The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1882-02-22
OUR RELIGIOUS COLUMN.
OLD CHURCH CALENDAR.
February 90. Ash Wednesday.
February "a. S. Matthias.
February &c. First Sunday in Lent.
OLD CHURCH CALENDAR.

GOOD things are hard, > wrote the great
est of the heather philosophers.
at is hard to be good is the frequent
her misdoings.
The common experience of every one who
is trying to be good confirms the truth Of both
statements.
/ Experience likewise teaches that hard
things can be made easy only when they be-
come habits, by frequent practice.
This is the common sense argument for
such a custom as the keeping of Lent, which
the Old Church Calendar retains as handed
down from the earliest Christian times
To pray earnestly, is hard. To give gener-
ously, is hard. To care for others at the cost
Of our own comfort, is hard. To keep watch
over thoughts and tongue, is hard. To re-
strain the appetites and subdue the passions
of our corrupt nature, is hard. One will
make little progress in any of them, unless
he is in earnest about trying. He will be
much helped in such efforts by having special
set times for practcing them and all the
more if those times are fixed by an authority
outside of his own will and judgment. ODE
dience to such external authority viii, of it
SELF go a long way towards giving one con-
troll over his own inclinations, the power of a
healthy self government.
This last thought good George Heibelt
quantity expresses in one of his Lent verses /:
aaTho Bible bids thee fast, the Church says n9,ei
Give to thy Mother what thou wOuldst allow
To any corporation"
In recent times " the forty days of Lent "
have had little regard from many English
speaking Christians. Only Roman Catholics
Episcopaliaus and Lutherans have kept the
season, in our country. But the good sense
and piety of other Protestants, OUTLYING the
preiudices Of old religious strifes, begin now
to recognize the value of this ancient appoint
ment. Presbyterians are proposing that their
yearly week of prayer be held in Lent, rather
than at mid Winter. Many Christians of
other names are glad to remember, in public
religious assemblies, as well as in their closets,
the Sufferngs and Death of Christ, at the
very period Of their churchly commemora-
ton, the solemn week next before Easter.
Perhaps this growing feeling is one of the
gracious influences by which the Lord of
peace and goodwill intends to draw all His
people more close together, and make them,
once more, one in Him.
Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten Fast.
Easter Even ends it. 1t includes, thus, forty
days, not counting the Sundays. The time
corresponds with the period Of Christ's temp
tation and fas,.ng in the wilderness. 1t has,
too the same measure as the days of Moses
lonely communion with God, on the Mount
of Elijah's journey to the same holy Mount,
in the strength IF that meat" which angels
had brought him; and of the great fast, pro-
claimed by the King of Nineveh for the re-
pentance and pardon of that guilty city.
Too much importance need not be attached
/ to these condolences; neither ought we to
think it useless to respect measures of time
that seem to have such clear Divine approval
as periods Of religious observance. Perhaps
seas1tr or speofdf nc efonfaf anu IcyotIon
forty days is peculiarly fitted to our human
nature rs we know the Sabbath-rest, one
day in seven, exactly suits the requirement,
of the entire man, body, mind and soul. Al
all events, it would be rash to deny this, be.
fore n fair and full trial has been made,