Advent, to "dispel the gloom of melancholy"

All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass ... And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the Highest.

From the Gospel for Advent Sunday, Matthew 21:1-13

From this passage it appears that religion hath its joys: a prophet calleth us to exult and shout: and often as this holy season returneth, the Church secondeth the call. Her services dispel the gloom of melancholy, and put gladness into the hearts of all her children. They are wonderfully calculated to renew good impressions in our minds, to increase our faith, to invigorate our hope, to blow up the sacred fires of devotion and charity, and to fill us with holy and heavenly tempers. They produce a joy, “which no man taketh from us,” and in which “a stranger intermeddleth not:” they inspire a pleasure, which no pain can overcome, of which no time can deprive us, and which death will perfect and insure to us for ever. Perverse Jerusalem rejected joy, and chose sorrow for her portion. Glad tidings came to the Gentiles, and were gladly received. The Christian church, formed of them, is now the daughter of Sion, and the new Jerusalem. To her the promises are transferred and made good. She therefore obeyeth the prophet's injunction: she continually, with the holy virgin, “magnifieth the Lord, and her spirit rejoiceth in God her Saviour.”

Mant's Notes (1820) quoting George Horne, Bishop of Norwich (d.1792).

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laudable Practice

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