The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-01-31
| GREAT SERMON BY BISHOP
RYAN,
Preached in SandymOunt, Near Dub
u A.

lin, Ireland, January 6, in the
Cause of Charity.
The Dublin Freepan's Journal, of
February Z, says:
The Most Rev. d.. Ryan assembled
the pulpit and taking as his text,
And the Gentiles shall walk in Thy
light, and kings in the brightness of
Thy rising" g."-words taken from the
epistle of the day. His lordship then
proceeded to say: My dear brethren,
when the angels proclaimed the birth
OF our Divine Lord to the shepherds
at bethlehem, they announced that
they should be tidings of good joy to
all people. They announced good It'd
lngs of JOY to all people. not merely
to those who heard them-not merely
to the Jewish race, Of which they
We're the representatives-but to every
tribe and tongue and people, not only
for that occasion, but for all time.
And after little the representatives
OF those outside nations came in the
persons of the Magi to honor the new
born king-and the Church uses the
words which [ have read to you, ex-
pressing her summons first to Jerusa-
lem-"Arise, y Jerusalem, and be en-
ightened, for thy light has come;
arise and be enlightened because also
the Gentiles have come from afar to
do honor to thy newborn king"
Those Gentiles rejoiced with great
JOY: They were grateful to God for
their vocation; they were grateful for
the revelation made to them. So
should we rejoice, and with greater
reason than they did. They saw but
single star in the armament; but
after nearly nineteen centuries of ac-
cumulated evidences of the truth
and the beauty and the charity
of christianity, we have seen
the whole armament lit up with
the illumination of these new
evidences. They saw the prophe-
sled Orient just rising above the
horizon, and gliding with its light the
SUBMITS of the everlasting hills. But
we have seen that light pass cross the
armament to its zenith, and light up
the darkest passes of the Valley Of
Tears. They saw the child wrapped
in swaddling-clothes laid in manger;
but we have seen the man grow in
strength and power, and grow, as it
were, for all those ages, in His contin-
ued incarnation in the church Of the
living God. We have seen the man,
too, in His day coming from Edom,
with dyed garments from Bora,
beautiful in His robes, walking in the
greatness of His strength. and treading
the wine press alone. We have seen
Him, too, when despoiled of His gar
ments and dying have seen Him
die for us, this despoiled man-when
the sun in heaven, like the faithful
SONS of the patriarch, averted his face
Of splendor and cast mantle of dark
ness over his dying Lord. They saw
those faithful shepherds, and the Magi
were grateful when they beheld the
newborn King, and saw themselves,
though kings, PROSTATE at His feet and
adoring poverty deitied. But we have
seen a procession Of nineteen centu-
ries, in which Christian kings, in every
age passed in royal array before the
same newborn King, elevating their
crowns as they passed, and acl<nowl-
edging Him the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. We have seen
them from Constantine to st. Louis,
and from st. Louis to our own day
men having the spirit of Christian
kings and adorning the King Of
kings. And not only have we seen
this, but sometimes too they lifted
the crowns from their broWs and laid
poverty to royal wealth; and even in
that done in that same little chapel
historic and beautiful for the deed
the Chapel of the Jesuit Novitiate in
f0 fcJ fhn ~
there of the predecessor of Victor
Emmanuel, the king of SARDINIA, who
laid his crown at the feet of the cru
cifiX, and died a Jesuit novice in that
home of his fathers. We have seen
all these evidences, the accumulated
illuminations of nineteen centuries
cast their reflected light upon the crib
to-day. They rejoiced and were CRATE
full. Should not we? They beheld
the union of divinity with humanity.
They saw the sword tall from the SEN
tinel seraph at the gate of Paradise
and man enter again. Oh, but we
have seen that union perpetuated for
centuries, and union more intimate,
more personal, more tender there in
the blessed sacrament at the altar, a
union with the personality Of each
individual. And, therefore, in graft
tude for those favors, let us to-day go
to the crib at Bethlehem, and let US
adore him. But, my dear brethren,
what shall say to you that is new
on this subject? What can / say to
you that you have not heard many,
many times? But 1 am consoled at
the words of the Imitation: Enough
is said to him that understands, but to
him that loves it is delightful to
repeat it often" Everything connect
ed with our divine Lord-everything
connected with the life of good men
upon this earth - is like himself,
though ever ancient, ever new. The
call of those Gentle kings to Bethle-
hem is an evidence of how false, how
groundless, is the objection against
revelation that it represents God as
an exclusive being who takes one peo-
pie and forgets all his other children
as exclusive in Judaism, exclusive
in Catholicity, the God of few. How
far is this from being true? With his
own finger he wrote the natural law
upon every human heart, and the ten
commandments of Sinai were but the
echo and development of that law to
b1O OA1AOLOn VI 4o1 1Ol. 4AO SdfO w
them traditions, inspirations and
graces, and guided them by the light
which they had received. There was
place for the Gentiles near the Tenn
pie of Coda court for the Gentiles.
They went up to Jerusalem at certain
times to pray to God. They had the
traditions of the sons of Noah, and
thus were they guided by the light
which Almighty God had vouchsafed
to them. Cyrus was Gentle, yet
God calls him his servant. Il will
go before my servant Cyrus, loosen
ing the Ioins of kings and breaking
in pieces the gates of brass"
JEW AND GENTLE.
Job was not a Jew. Job, the most
marvellous representative of the pa
tience of Jesus Christ, was Gentle
yet God loved Job, and God rewarded
Job. Nineveh was a GENTLE city out
side the pale of Jerusalem, yet God
had mercy on Nineveh. When Jonas
in his weakness complains, what does
he say? "Shall 1 not have mercy Oh
the great city of Nineveh, in which
there are hundred and twenty thous.
and people that can not distinguish
their right hand and their left hand
and many beasts" Many beasts. Be
hold how in the great cathollcity OF
His charity and love he takes in not
only the whole human race, but IRA
tional creatares-all, from the first
archangel by his throne to the spar
row that falls on the earth before His