Mr. Shepard’s Easter Blunder
The theological attainments of Mr. Elliott F. Shepard, president of the American Sunday-law Union, are not by any means limited to the Sunday question. It takes in such profound questions as the celebration of Easter, the reasons for it, the meaning of it, etc. For instance, his paper of April 20, in an editorial on Easter Sunday, says:— “What is the particular event which Easter Sunday is supposed to commemorate? It is this—nothing more, nothing less—that on this particular day, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine years ago, Jesus Christ, after having been crucified and having lain in the grave for three days, rose triumphant from the dead.” One thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine years ago! Hardly. Jesus Christ was only about four years old at that time. He was not crucified when he was four years old, and did not have a chance to rise from the dead 1889 years ago. The sum of this whole matter is this—“nothing more, nothing less,”—either Mr. Shepard had better take to studying his Bible, or else quit writing or speaking on any Bible subject.