summer as q part
Of Whiisunidr's tongues OF fire, while
Easter, were it fix d fast By law to any
dsv, c. uld have no other period than that
of the vernal equinox.
Yet the date of Easer has afforded
ground fsrs g1Oi del OF schlsm aud
| coair oversy in the Christian Church; Tor
the d ~ being movable, aud dep nding ON
certsin relations of the full moon to the
ytrnal equinox, left some little liberty for
S de-. nat on, and the Eastern Church
en-, Sc to crlebra.e it On the day of the
Jewish Passover, hoping. ferhaps, TO re-
place that c., emoni4l day wi h It's Judaic
c~nyer:s, while the Western church would
have il celebrated only ON the Sun
dsy iollowipg the Passover; and
af er mainta'nIng frisrdlv difference till
he en- OF tue second Century, the dispute
becam. of a different char ic'er. The
Eastern Christians supported their custom
by the examples OF st Philip and st. John,
| with the la.tsr of whom their old Bishop
Polycarp hid lived, and so ought TO know;
for was not This the st. John who ell bur
s,w ii Lord arise, the beloved disciple
hat did outrun ter ard come hrst to the
5 pulchr-? The West 'rn Christians quoted
in support of their custom the practice or
81. Peter and 1t. Paul. The Western
Church had, In some SpeCts, more r. aSon
than the other on their de, first be cause
h. resurrection having undIspuedly taken
pla~e on a Sunday, Sunday would seem
to re the ratiCna! day for Its observaI &c,
and secondly, b .caus', owing to Imperiec-
ons in the cilerdar, the Eas ern day
.omr,im fell esrli4r tnsn the vernsl
souin x. which caused the feast to be OBJ
served twice in that wear and rot at all in
, h. next year, the VERBAL equinox being
bed as tie olenng Gay OF the
natural year. All sorts OF msthe-
90. cal and as,ro ,om cal calculstiors
we're made ard cycles were framed by
which the moons age could be determined
accurately, but the question a. to whether
he d ~ should be hep: accor log to the
E ern or IT, Western custom was never
defnrey settled in the Br tsh church till
toward the clcse of the seventh century,
" hen the ng of Norrhumbria-he through
who's. Iigh'ed hall the bird fitted, ike
, the soul, GU of one darkness into another
called q courcil and d. cided the question
by declaring tn 1t if the keys OF the king
fom of III aven were really given TO 81.
Pet, r, as Wllirid and Bishop COlman adj
mtted, then he should do as -. Peter did
nd observe E ster on the hrst Sunday
af.er the full moon winch h'ppens on Or
mex. after The day oil the v,rnal equinox,
T tearing TO ffrnd him wao kept the keys of
Heaven, les he should, as he said, on pre-
senting himself at the gate, ind ne one 10
open TO him. The Sc Element OF the gu s.
e ZION must, at all events, have been great
5 1nv enit nee, as all the other movable Teas: $
j throughout the year depeGd upon the data
IF Eas er.
o TIER is still doubt as to the origina-
tioa of our EngiI,h word Easter, some
), thinking that we have il from the old
saxon Eost'e, whose feas day was the
same, some taking it from vs.; which
M an orm, and would refer TO the usual
stormy &c son Of the equinox, and some
! again from the word Os er, which siguifi, g
y rising; aud great d al of TIE poeticsl
B character of the day, spart from its relig-
ious reference, is to be found in this last
sigoi6ea ion. For the true year, begiuning
with the verpal equinox, that word rising"
e sieni6-s bo h the resur ection of the Lord
and The resurrection a so Of all nature from
its intry sleep of death and this recogni-
1 ton of the rising of n ,ture makes the cele-
. brstion one In which even they who deny
!. its sacred cha-ac er Otherwise can Join
without, charge of Inconsistency.
The world over, and whether Kept by
{ pagan or Christian, the Easter season has
always been one of jog and thanks giving.
How can snyone restr In emotions Of loy
and 18th, or IA to feel them, when the
ear, turns her reddening cheek to the
;. sun. and the powers of hight and warmth
!. and growth gather about her on the way,
A whep the bud ST rus on the stem, the birds
4 dart to and iro IN the air, and the beams OF
Q the sun are like Jacobs ladder, on which
a angels 60 up aud down between earth and
Il heaven? Lille seems to spring as freshly
o and as vigorously In the human frame, too,
&c as 1t does IN the plsret itself, perhaps
r because we are the CT atures of the planet;
4 We feel cap bic of new and fine things,
v we rems mber receives and plans
: of old time and fill them with
!. our renewed life, little while ago having
4 no heart Tor them, aud nov finding them
% seem ,sy of performance as the blowing of
n a bubble; We, too, rise with the rising year
Il and renew some small fraction OF oul
a youth each season. Ia what better time
" could the day of the resurrection be hon
., ored than that In which all nature, ami
,e NIT. and inanimate, jors? There is moth
: ing, IL thus seems. in the history of relig
ious ceremonial more beautifully appropri
a'e than the estab' ishment of Easter in it:
vernsl setting AS the tomb opens, all tbs
4, great forces of nature rise too, from the
= darkness, md ascend to light aud fruition
~ and rong srejoicing fills the hearts o
y mankind iOto which, whe,h they woulG
Is or no, enters Is deep a religious glad
~ IS and gratitude that what hst
ie seemed dead is alive again. Ii
y. "a come lands this JOY is expressed by peopl,
- sslutIng each other with the glad tidings
Y in that which now represents the old By
r 49, Ill a. -