The Leon reporter., 1900-03-08

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 heathen 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 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 tho
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
ieast OF trumpets. the feast of the Sab
path, for thece feastslxere only an
other name for fast, Ddt 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
giadness and cheerful fasts.' After the
ascension. when they were all with one
accord In one place. the little band of
l2O disorganized followers of Jesus
Christ gathered together in an upper
chamber IN Jerusalem, and there they
tasted and prayed day after day until
at last the Holy Ghost came in the
sound Of mighty rushing wind and It
nlled all the house where they were sit
ting, and there appeared unto them
cloven tongues of fire and 1t sat unon
the heads Of each. %
"Phe sacredness OF the. Lenten seq.
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 amos
tolic succession. and use not the Lit
urgy,. let US gather next Ash Wednes-s
day Ia the different parishes under the
saado* OF the cross. and for forty days
bow the knee In worship side by side
with those who are merely sheep of
another fold. Of whom Jesus Christ 1s
the same shepherd.
In the hsst place the text honors
the Episcopalian Lenten season be-
cause 1t is protest against social dis
sipations. In order to dissipate some
people believe one.has to be drunkard
like Edgar Allan Poe, libertine like
Lord Byron, or an opium fiend like
Thomas de Quincy, who on account
OF his physical infirmities made that
marvellous mind so weird and unbal-.
anced that In dreams he wandered
among the clouds. The stars were the
shining knobs which opened the dark
doors of the night. In the strange pal
aces OF vision which fatal narcotics
built, he heard his little baby playmate,
the loving sister who died in childhood.
sing the songs Of the nursery. AS an
artist he painted his pictures, and as
. magician waved his wand until vast
professions passed along in mournful
pomp. friezes Of never-ending stories,
that to my mind were as sad and SOL
emn % II they were stories drawn from
times before Oedipus or Priam. before
Tyre, before Memphis. And at the
same time change took place in my
dreams; a theater seemed suddenly
opened and lighted within my brain,
which presented nightly spectacles Of
more visions than earthly splendors.
Visions fade at Last.
But at last in Thomas de Quincey's
visions the angels of heaven and the
sweet incense Of the fields and the
bright eyes Of hope were driven away
BY the Satanic influences which sent
aim flying and shrieking through
space. He was maniac shivering in !
The clutches Of despair. The cemeteries
we're turned into mobs of chattering
skeletons. The resurrected spirits OF
owed ones were stretching forth their
protesting arms across the dark
,hasms of horrors into which he must !
all and they could not change the
eternity of his woe.
But there are 500 different ways of
'ead: And God said, Let there be
light, and there was light. And God
saw the light that 1t was good, and
God divided the light from the dark
aess. And God called the light day
md the darkness he called lIIlIuI
Too Naoh Light
In other words, those
his: In the beglnhtng "a
lelf-mur1ns