The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1901-03-07
A MELANGE OF
LIVE TOPICS
Penned for Journal Readers
by a Local Scribe.
Lent.

time would seem to contradict the
evidence of concurrent increasing
religious scepticism, were it not
that so very much of this new re-
cognition is social purely, rather
than religious, and formal rather
than inspired by devout convic-
tion. The coming of Lent is now
marked by an intermission of the
more pronounced of the gayeties of
fashionable society; or at any rate,
their form undergoes change, and
nominally Lent brings the "gay
season" of the winter to an end.
But of actual abstinence and peni-
tence there is little outside of the
Roman Catholic Church and the
ranks of the more rigid of the
Episcopalians, more especially the
ritualists.
The present formal respect to
Lent paid by the other churches
is an evidence of the loosening Of
religious convictions and the cool
ing of religious faith rather than
of any true spiritual faith. HAY
ing lost SO much of the substance
they are the more inclined to give
purely aesthetic respect to the
form. They do not carry this So
far, however, as to subject them
selves to the physical discomforts
Of fasting.
Such a merely conventional
recognition Of Lent, of course, has
no hopeful significance for those
who go deeper than the surface in
looking for the motives of con-
duct. -
| was not aware that any church.
es, except the prelatical and ritu-
alistic ones, observe Lent at all.
If they do, "The present formal
respect to Lent paid by other
churches is an evidence of the
loosening of religious conviction
and the cooling of religious faith
rather than of any true spiritual
faith, " not however, because the
| observance is formal, as the Sun
intimates, but because the insti-
tuition is recognized in any man
ner whatever. Methodists Bap-
fists, Presbyterians, Lutherans,
Congregationalists, Disciples, ETC.,
are all founded upon the idea that
the New Testament embodies ev-
erything that Christ and the
Apostles considered necessary to
be practiced by the church. Moth
ing IS stated in that volume con-
corning the observance of Lent by
the early church, nor can any
proof be adduced from any omar
ter that it was known to the prim-
tive Christians. In the abstract,
Lent may be a good thing. 1t is
certainly in harmony with the
principles of the Roman Catholic
and Episcopal churches; and OBJ
served in the proper spirit, may
prove profitable to their members.
1t is equally certain that it is op-
posed to the policies and tradi-
tions of the other churches, and
for them to give it even a formal
recognition betrays church dis
loyalty which is an evidence of
the loosening of religious convic-
ton
The following appeared IN
Thursdays Atlanta Journal:
"The cotillion to be given by
the young ladies of the dancing
set will take place Thursday eve
ming after Easter, at the Capital
City Club.
Elaborate preparations are be-
ing made to make 1T brilliant af-
fair. The ballroom will be done
in pink, and the very latest deco
rations will be used. In the cafe
where an elegant course supper
will be served at midnight, the
color effect of green and white
Will be carried out in the decora-
tions.
Miss -, Miss -, Miss -
and Miss - will form commit
tees to meet once week through
the Lenten season to make favors
and study new german figures for
the cotillion.
There will be present between
fifty and sixty couples and num-
Der of their married friends have
been invited to cooperate with
them in making the occasion one
of brilliance and beauty"
If Lent is to be observed only as
a season of rest from the exactions
of social life, to be spent in pre-
pairing for the frivolities into which
society plunges with redoubled ar
dor after Easter has passed, is, it