"Emblems". His Travels and Labours-Various Accounts of his Martyrdom— Antiquity of Local Celebration-Sect of the " Angelites Council of Laodicea-Apparitions of St. Michael-At Chonæ, in Phrygia-At Mount Garganus, in Apulia-On Mount Tumba- Mont St. Michel, in Normandy-St. Michael's Mount in Corn- wall-Varieties of Celebration- Council of Mentz-Michael Comnenus-St. Michael, the Angel of the Resurrection-His special Offices-Drummond of Hawthornden-"On the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel"-Michael as Champion and Combatant-Gabriel, the Angel of the Annunciation-Raphael, and his Mission to the family of Tobit-Uriel, the Enlightener of Esdras-Spenser's "Ministration of Angels Angelic Duties, Employments, and Manifestations-Bishop Ken's Doc- trine about Angels-Enforced in "Hymnotheo: or the Peni- tent"-Opinion of St. Ambrose-Ken's Verses "On St. Michael"- Number, Quality, and Nature of the Angels-Dr. Townsend— Relative Dignity of Men and Angels--Dionysius the Areopagite on the Celestial Hierarchy-Thomas Heywood—Angelic Precedence undecided-Richard Hooker on the Nature of Angels-Spirit becoming to this Festival-Its Suggestiveness and Sublimity-St. Joseph of the Studium-"Stars of the Morning"-Dr. Neale's Version-Joahann Rist-His lines on "St. Michael and All Angels"-Dr. Newman's Sonnet on Angelic Guidance ”—Mr. Keble's "Carved Angels”—Heaven, the Starting-point and Goal— No Certain Account of the Origin of the Festival—Mr. Riddle- Souls-Rev. Gerard Moultrie's Hymn for St. Luke's Day-The All-Healer-On the way to Emmaus-Lines from Cowper's "Con- versation"-Gospel of St. Luke-Approved and favoured by St. Paul-Dr. Watts-"Christ the Substance of the Levitical Priest- hood"-Dr. Kynaston-" Only Luke is with me"-" Acts of the Apostles"-Labours of St. Luke-Various accounts of his Death- 465 ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES-OCTOBER 28. Reason of Joint Commemoration ST. SIMON-Styled the Canaanite, and Zelotes-Sect of the Zealots-Call of St. Simon to the Apostolate-His Labours—— ST. JUDE Of our Lord's Kindred-Called Labbeus and Thad- . 473 473 The Pantheon-M. Agrippa-Dedication of the Pantheon- Multiplication of Shrines-Assumption by Pope Alexander III. Page. 482 THE CHURCH SEASONS. Xdurut. RIGINALLY, and with stricter verbal propriety than now, the word Advent was taken to mean the time of the birth of Christ-His arrival, or having come, rather than His coming. But the Church has always loved dutifully to cultivate the idea of preparation for seasons of uncommon sanctity; and one effect of this disposition has been to throw back Advent over a season of three or four weeks, intended to be spent as a long Christmas-eve in the contemplation of the incidents of which the approaching festival is commemorative, and in devout and self-questioning anticipation of the Day of Judgment. It is with Advent, therefore, which begins on the Sunday nearest-before or after-to St. Andrew's Day, that the ecclesiastical year commences. The exact date at which the celebration of this season first came into use is uncertain; but it is proved to have been practised before A.D. 450, by the fact of Maximus Taurinensis having, in that year, written a homily upon the subject. The Eastern Church, with the exception of the Nestorians, who observe a fast of twenty-five days at this season, has, strictly speaking, no Advent; a circumstance which has the effect of considerably limiting our ground when we seek, as now, for poetical illustrations of individual or ecclesiastical piety in this kind. The history of the world, from the time of its first defection from being a loyal colony of heaven, to the time of its final resumption into the more direct and visible government of God, has little or nothing of significance that is not related to the redemption and to the judgment of mankind. All the interests of the descendants of a fallen ancestor culminate in the chances of recovery and final safety. The first Advent of Christ is the general pledge of the one; the second Advent will be the particular assurance of the other. The history of the world after Paradise, resolves itself, we say, into two capital seasons of Advent. The interval between the fall of Adam and the birth of Christ, was the first of these seasons; the interval between the first and the second coming of the Lord, is the second. The first interval was remarkable for the longing expectation of His coming as a Saviour; the second is characterised by the trembling hope with which is awaited His coming as a Judge. Advent poetry, therefore, parts at the outset into two grand divisions-that which is prophetic or anticipative of one or both Advents; and that which, being commemorative of the first, is anticipative only with regard to the second. The first of these two grand divisions parts again as naturally and almost as palpably into two sub-divisions; the first sub-division being that which is characterised by the aspirations of a race amongst whom the line of successive revelations had been kept unbroken; and the second, that which is marked by the vague, darkling, and sometimes even despairing yearnings of nations amongst whom whatever of divine inspiration they had took rather the form of artistic, philosophical, and scientific culture than that of religious enlightenment. We would first speak a few words about the nations last mentioned, and forthwith |