brecho cheapchic

ASH-WEDNESDAY; the first of Lent. It is so called from the custom observed in the ancient church, of penitents expressing their humiliation at this time by appearing in sackcloth and ashes. But it is not certain that this was always done precisely on Ash-Wednesday, there being a perfect silence in the most ancient writers about it. The discipline used towards penitents in Lent, as described by Gratian, differed from their treatment at other times; for on Ash-Wednesday they were presented to the bishop, clothed in sackcloth, and barefooted: then the seven pentential psalms were sung; after which the bishop laid his hands on them, sprinkled them with holy water, and poured ashes upon their heads; declaring to them that as Adam was cast out of paradise, so they, for their sins, were cast out of the church. Then the inferior ministries expelled them out of the doors of the church. In the end of Lent, on the Thursday before Easter, they were again presented for reconciliation by the deacons and presbyters at the gates of the church. But this method of treating penitents in Lent carries with it the marks of more modern practice; for there was no use of holy water in the ancient discipline; nor seven penitential psalms in their service, but only one, viz. the fifty-first. Neither was Ash -Wednesday anciently the first day of Lent, till Gregory the Great first added it to Lent, to make the number of fasting days completely forty, which before were but thirty-six. Nor does it appear that anciently the time of imposing penance was confined to the beginning of Lent, but was granted at all times, whenever the bishop thought the penitent qualified for it. In Rome, the spectacle on this occasion is most ridiculous (1836 this author's observation) After giving themselves up to all kinds of gaiety and licentiousness, during the carnival, till twelve o'clock on the Tuesday night, the people go on Ash-Wednesday morning into the churches, when the officiating priests put ashes on their heads, repeating the words, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." (Note. Christians who observe Ash Wednesday in the states do not celebrate carnival; it is not a well known holiday in the states. 2008)

LENT, a Teutonic word,-- in German, Lenz, the spring; a time of fasting in the church, observed as a period of humiliation before Easter. The Romish church, and some of the Protestant communion, maintain, that it was always a fast of forty days, and, as such, of apostolical institution. Others think that it was of ecclesiastical institution, and that it was variously observed in different churches, and grew by degrees from a fast of forty hours to a fast of forty days. This is the sentiment of Morton, bishop Taylor, Du Moulin, Daille, and others.

      Oh, may God help us to realize what a precious truth we have to preach; that we are not worshiping a dead Savior; that he is a resurrected Savior, and in such a day and hour as we think not he will return. And although we do not know when that will be, there is one thing we do know, and that is that he has promised to come; and that day is not far distant; we haven't but a little while to work. As Christine Evans says: "The songs of these bursting sepulchres, when Christ shall come, will be sweeter than the song of the morning star." We shall come up from the grave, by and by, with a shout. " He is the first fruits;" he gas gone into the vale, and will call us by and by. The voice of the Son of God shall wake up the slumbering dead! Jacob will leave his lameness, and Paul will leave his thorn in the flesh; and we shall come up resurrected bodies, and be forever with the Lord. I pity those people who know nothing about the resurrection of Christ, and think Christ does not live, and was merely a man, and perished in the grave of Joseph Arimathea. What hope have they got?

Enslav'd by sense, be thus confined,

And never, never rise?

Why, thus amused with empty toys,

And soothed with visionary joys,

Forget her native skies?

The mind was formed to mount sublime

Beyond the narrow bounds of time,

To everlasting things;

But earthly vapors cloud her sight,

And hang with cold, oppressive weight

Upon her drooping wings.

The world employs its various snares,

Of hopes and pleasures, pains and cares,

And chained to earth I lie:

When shall my fettered powers be free,

And leave these seats of vanity,

And upward learn to fly?

Bright scenes of bliss, unclouded skies,

Invite my soul; oh, could I rise,

Nor leave a thought below!

I'd bid farewell to anxious care,

And say to every tempting snare,

Heaven calls and I must go.

Heaven calls,--and can I yet delay?

Can aught on earth engage my stay?

Ah! wretched lingering heart!

Come, Lord, with strength, and life, and light,

Assist and guide my upward flight,

And bid the world depart.

      And in Christ, the first-born, I see the grave giving up its dead; from the depths of the sea, from the lonely wilderness and crowded churchyard they come. like the dews of the grass, an innumerable multitude. Risen Lord! we rejoice in thy resurrection. We hail it as the harbinger and blessed pledge of our own. The first to come forth,thou art the elder brother of a family, whose countless numbers the patriarch saw in the dust of the desert, whose holy beauty he saw shinning in the bright stars of heaven.