St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-11
THE LENIEN SEASON.

In days of old, when knights were
bold. and all that sort of thug, men
manifested q disposition to indulge
their appetiteS to an unSeemly extent.
They loved the pleasures OF the table
wine and rich food-and were in great
danger of losing their vigor because of
their excuses. The physical system is
delicate machine, which requires con-
slant care. 1t must be regularly oiled
and never worked to excess, or it will
lose its vitality, and the rust of decay
and the cOrrosion of disease will soon
destroy it. And its organs, kept at their
utmost tension for Ion time, are liable
to collapse at Il time when the greatest
vigor is demanded.
There were wise men i'll those times
men who regarded the tendencies of the
age with great alarm-and they set
about devising means by which the
tendencies to excess might be counter
acted. The church was then i'll the
zenith of its power All men bowed to
its authority. The prince and peasant,
the millionaire and the pauper, all gave
implicit obedience to the behests of the
rulers OF the:church. They regarded its
agents as the vicegerents of God. and
would as soon defy Deity itself as one of
these. The wise men went to the church
for assistance. and the result was an
edict which placed curb upon the APP
petites of the race. They were for hidden
to eat the flesh OF fowls or of beasts on
one day out of seven, and for forty days
continuously in each year the same in
hibItion was imposed. Ii was argued
that these occasional seasons of rest
would give the stomach, the motive
power OF the physical machinery, an OPP
portunity for the rest which was SO i'm
perativelY demanded. In order to en-
force obedience and to afford warrant
Tor the issuance of this mandate, re-
ligious excuse was sought, and was not
difficult to find out or to apply.
There is some dispute as to whether a
religious or a physical purpose was
sought to be attained by the Lenten
regulations of the church. To us it
makes little difference so long as good
end was attained. And perhaps there
was double purpose, as there has been
a double result. The church mas en-
forced its authority by obtaining almost
universal recognition for its mandates,
and the physical system attains the rest
that is so necessary to its perfect
health and vigor.
The Lenten regulat ions are certainly
of great benefit to the race from a phys
ical standpoint, even though they may
not convey a religious lesson to all.
But to many the season is sacred one.
1t symbolIZes the crucial test to which
the Savior of mankind submitted when
for forty days He tasted. and at its close
was sorely tempted by the enemy of all
righteousness, but overcame all tempta.
tons, and today reigns triumphant
throughout the world.
This is the first Sunday in Lent. The
season began last Wednesday. If it
snail not prove of substantial religious
benefit, it will at least have a pro-
nounced effect upon the physical man,
for in many thousands of families it
will enforce change of diet that will
reinvigorate the functions of the body,
strengthen the mental forces. and make
the entire system more susceptib to
control. The season should be more
generally observed than it Is. not nee
essarily for the religious, but for the
physical benefits which it enforces.