Christian Unity.--(See UNITY, CHURCH).
Christian Year, The.--The Church's Year of Festivals and Fasts is
called the _Christian Year_ because as Bishop Cosin says, "the
Church does not number her days, or measure her seasons, so
much by the motion of the sun, as by the course of our Saviour;
beginning and counting her year with Him who, being the true Sun
of Righteousness, began now to rise upon the world."
The Christian Year is one of our richest possessions and has been
handed down to us from the most ancient {53} times. By it the Church
regulates her Public Worship, makes generous provision for the
reading of the Bible and for us, her people, it is the measure of
our coming up to the House of God. By means of it we connect the
passage of time with the great facts of Redemption and thus are
enabled to so number our days that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom. An examination of its structure reveals the fact that it
insures the Scriptural setting forth of the Gospel, not in part,
but in all its fulness. Its principal divisions are as follows: