Page 46 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

45
mens, who were baptized on Holy Saturday, put on, on that day, as signs of innocence, white garments, and wore them until the Sunday after Easter. To this, the Introit, on this Sunday, alludes in the l­ lowing words, om the First Epistle of St. Peter: "As new-born babes, desire the rational milk with­ out guile, that thereby yon may grow .unto salva­ tion." This is the reason why, on Low Sunday, the children are not only admitted r the rst time to the table of their Lord, but are made solemnly to renew their baptismal vows in the presence of the whole community.
2. hat an all-important, beautiful, and never-to­ be- rgotten day is this, thou knowest, dear youth, too well om thine own experience, to render it ne­ cessary r me to draw your attention to the su ect, and if I now re r to it, it is to excite in our mutual breasts a reminiscence of ea y elings; r our whole li should be a continuation of the Sunday of our rst Communion.
3. For a long period prior to this event, has the pastor prepared the youth r this two- ld solemmty. In some places, as at Rome, the children spend the last ten days in a monastery allotted r the purpose, in order that, living there in seclusion om the world, from their parents and relatives, they may devote themselves to meditation, and to serious preparation r the solemn event that is to occur.
4. At last arrives the expected day. Early, the church bell gives the signal. The children assemble in the school-house; and thence, each sex apart, they proceed under the superintendence of their teachers to the church. This is a highly a ecting spectacle:
READING LESSONS.
•