The record-union., 1895-04-29
TEE new SAINT FRANCIS CHURCH.
Formally Dedicated Yesterday to Re-
Iigious Worship.
Very Rev. Father Grace Oniciates-
The Principal Sermon by Father
Riordan of Santa Clara.

accommodate more than one-haf the
number, and it was necessary to hold q
portion of the exercises in the open air.
Very Rev. Father Grace, administrator
of the diocese since the death OF Bishop
Manogue, conducted the ceremony, as
sisted by Rev. Fathers MaXlmlllan ana
Leo. 0. S. f., of San Francisco, and Kew.
Father Riordan, President of the Santa
Clara College. There were also present
the members of the Society of the Chill
dren of Mary and of Sacram ento and Cap
ital Councils of the Young Mems lnstl-
tute. Music was rendered by special
choir.
Prior to the regular services within the
church two sermons were delivered un-
DER a canopy in the open air, one in Ger
man by Father Leo, the head of the or
der of st. Francis in San Francisco, the
other in English by Father Riordan.
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS.
Father Riordan took his text from
Kings viii, II, %, %: us it, then, to be
thought that God should, indeed, dwell
upon earth? For if Heaven and the
Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee,
how much less this house which have
built. But have regard to the prayer OF
thy servant that thine
eyes may be opened upon this house
night and day-upon the house OF which
thou hast said, My name shall be
there.'"
Centuries ago, said the speaker, amid
the splendors of his royal palace, King
sat musing. He was indeed a man ac-
cording to Gods own heart, and by a
special privilege had been raised from
being the herder of sheep to be the ruler
OF men. The Lord had given him fame
and wealth and rest on every side from
his enemies, and as he sat there wrapped
in thought he began to ask himself what
had be given in return. Nv hat have l
done for God? What should I do?'
These were the questions that perplexed
him.
And King David-for it was he-called
Nathan, he Prophet, and said: ''Dost
thou see that / dwell in house OF cedar,
and the ark Of God is lodged with skins?"
And forthwith he resolves to build q
temple TO the Lord. There were two
things the noble heart of David could not
reconCile-he, the creature, reveling in
the lap of luxury, his home palace con-
structed of the rarest Woodland the spe-
cial presence of his Creator, which how
cred around the ark of the Covenant
dwelling in frail tent; beautiful, in
deed, and ornamented with the richest
materials, but for all that tent Of skins.
Who was he that his dwelling place
High? And Nathan said TO the King,
go do all that is in thy heart, because
the Lord is with thee"
God loved David for his generous heart,
and though He would not accept the gift,
inasmuch as He would impress upon US
that He stands not III need of our gifts
and honored US more by accepting them
than we could honor Him by the giving,
lie promised that the son of David should
build him house, and that He in return
would build that son kingdom forever.
And David was laid to rest with his
fathers, and the kingdom passed unto
Solomon.
In the fervor of his youthful heart he
remembers the promises of God, and
builds to the Almighty temple of won
drous majesty and richness. Thirty
thousand men, in bands of 10000, month
and month by turns, are needed to new
the cedars of Lebanon. Seventy thou
sand are they who are set apart to carry
burdens; $4,000 more hew stones in the
mountains; 5000 were overseers of the
work, and still 800 that ruled over the
people and those that did the work.
What wonder that, with operations on
such e gigantic scale, the fame of the
first temple erected by the hand of man
to the honor of the one true God should
last throughout all time! And yet, won
derful as was the wealth lavished upon it
gold and silver esnd precious stones
used with protusion that transcends the
imagination-the wisest of men EXPRESSES
rightly astonishment that He who fills
the heaven of heavens and who, in His
lnlnlty, Is not even thus clrcumscribed,
should come down to earth and dwell in
a special manner in the handiwork OF
man.
His was not the narrow, grasping heart
which oegrudged the Almighty what
ever common decency might require OF
him, but he gave fabulous sums, COM
puted at thousands of millions of
dollars, and he thought even then
that he was giving little. All had
come to him from God, and he was onlv
giving back what had been lent him bv
the Almighty as means OF doing good.
know there are people who say: Il
do not believe in churches-the whole
world is to me church, and who can
find a fairer? The plains and the conti-
nents are its pavement; the mighty
mountains its pillars; the blue vault OF
heaven Its dome; the sun its lamp by
day, and the myriads OF stars its light by
night Find me grander temple than
this, the work Of GOD himself-a work in
comparison with which the temple OF
Solomon is but a bauble-and / will
worship in it,"
There Is a seeming broadness about
such expressions which is likely TO mis-
lead the unwary. But such people
imagine opposition where none exists.
We may and should worship God eyerv-
where. This is no new truth. Ones re-
Igion should not, like his best suit OF
clothes, be kept for certain places and
Tor special occasions. 1t should form a
part OF our lives; enter into our daily
actions; lift up our hearts from the sordid
things of earth, and fix our desires and
aspirations where sin and sorrow enter
not.
This is the lesson that reason teaches
Us; that the lives of the saints teach us
that the glorious apostle of the Gentiles
lnculcates when He bids as do even our
most ordinary actions for the glory OF
God.
Oh, who understood and practiced this
worship Of God in the grand temple OF
nature better than the seraphic St.
Francis, to whose children it is given to
guide your footsteps heavenwald? Out
along the hillside and into the wildwood
he wandered, his heart fixed on God in
ecstatic rapture of love. The groves were
to him, indeed, Gods temples, and all
nature spoke to him of divine love. The
little songsters of the thicket flew to well
come his approach, and even the wol1
forgot his flerceness in his presence.
Inc little songsters of the forest flew to
WeIcome his coming, and nesting in bis
posom refused to leave until his gentle
hand had blessed them. All living
thlhgs constituted for him the grand
iainlly OF our Heavenly Father, and in
the sublime innocence of his childish
spirit tney were TO him as brothers and
SISTERS. once travelling by the Lake o1
Venice, he heard a great number of birds
singing amid the reeds and shrubs. and
ne sad to his companion: ''Our sisters
the birds, sing the prayers of their Gre