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0 0 S S 0 S S 0 0 S e 1 I eC + Office: EASTER AT THE CHURCHES oF NEWBERRY COUNTY. (Conitinued from Page Eighuteen.) Newberry, supplied them as pastor. When Rev. H. P. Counts became pastor, December, 1896, Macedonia was admitted into the charge, which arrangement continues to the present. Rev. S. L. Nease was again called to succeed. Rev. H. P. Counts and served th'e congregation from 1899 to 1901. Rev. J. K. Efird, also called the sec ond time succeeded Rev. S. L. Naase a.nd served from Dec., 1901, until May, 1905. The present pastor, Rev. 0. B. Shearouse, assamed the work July 15, 1905. 0. B. Shearouse. March 23, 1909. * * MAYER MEMORIAL. * * * *c ** * * Maver Memorial Lutheran church will observe Easter Sunday with ap propriate services. At the morning service theige will be a special sermon preached by the pastor, followed with the Holy Communion. At 7.30 o'clock p. m. there will be a special service rendered by the Sunday school.'' At this service offerings will be takin for the Orphan Home. Everybody invited to all the ser vices of the echurch. -J. D. Shealy, Pastor. **** * ****** * * EASTER AT THE LUTHERAN * CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER * * 0** ** ** * ** ** * * ** Easter was the first of the whole evele of church festivals to be observ ed. and since it commemorates the central fact of the Christian religion, the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, it is the chief festival of t.he Lutheran church. "The Lutheran constitutions at first ordained a three days' celebration, abolished all the superstitious practices to which the Middle Ages had given rise, and made .the proper observance of the festival to consist in the faithful setting forth of the steat central fact of Redemp tion. in wvord and song.'' The Luth erani church not only celebrates this great festival in word and song, but in deeds. It is the season of the in gathering of souls. The time when -oo+e+e+e+o+ cuftg La O F CAPITAL ST4 UNDIVIDED F R E Al Cor. Boyce and ered in, and, hence, a time of great rejoicing. All over the world church es will be decorated-the story of the Cross and Resourrection will be told, and great songs of praise will ascend to~ God. We find the thought of the joyous season beautifully expressed in the words of Rev. W. J. Miller, D. D.: "How the word Easter thrills our souls! It fills us with thoughts and feelings the highest and the noblest. At 'tht word Easter, the whole earthly life of Jesus Christ comes be fore us. We see Him once more in! the stable a babe in Mary's arms; we see Him the boy in the midst of the doctors; we see Him the carpenter of Nazareti; 'we behold Him .the Preacher ~of R,ighteousness, telling the story which the world would not receive; we see Him buffeted, spit up on, and revile'd: we see the Cross and then the tomb, with the stone and seal and watch; and then Easter wvith 'its glory and triumph, and hallelu jalh,.a' glorious crown to a still mor~e glorious life. Let us have our mis re, for it dissolves into' the hallelu jah. Let us have the cross and thre crown of thorns an'd the tomb, for af ter them comes Easter." The significance of Easter is being more and more recognized. Its im portance in the scheme of Redemp tion and in the uplift of humanity is being more and more appreciated. From Cathedral and humble chapel peal forth Easter anthems. Ever greens and flowers decorate the altar in church buildings -of almost all de nominations. The business world puts on a new Easter dress and the whole world keeps holiday. We know that- all this Easter display is not always an indication that the heart is in full accord with the great Eas Iter thoughts; but it does show that the whole world, whether, of the fact or not, is going forth to meet its King. To us as Christians what a wealth of blessedness -does Easter bring! Christ is the Victor. He has conquer ed all the foes that have conquered man. In the light of the risen Christ, we rejoice with joy unspeakable, for sin, death, the grave and hell have no longer dominipn over us. Through Him who -rose on Easter day we are conquerors and more than conquer ors. Wh.at joy fills orhearts as we pneover these glorious truths. Christ is risen and Christians must rise too. They must rise at the last day. "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also ap pea with HiTm in zlrver'' "'Christ is anaoldI NEWBI )CK , "ROFITS - EST) SU y Savi Adams Streets. risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept.'' ''For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.'' ''But every man in his own order; Christ, the first fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at His eoming." .Christ's Resurection is the pledge and assurance of our resureetion. If he ..first fruits are gathered in, the harvest will follow after. If t.he Head has risen, the body will rise al so. The resureetion of the Christian is a rising into a glorious life with Christ. It is meeting the Lord in the air 'and so being 'ever with the Lord. There is another resurrection for Christians, a rising again here in this world, a rising to a new life. ''If ye be risen with Christ,'' writes Paul, ''seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.'' If we would rise wiLh Christ at the last day we must rise with Him now. ''Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed un to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.'' - In the light of Easter let as ask ourselves the question, has this light shone into our hearts and minds I Are we leading a new and risen life'? Are our affections set on things above'? Do we feel within us the heart trobs of that ''life which is hid with Christ in God ''" In this spirit will Easter be c-ele brated in the Lutheran Chur&h of the Redeemer. Program Easter Sunday. 11 a. m.--Regular morning s'r vice. Reception of new members. Celebration of- the Lord 's Sapper. Singing of Easter hymns. The choir will render the following beautiful seletions: ''Now is Christ Rison ''-F. C. Maker. ''Why Seek ve the Livingc?''-J. E. Trow.bridge. At 4 p. m.-Sunday school. At 7,30 p. m. there will be a spe ial service rendered by the Sunday school, consisting chiefly of soagp by the main school and primary depart ment. At this service President J. Henry Harms of the college will make an address. A cordial invitation to a:1 sE'rvices is extended the public. ''An Ohio preacher says a kiss is a worse intoxicant .that drink. ''What do you think of that?'' ''T think he's heen kiesin<r '' gvastwmei E RR Y, C ST E L EAN ngs C EASTER ED'ITION-H&N .. .... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * EASTER TIDE * * ---* * What Easter Signifies, and the * * Customs of Various Countries. * * --'* * By Rev. J. W. Wolling,' D). D. * * * The whole Christian world now eel ebrates Easter, w~~hich is the joyful festival in memory -of the resurree tion of our Lord, Christ. Thiis is the great movable feast of the church and to many it is perplexing to tell julst when it is due. It can- never in any year come earlier than March 22nd, or later thaa April 25th, but the rtt-le by which its coming is determined is the following: It must fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following tihie vernal equinox. which. of course, gives us the 21st of March as the fixed point. The name of this feast, Easter, is by many supposed to come from the name of the Saxon goddess, Eastre, whose festival among those rude peo pIe was snpposed to come at this sea son, and as some claim w-as trans ferred by the church into the Chris tion calendar. This may have been. Howev-er, it is a notable fact tha.t none of the customs of that wanton goddess are joined to our solemn, %eautiful feast, and hence for this and other reasons I am disposed to think of its origin as another, -and very dif ferent. After examining many opin ions my thought is that the word Eas tern was by the Anglo-Saxons chang ed by dropping one letter from Eas tern to our Easter. It is reasonable thus to conctluide, for they looked to the East for our Lord 's coming, and as the sun bursts forth in the East bringing to life a new day, a resur rection from the dark, cold night, so His rising was to them the Easter, or the festival of the Eastern light, the rising of our Lord, the 'Sun of right eousness. ~And hence the name. In all of Northern Europe as also among the Latin races the word used for Easter is Paschoa, which is the word for Passover, tie old Jewish feast. And indeed the d;ate of that ancient feast a-nd of our Easter is nearly iden tical. The word Easter is used in our Bible by the English translators but Many interesting -customs are in use in various nations. One of the most ancient as also extensive was the giving of an egg. On Easter morina s the believers met they it Compc $50,000.04 $ 1 1, 479.1 2 AN S )ntract Phone .y.+*+e+*+*4 handed one to the other an egg and used the salutation, "The Lord is risen,'' to which came the reply, "He is risen, indeed.'' Of course we un derstand that tihe egg represents the resurrection; as a new life after three weeks of incubation 'bursts from that covering, so Christ after three days burts t'he confines of the totrnb. Easter has always been a joyful feast, and in the early chui-ch it was a -time of floral decorations, to the poor alms were given, slaves were of ten set free, the prisoners released, and on Easter morning the believers in Christ greeted each other with a "iholy kiss.'' In Brazil I once at tended an assembly of Christians, all of whom had come from Southern Europe, who thus greeted eaeh other with a 'kiss and that without distinc tion of age or sex. In all Latin coun tries the church festivities are observ .d with much pomp and circumstane es. However, Easter which covers tihree days. from Good Friday to Eas ter Sunday, 'has for the first two days a note of sadness which dominates all business and industrial aetivities. Only what is necessary can be bought; all signs of sayety must be put aside and hundreds repair to the churhes all dressed in deep mourning and view what is said to be the figure of Christ lying in the tomb. In the outside world all noises are hushed. All the whistles of railroads and factories give no sign or segnzal; on the street ears no bell or gong is struck, and even the tinkle of cowbells and those on horses are all muffled. Christ is in the tomb. they say. hence all this sadness. And so it continues until be fore day on Easter morning when all the chureh bells break forth in a glad haleluiah. and by daybreak the churdes are full of gaily dressed thrngs eh anting praises and eonerat ating each other on the newv found j(ov that the Lord is risen. In our country Easter festivities are adorned with a great profusion of natura.l flowers. 'but the flower which stands for Easter joy is the lily. and of the two hundred varieties of this plant the Easter-lily is at this season the queen. This plant is not a native of our country but was brought from Bermuda and in our South land boom's just at the Easter tide. This beautiful bloom, which represents urity, is no doubt applied to Christ bee:anse of the exnression in thre book of C'anticles where it says: "'I am thre rose of Sharon and the lily of the vallev.'' In his vivid imagination no doubt the writer foresaw our Lord a with proicn vision beheld the 0 0 0 4 ) S S . No. 207 S joy of Easter. .Once more this joyful season is up on us. T.he flowers, full of beauty and of fragrance, will adorn the al tars of our Lord, and should repre sent the fragrance of a holy love in the hearts of the worshippers. The joy-bells will ring and every tongue should repeat the joyful refrain: ''The Lord is risen,'' and a glad re sponse come back: ''He is risen, in deed.'' * * * -* * * * * * * * * * * * * * WEST END BAPTIST * * CHURCH. - * * * Newberry, S. C., March 26, 1909. Mr. E. H. Aull, *Dear Sir: You lettei- received and will say that our young people are planning exercises for Easter Sunday night in which there will be speaking, singing and recita'tions. Fraternally. J. F. McGill, Pastor West End Baptist Church. ** * * **** * FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. * * * ** ** *** ** * **** Col. E. H. Aull, Newberry, S. C. Dea.r Sir: .Yours requesting an article on Eas ter celebraxtion to hand. I haven't t.he time that would be necessary to prepare an article for publication. As a church we do not celebrate Easter; our order of service is the same as on other Sundays. I do not know just what I am going to preach that day and cannot flow give an outline. '. Yours truly, G. A. Wright. * . *' * ST. LUKE'S LUTHERAN * * CHURCH. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We regard th-e Easter festival as the most, inportairt festival of th enlire Church year. It comnmemnora es the res.urrection of Christ, and Vh chureh will ever stand with the res urrection of Christ. If Christ r from the dead, all 'his miracles ar sure, he is all that he claims to b and our faith is impregnable. Christ did rise from the dead as (GonHmrud on Page Twenty-four