The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-10-07
The Occasion of the Dedication
Of a New Temple.
ORATORY OF REV. L. F.KEARNEY, 0. P.
Is Worthy to be Compared With
Father Tom Burke.

At the recent dedication of the new
Church of St. John, the Evangelist, at
Columbus, Ohio, the oration OF the day
was delivered by Very Rev. L. F. Kear-
ncy, o. P, the eloquent Dominican
who made the famous prayer at the
opening of the Ohio State Democratic
convention on Aug. 80. He is the great
pulpit orator OF the Dominican order in
the English language since the lamented
death Of Very Rev. T. N. Burke. The
reverend speaker opened his discourse
as follows:
MY eyes shall be open and my ears
attentive to the prayer OF him that shall
pray in this place. For have chosen
and have sancti6ed this place, that my
name shall be there forever and my eyes
and my heart shall remain there per-
petually." II Paralipomenon, vii, ch
"All places are, in general sense,
sanctified by God Immensity is one OF
Gods attributes and by reason OF that
attribute He is onnipotent. He is
higher than heaven, deeper than hell,
longer than the earth, broader than the
| sea-. Not only is He all about us, but
He is within us. I'm Him we live and
move and have Our being We cannot
escape His presence Whittier shall
go from Thy spirit? cries the psalnist,
or whittier shall l flee from Thy pres
encc? Ii l ascend into heaven Thou
art there. Ii l descend into hell, Thou
art present. II l take my wings in the
early morning and dwell in the utter
most parts of the sea, there also shall
Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand
hold me- ....
There is, then, no spot in all the
broad e~panse OF creation that is not
sanctified by Gods presence. The uni
verse is the temple of God. And wher-
ever God is He has right to the hon.
age OF men. In every place of His
dominion, oh, my soul, bless thou the
Lord
However, by Gods expressed will
there are places that are made sacred
to His Divine majesty in a special
sense; places set apart, dedicated cxclu-
sivcly to the honoring of His Name,
to the rendering OF that worship which
in the very nature of things all rational
| creatures owe to Him.
"In days OF old He commanded King
Solomon to build the temple, and He
defined its dimensions and designated
its site and prescribed the sacred rites
and ceremonies by which He would
have His people give expression to
their desires, their gratitude, their re-
pentance, their alteration.
Gwen infinite wisdom could discern
that in man. a complete being, receiving
all his impressions through the senses,
devotion and alteration could be most
ehectually inspired by surroundings
which God has publicly proclaimed His
home, by affairs in which are offered
sacrifices attesting His supreme domin-
ion; by sacred signs and symbols which
elevate the mind Of man above tcrrcs-
trial things and bear his heart to the
dazzling brightness OF the Kingdom be-
yond the skies.
"Hencc, it is that from the beginning,
guided by natural instinct and divine
direction, man has sought to familiarizc
himself with the spiritual and unnatural
by endowing it with corporeal form and
figure. He has employed art to assist
him in realizing the things he loved, yet
could not see nor touch. He has made
use of the architects genius, the pain
ter's brush and the sculptor's chisel to
elevate his mind to Heaven, or to bring
the things OF Heaven down to earth.
ut was for these reasons that God
commanded King Solomon to build the
te1nple-edifce of glittcring splendor.
"For these reasons, too, the new law,
the new religion of which the old was
but figure, has its temples. Christian
people contribute of their wealth or OF
their scanty, hard-earned savings to the
erection OF cathedrals and churches
which seek to rival in splcndor that
noble structure which was the pride and
glory OF the children OF Israel. All that
is best in art is devoted to the periecting
OF these sanctuarics OF the Most High.
The very stones are made to preach the
dogmas of Christianity and proclaim the
glories OF its Divine Founder. The