The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-03
THE ADVENT SERMONS.
The Rev. w. OBJ. Pnrdow Delivers
the First of the Series.

| the First of the series.
/ in honor of the dedication Of the TWEEN
| tieth century was delivered yesterday
morning at the IL o'clock services at st.
Aloysius Church by Rev. William OBJ.
| Pardow, S. ]. The subject of the course
F., is THE King and His Kingdom" and the
| theme of yesterdays sermon was The
Sovereignty Of Christi
| Father Pardow said in part: THE nine
teenth century, SO soon to close, has been
| loud in prais of its wonderful achieve
ments in so many fields. The worlds ex-
hibit in Paris has been an object lesson.
| in which he who ran might read ~ =
| giant strides in materia Il ..
! has accomplished so mucl ne Doe
] come intellectually prou crH -7If-s-#
| cient. Yet to one who ] '. tl'l'-r 20
one who is no. satisfied -u9cl
cial view of things. the HEa~r7s "
thc ~en.uJ AJciaims eat.
that man has no reason tt c..E
The browning glory Of tn aEs a.rr-
tific progress is. l presuu
of electricity. But have .t
that electricity was in the Sc from
the beginning, and yet it took the human
mind some six or seven thousand years to
learn how to harness it, as the saying Is;
how to make it run our messages for us
and carry our burdens. Surely. six thou
sand years are long school days for SO
bright and so precOcious a pupil as the
human mind considers itself to be. More
over. when the age vaunts so highly its
great discoveries We are apt to forget
that the age discovers nothing. that the
age is really in the position OF the school
boy learning his lesson from his teacher.
The multitudes are taught; the great
teachers or discoveries are very few and
far between. If the world has progressed
in nineteen centuries, it is because it las
been willing to be taught. The truly
learned man is not proud of what he
knows; the little that he really knows
only opens up to the gaze the endless
vista of the things he does not know.
Our great Pontiff. gloriously reigniug in
spite of the periodical news of his death,
Leo XIII, who saw the century in its
cradle. calls the worlds attention to the
fact that material progress is not its
greatest glcry.
I'VE speak with enthusiasm Of the nine
teenth century; but, nineteen centuries
from what? From what great event? From
what great battle or revolution? Leo XIII
reminds the age that the nineteen CEN
turtles. so soon TO close. date from scene
in a stable, from babe, and a virgin
mother. The Pope insists that IL our
civilization has accomplished great things
it is because it is Christian: it counts its
years from the birthday OF Jesus Christ,
true God and true man.
Strange, is it not, that whereas the
world is willing to be taught by men it
bristles up with self-conceit the moment
there is question of higher teacher; the
moment there is question Of being taught
by God? We DO not wish this man to reign
over us is the cry that is heard louder to-
day. than it was the first time 1t was III
tered nineteen hundred years ago. 1t Is
the boast OF many men nowadays that
dogmatic Christianity. namely. clear def
mite body OF religious truth accepted on
the authority Of Christ, has passed away.
and that with smoleless powder. horseless
carriages. and wireless telegraphy, creed
less Christianity is among the glories Of
the century. These men forget that science
has Its creed. as we'll as faith. Electricity
has its creed and its dogmas: so has chem
stry SO has astronomy. The one who
would handle electricity so as to advance
the arts and sciences, must first sit down