KEEPING FAST AND FESTIVAL.
T Christmas we j,)y with the natural, unmixed joy of chihlrcn, bu at Easter our joy is highly wrought and refined in it character. 1 is hot the spontaneous and uuartificial,rot.break which the news of ledcmltion might occasion, but if is thoughtftfl; if bas a hmg history lefi)re it., and has run through a long course of fcelings bcfore if becomes wha.t it is. It is a last feeling and hot a first. St.. Paul descril)es its nature and it.s firmation, when ho says, " Tribulation worketh laticnce, and patience expcrience, and experienee hol)e; and h«q)e maketh n«t a.shamed, lccause the love of God is shed abroad in out hearts by the Hdy (lhost which is given unto us. '': And the prophet Isaiah, when he says, "They joy 1)eff,re Thee according to the joy in lmrvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. '' Or as if was fltlfilled in the case of out Lord Preached on Easter-day.: Rom. v. 3-5. a Isaiah ix. 3.
Içc,b«a Fast al«d Fcsliv«L 3 3 5 Himselt; who, as l,eing t.he ç',aptain of out sMvat.im, was ruade perfeeL t.hrough suflrings. Aeeordingly, Christmas I)ty is ushered in wiLh a rime tt' awfitl expeeatimi mfly, buL East.er Day with the lmg fasL of" Lent., and the rigours of t.he II,ly Week jusg pas: and iL springs raid (as it were) is 1,_,rn of çlood Fri&y. On sueh a da.y, t.hen, ti'om Lhe very intensity of joy which çhrisia.ns ought fo tkel, and the trial whieh they have gone thr»ugh, t.hey will ,tten 1,e disposed fo say little, l{ather, like siek 1,e,l,le cmvalescent, when the crisis is past, the illness over, but st.rength n,»t yet corne, they will ,,,, forth to the ligh of day and the i'eslmess «,f the air, and silently sit dç,wn with great delight under the shadow of that Tree, whose ri'uit is sweeg fo their tasge. They are disposed rather to nmse and be af peace, than to use many w«rds; for their j,y has been so lnuch the child of sorrow, is of so transnmted and complex a nature, so l,ound up with painfll memories and sad associatims, that t.]mugh it is a j_,y only the greater from the eontrast, it is hot, camlot be, as if it had never been SOITOW. And in t.his oo the tbe]ing af Easter is nog unlike t.he revulsion ot' mind ç,n a ree,,very h'om siekness, thag in siekness also there is much happens to us t.hat is strange, nmch thag we nmsg feel.lv eoml,rehend and vaguely fi»llow afger. For in siekness the mind wanders from things that are seen into the unknown woHd, if gurns back into itsell; and is in eoml-,any with mysteries; ig is brought into contact with objeets whieh if emmot deseribe, whieh it eannot aseertain. If secs t.he skirts of powers and providences beyond t.his wofld, and is aç
336 Içcci« Fast and Festin,aL least more alive, if hot more exposed o the invisible influences, bad and good, whieh re ifs porLion in his state of trial. And aft.erwards it has recollections which are pailfi'ul, rccollections of distress, of which it cammt recall the rcasons, of pursuits without an object, and glems of relief without contilmance. Aml what is aH this but a parfllel çeliltg' t that, with which the Christian has gone through the COltelnplations put befire his faith in the wck just passed, which are to him as a fearflfl lmrl'oWilg drcam, of which the spell is now ll'oken? The subjects, ittdeed, which have bcen brought befo him arc lin dl'eam, lut a reality,his Saviour's suflçrings, his own misery and sin. But, a.hts! to hiln at best they are but a drcaln, because, from 1;tck of faith and of spitual discerlmmnt, he understands them so imperfectly. They hure been to him a dream, because only at moments his heaoE has caught a vivid glimpse of what was contilmaHy before his reason,beca.use the impression it nmde upon him was irregular, shifting, and transitow,because even when he contemplated steadily his Sttviour's suflçrings, he did hot, could hot understand the deep reasons of them, or the meafing of His Saviour's words,because wbat most forcibly affected him came through his in'atiolml nature, was hot of the mind but of fle flesh, hot of the scenes of sorrow which the Lessons and Gospels record, but of his own discolnfooE of body, which he has been bound, as fitr as health allows, to make sympathize with tire history of those suffering which are his salvation. d thus I say his disquiet durin the week has been like flat of a bad dream, restless and dreary; he bas felt he ought to be very sorry, and cod hot say why,
—could hot toaster his grief, could not realize lais fears, but was as chihlren are, who wonder, weep, and are sflent, whe'n they sec their parents in sorrow, from a feeling that there is something n'ong, though they cammt say what. And thereibre now, though if is over, he cannot so shake off at once whut has been, as to enter fully into what is. Christ indeed, though He suffered and ded, yet rose again vigorously on the third day, having loosed the pains of deuth: but we cannot accomplish in our contemplation of Him, whut He accomplishcd really; tbr He was the H,)ly One, fUld we are sinners. We ha.ve the languor and oppression of out old selves upon US, though we be new; and t.heretbre we must heg t[im who is the Prinee of Life, the Life it.selt; to carry us forth into His new world, for we calmot walk thither, and seat us down whenee, like Moses, we may sec the land, and lneditate upon its beauty! And yet, though the long season of sorrow whieh ushers in this Blessed Day, in some sense sobers and quells the keenness of out enjoyment, yet without such preparatory season, let us be sure we shall hot rejoiee at all. None rejoiee in Easter-tide less than those who have hot grieved in Lent. This is what is seen in the world at large. To them, one season is the saine as another, and they take no aeeount of any. Feast-day and fast-day, holy tide and other tide, are one and the saine to them. Heuce they do hot realize the next world at all. To them the Gospels are but like another history; a course of events which took place eighteen hundred years sinee. They do hot make out Saviour's lire and IV.] Y deat.h present fo them: they do not transport themselves back fo the rime oç iris sojourn on earth. They do hot act over aga,hl, and celebra.te His history, in fleir own observa.nce; and the consequence is, tlmt they feel no interest hx if. They lmve neifler faith nor love towards if; it bas no h,)ld on them. They do hOt form the estilnate of t.hings upon if; they do not hold it as a sort of pnctical principle lu their hea.rt. This is the case hot only with the world af la.rge, but too offert with men who lnve the Na.lne of Christ in their lnouths. They think they believe in l rira, yet when trial colnes, or in the &61y conduct of lire, they are unable fo a.ct upon the princil,les which fley profess: and why? because they have th,)ught to dispense with the regious Ordinances, the course of Service, and the round of Sacred Seasons of the Church, and have considered if a simpler;md more spiritu;tl religion, hOt to act religionsly except when called fo it by ext.raordinary trial or temptation; because they have thought that, since if is the Christian's duty to rejoice everlnore, they would rejoice better if they never sorrowed and never travafled with righteousness. On the contmry, let us be sure that, as previous humfliation sobers ourjoy, it alone sectu'es if to us. Out Saviour says, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted;" and what is true hereafter, is true here. Unless ve have mourned, h the weeks that are gone, we sha hot rejoice in the season now commencing. If is offert said, allfl truly, t.hat providentia.1 affliction brings a man nearer to God. What is the observance of Holy Seasons but such a means ofgrace? This too mt be said concerning the connexion of
Keeiz fi'ast and ri'estival. 339 Fast, s and Fest, s in out religions service, riz., that tht sobriet, y in fest, ing whieh previous fst, ing causes, is itself mueh to be prized, m,d espeeially wort.h seeuring. For in this does Christian mirth diflr from worldly, that itis subdued; and how shall it be subdued except that the past keeps ifs hold upon us, and xvhile it warns " a.nd sobers us, actually indisposes and rames our flesh against indulgence In the world feasting cornes first and fasting at'terwards; men fi{st glut themselves, and then h)athe their excesses; they take their fill of goud, and then suflr; they are rich flat they may he poor; they laugh that fley may veep; they rise that fley may fall. But in fle Church of God it is reversed; the poor s]all be rich, fle lowly shall be exalted, those that smv in tears sha reap in joy, those tiret mourn shall be comforted, those that suflbr with Christ shall reign with Him; even as Christ (in our ç'hurch's words) "went hot up to joy, but first He suflred pain. He entered hot into His glo W before He was crueified. So truly our way to eternal joy i to suflr here wifl Christ, and out door to enter into eternal life is gladly to die with Christ, that we may fise again from death, and dwe with Him in everlasting life.% And what is tme of the general course of out redemption is, I say, fiflfied also in the yearly and other commemorations of it. Our Festivals are preeeded by hmniliation, that we may keep them duly; hot boisterously or fanatieay, but in a refined, subdued, ehastised spirit, which is the true rejoieing in the Lord. In such a spirit let us endeavour to celebrate this Visitation of the Sick.
340!çec_pizg fi'ast azc[ fièsth,al. most holy of all Festivals, flfis continued festal Season, hich lasts for fift.y days, whereas Len is forty, as if fo sho t.ha where sin botmded, there much nore bas grace aounded. Such indeed seems the tone of mind which ook possession of the Apost.les when cerfified "of the ]tesurrection; and while they waited for, or whe they had the sight of t.heir risen Lord. If we consider, we shall find he accounts of that season in the Goslels, marled with much of pensiveuess and tender and joyflfl nl«tncholy; the sweet and pleasm frame of those who have gone through pain, and out of pain receive ldetsure. Whether we read the account of St. Mary M«gtltlen weephg ai the sel)nlchre, seeing Jesus uud kn.wing llim hot, recognizùg His voice, attempting to embrace His fcet, and then siuking into silent awe and dcligqit., till she rose and hastened o tcll the perplexed Apostles;or turn to that solemn meeting, vhich vas the third, when He stood on the shore and addressed His disciples, and Peter phmged into tire water, and then with the res vas awed into silence and durst hot speak, but only obeyed His command, and ate of the fish in sence, und so remained in tire presence of One in vhom they joyed, whom they loved, as He knew, nore flmn 11 things, till He broke silence by asking Peter if he loved tIim:—or lstly, cousider the rime when He appeared unto u great number of discil)les on the mountain in Gulilee, and all worshipped Him, but some doubted:—who does hot see that their Fesfiwl was such as I bave been describing it, a holy, tender, reverent, manly joy, hot so muifly as o be rude, hot so tender as fo be effeminate, but (as if) an Angel's
Inood, the mingled offering of all that is best and highest in man's and wolnan's nature brought tçgether, St. Mary MtgdMen and St.. Peter llended into St. John? And heïe peflmps we learn a lesson from the deep silence whieh Seripture observes eoneerning the Blessed Virgin s after tire Itesurreet.ion; as if she, who was too pure and holy a flower tobe nmre than seen here ou earth, even during the season of her 8on's humiliation, was altcgether drawn by the Angels withiu the vefi on His l[esurreetion, and had her j,,y iu l'aradise with Gabriel who had beeu the first to honour her, and with those elder Saints who arose after the ]:esurreet.ion, appeared in the Holy City, and then vanished away. May we pmoEake in sueh eahn and heavenly joy; and, while we pray for it, reeolleeting the while that we are stiH on earth, and out duties in this world, let us never foNet that, while out love musc be silent, out fait.h must be vigorous and lively. Let us never foNet that in proportion as our love is "rood and grounded" in the next world, our faith must braneh forth like a fi'uitful tree into this. The eahner our hearts, tire more active be out lires; the more tranqufl we are, the more busy; the lnore resigned, the more zeMous; the more unrued, Che more feent. This is one of Che mmy paradoxes in the wofld's judgment ofhim, whieh fle Christian realizes in himself. Christ is fiSeli; He is risen from the dead. We may well cry out, "Alleluia, the Lord Omnipotent reigneth." He has crushed all the power of the enemy under His feet. He has gone upon the lion and the adder. He has st.opped fle lion's moufl for us His Ve Christian year. Fourth Sunday in Lent.
342 Aécpizg Fast ad Festival people, and has hruised t.he serpenVs head. There is not, hing impossible t.o us now, if we do bue enter inLo t, he fulness of our privileges, the xvondrous power of out gift, s. The t.hing cmmo be named in heven or earh wit.hin t.he limit, s of t.rufl and obedience whic, h we cmmot d t.hrough Christ; the petitàon cannot be named which may ll(ç be accorded to us fir Ilis Nalne's sake. For, we who bave risen with Him froln the grave, stand in His lnight., and are allowed fo use His weapons. His infinit.e influence with t.he Father is ours,not always to use, 5»r perhaps in this or that ebrt we make, or petitiOll we 1,retbr, it would hot be good tbr us; 1,ut so far ours, so fnlly ours, that when we ask and do t.hings accl'ding fo His will, we are really possessed of a power wit.h God, and do prevail:—so t.hat little as we may know when and when hot., we are continually possessed of heavenly weapons, we are eontinually touehing the springs of the most, wondeffN wovidences in heaven and eart.h; and by the Naine, and the Sign, and the Blood of the Son of God, we are able to nlake devs t, remlle and Saints rejoiee. Such are the arms well faith uses, slnall in appearanee, yet "hot carnal, but mighty through God to t.he l)ulling down of strongholds;" despised by the world, what seems a lnere word, or a mere symbol, or lnere bread and wine; but God has chosen the weak things of the wofld fo confound the mighty, and foolish, t.hiltgs of the world to confound the wise; and as all things spring froln small beginnings, froln seeds and elements invisible or insignificant, so when God would renew the race of man, and 2 ç'or. x. 4.
A'cciiz Fasl and FcsNvaL 343 reverse the course of human lire anti eartbly affa.irs, He chose cheap things for the rudiments of His work, and bade us believe that tle couhl work through them, and He wmfld do so. As then we Cristians diseern lu Hiln, when He came on eah, hot tlm earpenter's sou, but the Eternal Word Incarnate, as we see beauty lu Him in wholn the world saw no rotin or COlneness, as we discern in tbat death an Atonemelt for siu iu which the world saw nothing but a malcfactor's sentence; so let us believe with fu persuasion tiret all that He has bequeathed to us has power froln Him. Let us accept His Ordinances, and His Creed, and His precepts; and let us stand upright with an undaunted t«aith, resolute, with tgces like flint, to serve Him in and through them; to inflict them upon the world without misgiving, without wavering, without anxiety; being sure that I[e who saved us froln he through a Body of flesh which the world instflted, tortumd, and triumphed over, much more can now apply the benefits of His passion through Ordinances which the world hçs lacerated and now mocks. This then, my brethren, be our spirit on this day. God rested from His labours on the sevenfl day, yet He worketh evermore. Christ entered in His rest, yet He too ever works. We too, if it may be said, in adorhg and lowly imitation of what is infinite, whfie we rest in Christ and rejoice in His shadow, let us too beware of sloth and cowartce, but serve Him with steadfast eyes yeg active hands; that xve may be truly His in heurts, as we were ruade His by Baptism,as we are ruade His contimmy, by the recto'ring celebration of His purifying Fasts and holy Feasts.