The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-02-26
LENT

More and more each year the Lenten
season is observed by Christians of every
name. including recently not few be-
longing to the denominations other than
those usually called Evangelical. The
press has heretofore called attention to
the same tendency that has gone far in
regard to Christmas and Thanksgiving.
and that has made marked advance III
regard to Good Friday and Easter. The
disposition to make Lent Il iversaIly a
period of Christian observance is later IN
development, but is none the less well
come to all those increasing mulhtudes
who hail with joy every sign That the
one catholic chuTch-using the word
catholic" in its literal, original and not
in any sectarian sense-is all the time
coming more and more into that spirit
ual union which must precede in time
as it transcends in Importance any hoped
for visible and organic unity.
Lent may be considered under TWO
heads. the social and the religious.
| Those who are ready to say on the IN
slant that the last may be first may see
reason to moderate their haste if they
reflect that no one of Gods chief designs
regarding the chief of His works can be
said to have Importance apart from the
others. since all are needed for the com
pleteness of any. 1t has been often said
and cannot be said to often, that the
family is order than the Church. There
was a home before there was an altar.
Paradise is older than Jerusalem. The
social uses of the Lenten season are in
measure for withdrawing the votaries OF
fashion from distraction to contempla-
ton, and from the public assembly to the
domestic fireside. The parlor takes the
place of the ballroom. Father, mother,
brother, sister, son and daughter can now
receive some share of the thought that
has been demanded by the members of
that more or less vaguely defined circle
called Society" Let us all be very
sure during these forty days that when
the Scriptures, in so many parallels and
golden sayings, compare the kingdom OF
Heaven to the home, and Divine love to
domestic love, they mean something
deeper, truer and holier than any mere
figure of speech. '1f a man love moi
his brother whom he hath seen, how car
he love God whom he hath not seenT
Like as a father pitieth his children, Sc
Z the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.
Come hither and | will show you the
Bride. the Lambs wife" These are a few
of many texts that teach, not merely thai
Heaven in certain of its glories is like
the earthly home, but that a true earthly
home is like Heaven.
Nor are the abstinences, the mortilica
tions of the flesh, the self denials of Len
TO be despised. There is no imperative
call to asceticism; but there is an imper
alive call to unselfshness. The mean'
are various, but the end is one. Physi
cal things are, after all, but transitory
therefore trivil in comparison with in
visible things "Man shall not live by
bread alone" To weep with them tina
weep is as much part of life's lesson a!
to rejoice with them that do rejoice.
In the distinctively religious spberi
the Lenten season is full of privilege
The privilege is not restricted by the
confines of any creed. Whoever believes
in the immortality of the human sou
and the reality of a superhuman Powe
has reason for and will find reward il
Lenten services, Lenten meditatiOns
Surely, man, who treads this marrow
isthmus between two eternities, doe
well if, once year, he for n time walk
more softly than is his wont, and occa
sionally pausng for awhile, remember
ing that the place whereon he stands Ii
holy ground, hearkens to that voice tina
of old spoke from the bush that burned
but was not consumed, and that no les
: in these, our modern days, has message
for every man who has ears to hear
| Nep York Press.