Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-10-01
A CHURCH BELL C0NSECRATED
Interesting Ceremonies at New
CsstleSunday. Y x
A LARGE GATHERING PRESENT
An Excellent Sermon by DR..
Shahan!


was red letter day In the history OF
this CITY,, The occasion was the con.
secration Of the handsome bell for ST.
Peters Church, donated by Mrs. Alice
Brady and James b. Brady in honor Of
John b. Brady. The services, which
were very impressive, began at
o'clock and continued for one and q
bali hours. Division, No. 8, A. o. H.,
100 mon, was present as guard of
honor. st. Peters I. A. B. Society,
rs strong, acted as a special escort.
After the voluntary had been played
by the organist, Miss Lena Rogers,
the IA altar boys entered the chancel
railing, followed by the Revs. NJ.
x. Fallop, j, d. Carey and d. j.
Flynn, the Rev. DR.. John Shahsn Of
Baltimore, orator of the occasion; RI.
Rev. Vicar General Lyons, Ri. Rev.
Bishop Curtis and the Rev. Edward
L. Brady Of st. Peters Church. After
the entrances OF the bishop and the
assisting priests, the choir Of Is voices
rendered "ysni Creator" at the con.
clusion OF which DR.. Shahan received
the blessing OF the bishop and
preached the sermon, which was as
follows:
Right Reverend Bishop, Reverend
Fathers, Dearly Beloved Brethren The
ceremonies OF the Catholic Church are
not only always poetic and charming,
but replete also with serious meaning,
for they are the external forms. full Of
dignity and grace, under which che
performs before God the grave acts Of
religion. Religion itself is. indeed.
thing Of the soul, a spiritual creation,
coeval with man in the Eternal Mind,
kni. s.,I- lnt
the spirit OF man and his Creator.
In itself and from the view point Of its
celestial origin it is like unto the
godhead, the first-born daughter OF
heaven. But man, who offers to God
"the reasonable service" of religion, is
not a mere spirit nor mere matter.
He is compound of both, in which
both are essentially and forever united,
but in which Mother losea its nature
nor its natural expression, tendencies
and operation. 1t follows, therefore,
that the public acts of religion as per-
formed by man must necessarily be
double in character; J.. o., on the one
hand. they must be directed TO God
in spirit and In truth, according to
His manifest will, with view solely
to His glory, with gratitude for His
goodness and alteration for His infinite
perfection. On the other hand, the
the great acts of religion must be per-
forE.ed before men, by men and for the
interests of men; j.. g., they must
necessarily take on public character
and be surrounded with all that tends
to fix the attention of the worshIpper
and to express his purpose. They
must also emphasize the corporate and
official character OF the forms under
which man acknowledges his relation to
God--relations of the thing created to
the Creator; OF the dependent, inferior
and weak to the Supreme and Omnip.
utent Cause; OF the, beneficiary to
the Dispenser of all good gifts; OF the
captive to is Liberator: of the adopted
child to is Eternal Father.
This is why everywhere and among
all men religion has been symbolic in
outward character. Religion symbolism
or the worship of God under material
embems and forms is one Of those
natural outgrowths Of human circum-
stances that are proved true and
necessary by their very univeraaiity,
that express those convictions Of the
general human mind which have never
wavered, and, therefore, may we'll be
taken as remnants of the knowledge
which the fret man received direct
from God, as faint but precioussrelics
of the original justice, uuquenchable
sparks In the gloom that went gather.
ing for ages around the human. mind.
The most degraded, as well as the
most polished of peoples, have always
manifested their hopes, duties, psti-
tions, fears to the Supreme Being or to
what seemed to them as such, under
hoEn
example. you may see this illustrated
in the history of the Greek people
during the 1000 years it took to reach
the acme OF human culture and ip
which it bodied forth its ideals of
the Divinity in a thousand forms, from
the rude post or slab of granite,
through every kind of vague or
grotesque sculpture, until the perfect
Towering Of their convictions came in
the inimitable creations of a Pheidias
or Praxiteles.
The Old Testament, the direct and
full expression Of Gods will to His
chosen people, is full of symbolism,
varied and beautiful, and ths minutest
rites OF its religion are beloved by
Jews and Christians to have been
directly inspired by God Himself.
Jesus Christ who came to fulfill the
promises, to perfect the unfinished
work of the restoration of the human
race, employed symbolic forms, not
only in His speech, but in His action.
He anoiDted with spittle the ears Of
the deaf man and healed with clay the
eyes Of the blind man. He wrote upon
the ground for the confusion OF the
Pbarisees. He was glorified by the
Father and the Holy Spirit under the
symbol of dove descending upon Him
from heaven. And when He would
complete His work. He sent the Holy
Spirit upon His apostles under the
visible and expressive form OF tongues
of fire, as though to lumipously show
that the work of His Church in the
world was one of consumption OF the
atubble and the hay, of enlightenment
OF the dark places, Of cleansing of the
impure and the unholy, OF strengthen
ing of the weak and uncertain.
Therefore, when the Catholic Church
uses largely the symbolic element in
her services, she is not cultivating
any excrescences foreign to the nature
OF divine worship, as purified and
elevated by Christ nor is she reducing
the strength of the Christian revelation
by tempering IL with human adj
mixtures; nor is she derogating from
the merits OF Chriet as sole Redeemer,
Atoner, Intercessor and High Priest
forever.
She is only carrying on the work Of
Christ among men. according to the
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