The Savannah morning news., 1901-02-25
WHY LENT IS OBSERVED.
Rev. DR.. Schaeffer's Sermon Upon the
Religious Season.

Religious Season.
Lent was the subject upon which Rev.
DR.. W. c. Schaeffer preached yesterday
morning at the Lutheran Church of the
Ascension. He took his text from Eccle-
siastes, iii: /: ITO everything there is a
season, and time for every purpose
under heaven" DR.. Schaeffer showed why
Lent should be observed, giving an in
teresting explanation of the religious sea-
son.
There are times and seasons" said DR..
Schaeffer, ''for prayer and praise, for
penitence and devotion, for services Of
benevolence, charity and mercy to our
fe.lowmen-all designed and necessary to
train and discipline and culture the heart
and soul for growth in grace and in the
knowledge and service of Christ. Early
in the Christian Church certain seasons
In the year were appointed for special
services of devotion and in order 20 in
vest them with sacred associations, they
were arranged in the order of the most
impressive events in the life of our Saw
Jour. Thus we have Advent. Christmas,
Easter and Whitsuntide and, intermediate
between Christmas and Easter is the sea-
son of Lent to commemorate the tempta-
ton, the passion and the death of Chr st.
Upon this season we have now enter
ed, and 1t viii be observed by many
Christians of all denominations, through
out the world, in services of prayer and
devotion, and in contemplation of the suf-
ferings of our divine Lord. In view of its
sacred and impressive associations it is
the most appropriate season of the year
for such spiritual services and exercises,
nd hrfe ton hoH oil
most helpful in delivering their hearts
and minds from the engross'ng cares and
bondage of this world and elevating them
to the contemplation of the higher reali-
ties of the life to come,
and things that are eternal.
religion and church for man must give
him festival and fast Easter mornings
and sorrowful Good Fridays, Christmas
days and mournful Ash Wednesdays. The
religion must be as wide as the life. 1t
must recognize the mortal conditions. 1t
must weep with those who weep and re-
joice with those who do rejoice. And If
it be a religion to educate, to influence,
10 guide train and satisfy, 1t must be
able to take soul away by itself alone
into the desert, into the silence and IN
der the watching stars, alone with ma
tuTe and with God, and hold 1t there to
study itself-to take stock of itself to see
just what it amounts to-how much there
is of 1t, when the things of an hour
position, wealth. office, relationships, So
cial consideration, are all gone, and it
stands alone with the unchanging laws
of Gods universe their Creator and Re-
deemer
"In itself sorrow is no more religious
than joy-the fast no more acceptable SER
vice than the festival. Ash Wednesday
and Good Friday are no more charged
with divine grace than Christmas Day,
Easter and Whitsuntide. But divine
religion touches humanity at every point
and seeks to conseclate al Ike, it's glad
ness and it's moul nil g. The narrow car
feature that would make one long Lent Of
the religious Life is followed by the equal
~ narrow and frivoous popular religion
ism that finds no use for any self-denials
and INDUCES itself to the utmost in the
worlds pleasures under the Shallow con-
ceit and the deception of the Devil that
God cannot wish His children to be I'M
happy Even the word outside the
church is constrained to acknowledge, in
some degree, the propriety of abstaining
from certain anus ments during this sea-
son and joins at last in the celebration
of Easter. And, it cannot be otherwise
than beneficial to Christians who are in
the world, but not of it, and who use the
world as not abusing It, to be reminded
even by the force Of social usage, that
worldliness of spirit, wrong at all
times, would be especially outrageous
during a time specially devoted to a
prayerful pilgrimage to Calvary.
But is Lent to be an unhappy time? /
am sure we Lutherans have a larger
vision. Dear Feast of Lent as one sings
and utters a central truth. The main idea.
as I take It, is to be the getting up among
the realities. do not think II is so much
what we do in Lent as what we are.
While we discontinue no efforts for the
good OF others, II is especially the busl-
ness of this time to get away by ourselves
and see what sort Of men and women we
are becoming.
And yet you do not want a gloomy
Lent Let IT be cheerful healthful and
darken no faces about you ~ shadow
from your own. Maye a spiritual festival
of the time. ] Supp Sc all bodily fssts
are intend TO be spiritual festivals.
Deny yourse eheerfully. Cease all so
called anus meme, innocent In them
selves, but incongruous IN Lent. Curb
your appetite. Break some growing habit
OF self-lnduigence. Take the reins IN
hand and drive the team yourself. for
forty days. that by Code Grace you have
Lhe grip on yourself ana know that en-