The Yale expositor., 1900-03-09

l6Al. AClS H., L. Anu WhSh ShS
day of pentecost was fully come they
were all with one accord in one place.
He said:
The blessings of Episcopal Lent
from a Presbyterian minister's stand
point is the theme of this sermon. The
histories of hermits, ascetics, penances,
macerations, sackcloth and ashes, pill
grimages, monasteries, juggernauts,
human sacrifices and medicine men
prove that days of fasting and suppli-
cation have been among the sacred GUS
toms of all nations. st. Agnes day,
Candlemas day, st. Blaze day, Nalen-
tines day, Hoke day, st. Patrick's day,
ST. Georges day, Shrove Tuesday
Maypole day, Holy Innocents' day, ALI
hallow Fen, St. Urban's day, Royal
Oak day, ST. Nicholas day, st. Vitus
day, SIS. Swithin, Margaret, Bridget,
Catherine, Andrew, James, Ethelburgh,
Elizabeth, Barnabas, Simon, Jude days,
Holy Rood day, Martimas day, Cor
pus Christi day are only a few of the
many we could name in the cleaning
consultations of past holy days, as
well as holidays.
The present close communion of the
Covenanters dates back to the time OF
Scottish bigotries, when Lord Claver-
house, like Paul, prosecuted them even
unto strange cities AS it meant life
or death if an enemy discerned the
worshipers, they had their tokens or
little pieces of leaden metal about the
size of an English penny. When these
Covenanters came to the door where
the communion was to be held they
presented these tokens, which were the
same as a soldiers countersign. SO
the modern custom Of eating hot cross
buns on Good Friday finds its origin
in heather times when the devotees
would bring the sacred bread to lay
upon the altars. Down to the reign of
Henry VIII. the Catholic church, in or
der to celebrate the triumphant entry
Of Palm Sunday, made a wooden ass,
and astride this ass they placed the
wooden figure of Jesus Christ, and the
people would drag it through the
streets before which the worshipers
bowed in holy rapture. AS was quaint
ly expressed in the ancient poem:
"A wooden ass they have and image
great that on him rides.
But underneath the ass's feet a table
broad there slides.
Being borne on wheels which ready
drest and all things meete there
fore,
The asse is brough abroad and set be-
fore the churches door.
Feast of the jews
Not only did the Jews have the
feast of the Passover, the feast of the
! Tabernacles, the feast of the Pentecost
the feast of the New Moons, the feast
Of Charity, the feast of dedication, the
feast of trumpets, the feast Of the Sab
bath, for these feasts were only an
other name for fast, but in Zechariah
We read, The fast Of the fourth month
and the fast of the fifth, and the fast OF
the seventh, and the fast Of the tenth
shall be to the house of Judah Joy and
gladness and cheerful fasts.' After the
ascension, when they were all with one
accord in one place, the little band oi
12O disorganized followers Of Jesu;
Christ gathered together in an upper
chamber in Jerusalem, ard there they
tasted and prayed day after day unit
at last the Holy Ghost came in the
sound of mighty rushing wind and il
filled all the house where they were sit
ting, and there appeared unto them
cloven tongues of fire and it sat upor
the heads of EACH
THE sacredness Of the Lenten sen
son is the natural outgrowth Of heath
en- as well as Christian worship
Though we hold not allegiance to any
bishop nor reverence the idea of apos
tolic succession, and use not the Lit
urgy, let us gather next Ash Wednes
day in the different parishes under The
shadow of the cross, and for forty day!
bow the knee in worship, side by sid
with those who are merely sheep O
another fold. of whom Jesus Christ Il
the same shepherd
I'm the first place the text honor
the Episcopalian Lenten season be
cause il is a protest against social dis
sipations. In order to dissipate sem
people believe one has to be a drunkart
like Edgar Allan Poe, libertine lik
Lord Byron, or an opium fiend lik
Thomas de Quincy, who on accoun
J of his physical infirmities made tha
marvellous mind so weird and unbal
anced that in dreams he wanderet
} among the clouds. The stars were tn
shining knobs which opened the darl
doors of the night. In the strange pal
aces of vision which fatal narcotic
built, he heard his little baby playmate
) the loving sister who died in childhood
sing the songs of the nursery. AS al
, artist he painted his pictures, and a
- a magician waved his wand until vas
T, professions passed along in mournfu
0 pomp, friezes Of never-ending storie:
that to my mind were as sad and sol
emn as If they were stories drawn fror
times before Oedipus or Priam. befor
. Tyre, before Memphis. And at tn
{ same time a change took place in m
I dreams; a theater seemed suddenl
opened and lighted within my brair
. which presented nightly spectacles {