The herald., 1896-04-06
EASTER At THE CATHEDRAL
AND AT OTHER FESTIVAL OBSERVING
CHURCHES OF THE CITY
Magnificent Services at St. Vibiana's, st.
vincent's and at the Old Mission AT st.
Paui's and St. johns Episcopai-knights
Templar at Simpson Tabernacle


The Easter services at the cathedral, on
Main street, were very impressive, the spe-
cial feature OF which was the magnificent
music. Every seat in the large edifice was
filled long before 10 o'clock, and at 10 80
there was not even standing room, several
hundred being unable to gain admittance.
The affairs we're beautifully decorated with
callas. smilax and roses. Pontifical high
mass was celebrated at 1880 o'clock,
Beethoven's grand mass in c being given
in it's entirety. In addition the Regina
C9li. by Lambilotte, was given for the
offertory, and before the sermon there was
violin solo, Andante. by Mendelssohn.
the mass q grand march by Kretchmer was
played by the orchestra and the organ. The
quartette choir consisted of Miss b. Roth,
soprano; Mrs. ). Paine, contralto; s.
Thrower. tenor, and J. Scott, bass, supple
mented by chorus of sixteen voices. Fol-
lowing were the performers in the orches-
ira: First violin, Arnold krauss; second
violin. H. Tupke; viola, Harley E. Haml-
ton; violincello, L. Opid; bass, Il. Eulen-
berg; first cornet, W. ID. Deeble; second
cornet, H. p. Moore; trombone, A. Berk-
lein. all under the direction of Prof. A. j.
Stamrn. organist and director.
The celebrant of the mass was the Right
Rev. j. Adam as assistant priest, Rev. j..
A. Doyle deacon, and Rev. j. Nunan sub.
deacon. The Right Rev. Bishop Francis
Mora presided at the throne. with the Rev.
Father McAuliffe and Rev. Father e. Gotta
as deacons of honor. Right Rev. Bishop
Medlicott of India also occupied a place in
the sanctuary.
The Easter sermon was preached by the
Rev. Father McAuliffe, and was an elo-
quent effort. Father McAuliffe is one of
the best pulpit orators in the diocese, and
he fully sustained his high reputation yes-
terday. The speaker took for his text,
You Seek Jesus of Nazareth, Who Was
Crucifled; He He's Risen." 1t was hardly
necessary, said the speaker, to remind the
vast throng before him that they were
gathered together to celebrate the greatest
and grandest festival of the year, a festi-
val which represents and commentaries
the accomplishment of our redemption.
Whatever Christ did in his martyr life,
whatever he said, he had but one object in
view, and that was to atone for our sins
and redeem us from destruction. But di-
vine providence had decreed tnat our re-
demption should only be achieved
by the death of Christ Hence,
when he gave up his life that we might
be saved he could cry out to the world
from the cross, ut is Consummated." And
today Christ manifests himself in the true
sense of the word, the Savior, the Redeem
er of the world. Sin is blotted out, the en-.
pire of Satan is overthrown and man can
address his creator by the name of Father
Hence the song of joy which the church
puts into the mouths of her children today.
"This is the day which the Lord hath
made; let us exult and rejoice in it, But
this feast of the resurrection contains a
mystery which is of paramount import
ance to the belief and to life of every
Christian, for it is the groundwork of our
faith and powerful incentive to a virtu-
Gus life. That the resurrection is the
groundwork of our faith is plain, for if
Christ be risen again, no one can doubt
the divinity of Christ and his religion.
We know from the Old Testament
that many of the prophets foretold that
Christ would rise on the third day, and he
himself repeatedly and most emphatically
foretold the same thing. behold we go
have scourged him they will put him to
death: and on the third day he shall rise
again." The sanctty of Christ's life and
the marvellous miracles wrought by him.
are all evidences of his divinity. Still
they were not entirely conclusive, nor suf-
ficient to remove all doubts from the minds
of men that he was the Son of God. But
his resurrection removes all doubt, be-
cause by raising himself from the dead
he proved that he was the very God, for
this could only be done by God himself.
Hence it was to his resurrection that the
apostles always appealed to convince their
hearers of the divinity of his person
and the truth of his gospel. And St.
Paul says, "If Christ is not risen. our
preaching is vain, and your faith is also
vain." Hence, the natural conclusion
from all this is that the resurrection of
Christ is the foundation of cur faith. and
the impelling motive for the practice OF
virtue. But the question is, is Christ
really risen. and if SO. what are the evil
dences OF his resurrection? The evidences
are the testimony of his enemies, the
Roman soldiers about the cross, the high
council at Jerusalem, the testimony of the
apostles, as we'll as the multitude to whom
Christ appeared, and by whom he was
adored, and who unanimously testified to
his resurrection, And it is fact that in
Jerusalem it was universally believed that
Christ was truly risen, and when st. Peter
preached the resurrection no one dared
contradict him. The conclusion from all
these facts is irresistible that the resutrec.
ton cannot be reasonably controverted,
hence it is the foundation of our faith.
But it is not only that; it is powerful in
centive to a holy life, for it encourages us
to do the will of God in every condition of
life.
There is another lesson that is brought
home to us today. Christ could truly say
that every act of both his public and his
private life was in entire conformity with
the will of his Heavenly Father. He did
everything that God willed, and in the
manner in which he willed it. And the re-
ward OF that conformity. How gloriously
do we see him rewarded for his conformity
to his Fathers will. "For today God had
exalted him, and had given him name
that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of those that are in
Heaven and on earth and in hell; and that
every tongue should confess that our Lord
Jesus Christ is in the glory of God his
father" In considering this glory of our
risen Savior, should we not also endeavor
to do the will of God in all things, knowing
that if we suffer with him we shall also
reign with him in his eternal kingdom.
Father McAuliffs spoke for three.quarters
of an hour, and was followed with the
closest attention throughout.
In the evening there were the usual ves-
per services.
The Plaza Church
The Old Mission church was once more,
yesterday, the scene of unrivaled pageant,
joyous music and stirring eloquence. The