Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-02-07
LENT AND LIFE;
MUST COST, HURT
Significance of Period of Sacri-
fee Told in Sermon by Rev.
G.. II. Sherwood.
CHURCH CANNOT FORCE
One Who Violates Likened Unto the
Child Who SIaps His Mother
In the Face.

Rev. G. 81. Sherwood, for his morn
hgssermon at Trinity Episcopal church
yesterday, took for his theme the du-
Hes of the Christian in the Lenten Pc
Rod. His text was Hosea iv:1 10, "And
they shall be ashamed because of their
sacrifices" He said:
"Once more, with bowed head, but
firm and unwavering step, the church
takes up her march to Calvary and
bids her children again to gather round
the CROSS. to witness and to share the
Bufferfngs of their most Holy Redeem
er. Lent with 4ts varying demands of
worship and OF work, of discipline and
sacrifice, is upon US, and the back
ground of it all IS the appealing suffer
er ON the cross looking down upon the
worlds Indifference and neglect and
putting to every one of us that ques-
ton which is so Infinitely pathetic be-
cause the judgment of our souls is
wrapped up in it's it nothing to you,
all We that pass by?'
NO branch of the Catholic church
holds such an exalted ideal of Lent
before her children as does our own.
No branch of the church makes such
demands of worship and of sacrifice,
or gives to the season Of Lent the ma
jestic dignity which is its due, because
of the majesty and dignity of the fig
ure around which the 40 days gather
Master for Model.
I'm spite of the manifold treacheries
in the household. in spite OF the sad
inconsistencies which furnish cause
for the worlds laughter, in spite of the
wounds which the church receives
from the broken resolutions and the
easily frustrated efforts of her chill
dren. never once has the church con-
sidered the giving up of the 40 days,
the relaxing of the period of time or
the lowering of the high standard of
service and sacrifice which of old have
been kept by the church and COM
mended and urged upon her children.
And the reason that ours is the
highest ideal of Lent that is held in
the Catholic church is that we have
taken the Master Himself, His ways
and His methods for our model, and
there is no compulsion laid on any
member of His body except the com
Oh IQ6 luuIN1uudl COISC1SHCS.
1.-The church, like her Master, says,
Follow me- but you don't have to fol
low. No priest or bishop OF council
of the American church can make you
fast or pray or give aims or do justice
or love mercy or walk humbly with
your God. You don't have to do those
things. You can make the holy season
of Lent a time for the gayest pleas
ures. You can feast and dance and go
to the theaters and play cards, you can
entertain and be entertained, you can
invite and be invited, you can eat and
drink and make merry, and the church
will only look upon you with sorrow
and add your joy to her grief.
Lies of the Heart.
But, migrate, listen. The one who does
these things is a child who slaps his
mother in the face; consciously, know
ingIy, wounds the heart of his protec-
tor. sneers at the obligations of graft
tude, and laughs at the sacrifices that
have been made for him.
THE one who does these things lies
in his rt-lies-breaks the prom