Bennitt, Rector of Grace Church, Jersey City........... Septuagesima. By the Rev. A. G. L. Trew, D.D., Rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Los Angeles, Call............ 137, " /f37 152 Quinquagesima. By the Rev. V. W. Shields, D.D., Rector of St. John's Church, Jacksonville, Fla.... First Sunday in Lent. By the Rev. Erastus W. Spalding, D.D., Rector of St. John's Church, New Decatur, Ala. 161 Second Sunday in Lent. By the Rev. Professor Charles C. 169 | Mali 2 175 Fourth Sunday in Lent. By the Rev. J. Hollister Lynch, Rector of St. Mary's Church, Ottumwa, Iowa........... 182 Fifth Sunday in Lent. By the Rev. Wm. H. Tomlins, Rector 47.6" 1904 Palm Sunday. By the Rev. Wm. B. Corbyn, D.D., Rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Quincy, Ill............ 197 4 Easter Day. By the Bishop of Georgia....................... First Sunday after Easter. By the Rev. Wm. Reid Cross, Rector of Grace Church, Hinsdale, Ill... Second Sunday after Easter. By the Rev. George McClellan Fiske, D.D., Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Provi- dence, R. I............................ Third Sunday after Easter. By the Rev. J. S. Hartzell, Rector of St. Mary's Church, Mt. Pleasant, S. C......................................... Fifth Sunday after Easter. By the Rev. W. M. Pettis, D. D., Rector of St. Paul's Church, Chattanooga, Tenn...... 251 Ascension Day. By the Rev. Wyllys Rede, D. D., Rector of Emmanuel Church, Rockford, Ill..... Sunday after Ascension. By the Rev. W. R. Richardson, Rector of St. Mark's Church, San Antonio, Texas..... Whitsunday. By the Bishop of Western Michigan....................... St. Thomas' Day. By the Rev. J. E. Curzon, Rector of Trin- ity Church, Houghton, Mich........ Conversion of St. Paul. By the Rev. Canon Richey, Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Milwaukee......... The Purification. By the Rev. A. W. Little, L.H.D., Rector of St. Mark's Church, Evanston, Ill............... St. Matthias' Day. By the Rev. F. A. De Rosset, Rector of 311 A St. Mark's Day. By the Rev. A. H. Barington, Rector of SS. Philip and James' Day. By the Ven. Chas. T. Susan, THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. THE LORD'S NEEDS, MAN'S OPPORTUNITIES. TEXT: The Lord hath need of them.--St. Matt. XXI, 3. By the RT. Rev. LeightoN COLEMAN, D. D., LL.D, Bishop of Delaware. T HERE seems to be here, at first thought, what might be called a contradiction of terms: The Lord-Need. How can THE Lord need anything? Is this only an illustration of His emptying of Himself? It, surely, is that after a manner: for He Who thus speaks is the same by Whom all things were created, and for Whose pleasure they are, and were created. But it is also an example of the scrupulous care with which in all His earthly life He fulfilled the predictions concerning Himself. He was about to make the entrance into the holy city foretold by Zechariah more than five hundred years before. The humble beasts which the prophet declared should be used by the Messiah were they of whom His messengers were to say He now had need. He did require them to complete the act; and He was not above saying that He required them, however so almighty was His power to dispense with or supply His wants. It is also an exhibition of that marvelous condescension of His by which He is pleased to admit into His plans and as His fellow-laborers, even the meanest of His creatures. The beasts could not, of course, appreciate this condescension. Nor did their owner at the time. But none the less, the incident does illustrate the characteristic of which I am speaking, and which is so marked in all His dealings with the children of men. There is no season of the Church more appropriate for the contemplation of Christ's condescension than the one upon which, by His grace, we have already entered, at the very beginning of another ecclesiastical year. For ADVENT is: Coming. We are now especially concerned with the coming again of the Lord, and the Lord's coming into the heavenly Jerusalem, with all His own, implies His need of them in making that coming complete. It is not, therefore, to a merely contemplative life that we are called. There, surely, is in this season much room for most devout and profitable meditation. With the exception of Lent, there is none which furnishes as much scope for such reflection. But to be really seasonable, our Advent thoughts must lead to action. The whole idea of Christ's coming involves such a transformation of the world from its present condition as can only be accomplished by the help of all His true disciples. As we view this present condition of the world, and contrast it with that which would ensue if the Lord were appreciably present in and governing all its inhabitants, it will not surprise us to know of messages sent by Him in various ways to His faithful servants—even the humblest of them-"The Lord hath need of them." "We know," said St. John, "that we are of God, and |