The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-02-18
ASH WEDNESDAY is
OBSERVED BY MANY
Catholic and Episcopal Congre-
cations Very Large.
CHURCH OF THE ADVENT
Rev. Quincy Ewing, Rector, Discusses
Manner Of Keeping Lent-Refers to
Inconsistencies Of Certain
Glass of Christians.

| Large congregations attended Ash
"Wednesday services at the Catholic and
Episcopal churches. st. Pauls church
was filled at the o'clock mass
| At 7;sO o'clock last night the services at
St Pauls consisted of the rosary, a SER
mon and the benediction of the blessed
sacrament. The Rev. Father Kittrick
was the preacher and delivered dis
course on the holy eucharist and pointed
out the great benefits that the faithful
received from holy conversion when
they communicated with right DISPOSE
lions Father Kittrick has good de-
livery and his sermon was heard with
marked interest. The Rev, Father Elton
was the celebrant at the benediction
At the Episcopal Church of the Advent
yesterday morning the Rev. ouinV Ew-
ing, the rector preached an IMPRESSIVE
sermon. A few extracts follow:
Keeping Lent.
May we expect during Lent to please
God by going an hungered physically or
mentally?-by showing Him that, though
our palates like dainty dishes, ana our
minds enjoy certain amusements, we can
1
do without these things for a brief spellf
There were nothing Chrlstly In the keep
! ing of Lent with such a purpose the
Christian God is no enemy of human JOY
nor lover of human pain: and Christian
| character Is not builded by yelling away
| the sunshine and seeking the shadows,
/ of life, at stated seasons, or at any sea-
| son. Christian character Is builded GER
| tainly along the way of sef-sacrihce; but
04 a1F
/ good; some are bad. The Christian way
of self-sacrifice, let us remember, Is the
| way of self-expression, self-fufilment'
self-elevaton; and 1t Is the former be-
| cause Ii is the letter, vice versa. In other
words, to follow Jesus In Lent, or out OF
Lent. is to struggle to do the rightest
thing, the best things, always. under all
circumstances; and the honest struggle
| to do the best thing possible, demands
always self-sacrifice, and In demanding
ii determines the amount Of 1t and the
kind of It,
"Of all pagan absurdities this is one of
the absurdest-that we please God, that
| we follow the great Christ, by giving up
for six weeks number of follies and
inanities, full-minded to indulge ourselves
in them again, to the utmost, as soon
| as those six weeks are past!-as II God
loaned us our eternal souls, our oonscien-
ces. our moral obligations for six weeks
in a year! Perhaps nothing has done
more than the Pagan Lent, the negative
| Lent, the Lent of more seasonal self-bit-
and-bridlng, to take the Christian soul
out of Christianity-to substitute for spir-
itual REALITIES artificial piosties! We can
not too soon quit trying to be religious
by merely playing at religion!
1 means or IL means nothing at all
| that need concern Christian, bidding
to honest repentance; to repentance that
shall prove itselg honest by urging us to
lay stress on the greater deeper, higher
things of our life; to give ourselves OPP
portunity to love these things more and
more, by seeking them more and more,
and getting better acquainted with them.
Gard Parties.
There are. e. g.. many better, deeper,
higher things In our life than card-par-
ties; things that we could love, that we
could enjoy, If ony we sought them and
got well enough acquainted with them:
could love and could enjoy so much, that
only very occasionally should we get the
consent of our minds and souls to dwell
on the card-party plane, to breathe the
| card-party atmosphere There is no
sense whatever in abstalning from
card-parties. or any petty amuse-
ment during Lent, unless we make
an honest struggle, during this season,
to get acquainted with something, to love
| something, that will make card parties
and their like seem to be what they most
certainly are-things quite unworthy the
serious prolonged attention and applause
| of human brains-to say nothing of souls.
| ] fancy that some of us during the So
| cial season just ended, are pausing for
breath, have devoted, perhaps hundred
! hours to card parties and other things
! on no higher plane; some of us who. dur
| ing this time, have not read, have not so
mucvh as looked between the covers of
one really great book. Might we not re-
| pent OF our folly by resolving hence
forth. and by endeavoring these six weeks
to win strength to keep the resolve to
devote at least thirty minutes TO the
study Of great and good books for every
sixty that we give to card parties? I
| think this would be a species of honest
| repentance, very effectual and thoroughly
| Christian
| In Harmony With Truth.
1.-THE suggestion is In harmony with
the truth underlying all Christian OBJ
servances, all Christian aims and hopes
that life is ours to use at Its best, and for
the best; that its pretty things should
be forced into pretty place: that he
were endowed by God with human hearts,
| minds souls, tou Sc as human hearts,
as human minds, as human souls; and
that failure to meet this obligation can
| be atoned for by no possible measure of
| spasmodic piety!
| MOT to ascetio self-denlals, but to
| positive, heroic, recognition Of the great
needs. and great truths, the great ideals
and the great responsibilities Of our hui
man life, is the supreme call of Lent
| That call lovingly responded to. that
call heartily obeyed our self-denals may
| be safely left to take care of themselves.
They will inevitably be what they ought
to be; what the Divine Christ would have
| them BET"