St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-15
SAIN T PAUL.
BISHOP GILBERT,s PASTORAL.
Pleasures to Be Put Away During
the Lenteu Season

the Lenten Season.
Bishop Mahlon Gilbert, in his Lenten
pastoral, says: t'You will show your
sincerity and earnestness in the attain
ment OF this high purpose, by putting
away from you the pleasures of mere
society, the attractions of the theater
and the festa1 board, the reading Of
books which do not stimulate the higher
intellectual, moral and religious life,
and in place of these things give your
selves to more frequent attendance upon
the services of the Lords house, to
the quieter joys Of the home life, to the
study of the more robust literature so
readily obtained. You will conscien-
ticusly lay aside the fruits of your self
denial in larger gifts Of the church, and
the relative amount of your offerings
will be very certain index of the real
1ty OF your spiritual endeayors. Follow
our elder brother into the quiet wilder
ness, and having learned by His ex-
ample how to overcome the world, the
flesh and the devil with Him we shall
rise to that fuller, freer, richer life,
which is limited by no earthly horizon"
In this connection the following,
touching the Lenten season, is a matter
of interest as well as news:
''Once more the solemn season calls
Holy Fast to keep,
And now within the sacred walls
Both priest and people weep.
''In vain all outward signs of grief
And vain the form of prayer,
Unless the heart implores relief
And penitence be there
Welcome dear feast of Lent Who loves not
thee,
He loves not temperance or authority
But is composed of passion.
The Scriptures bid us fast; the church says
now,
Give to thy mother what thou wouldst allow
To every corporation.
The Christian religion is not only profess
sion or subscription to code of ethics, but 1t is
more. 1t is life, to be lived daily in this
world as preparation for the future, which is
to last forever. Either in misery or happiness.
to participate in the joys Of Christ, the Chris
tan must first accompany the Savior through
His early pilgrimage of sorrow and suffering
even to the DEATH If that were necessary. we
are now on the threshold of another Lent, in
which the church commands her children to
turn unto the Lord with all their hearts, and
with fasting, and with weeping, and with
mourning, "worthily lamenting their sins and
acknowledging their wretchedness, that they
may obtain of Him who is the God of mercy
perfect remission and forgiveness, through
Jesus Christ, their Lord The fast of Lent
Ia Saxon word signifying the spring; or as
when the days lengthen) is of forty days con-
tinuance, during the six weeks which precede
Easter. AS Sundays are festivals, and must,
therefore, be excepted, only thirty-six days
are left To make up this deficiency four days
Ash Wednesday. The reason which induced
the primitive church for instituting this
nual fast, and then through all succeeding
ages to insist so strongly upon its observance
was: That, having the subject of their Lords
sufferings thus brought more wildly before
them, they might be induced to mourn His loss
with greater earnestness, and. to aid her men,
bers in preserving the high standard of Christ
ian character in its early purity.
For the observance of Lent, the church has
not only the authority and commands of Holy
hut ha 7Infu fnCtir and
practice of the whole church throughout the
world from apostolic times, reaching down I'M
til today. The observance differed in various
centuries, some observing it in a severer man
ner than Others Especially was this the case
in what are called the Religious communi-
ties" The Anglo-Catholic church and the
Episcopal church has wisely refrained from
legislating or laying down any general law as
to the amount of abstinence from food, which
Is thus incompatible with modern duties. Yet
the bishops and clergy through their annual
Lenten pastorals exhort the faithful to dimin-
ish In some degree the quantity of their food
on fasting days without harm resulting. Food
taken on fasting days should only be what is
necessary, and its quality shall not be lux
ury, and to abstain from delicacies upon those
days which may be very properly used at other
times: As the changed habits of life have di-
minished our capacity for abstaining from food
for long periods, they have increased our
opportunities of sacrificing our pleasures by
abstinence from luxuries Theaters, balls, pri-
vate parties, novel reading, unnecessary deli
cacles, sumptuous costume, are among the
things selected as the subjects of abstinence
If in Lent we desire to adopt a stricter
Christian habit than is commonly necessary
the great central idea should be to withdraw
from the cares and pleasures of the world, as
far as possible, and spend the time with more
frequent devotion and heart-searchng in
Gods own house.
The greatest sin of the day is selfshness.
Millions are spent upon self annually while
the missionaries abroad and at home are in a
semi-condition of starvation for the bare
necessities of life