The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1942-04-02
Turning Over An
Old Leaf
By Phillip A. Gladheim

There were faces to remember in the
Valley of the Shadow;
There were faces unregarded, there
were faces to forget;
There were fires of grief and fear
that are few forgotten ashes;
There We're sparks Of recognition
that are not forgotten yet"
The very center Of the cycle of the
Christian calendar is Easter Day. All
the other important dates in the Chris
tian year have been measured by this
date because it represents the most
important event not only in the life
of Jesus Himself, but for the Church
and the world.
All of nature and man has been i'm
planted by the Divine to yearn always
for life. Springtime in nature, the be-
getting Of children, remain natural
wonders or miracles to the race.
The resurrection from the dead,
apart from the myth stories of Attis,
Adonis, Tamuz and Osiris, has been
noted but once in history. This was on
the third day after a man who claimed
special relation to God, was cru
Gifted by the secular and ecclesiasti-
cal authorities, accused Of demonolgy
by important people and pronounced
insane by his family. He was pierced
in the side of his body by a spear
while nailed on the cross. He was
taken off this 'tormenting beam, "
wrapped in linen, placed in rock
tomb, and the opening was sealed by a
heavy stone. A guard was placed at
the entrance of the tomb In spite of
every conceivable means of Destroy
ing this life, and making most care
full precautions even after His death,
this Person was seen alive by certain
people for the duration of forty days.
As this miracle Of the Resurrection
occurred in the spring of the year it
was natural that it be associated with
the festivals Of the NATURAL resurrec-
ton of the earth.
1t was customary for centuries, and
even practiced in many parts of the
world today, to observe the return Of
spring and the coming of children, by
certain rites and festivals. Food and
children were what primitive man
sought (rather than the accumulation
of money! to procure by the perform
ance Of magical rites for the regula-
ton Of the seasons.
In the first Christian centuries the
religions of Attis, Adonis and Osiris
were still immensely popular and had
far more adherents than the followers
Of the Nazarene.
The priests of the religion of Attis
accused the Christians of initiating
their belief and practice of the resur-
rection. 1t was exceedingly difficult
for the Christians at that time to in
form the followers of Attis that his
resurrection was based on a myth and
that its only purpose was to reinforce
the necessity of operating a priestly
magic to insure the fertility of the soil.
Over against this tradition of resur-
rection-of-fertility was the resurrec-
tion-from-the dead physical and spir-
ituaD, and that this actually happened
to Person who embodied not only the
God Of fertility but of all created
things in time and eternity.
But the Christians went even fur
Their, because it was the teaching of
this Person and the experience Of all
who contacted Him, that each person
had to die, both physically and spirit
ually (the order being sometimes re-
versed) in order to be born again.
Whenever this occurred that person,
like Jesus Himself, became immune
to every conceivable kind of death.
Even to prcsent-day Christians, sur
rounded b ytoo many matcrialistic and
scientific concepts, this Resurrection
of Jesus and its consequences for those
who relate themselves to Him, like
branch to Vine, sounds as mythical as
the religion Of Attis appeared to the
early Christians. In fact a modern
Easter as practiced by the Church and
society is an unrelated event Of one
days duration. In the church one
hears about the resurrection only as a
tradition, and this thought is in most
instances confined to the one sermon
of the preacher on this particular day.
1t has no antecedents, neither does it
engcndcr anticipation. 1t is unrc-
lated to the cosmic experience of fer
tility and the universal desire for I'M
mortality In society it is fashion
show on Fifth Avenue in New York
and the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.
The only real meaning that can be
attached to this fashion show is 81 am
a success; | am prospecting; my out
ward appearance has changed" We
laugh at our primitive ancestors, but
their idea of change was both the in
terror of nature and human nature.
Change in fashion has been substi-
tutcd for a change of heart,
The first anniversary Of Jesus Res
direction His disciples gathcrtd to-