to be found of us; in his Grace, at the Sepulchre, and in his Glory, in Heaven. Happy they, who so early seek their Saviour; who long after him, as the Hart doth after the WaterBrooks; who seek him among the Lilies, until the Day break, and the Shadows flee away. Happy they, their Conversation is now in Heaven, and their Happiness hereafter, will be the Joys of Eternity: Where they shall no more be absent, but ever present with the LORD. *Sol. Song ii. 17. OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XXIII. MR. BOURNE has exhausted the Subject of this Chapter. The learned Author of the Vulgar Errors has left us his Thoughts concerning it in the subsequent Quotation; in which if the Matter be not found curious, the Manner perhaps will be considered as highly so: "We shall not, I hope, says "he, disparage the Resurrection of our Redeemer, "if we say the Sun doth not dance on Easter Day: And * I have heard of, when a Boy, and cannot positively say whether I have not seen tried, an ingenious Method of making an artificial Sun Dance on Easter Sunday;—a Vessel full of Water was set, out in the open Air, in which the reflected Sun seemed to dance from the tremulous Motion of the Water. This looks not unlike a Re lique of Popish Legerdemain; it reminds me of a beautiful Simile in the Loves of Medea and Jason, in the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius T "And though we would willingly assent unto any sympathetical Exultation, yet cannot con"ceive therein any more than a tropical Ex pression. Whether any such Motion there were "in that Day wherein Christ arised; Scripture "hath not revealed, which hath been punctual in "other Records, concerning Solary Miracles; and "the Areopagite, that was amazed at the Eclipse, "took no Notice of this: And if metaphorical Ex"pressions go so far, we may be bold to affirm, not only that one Sun danced, but two arose that Day. "That Light appeared at his Nativity, and Darkness at his Death, and yet a Light at both; for even that Darkness was a Light unto the Gen"tiles, illuminated by that Obscurity. That 'twas "the first Time the Sun set above the Horizon. "That although there were Darkness above the Earth, there was Light beneath it, nor dare we "say, that Hell was dark if he were in it." cr This is a fine ænigmatical Way of Reasoning, and from the Turn of his Discourse, one might have Rhodius: It is there applied to the wavering Resolves of a lovesic Maiden. Η ελίου ὡς τίς τε δόμοις ἐνιπάλλεται αἴγλη Η που εν γαυλῶ κέχυται· ἡ δ ̓ ἔνθα και ένθε Reflected from the Sun's far cooler Ray, As quiv'ring Beams from tossing Water play, asked, asked, (with the Butler's Compliment to Vellum in the Haunted House) if it were not to be too ludicrous upon a solemn Subject; "I fancy, Master Doctor, "C you could make a Riddle." For the Pasche, vulgò Paste, or Easter Eggs, with which Children entertain themselves here in the North at this Season, and of which Mr. Bourne has taken no Notice, see the Appendix, in Verbo Pasche or Paste Eggs. CHAP. XXIV. Of Easter Holy Days. A Time of Relaxation from Labour: How observed in the dark Ages of Popery: That our Customs at this Time, arc sprung from theirs. ON the Holy-Days of Easter, it is customary for Work to cease, and Servants to be at Liberty: Which is a resemblance of the Practice of the primitive Church, which set apart the whole Week after Easter, for to praise and glorifie GOD, for our SAVIOUR's Resurrection: In which *Time all servile Labour ceas'd, that Servants as well as others might be present at the Devotions of the Season. But other Customs so frequently observed at this Time, such as public Showes, Gamings, Horse-Races, &c. were forbidden, as being foreign to the Holiness of this Season. In after Ages, when the Church fell into Corruption, and the Substance of Religion * Servos autem & ancillas ac omnes, qui nostro servitio sunt addicti, profecto ab omni servitutis severitate eos hoc tempore laxare debemus. Ut libere & secure omnes possint ad audiendum divinum officium convenire, & communicare. Belith. Cap. 117. decay'd decay'd into the Shadow of Ceremonies, the usual Prayers and Praises of the Season, were either much neglected, or but superficially observed. For Belithus, a Ritualist of those Times tells us * That it was customary in some Churches, for the Bishops and Arch-Bishops themselves to play with the inferior Clergy, even at Hand-Ball; and this also, as Durandus witnesseth, even on Easter-Day itself. This was called the Liberty of December, because that formerly, it was customary among the Heathens in that Month to indulge their Servants with a certain Time of Liberty; when they were on the Level with their Masters, and feasted and banqueted with them. Why they should play at Hand Ball at this Time rather than any other Game, I have not been able to find out; but I suppose it will be readily granted, that this Custom of so playing, was the Original of our present Recreations and Diversions on Easter Holy * Sunt enim nonnullæ ecclesiæ, in quibus usitatum est, ut vel etiam episcopi & archiepiscopi in cænobiis cum suis ludaut subditis, ita ut etiam ad lusum pilæ demittant, &c. Belith. C. 120. + In quibusdam locis hac die. Vid. Pasch. &c. Durand. Lib. 6. Cap. 86. Atque hæc quidem, Libertas ideo dicta est Decembrica, &c. Belith. ibid. |
