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T. L. MITCHELL, Publisher.
Vol. 7,—No, 3.
For Woman’s Wobk.
EASTEft.
Bright Easier morn, it is of thee
And all that thou dost bring,
Os peace and hope and love to me,
Glad morn, of thee I sing.
When all the mighty powers of hate
United in the doom
Os God’s own Son, with Him our fate
Was buried in the tomb.
And when He rose, arose on high,
The bands of death were riven,
And evil powers all conquered lay—
Back into darkness driven.
Take courage hearts that almost break,
Where fierce and hard the strife,
The victory’s yours, for His dear sake,
The end. Eternal Life.
Hannah E. Taylob.
For Woman’s Wobk.
EASTER.
BY SHILOH FATNK LANGFORD.
j HE forty days preceding Easter,
which are observed by fasting and
solemnity, is an ancient custom of
the Christian Church, and is in commem
oration of the miraculous abstinence of Je
sus, when under temptation. It is called
Lent, from the Saxon word lengtentide.
And it was Pope Gregory who caused this
lenten season to begin on what has since
been called Ash Wednesday, from the
Catholic ceremonies on that day. The
ashes used in these ceremonies were made
of the palms consecrated on the Palm Sun
day of the previous year. This is to re
mind the faithful that they are dust and
ashes. The last week beginning with
Palm Sunday (“On the next day much
pec pie that were come in to the feast, when
they heard that Jesus was coming to Jeru
salem,took branches of palm trees and went
forth to meet Him, and cried: ‘Hosanna 1
Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh
in the name of the Lord,’” —John xii., 12-
13), and ending with Easter (“The first
day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early, while it was yet dark, unto the sep
ulchre,”—John xx., 1), is called Passion
Week. This is because it is the anniver
sary of Christ’s Passion—when his man
hood was at strife with his divinity. Fol
lowing his triumphal entry into Jerusa
lem, came the driving of the money-chang
ers from the Temple; His controversy
with the Herodians, Pharisees and Saddu
cees; His prophesy on the Mt. of Olives,
of the destruction of Jerusalem; Judas
selling him to the high priests and elders
for thirty pieces of silver; His evening
visit to the two sisters, Mary and Martha,
at Bethany, and the breaking of the ala
baster box of precious ointment, whose
perfume has come down to us through
2,oooyears, with the Master’s words, ‘‘She
hath done what she could.” She had
anointed Him for the sacrifice. Then the
“Last Supper” in that “Upper Chamber,”
and the memorable washing of the feet,
followed by the visit to Gethsemane.
“AU those who journey, soon or late,
Must pass within the garden’s gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say,
'Not mine but thine,’ who only pray,
‘Let this cup pass,’ and cannot see
The purpose in Gethsemane.”
Jesus sweated great drops of blood as he
prayed: “If possible let this cup pass from
me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as
Thou wilt.” And so, as God willed in His
love for humanity, it came to pass; and
the soldiers came and took Him, and be
fore the morning light Peter had denied
his Lord thrice. On Friday the supreme
tragedy of the world took place; when the
Jews nailed our Saviour to the cross, cry
ing: “His blood be on us and on our chil
dren.” Taunting Him:—Hail, King of the
Jews; * * * He saved others,
himself He cannot save.” They went
out and gathered thistles to make Him a
IT DONES’T REQUIRE MUCH TO MAKE HAPPINESS—ONLY CONTENTMENT. ANDITHIS IS THE HEART'S PRIVILEGE.
ATHENS, GEORGIA, MARCH, 1894.
mock crown; and with the thistles they
gathered a little flower, which had been
growing among them since the time of the
first Adam, to adorn the brow of the sec
ond Adam. As Adam and Eve were be
ing driven from the garden of Eden, the
Angel, (watching the couple going forth,
hand in hand, into the misty unknown;
Eve’s eyes, filled with longing and heart
ache, turned ever back to the Eden from
which her sin had driven them) let fall
great tears of sorrow for them. These
tears fell among thistles, there to spring
into life as flowers, and bloom unnoticed
for 4,000 years; and then to fulfill their
mission, and to live in fame and story for
ever after, as the Passion Flower.
• * » • *
But what strange thing was this; an
earthquake was on them, rocks were rent,
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graves opened, and the dead that were in
them came forth, and the veil of the Tem
ple was rent in twain. Crying unto His
Father in Heaven, “Into thy hands I com
mend my spirit,” Christ died; proving His
divinity even by His death, for crucifix
ion was naturally a long, painful death.
And when the centurions came to Him,
He was already dead. But His words
have never ceased ringing in men’s ears,
“Whosoever will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross and
follow me. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose
his life for my sake and the Gospel’s, the
same shall save it.”
And so they have gone to Him, through
fire and water and tortures indescribable.
All powerful in their love for, and faith in
the lowly Naz,arene.
Saturday found the Pharisees exultant,
and the disciples desolate, scattered as
sheep without a shepherd. The next
morning, while it was still dark, two lone
• women went towards the tomb to anoint
> the body with spices, wondering as they
> went who would roll the stone away for
them. But when they reached the sepul
chre they found the stone rolled away, and
an angel sitting on it, who said to them :
“He is not here; He is risen.”
■
“In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born
across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you
and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make
men free,
While God is marching on.
“He hath sounded out the trumpet that shall
never call retreat;
He is sifting out the souls of men before the
Judgment seat;
O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him,be jubilant,
my feet!
Our God is marching on.”
*****
A legendary history of the Holy Cross
was published in a book in Culenborg, in
1483. It was something like this: When
Adam was about to die, Seth went to the
gate of Paradise to implore oil from the
Tree of Mercy, but instead, was given a
branch of the Tree of Knowledge, by the
Archangel Michael, who told him that
when the tree bore fruit, his father would
be cured. After Adam’s death, Seth plant
ed the branch, and it grew into a large
tree, which was cut down by Solomon for
his temple. It could not be used, so was
thrown aside, and served as a bridge over
a pool of water. The Queen of Sheba,
KATE GARLAND. Editress.
who probably crossed it on her visit to
Solomon, warned him (prompted by avis
ion) that one who would be suspended on
that tree would, by his death, be the over
throw of the Jewish Empire. So Solo
mon had the tree buried in the earth. The
pool of Bethsaida rose on the spot, and its
medicinal qualities may well be supposed
to have been imparted by the tree which
was “lor the healing of the nations.” The
wood rose to the surface at the appointed
time, and was used for the cross. After
the crucifixion it was again buried in the
earth, where it remained till discovered by
the Empress Helena, by angelic interposi
tion.
*****
In the second century a dispute arose
between the Eastern and Western church
es as to the proper time for the celebra
tion of Easter. The Eastern church cele
brated the 14th day of the Jewish month
or moon, considering it equivalent to the
Jewish passover. The Western church
celebrated it on the Sunday after the 14th
day, holding that it was the commemora
tion of the resurrection of Jesus. The
Council of Nice, 325 A. D., before whom
Constantine brought the question, decided
in favor of the Western usage, and author
itatively declared for the whole church
that Easter should always be the first Sun
day after the full moon which occurs on,
or next after March 21st. And if the full
moon happens on a Sunday, Easter will be
the next Sunday.
A great many of the Easter observances
are of Pagan origin, the Boman church
giving a Christian significance to such of
the customs as could not be rooted out.
In the ancient church, the celebration of
Easter lasted eight days. After the el av
en th century it was limited to three days.
It used to be the time for baptism. The
courts of justice were closed, alms given to
the needy, and slaves received their free
dom. On Easter day tne people saluted
each other with a kiss, and exclaimed, “He
is risen,” to which the answer was given,
“He is risen indeed.”
The most characteristic Easter rite is
the use of Pasch eggs. They are colored
with dye—woods, herbs, gay pieces of cal
ico, and chemical dyes, and presented to
friends. They are sometimes kept as am
ulets, sometimes eaten, and sometimes
games are played by striking them against
each other. In some moorland parts of
Scotland it was once the custom for young
people to go out early on Pasch Sunday,
and search for wild fowls’ eggs for break
fast; it was considered lucky to find them.
The use of eggs at this time is symbolic of
the springing forth of life in spring. The
Jews used eggs at the feast of the Pass
over, and the Persians present each other
with colored eggs at the festival of the
New Year (in March). This feast of Eggs
is considered by Christians as emblematic
of the resurrection, and of a future life.
“Behold, your Lord hath risen from the
tomb.”
Miss Mary Carey Thomas, who has re
cently been elected president of Bryn
Mawr College, near Philadelphia, is a
Baltimore woman. For many years, Miss
Thomas has been interested in educational
questions. In 1877 she took a degree of
A. B. at Cornell University, then she stud
ied two years at the Johns Hopkins. In
1879 she went to Europe and attended lec
tures at the University of Leipsic. After
wards, at the University of Zurich, she re
ceived the degree of Ph. D., where she also
won the highest honor of that Institution.
Later, she studied at the Sarbonne and at
the College of France. When Bryn
Mawr opened, she was elected dean of the
College. She was also made Professor of
English, which position she still holds.
Miss Thomas, with the former President,
James E. Rhodes, did much to build up
the Institution, and to make it, as it now
ranks, one of the best of colleges for wom
en.
50 Cts. per Year,