THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 15139, 22 March 1913, Page 4

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

RELIGIOUS REFLECTIONS. [By Tire r.iLOßijr.l "slave; to noJicrr who takes no private road." thought for*the week. Twos a wondrous war I trow. Life and death together fought • But life has triumphed, o'er his foe". Death is mocked, and set at naught. Yea, 'tis as the Scripture saith : Christ through death has conquered death. —Luther. EASTER. ; The breaking <,f Easter Sunday willbriiv.' j once more its solemn gladness to the whole Christian world. Where Lenten arterites have been observed a genial joy will spring, aud the fast will give place, to the feast.- In the European lands that have felt least the profaning tread of a secularising progress, quaintly beautiful customs wii'i still be observed. There in those world street*? the Easter kiss will be exchanged, anid the solemn salutation "Surrexit" (He is risen) will meet its assuring response ''Vere SuiTOxit" (Ho is risen indeed). In lands other than these the Easter joy has preferred a demonstration that is more sophisticated and ecclesiastical. -Rut the popular custom* of the season linger on. In Russia, Germany. France, rural England, and Northern Wales the Easter egg —a link with the Jewish Passover and Persian New Year festivities—will still bo presented amid circumstances that vary from pomp to playfulness. The superstitions of the season are with us yet, and here ;;nd there as the light of Easter day blesses some part of the world, simple Christian folk will be alert to discover if the wind comes from the East with it, and to note if a lamb can be seen facing the dwelling. These things, however, are not for our practical Dominion. Nor do we get on this underside of the world the special inspiration cf an Easter associated with the springtime. Our Christian Easter is the. consecration, of a- pagan festival belonging to that reason. Indeed, our Easter—a name common among Teuton people—is doubtless derived from the name of a heathen goddess of our Saxon forebears who was called Ostara, Osterr, and Eastre. She was the. i>ersonification of the East, of the morning, of the spring. Tho month of April was dedicated to her, and was known as Easter Monafh among the Saxons and Angles, and is still known in Germany as Osterruoßat. Her worship struck deep root in Northern Germany, was carried to England by the Saxons, and still survives in some obscure customs at feasts that celebrate the return of the spring. The non-Teutonic nations cling to the Semitic word, derived from the Aramaic word "peeach," to pass by, which has come into English as '• passover." In England 6iich terms as pass-flowers, pass-lamb, and pascheggs, all applicable to the customs of Eastertide, represent the Semitic form, and remind us that our Christian festival is the lineal successor of the Jewish Passover. In the early church Easter was identical in. date with the passover, as in fact the two festivals are identical in the root. It was the opposition of Christians to Jews that led, as the call of the Nicean Council in a.d. 325, shows, to a divergence from the Jewish date.

Our word "Easter"' carries lis back, therefore, through the Saxons to the ancient celebrations that from, the earliest ages of men have expressed the spontaneous outburst of rejoicing over the reawakening of nature after the long sleep of winter, 'those celebrations have always been more or less elaborate. It was the consistent policy of early Christendom to (jive a Christian significance to such of the existing pagan ceremonies as coukl not be rooted out. In the case of Easter this conversion wa-: peculiarly easy. Joy at the rising of the natural sun, and at the awakening of nature from the death of winter, became easily joy at the rising of the Son of Righteousness, at the resurrection of Christ from the grave. Some pagan observances associated with the Ist of Mav were also transferred to this Christian festival. The occasion became a time of exuberant joy. Trade was suspended, labor ceased, slaves Mere freed, the law courts were dosed. It Mas a favorite time for baptism. Easter Sunday wes known as " Dominica. Gaudii " (Sunday of joy). The'mirth, that took even farcical turns, was encouraged by the clerics, and was supposed to have its counterpart and justification in specific frolics of nature. For example, one of the oldest and most widespread superstitions attaching to Easter is that then the sun danced. In 'A Wedding' Sir John Suckling wrote thus of the bride: But oh, she dances such a way, Xo sun upon an Easter day Is half so fine a sight.

Tins notion was gravely combated by pedantic okl scholars, but it was obstinately reluctant to die. Perhaps, as it was the custom on Easter morning to look for the sun, as seen reflected on the surface of a pond or a pail of water, there were were not a few convinced of the foolish blindness of the sceptics. But these quaint notions—and there are many such attaching to Easter—are of merely antiquarian interest for mast of us now. What really matter at Easter is not its chequered history, but its religious significance. Even in this material" age it, opportunity for holiday-making is of less importance than its recurrent quickening for a holy hope. It is for us essentially a Christian festival. Its reminder of an empty tomb fans a faith that may become dim, but never goes out. Its religious observances may vary through all the grades from splendor to simplicity. Eastern didries may organise gorgeous processions ; in Rome the crowds may bend beneath the benediction of the Pope, and scramble for the copies of the prayers that have been offered ; in sober England the. celebration may be signalised by saerament and sermon; in little meeting-house the silent brethren may give themselves \o expectant meditation. At heart it is all one. The story of the risen Saviour answers a longing that springs eternal, and ilhslrates a faith invincible as the Easter sun itself. And what the resurrection story does'for the faith in a life after death it does by suggestion for the aspiration after a. nobler life that was smaller or greater strength within us all A risen Christ as an objective fact in the world's life bespeaks a triumphant better nature in the subjective life of every earnest man. "Risen with Crrrist" :s the view of our New Testament touching the moral experience of those who trust and serve Him. Nowhere has I this liner putting than in the .great classic j sent by St. Paul to the Roman Christians :

" If the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ Jeeus from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies through his spirit that dwelleth in you." Of the possibility of such a lofty life enjoyable here and now through the quickening influence of a living. Saviour, spiritually dwelling in every devout sornl, the coming again of Easter is a great and precious reminder. £3,000 POP. AN ALMS BOWL. An unusual application came before I)r Vernon Smith. Chancellor of the Diocese of Ripon, at a Consistory Court held in Ripon Cathedral. The Marquis of Ripon and Mr R. R. Barker, churchwardens of the parish of Aldfielu-euni-Studley. petitioned for power to dispose of a silver porringer which had for some years been used as an alms bowl in the church. It was originally a child's porringer, and had embossed v.pon it the letters of the alphabet. The estimated value was £3,000, and, under the circumstances, owing to the isolated position of the church, it was thought better to sell it and devote the money to church improvements. The Rev. M. Humble, vicar of Aldriekl-eum-Studley, .argued that the eale of the bowl was unnecessary. The Chancellor decided to grant a faculty under certain conditions—v.amely, that the alms bowl be sold for £3,000, to to deposited in the South Kensington Museum; that £I,OOO of that sum bo invested for permanently adding to the stipend of the benefice; that a replica of the bowl be provided ; that £I.OOO be invested as a repair fund, and that the balance be applied to some, of the objects of chinch improvement mentioned by the churchwardens.