Phabe.-Father told me that you wished to speak to me this morning, Godmother. Godmother.-Yes, Phœbe, I have just been asking your father whether he will let you go to church with me to-morrow; he says he shall be very glad that you should go. Phoebe.-You don't mean to-morrow, dear Godmother, to-morrow is Saturday. Godmother.-Yes, I know that, but still I do mean to-morrow. What day will it be? Phabe.-Oh, the 30th of November. Godmother.-Take this prayer-book, and look in the calendar if it is nothing else. Phobe. The feast of St. Andrew, Apostle. Godmother.-Look now at the end of the calendar, and you will see a table of all the feasts that are to be observed throughout the year, and then a table of vigils and fasts. To observe a day is to keep it in some particular manner, so as to mark it as different from other days; and the Feasts or Festivals are days set apart by the Church, either for the remembrance of some special mercies of God, such as the birth and resurrection of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Ghost, or in memory of the blessed Apostles, and other Saints, who were the means of bringing to us the knowledge of Christ Jesus, by preaching His gospel throughout the world, and who, most of them, laid down their lives for their Lord's sake. Phœbe.-I see in this table that all the Sundays in the year are feasts. Ought all feast-days to be kept like Sundays? Godmother.-In former times, I believe, they were, and it was a great blessing and privilege. It may not always be in our power now to spend all festivals as we spend Sundays, but we ought to observe them as well as we can. For instance, we should make a point of going to church, if there is service within reach of us, and if we have no duties to keep us at home, or work to oblige us to go from home, but not to church. If the Feast is in honour of a Saint, like to-morrow's, we should consider for what virtues he was most remarkable, by what steps he arrived at so great perfection; and earnestly beg God's grace to enable us to imitate him in our lives for the time to come, following the good examples that are set before us. Or if the Feast is appointed to remind us of any of the great truths of the gospel, or any remarkable events in our blessed Saviour's life, we should think about these things, praise God for His great goodness, and see what we can do to show our gratitude for the blessings which the Church thus bids us remember. You have read in the Bible that the Jews were ordered to observe several Feasts, in memory of past benefits, as the Feast of the passover, of weeks, and of tabernacles; and since we Christians have received yet greater blessings from God than even His chosen people of old, it must be good, as well as pleasant, to observe days for the particular remembrance of such blessings, and for giving thanks for them. And so the Church did from the earliest christian times; Christians celebrated especially the anniversaries of the deaths of martyrs. Phabe.-Godmother, will you tell me what anniversaries are? Godmother. An anniversary is the return of some particular day in every year. On what day do we keep Christmas? Phœbe.-On December 25th. Godmother. Well, then, December 25th is the anniversary of our Lord's Birth, and we |