The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-02-17
CHURCH NOTES.
A VISIT FROM PROMINENT EpIsCe
PAL MINISTER'S TO RICHMOND.
Shrove-Tuesday and Ash-Wednesday.
Services In tho Other Churches.
The Music.
BaptismS. Conversions, Sunday School
Meetings, &c. dc.

| The change in the weather on Sunday was
an agreeable one indeed. 1t was more like
spring than winter day. The air was
| ae'lclous aud refreshing, and the churches,
as general thing, were thronged, especially
IN the afternoon and evening. In the Epis.
copal churches, as the Catholic, the day was
known as Quinquagesina-Sund Sun
day next before Lent, or the seventh Sunday
before Easter.
EpiseepaI Churches.
| At st. Paul's church in the morning Rev.
Walter Q. Hullihen, pastor of Trinity
church. Staunton, ofliciated in the absence of
DIR. Minnigerode, who was in the city of
| Alexandria, having been called thther on
business incident TO the death of Rev. DIR.
! Sparrow. Alright at st. Paul's Rev. Joshua
| Peterkin, D. D., Of st. JameS'S, read the SER
vice aud Mr.. Hullihen preached again.
| AT St. James's in the morning Rev.
| Thomas U. Dudley, of Christ church, Ba!ti-
more, preached. In the afternoon Mr.. HUI
| linen officiated. ...
| tthe Monumental in the morning the
pastor Rev. George Woodbridge, u. D., read
the service and preached, while in the after
noon Mr. Dudley preached to one OF the
largest congregations ever gathered i'll that
sacred edifice. as..
At St. Marks the pastor otllciated in the
morning and Mr. Dudley at night.
| AT. st. Johns church, in the morning,
Rev. DR.. Wall, in lieu Of sermon, read 10
u very full congregation the "Repy" OF
Bishop Johns to MIR. Latane's "Letter OF
| Withdrawal" DR.. Wall explained that this
! "repIy" was caused by minister quitting
l ~ nt, f~e
| years he had exercised his functions; and
| which, since the day he assumed his minis
| terial vows, had not changed one word or
| letter of her laws, standards, or formularies." !"
With this "repIy" he (Dr. WalD entirely
concurred, and thanked God for the noble
| utterauccs of his revered diocesan; for the
clear trumpet-sound Of loyalty to that
Church over q portion Of which he has pre-
sided for nearly one-third of O century. If
any show of exception could be found it was
perhaps with the terms Low Church and
| High Church. For himself, he had not
much faith in party names. He felt almost
| inclined TO say, in the words of famous
writer known probably to some of bis hear
ers, "a plague on your associations! We
| want man." Moreover, he would in-
| form his hearers that some of the most un-
compromising and determined opponents Of
ritualfsm tile alleged cause Of AIr. Latane's
withdraWal-we High Churchmen. ...
| Having reld the "rcpy," DR.. Wall said it
ought to allay any unsettled feeling about
| the secession Of Virginia. At any rate, it
| was safe to infer that il ever the Diocese OF
| Virginia should perpetratc the conSummate
| folly of breaking of from the Church and
setting up for itself it would not be, if he
could help it, during the lifetime of the wri-
ter of This "reply," nor with his sanction.
suRovE-TUEsDAY.
| To-day is Shrore-Tuesday. or pancake
| dav. 1t is so called because it was tile time
when sinners were shriyen or purified from
their sins by general confession and abSo-
luton before tic peDiential season OF Lent.
| Before the reformation this season was COM
| pulsory and led to many abuses. 1t was
| then left optional, and has since generally
fallen into disuSc. Cock-fghting was ge-
neral custom then, and not until prohibited
| by act of Parliament was it done away with
generally There were also many other bru-
| tal customs, which in the present day are not
known. The only custom now prevailing is
that OF eating pancakes. The modern prac-
| tice on the continent is for the penitents to
confess to their priests, seated i'll a sort of
wa,cll-boX called Il conf esSional, which has
| wooden partition with q lattice In it but
the ancient practice in England was to con-
| fess to the priest in the opcu church. The
| earliest on which Shrore-Tuesday can fall
| in any year is February Sd, and the latest
March 9th.
.... Asa-WEDNEsDAY. .
Tomorrow is the first day of Lent. 1t
| is Ash-W Wednesday, the first of the forty
| days of fasting instituted about the year 130
| in reference to the miraculous fasts of Moses
and Z lius and our Lord. Ashes were placed
on the heads Of penetents, and. flesh was
forbidden to be eaten. Eggs, milk, and
wine were also at times interdicted. Lent
lreceives its name from the time of the year
| wherein it is observed. Lent in the old
| Saxon language signifying spring, being
now used to signify this spring fast which
always begins SO that it may end at Easter,
| to remind us of our Sayiour's sufferingS,
which ended at bis resurrection. .-t a.
The Christian Lent took its rise from the
expiation of the Jews, who begun their
| solemn humiliation forty days before the eX-
piation. The primitive Christians following
| their example set up this fast in the earliest
times of Christianity, and when there was a
contention in Pope Victor's time between
the Eastern and Western Churches covering
the celebration of Easter, it was unani-
mously agreed that a fast was to proceed
this festival from apostolic constellation. The
! first day Of Lent formerly had two Dames-
| the first, Cdput Jejunti-"t the head of the
fast"; and the other, Dies Cinerum-Ash-
| Wednesday.
Tomorrow divine service will be held in
| the Episcopal churches at IL A. NJ.
At st. Peters cathedral high mass will be
celebrated at s A. NJ; previous to which
the blessing and sprinkling of ashes upon
the heads Of the faithful will take place.
In the Episcopal churches the services for
Lent will probably be arranged for the SeFe-
raj churches as they were last season.
Prcsbyter
Rev. NJ. D. Hoge preached On Sunday at
Assembly Hall upon the subject of the
Sabbath-day" The hall was crowded to
lis utmost capacity even the stage being
occupied by more than 100 persons. In the
congregation we noticed many members OF
the Legislature.
AS the extension of DR.. Hoge's church
will soon be sufficiently advanced to be oc-
cupied by the congregation, though not com.
pieted, they will not use Assembly Hall
much longer. The Indies are making an
effort to furnish it with carpets and cushions.
On next Sabbath the subject of DR., Hoges
discourse will be "The manner in which,
the Sabbath should be observed, and the
manner in which it is desecrated." -. !.
Baptist Churches. ~
At the communion at the First church
e,oht persons were received into the fellow
ship of the church. - ;,
II, the absence of the pastor, Rev. DR..