Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-26

At the Cathedral.
Christmas at the Cathedral YESTERDAY
| was observed with the usual interesting
| and beautiful services. Mass was ceIe-
brated at S, and 10 o'clock in the morn
| ing and at 5 O'Clock in the evening The
altar was resplendent with floral offer
| ings and the music was beautiful and ap-
propriate. During the day it is estilnat-
| ed that the church was visited by 10 900
communicates.
| At 10 o'clock high PontifcaL mass was
celebrated, following which an eloquent
sermon was preached by Bishop Ireland,
on the Divine Nativity Of Christ.
| The reverend speaker commenced By
saying that the glory which surrounded
| the character Of Christ was not D. mega
tive one; the new testament was q record
Of the great moral beauty Of his divine
character, the fruits of which had come
down the ages like sweet odor, and in
him was to be found the prototype of all
the virtues that had inspired men
through all time They were all there;
the highest and most beautiful virtues;
in the soul Of Jesus there were all the ele-
| ments Of moral excellence.
| In demonstrating the character of Jesus,
| the just men of ancient philosophy could
name no virtue not possessed or practiced
| by Jesus. The just men Of Plato and
| Cicero were Frustrated and their lives
were dark before the shining character of
Jesus-a character supernaturally bright
His virginia. purity, his resignation, his
su1ferings and charity were virtues which
placed him on level Of his own. In o
world dark with iniquity he came as a
| revelation to mankind, and IN his divine
character was summed up the essence Of
all virtue and moral excellence.
1t was preposterous to doubt the di-
vine character of the man; If Jesus was
the product Of men nature had lost the
power to reproduce in men the most SUI
| pernatural gifts and virtues. Infdels had
doubted that Jesus, the Son of God, was
incarnate; the gospel Of st. John was
enough to establish the divinity of Christ.
In speaking of his reception by the Jews,
Christ had said to his apostles, "Who
say you ann" to which Peter answered,
s'Thou art Christ, the Son Of God,''
Christ replied, 'EThou art Peter. On
this rock will build my church"
Bishop Ireland alluded at length to the
testimony Of holy writ as iustifying the
divine origin Of Christ. He then con-
tinued: Christ had said, ':He that seeth
the Son, seeth the Father;'' lie had at
tributed to himself the eternal attributes
which were possessed and could only
come from God. In considering his life
and character there was no room for am
biguity; he had said, Il am the truth; L
am the light Of the world, and before
Abraham am
II ofo II
on the atheistic theories advanced to
show that Christ was o mere man. He
repudiated this theory as sacreigiOus and
absurd, showing that if Christ had been
| q mere man, he had imposed On mankind
for eighteen centuries BY resorting to the
most mean and shallow trickery The
divinity Of Christ had been affirmed by
his high and holy life, his exalted charity,
his sufferings and death on Cavalry, and
yet he, the sage, he whom all the ages had
worshiped and adored, was seeking, for
sooth, to impose SO shallow
a fraud on the sons of men.
1t was not possible for God to allow so
preposterous an error to assume the
guise of truth. He had came into the
world when mankind was sinful and
sick, to be the light Of christendom; to
do this he possessed all moral perfec-
tions, and this religion to-day, after an
experience of 1900 years, was the only
hope left to mankind; it was the only
| thing that terminates hope in the bosom
of man The greatest virtues Of man
are only mole hills alongside this great
mountain of perfection
To deny his sayings, actions, holiness,
deny that his prediction was not divine,
and you ignore God; deny his authority
and the logical truths that establish his
divinity and you make an animal of man,
who, like brute, is only actuated by in
stincts