The record-union., 1891-12-26
THE INCARNATION.
Rev. Father Shaw Discourses on
Christ's Birth and Greatness.
How the Coming of the Goldman Dis
PEELED the Darkness From
the Minds of Men.

sacrament Gnofo were large CONGREGATIONS
at all the masses yesterday. At the 1890
o'clock service pontifical high mass was
celebrated by Right Reverend Bishop
Manogue in a very impressive manner.
He was assisted by the following clergy
men: Deacon, Father Grace; Sub
Deacon, Father Greeley; Assistant Priest,
Father Haupt; Master of Ceremonies,
Very Rev. Father Shaw of the Vincen-
tians; Assistant Master of Ceremonies,
Father Devine.
The choir rendered "Generalli's Mass
il CO. the music being unusually effect
i've. The sermon was preached by Rev.
Father Shaw, his theme being 'The In
carnation of Christ" The reverend gen.
tleman is one of the most eloquent pulpit
orators heard in this city for many years.
His splendid voice and perfect diction
made it possible for all the large congre-
CATION in the great edifice to hear and
understand him distinctly. He chose for
his text the following passage from the
first chapter of st. John: "In Him was
the life, and the life was the light of men;
and the light shineth in darkness, and
the darkness did not comprehend it,"
Study of any kind, said the reverend
speaker, should be made to reach truth =
study OF any event made to see its bear
ing on mans present and future destiny.
If such is the end of study, therefore, it is
the end of the study of the founder of
Christianity to-day in the manger of
Bethlehem.
First-The founder of Christianity is
born to-day. Let us go over TO Bethle-
hem and see the word that is come to
pass. A couple of poor people, whom we
recognize by their simplicity and reserve,
have entered a cave on the outskirts of q
nd
thou Bethlehem of Judah are not the least
amongst the princes of Judah, for out of
thee shall come forth Captain that shall
lead my people Israel"
From Jerusalem they come, Ewhere
they gave their names, places of birth
and occupation to the Roman officials,
then taking the census of Roman citizens,
by order of the vain Augustus Cesar
The name of the man is Joseph, and of
the woman, Mary-both of the house or
family of David. Mary is with child.
Her delivery is come; she brings forth
her first-born son, and wraps him up in
swaddling clothes and lays him in
manager, because there was no room ''for
Him" in the inns.
The maid brings forth the King whose
name is eternal. She feels the joys Of
mother. and glories at the same time in
the honors of pure virgin. This is the
virgin mother of Christianity. There
never has been up to this time, nor shall
there be, a mother like to her
The angels bringing their glad tidings
of great joy because of the birth of the
Savior; the shepherds that hurried to
the cave from the hilltops, simple as the
flocks they tended, form
THE TABLEAU THAT EARTH HAD NEVER
BEFORE WITNESSED,
in that midnight hour, as the starry
heavens shone down on the virgin
mother and the God-man-the Savior of
man.
What have you seen, oh shepherds?
Tell us, who hath appeared in the world"
They answer: "We have seen the Son.
and the choirs of angels praising Godi
Allelulia! For a child is born to us, and
Son is given to us, and this shall be
sign to you. You shall find the infant
wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid
IN manger. We have Him who, in the
beginning, was the WORLDLY whom all
things were made, and without whom
nothing was made that was made In
Him was the life, and the life was the
light Of men. This is the true light that
enlighteneth every man coming into the
world.'
SUCH IS THE FACT OF THE BIRTH OF
JESUS CHRIST,
The Goldman, as narrated by the Book
of Books.
Now, in the second place, let us see the
influence of this fact on the world.
Three principles governed the vast
world of humanity. First, the principle
OF independence; man acknowledged no
superior to himself. Second, the princi-
pie that pleasure was the end of life.
Third, the principle of avarice, that she
should take who can"
First, the principle of pride, or indie
pendence-man was his own law; he was
his own reward; he was his own God;
might was right; applause and flattery-
the gain for his actions-and on the prin-
ciple that he was his own creator, he was
responsible to none other; and therefore.
Whatever genius he had and influence he
could WELD, We're forced to do his be-
hest against all opposition.
THE MOTTO OF THE GREAT ROMAN,
The mightiest of the powers of the an
cient world, was: ''Spare the van
quished-those who submit to me-but
wage unrelenting war on all who cues
= PGrce SUBJECTS, debetLGTe Superbos.'J
Hence the slave, the foreigner the plebe-
lan-abOye all, woman-Were under the
heel of eternal Rome.
The old system, before and at the time
of the birth of the Child of Bethlehem. Law
ing down the principle that man was
amenable to none beside Misunderstanding
for the truth he had well-nigh lost, as he
adored hiInself-he selected his own
affections and passions to receive the
worship due only to the one true and liv-
ing God. ''They changed the glory of
the incorruptible God into the likeness of
a corruptible man." says the Bible (Sr
Paul to the Romans). They went in the
pride and blindness of their hearts to
take up and adore as gods the onions of
the garden, the lowest of all the brutal
passions. No wonder the satirists,
Juvenal and Terence, piqued the Ro-
mans on the dignity and purity of their
gods
These were the gods for the individual.
family and society to learn from-Mer-
curry, the God of Theft; Hercules. the
COO of Muscle; Mars, the God of War
and Blood; Venus, the Goddess of Lust:
Jupiter. the father of all the gods, the
The Goldman in the crib by assumi ng
the lowliness of mans nature, while he
elevates it infinitely, becomes
MODEL AND TEACHER OF MAN.
He lays down his law. that God resists
the proud. He condemns, by his infinite
condescension, the proud, the naughty,
the selt-sufficient, the yain-glorious. He
teaches that man is never so high, so
praiseworthy, so God-like, as when he
fears for himself-is dependent upon his
real Maker, and is poor and blind and
naked Of all gifts without the first cause.
'Blessed-are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven"
The second principle of the Old World
was that the end of all human nature is
pleasure. Pleasure draws every one, and
every one ought to be drawn by pleasure.
Hence the boast OF the greatest of the
Latin poets that he was of the herd of
Epicure, the god OF the bon-vivant. And
what is this but what the admirer of the
world had said and acted upon all along
''Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we
shall diet"
Thought. desire. auDetite for. oil tbat iS