Year: 1870

Easter Sunday Services In tho Churchos.


On this day will be celebrated the solemn
festival of Easter. 'Christ is risen from the
dead and hath appeared to Simon" and the
last scene in the drama of the Saviour's sacri-
fee for man Is over. There is no event in the
career of Christ which is regarded with
greater devotion than that of the resurrection.
Catholics and Protestants unite in celebrating
it. To-day Father Preston and DR.. Dix, Mr..
Hepworth and Brother Beecher will alike, we
dead and the ascent into heaven. Flowers
will decorate the churches, hymns of joy will
be sung and the voices Of preachers will
resound through the sacred edifices in praise
of the Son of God. At the Catholic and Epis-
copal churches the ceremonies will be pecu-
liarly grand, solemn and impressive, and while
the evangelical denominations will not indulge
in great deal of ritualism, their prayers and
rejoicings will be none the less earnest and
devout.


With all the outward forms of the Christian
faith thus carefully observed nothing remains
but that earnestness Of spirit which springs
from proper appreciation of the event that is
symbolized and celebrated. We are, perhaps,
not too harsh in asserting that to many per-
sons the arrival of Easter is hailed with joy
less because Of its commemorating the resur-
rection than because of its relieving them
from the restraints of Lent. These sinners
think less of the fact that in forty days after
He had come from the dead Christ ascended
into heaven, there to pray forgiveness for their
transgressions on the earth, than on the other
fact that Easter is a holiday, an occasion for
rejoicing, and, as a consequence, that there is
a brief season for indulging in worldly plea
sures before the warm weather drives them to
Long Branch, Saratoga and Newport. Now,
it is not our purpose to be severe. But in
pursuance of that great work we have under
taken-the work of holding the mirror of
righteousness before frail and SHINING hu-
manity-we are compelled to state plainly the
existence of those things which conflict with
true religion and by contrasting them with all
that is pious, and good, and holy, aid in
diverting the wanderer back to the path which
leads to heaven.


And on the preachers whose congregations
to a great extent reflect the sentiments of
their pastors, more particularly do we urge
the abandonment for the day of those stereo-
typed ideas and ancient theories which they
exhaust Sunday after Sunday. Christ is an
everlasting youth. Why should Christianity
grow old? Easter Sunday should not be de-
voted to the discussion of sectarian questions
or to mere repetition of what we read in the
Bible. The first is not over pleasant at the
best, and the second every Christian knows
by heart. What we need to-day is little
eclecticism (if we can use the word) in our
churches. Christ died to save all men, and
not for any particular sect. We trust, then,
that the tone of the sermons which are de-
livered to-day will be that of the broadest
Christianity, and that pastors and focks will
devote their whole thoughts to the subject of
the resurrection. Consider well how insight
fcant and contemplate appear all the events
in the life of the greatest of mortas beside this
glorious consummation of the mighty sacrifice
for salvation for which the Son of God was
sent to earth.