EMBER DAYS

These are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, after the first Sunday in Lent, the feast of Whit sunday, the 14th of September, and the 13th of December, all being fasting days; the Sun days following these days being the stated times of ordination in the Church. It is to be remarked, that the Sunday in December which begins the Ember week is always the third Sunday in Advent. The week in which these days fall are called Ember week. But as Sunday begins the week, the Ember collect is always to be read on the Sunday preceding the Ember days, not on that which follows them, as is sometimes erroneously done. The derivation of the name is uncertain. It has been supposed by some to signify “ashes,” and by others “abstinence,” in allusion to the ancient custom connected with fasting. The fact that the Ember weeks return at stated periods, has led others to trace the name to a Saxon word signifying a “course,” or “cycle.” In the Western Church they were denominated “the Fasts of the Four Seasons:” and from this comes another, and perhaps the most probable, illustration—the Latin quatuor tempora (four seasons) being abbreviated into the German quatemper or quatember , and again, into the English ember . On these days the design of the Church is to call her members, by prayer and fasting, to invoke the Divine aid and ble ing on the choice and commi ion of ministers of the gospel. The deep interest every Christian heart should feel in a matter of such infinite moment, should secure for these days the pious observance of the members of the Church.