Ash Wednesday
by the Rev. Melville Scott, D.D.
Vicar of Castlechurch, Stafford.
From The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles and
Gospels.
A Devotional Exposition of the Continuous Teaching
of
the Church throughout the Year,
S.P.C.K.
London, 1902.
Upon this day the Church teaches the duty and nature of fasting, as the
expression of earnest penitence and the accompaniment of special prayer.
Few realize the extent of the disciplinary provisions of the Church as
shown not only in the forty days of Lent, but also in the provision of
Ember weeks, the three Rogations days, the sixteen vigils, and the weekly
fast on every Friday in the year. Equally remarkable is the strenuous
care with which she guards these special seasons from misuse. We
have already noted the three Sundays of Lenten preparation. On Ash
Wednesday the whole teaching of the day is intended to ensure the spiritual
use of abstinence as an aid to the devotional life, and as a check upon
worldliness and unspirituality, and against its misuse as fostering pride.
