OCR Text |
Show which doe nol observe lay? Banish the thought. Yet Drty yours ago. right here In States, that church, other than jollc, Episcopal and Lutheran, tlfe slightest attention to what ly7 the greatest of all church ws scarcely known to exist. (BUhan a quarter of a century tiversul spirit of Easter may vo finally triumphed. th of tho Easter spirit was j :t! no time was there a con-i con-i mient In Its behalf. Uncon-1 Uncon-1 iffecllng became manifest In 7 rters that It would be a fitting i prve tho day named as tlic one Kfrlst rose from tho dead, and advantage of an opportunity iVcspecIally upon mankind the lmos of tho Christian religion, (this church and that tool: up Tflwhlch, but a year or so bc-'jlt bc-'jlt derided as a survival of Ifphero were many forebodings. fShany chisms. 'Me, of all this, slowly, surely, .'Spirit grew. People who left iHbecausc of Its observance of iawent to the church around Ifctworshlp In the old way, soon too, a pulpit hid behind Kgalr laden with their frag-jgmcnted frag-jgmcnted choir and a pastor (filth o text peculiar unto the lfthe resurrection and the life." I years there was no place left r Jectors In which they could Iho manner of their youth J mday So. at last, they, too, 1 led to fall In lint. With them !$Enstir spirit filled the land, oday, hosunnns rising from. ' ty houses of worship In the I namlets, as woll as from tho jjedlfic?s In our wealthiest I an way of looking ut things - Jlresponslble for tho tardy I of. Easter by all religious 18- the Rev Dr. Charles H. He noted Presbyterian divlno !o noted Presbyterian divlno c. "For. a long time all t churches, with the excep-Iplscopal excep-Iplscopal and the Lutheran, usly to the austere Puritan s, and onu of tho things that owned down upon was any whatever of the times und aiumanded to bo obsen'cd in toll churches as tho Presby-iptlst, Presby-iptlst, the Methodist and tho iIIbI, shunned Easter a a flpagan worship, and only Vt-to denounce it. I do not , back in memory more than S itb recall the lime when all d. which gave religious al-.1 al-.1 the vast majority ' of tho J odles, would have none of I iWhen I cjimo to New -York i. fttcr tnanv, many churches d likewise intolerant of the S S w?ii'.f..y,l.M r Sm?!?, mI!3. ,.?f. v.'ell as tho temporal. Evolution is constantly con-stantly at work, and so gradually practically prac-tically uncoi3clously at first a more tolerant tol-erant wav of looking at Easter grew up. Perhaps the fact that this churches which observed Eur lor were lnvarlablv crowded on Easier Sunday, while those which did not were Invariably minus their younger element, had something to do with bringing bring-ing about the change. At any rato, pastors pas-tors began to see that after all there was some good in tho day's observance, especially espe-cially ince it offered them a splendid chanco to emphasize to all mankind the glorious doctrine of the resurrection al the time when it is uppermost in men's minds. Objection to the festival on the ground that It savored of heathenism was gradually swallowed up in this now thought. Tho next stop, the observance- of ihe day by thoso very churches which had hitherto Ignored it. wua only natural. "To mv mind the nresint iinlvprs.il Easter spirit is due to tho slow but sure evolution of tho tolerate religious spirit which is now so evident throughout Christendom It is this spirit which is drawing all the churches closer together. All recognize that their one great theme Is Jesus Christ hlmsolf. All are making every effort to emphasize his life and teachings, and so we have all the churches of Christendom celebrating on Easter Sunday tho doctrine- that Is expressly ex-pressly peculiar to It that of tho resurrection. resur-rection. In this country tho growth of the Easter spirit began In the cities, and from them spread to the towns and country. Among the cities New York was the first to ex-perlei"-" tho effects of tho chango of heart toward Easier on the part of tho Protestant Protest-ant bodies. Thirty-five years ago the great majority of the churches of the metropolis refused to have anything to do with Easter. Many - T "" ' . pastora even went so far as to avoid any references to the doctrine of tho resurrection resurrec-tion on Easter Sunday, though they felt themselves at liberty to proclaim it on the fifty-ono other Sundays of the year. As for llowers and special music, they were tho inventions of the devil which ho was using to win the nations back to heathenism. heath-enism. Two or three years later tho chango came. On tho Easter before the one which saw a scattering of churches abandon tho old way for the new, their pastors had been mortified to find al tho morning services that the younger members of the congregations congre-gations had deserted bodily and gone to see tho llowers and to hear tho music in the churches which observed Easter with I special service-. These preaches were of 1 the younger generation themselves, and I had not thut abiding Intolerance for East- er which possessed their older colleagues;. Therefore, they determined to try tin- ex-pt-rlmont of observing Easter, let come what may. Tho experience of one pastor was representative- of the trials and tribulations of these bold pioneers. This minister, who Is now one of New York's leading orators, took a trusted few of his congregation Into his conlldencu a short time before tho next Easter season, and they saw to it that the church was tcstefully. though simply decorated with llowers, tho blossoms being maseed about the pulpit. Besides lilies and palm3 nnd other potted plants, there were a few wreaths sent by some of the pastor's confidants con-fidants in honor of ihe memory of friends and relatives recently dead. The nlKht before Easter Sunday the pastor pas-tor did not sleep a wink for thinking what would bo the effect of the flowers and his st-rmon on his dock. The next morning ho was up bright and early and on his way to the church to tear down the decorations. But when he got there and beheld the blossoms and caught their fragrance filling fill-ing tho church, ho resolved to let thorn stay nnd take whatever might be the con-siiiuences. con-siiiuences. With the ringing of the first bell for service ser-vice he took his seat behind tho pulpit. He has always been a militant shepherd and he wished to let his congregation know by his presence that ho approved of tho llowers and that he proposed to break away from the old ways of the church. To his dying day ho will never forget the faces of his church members as they entered Ihe church nnd suddenly beheld the llowers before their eyes. Some, literally liter-ally overcomo with astonishment, sank Into tho pews nearest them and gazed awestrlcken at the decorated pulpit. Others, Oth-ers, livid with anger, as soon a3 tho full significance of the llowers came over them, abruptlv turned their backs on their pastor and strode wrathfully out of tho church. Men and women allko snowed their disapnroval of tho Easter spirit in this unmistakable fashion, and whole families refused to take their seats In a church which had been so outrageously desecrated. Many of these revolters were among the church's most lnfluontla.1 members, mem-bers, und one family In particular was noted for its participation In all of tho church work and for the money it contributed contrib-uted for tho various charitable undertakings undertak-ings of ihe church. That Easter Sunday was a trying one for the pastor. On all sides he heard tho Innovation roundlv denounced as a revival of heathenism Tho wreaths were declared to be an attempt to graft the principles of Chinese ancestral worship upon the Chrls-tion Chrls-tion religion, and he further had the doubtful pleasure of learning that many of his hitherto slanche.st supportera Intended In-tended to seek elsewhere for a church where God alone was worshipped and the rites of paganism were not practiced for the damnation of all concerned. So the dav passed. But while tho pastor's pas-tor's temerity stirred up much strife nmong the congregation and led to lta depletion de-pletion in quarters that could be least af-lordcd. af-lordcd. It was not -without gratifying results. re-sults. Manv of his fellow ministers learn- Jug of his experience, consulted with him and. though his congregation had been no-ticeablv no-ticeablv reduced, they decided to hazard I an Easter service the following year, for ' they could find no harm in such nn observance, ob-servance, but much that promised well In the long run. Some of these ministers were they to whom many of the ploneor's congregation hud v turned for religious guidance, and In fho light of this their feellnga may be cas-iiy cas-iiy imagined when the next Easter they beheld their new church homes even moro elaborately decorated than their old one had been a year previously. Of course there was more revolting, moro denouncing denounc-ing of the heathenish practice, and more scurrying to find churches in which East-er East-er was not recognized by so much as a text, a lesson or a bud. In such fatihion came' the observance of Easter, with its decorations and special service?, into the vast majority pf t..' churches of the metropolis which had never before paid any attention to tho day in any part of the public service. As tho custom spread from congregation to congregation, outside churches, hearing about tho Innovation, fearfully took It up Many experienced the opposition that was tho portion of the pioneers in the move-mont, move-mont, and not a few churches were so rent bv dissensions that they ultimately went out of existence. This was partlcu-larlv partlcu-larlv the case in New England and In those parts of the West larsely settled jH bv New Encland emigrants. "But it was all in vain that there was kicking against the pricks. The growth Jm of the-Easter spirit wao Irresistible, and that church which did not catch Its share of the spirit was doomed. So that today it would be hard to find a church, no mat-ter mat-ter how poor in members and resources, which does not observe the day with spe-clal spe-clal services of some sort, and has not at least a home-grown Illy or two upon Its pine pulpit. Of iate yeare the general observance of Easter Sunday has been rellected In the observance of Good Friday by numerous non-llturglcal churches and individuals In the bfg cities the financial institutions generallv remain closed for the day. nnd In New York last year It was noticed that some wholesale and retail houses either did not open during tho day or c oscd in tho afternoon. Good Friday services are now common in such churches as the Presbvterlun and the Baptist, and each succeeding year sees more and more ai-tentJon ai-tentJon paid to the day by bodies that a 'few vears ago gave no particular thought to the significance of the day. Similarly, the Catholic and the Eplsco-nniinn Eplsco-nniinn art- not the only religionists who observe Lent nowadays. As individuals. and not as members of any churclu Bap- tists. Methodists, Congregationalisls and others of the evangelical denominations are Increasingly paying attention to tin observance of Lent. Many pastors hae J noticed this tendency and more or les HH openlv encouraged lu holding that no one can be harmed by a custom that, no mat- J ter how lightly Indulged in, causes thoughts of Christ and hla teachings to be stimulated in the hearts of the ob- servers. All-pervading as it is now. tho Easter Hmaj spirit is 'surely growing still, and the world, awearv with Its year of toil, listens HBaj I todav with doeper reverence than mcr Jft VJ I before to tho message of hope that Is i swelling from a thousand pulplls: "I am HKaj the resurrection and the life." I (Copyright. 3905, by J. C. EastmenD |