The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-05-26
Supplementary Information On Easter.
Editor The Manning Times:

Editor The Manning Times:
Dear Sir-I must apologize for intrud-
ing another letter on easter" into your
columns, but totally unexpected de-
yelopmeut Of the controversy necessiJa-
tes that should at once without await
ing possible reply next week. acQuaint
your readers that we have all been mis-
! led by Mr.. Blanchard, from the very
first. Two days ago, a friend kindly lent
me copy Of the seventh volumne Of the
"Encyclopaedia BRITANNICA" Mr. Blan-
chard's boasted support in his attack on
Easter. I must confess that on turning
to page 6l4, to which Mr.. Blanchard re-
fers US, it was with fear and trembling.
Imagine, however, my surprise to find
that the very arguments have adduc-
ed to substantiate Easter as a Festival
of the highest Scriptural and historical
authority are contained in the very
page, so adroitly and unfairly quoted by
Mr.. Blanchard to write his first article
in your paper. What respect can we
have for a writer who processes to be "a
searcher after TRUTH" yet at the same
time deliberately suppresses truth, as
contained IN the exact page from which
he wrote9
Reading Mr.. Blanchard's letter again,
many of US will take the words Il had
no prejudices or religious predictions
to guard or defend" cum grano sails.
One can scarcely believe that the same
writer who stated that Easter is ''neith-
er OF Apostolic precept or example, saw
before him in the Encyclopaedia from
which he was writing, these words
"Polycarp, the venerable and sainted
''bishop of Smyrna, who, according to
'Irenecus (apud Euseb. H. E. V. 24) Wis
''ited Rome in 159, with this object,
"failed to induce Aricetus to conform to
''the QuartodecimaD usage, which Poly
"carp had Inherited from his master,
'the Apostle John" Compare the two
tatements:-''neither opostolic precept
''and example" from the suppresser of
OF truth: and the Apostle John" from
Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
With unnecessary sarcasm, Mr.. Blap-
chard informed your readers I was op-
posing my 'plasitudinous ebulition of
sentiment in caring for the idol of my
creed' against the ancient and we'll
received authority of Socrates. While
he was writing those words. this quo
cation from Socrates faced him:-''All
agreed that Easter should be kept on
one and the same day throughout the
world, and that none should hereafter
follow the blindness of the Jews" III.
F.. !. (Socr: 9.
Again, it suited Mr.. Blanchard's pur-
pose to quote half a paragraph from the
search after truth by deliberately omit
ing:-"The first Christians, being de-
''rived from, or intimately connected
''with, the Jewish church, naturally
''continued to observe the Jewish Festi-
''vals, though in new spirit, as COM
'memoratious of events OF which these
''had been the shadows. The Passover.
''ennobled oy the thought of Christ the
''true PaSchal Lamb, the first-fruits from
''tne dead, continued to be celebrated.
''and became the Christian Easter. Thus
''the human instinct which everywhere
''craves for the commemoration of mark
led epochs in the personal, social eccle-
''siastical, or national life, found its
Legitimate qualification in the public
celebration of the events which are
the foundation of the Christian Faith" ="
Mr.. Blanchard, who saw these words
wnen writing, dared to call Easter "a
giddy sentiment" and an "unchristian
ceremony"
Just one more quotation as to the Fes-