Advent

“ In passing, I would remind you that the true meaning of Christmas can unfold itself only to those who have climbed the slopes of Advent, that the joy of Easter in all its splendour of victory can lay hold only upon those who have watched through Lent and have been with Christ in His passion, and that the power of Pentecost can be fully revealed only to those who, "with one accord in one place," have waited expectantly for the gift from heaven. ”

“ O Queen of heaven, rejoice, Alleluia; for He Whom thou wast meet to bear, Alleluia, hath risen, as He said, Alleluia; pray for us to God, Alleluia.
During Advent
Ant. The Holy Ghost shall come down upon thee, Mary; fear not, thou shalt hold within thy womb the Son of God, Alleluia.
From Christmas until Candlemas
Ant. A wondrous mystery is revealed to-day: marvels are wrought. God is made man; He still remaineth what He was, and hath taken upon Him what He was not, suffering neither confusion nor division.
Lord, have mercy on us. ”

“ Those who wished to renounce the Advent faith, and free themselves from the reproach suffered by those who adhered to it, might find a degree of relief for the present in confessing their way back into the church. But of those who have been imbued with the spirit of the Advent faith and hope, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have been partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and have apostatized, there are few who can again enjoy the insipid piety of the popular churches. ”

“ The teaching of Advent, all important as it is, too often affects but little such poor creatures of the present as we are. We are exhorted to look back to the first coming of Christ, to see what He suffered and did for us, what a foundation He laid for us to build on. We are exhorted to look forward to the second advent, to consider what Christ will do, to anticipate the glorious completion of us in Him as the building of God. ”

“ The services of the church about this season are extremely tender and inspiring: they dwell on the beautiful story of the origin of our faith, and the pastoral scenes that accompanied its announcement; they gradually increase in fervor and pathos during the season of Advent, until they break forth in full jubilee on the morning that brought peace and good-will to men. I do not know a grander effect of music on the moral feelings than to hear the full choir and the pealing organ performing a Christmas anthem in a cathedral, and filling every part of the vast pile with triumphant harmony. ”

“ Fourth Sunday in Advent
The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. Isaiah xxxii. 3
Of the bright things in earth and air
How little can the heart embrace! ”

“ As we look back upon the great Advent movement, with its joyful expectations and bitter disappointments, its prosperity and adversity, its triumphant victories and its trials, it appears just like the work of God in separating a people from the world, to purify, make white, and try, and thus make them ready for the coming of their Lord. Have Adventists been disappointed? So were the Israelites, in not immediately entering Canaan, and the disciples, as Jesus died upon the cross. Have the faith and patience of Adventists been tried? ”

“ They are to her an earnest of what is coming, an earnest of the Advent of her Lord. St. Bernard says that His Advent is threefold, that He comes in three different ways: (1) In the flesh and in weakness, (2) in the spirit and in power, (3) in glory and in majesty. [Pg 2]
The Church knows how much these three Comings mean to her children, and so at the first sign of dawn she forgets the long weary night, and calls to each one: "Arise, be enlightened for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." "Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet Him." ”

“ They are a part of the Divine order, stamped on all lives, on all worlds. Our days and nights keep their alternate step; our seasons observe their processional order, singing in antiphonal responses; while our world, geared in with other worlds, strikes off our earthly years and days with an absolute precision. So, now, the time of the Advent has been Divinely chosen, for whole millenniums unalterably fixed; nor have the cries of Israel's impatient hopes been allowed to hurry forward the Divine purpose, so making it premature. ”

“ Two distinct advents are plainly taught in Scripture. The first, of Jesus’ birth as a Babe in Bethlehem, the second as ‘Son of Man’—glorified, who shall come in the clouds. Now, every Christian will admit, nay, more, the very worldling admits the fact that every Scripture relating to the first advent, as to time, place, circumstances, was literally fulfilled, even to the minutest [125] detail. Then, in the name of common-sense, with the same covenant Scriptures in our hands, why should we not expect to see the predictions relating to the second advent also fulfilled to the very letter? ”

“ Therefore it is the intention of the Church that we should every year contemplate with her the life of Christ from its beginning to its end. In Advent we should, by repentance and longing expectation, prepare the way for the coming of our Redeemer into our hearts; in Lent we should, by penance and mortification, participate in His sufferings, die to sin, and spiritually rise with Him to a new life at Easter. ”

“ For as Christ at His first Advent came in great infirmity of the flesh, in poverty and contempt, so He hath thereby deserved to come in His second Advent with great strength, glory, and majesty. His Power and strength shall appear in that at His command all the dead shall arise in a moment; in that all men, angels, and devils shall behold and worship Him as their God, their Lord, and their judge ”

“ In the Roman Catholic church Advent is still kept as a season of penitence. Dancing and festivities are forbidden, fasting enjoined and purple vestments are worn in the church services.
In many countries Advent was long marked by diverse popular observances, some of which even still survive. Thus in England, especially the northern counties, there was a custom (now extinct) for poor women to carry round the “Advent images,” two dolls dressed one to represent Christ and the other the Virgin Mary. ”

“ Boston, November 28, 1881. Waked by distant bells of Advent Sunday. As a Puritan, I have known little of the Christian year, in its Church [Pg 209] history. It is worth while to try to enter into the spirit of all methods of true Christian worship. I read a sermon by F. D. Maurice, one by F. W. Robertson, and one by Phillips Brooks, all bearing upon the idea of these Advent days. In the “Christian Year” (Keble) , an allusion is made to one of the skeptical centuries, which seems to fit this, in its over-scientific tendencies:—
“An age of light,
Light without love, glares on the aching sight.” ”

“ A holy season which, though it is observed by some branches of the Church as a strict fast, is not comprised among the fasts of the Church of England, is that of Advent; the season of preparation for celebrating the festival of the Nativity. ”

“ And these men will speak proudly of their Advent faith, and bless the Advent name, while they curse the great Advent movement, which has brought the Advent [267] doctrine before the present generation. The sin against the Holy Ghost, which had no forgiveness in the days of Christ, was to attribute the work of the Spirit, in the miracles of Jesus, to Satan. How much less, think you, is the sin of those who deny the work of the Spirit of God in the Advent movement, and attribute the power which attended that work to human and satanic influences? ”

“ The first Sunday may be as early as 27 November, and then Advent has twenty-eight days, or as late as 3 December, giving the season only twenty-one days. With Advent the ecclesiastical year begins in the Western churches. During this time the faithful are admonished to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's coming into the world as the incarnate God of love, thus to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world. ”

“ HAVING taught us on the first Sunday of Advent to sigh with the prophets for the redemption through Christ, the Church on this day reminds us, in the holy sacrifice of the Mass, of the joyful promises of God for the salvation of the gentiles, and of Jesus Christ's actual coming, in order to quicken our desire for it, and to produce in us an alacrity in making ready our hearts by penance and love. ”

“ No one will for a moment question that the second advent is the subject upon which the apostle treats. The peculiar situation of those who should be looking for the second appearing of Jesus, is the burden of his exhortation. And how wonderfully applicable to those who were sadly disappointed, tempted and tried, in the autumn of 1844, are his words. With great confidence had they proclaimed the coming of the Lord, with the assurance that they were doing the will of God. But as the time passed, they were brought into a position exceedingly trying to faith and patience. ”

“ Binterim says that there was also a law that pictures should be covered during Advent. Flowers and relics of Saints are not to be placed on the altars during the Office and Masses of this time, except on the third Sunday; and the same prohibition and exception exist in regard to the use of the organ. The popular idea that the four weeks of Advent symbolize the four thousand years of darkness in which the world was enveloped before the coming of Christ finds no confirmation in the Liturgy. ”

“ Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world.
If there be any more Sundays before Advent Sunday, the Service of some of those Sundays that were omitted after the Epiphany shall be taken in to supply so many as are here wanting. And if there be fewer, the overplus may be omitted: Provided that this last Collect, Epistle, and Gospel shall always be used upon the Sunday next before Advent. ”

“ The future Coming, in "glory and in majesty" when He shall "come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead," and when all will be forced to rise and go to meet Him whether they will or not. It is those, who have risen voluntarily to meet their God in His second Coming, who will have no fear of the third. The second Coming, then, the Coming in grace, is the most practical one for us as we begin our Advent, and upon it we will meditate in our third point. ”

“ Stir up Thy might; for though [Pg 30] He is coming as a little helpless infant, He is God "mighty to save."
(4) To accelerate His Coming. "Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee O Lord and come; and succour us with great power, that by the help of Thy grace, the indulgence of Thy mercy may accelerate what our sins impede." (The "Collect" for the 4th. Sunday of Advent) .
We ask Him to stir up His might in coming. His Advents show His Omnipotence. Only a God could come to this world to save it, only a God could come to a soul and raise it to the supernatural state. ”

“ Grace to "abide in the inheritance of the Lord."
That the Church intends us to spend the season of Advent with our Blessed Mother is quite evident to anyone who takes the trouble to study the Liturgy. The Bridegroom is coming, but it is through the Virgin-Mother that He will come; and if we would be amongst the first to greet Him, if we desire a large share of His grace, if we would have no fear of His judgments, we must keep close to Mary. ”

“ Historical Origin.—It cannot be determined with any degree of certainty when the celebration of Advent was first introduced into the Church. The preparation for the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord was not held before the feast itself existed, and of this we find no evidence before the end of the fourth century, when, according to Duchesne [Christian Worship (London, 1904) , 260] , it was celebrated throughout the whole Church, by some on 25 December, by others on 6 January. ”

“ From Advent, with which the Church Year begins, to Trinity, our Lord is set before us in His life and His work. "We live over again, year by year, the time of the Incarnation from Bethlehem to Bethany." The design is to "bring out, and to bring home to the minds and hearts of all who shall reverently use these holy festivals and fasts, the great representative facts of Christ's life—to exhibit and to glorify Him. ”

“ ADVENT (Lat. Adventus, sc. Redemptoris, “the coming of the Saviour”) , a holy season of the Christian church, the period of preparation for the celebration of the nativity or Christmas. In the Eastern church it lasts from St Martin’s Day (11th of November) , and in other churches from the Sunday nearest to St Andrew’s Day (30th of November) till Christmas. It is uncertain at what date the season began to be observed. ”

“ The want of uniformity in the duration of Advent in different parts of the Church is due to the fact that local Churches, conformably to the ancient discipline, acted independently of each other. Thus, in Rome Advent lasted only four weeks, as we gather from the Gregorian sacramentary, which provides three Sundays in December with collects de adventu Domini, and a dominica vacans; [160] in the Appendix, however, five Sundays are reckoned before Christmas. ”

“ It is painful to me to expose the errors of one whom I have so long venerated, and still love for the flood of light he has given the world in respect to the Second Advent of our Saviour; but God's word must be vindicated if we have to cut off a right arm, "there is nothing true but truth!" I pray God to forgive him in joining the great multitude of Advent believers, to sound the retreat back beyond the tarrying time, just when the virgins had gained a glorious victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil! ”