, 1880-03-14
LENT.

| The food Of Nouh was forty days upon the
| earth. The children Of Israel " did eat mamma
| In the wilderness forty years. Christ tasted
forty days. The early Christians observed a
Lenten period OF forty hours, which WAS subse-
quently extended to thtrty-stx days, and, In the
ninth century, to forty dayB. With the Church
forty" has always been, and still continues to
be, magic number. It represents the wrath of
God in the Deluge: Ris promise and mercy to
Moses and the ~1sraelltes; the long and painful
abstinence of its founder; and the perpetundon
Of one Of its Oldest traditions OF the three hum
dred and seventy-five million Christians in the
world, nearly three hundred Million embraced
within the pnlc OF the Roman Catholic, Greek,
and Protestant Episcopal Churches, observe, to q
greater or less extent, the season Of Lent Some
fast to a degree, some deprive themselves OF
this, that, or the other tndulgcncc: but all ap-
pear at the church services and confess that they
are miserable siuners." And this Is all that re-
mains OF the monRstctGm and devoteetsm
Of early church history. There 1s no wearing OF
haircloth. no fasting to the verge OF starvation,
no barefooted pilgrimagcs to holy shrines, no
retreats to the wilderness, the mountain, and the
cave, no seclusions In damp, unwhoesome cells
with diet Of bread and water. Should " Paul
the Hermit" or Simeon Stylites seek to estab-
lish IN order Of anchoritcs in this age the Church
pre1ates would hasten to denounce the proposi~
ton as ridiculous 4 modern Bishop, clothed in
filthy rugs, crouchfng In his hermt's cave, or
perched on lofty pillar Of stone, after the man
ner Of the fifth century, would bring more scan
dal upon the Church than his trial and convic-
ton under the charge Of having violated every
injunction Of the Mosaic decalog. In the old
time monks and devotees scourged their bodies
as penance for sin: modern Christians set
apart period OF forty days for special duties Of
piety, and their asceticism displays itself in
seif-imposed scourRings Of the soul. They
bewo1l their condition as "miserablo sfnners.''
and cry aloud for mercy. They call upon the
"sun and moon,' the "stars," the "showers
and dew" the 'frost and cold," the "ightnings
and Clouds" and the mountains and hills" to
bless and magnify the Lord forever. The Lenten
service abounds in protestations OF uuworthi-
ness, humility, and reimbursement; but it's as
cetcism has lost all the grossneas of its counter
part OF the early time. Formerly the religious
ascettc deemed all Of life too short space for
penance; now the practice Of ascettclsm is con-
fined to brief half-hour Of the mornings and
evenings Of few days. Doubtless the deca-
dencc Of persecution has much to do with the
decorum and lack OF passionate spirit Of tho
modern ascetic. The spirit Of opposition rouses
to deeds of defiance and daring. Before John
Bunyan WIS 10 years old, Ibis sports were in
terrupted by fits OF rcmorse and despair:
and his sleep was disturbed by dreams
Of f1ends trying to hy away with
him. He had studied "Fox's Book Of
into dungeon and warned that, II he persisted
in disobeying the law, the would bo liable to
banshment, and that II he were found in En-
gland after certain time his neck would be
stretched, bis answer wns: :" II you let me out
to-day will preach again Tomorrow Macau-
lay referred to the prayer-book as "Those beau-
tiful collects which have soothed the sorrows Of