The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-03

His Eminescs Preached at St. Thomas
Pro-C.sh. dral OF sunday - Impr. saw.
9ervfc. "a Beautiful S<rmon-Recs pss. =

WI S0o03y up S7V
ssrvtc. s-A Beautiful sermoa-Rece PHI. /.
In the Afseraoon
There We're extraordinary services at
St Thomas Pro-Cathedral on Sunday
morning at the 1890 o'clock mass.
His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. VINO
arrived in our city on Friday. officiated
at the services and preached a beauti-
full sermon to a large congregation.
When the time arrived for the mass.
the Cardinal robbed in the Cappa
Magma, entered the front doors Of the
church. and headed by a procession of
aycalites and priests in procession. pro-
ceeded up the aisle. In the procession
were Father Wheelan. Father Fletcher.
and Father Divine. Of Baltimore. Faith
er Price. Of Raleigh. and Father Grit
fin. OF this city. acting as celebrant-
After entering the sanctuary the Car
dinal. with the dignity becoming his Of
flee. began the mass with prayer and
sang Psalm AZ. which having been fin
ished, he retired to the throne. attend
ed on either side by Fathers Wheelan.
Fletcher and Price. Father Griffin. the
celebrant, continued the service.
A fine musical programme was rem
dered consisting Of the kyrie, Credo.
Sanctus, Benedictus, AND Agnus Del
from the Mass in F by Bartholomew.
Miss Monk presided at the organ and
he vocal music was rendered in a most
excellent manner by the regular choir.
The musical programme though short
er than usual On such occasions. was
very appropriate ana the Cardinal after
the service himself co~mplimented it. A
short and pretty mass was celebrated
for the OCCASION In the kyrie Miss
Maize O'COnnOr sang a very sweet solo.
She also sang the offertory, Dudley
Bucks Ave Maria" The Benedictus
was beautifully rendered by Mrs Joseph
WATERS. soprano, Mr.. r. G. Banks,
tenor, and Mr.. John w. Reilly. basso.
Having read a lesson from Romans
chapter, xiii in which st. Paul dis
courses on the advantages Of mutual
charity, His Eminence selected the
10th verse of this chapter for his theme
1.-The love of our neighbor worketh no
evil. Love, therefore, is the fulfilling
of the law" Having made a graceful
acknowledgment of appreciation to the
large audience who greeted him, n
saying he was glad to see them he i'm
mediately launched into the discourse,
of which the following is an extract:
IF l were asked this morning what
is the leading feature Of the religion
of Christ, l would say it is all contain
ed in one word, love. II l were asked
what is the fundamental priciple OF the
religion of Christ I would answer, love.
You may condense all the sayings of
our Lord and his apostles; you may
condense all the precepts, the Old and
new law, you may condense all the
commandments, reduce them all first
principles, and the kernel of the fruits
will be found in the n word love.
Love therefore is the fulfilling the
law" There a be no doubt in the
mind of the Christian IS long as he
possesses the love of God in his heart.
1 am always sure that l am on the
right path when 1 know that I possess
Gods love-. 1 am always sure Of the
faith 1 profess when l love God and
my neighbor as the Scripture tells US.
I may be perplexed in finding the true
and correct meaning in different pas
sages of the sacred text, / may be in
doubt in certain matters affecting the
true characteristics of faith, but / am
sure and certain and know l am right
when 1 love God, above al lthings for
his own sake and my neighbor as my
self for the love of God.
Christ himself when asked what
was the great commandment Of the
law replied: Thou shall love the Lord
thy God with thy whole heart, with
thy whole soul, with all thy strength;
this is the greatest and first command
ment. And the second is like this:
Thou shall love thy neighbor as thy
self" Love, therefore, is the fulfill
ing Of the law" And it is this which
distinguishes the relgon of Christ above
others.
We are indeed indebted to the Heb
brew religion for many things We have
in our own. Theirs was Moses. Theirs
was Abraham. To them belonged all
the patriarchs and prophets, and all
those to whom the Lord had spoken.
Theirs was Christ. From among
their race He chose his twelve
apostles and commissioned them
to spread his religion. From that race
sprang Mary, the mother of Jesus, The
root of jesse" the glory of Christianity
To them indeed we owe a great debt.
But, though, they were the once chosen
people of God, they were governed not
by love, but by fear. The old Tesla
ment speaks of God as their king, their
Judge, their ruler. Indeed they prefer
10 inculcate the fear of the great Je-
hovah. Thus does st. Paul contrast
the guiding spirit of each: For you
have not received the spirit Of bond
g again in fear; but you nave re-
ceived h spirit of adoption OF sons
whereby we cry Abba (Father). For the
spirit himself giveth testimony to our
spirit, that we are the sons Of God,
and if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed Of
God and joint heirs with Christ" Thus
the Christian principle excells the rest.
1t makes us Joint heirs" with Christ
in the kingdom of God
Then go over to that great Pagan
world. The Pagans in deed worship
their gods, but it was h worship of
fear. There was no love in the heart
to animate lively sentiments toward
their deity. They offered sacrifices to
their gods to placate them, to avert
great dangers, but they never address
Cd them as Father. They never
thought Of loving their gods, and the
reason is because owe ~presupposes
some relation of friendship between
the principals who V