Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1901-11-20
THE DIVINITY OF CRRIST. !"
First Of A Series Of Lectures
AT St. Mary's Church.
FATHER MULHALL MAKES AD-
DRESS OF WELCOME.

Rev. Father Sigl Declares Christ Was All
He Claimed To Be-Exhorts His Hear
ers To Acknowledge Christ As Their
God And To Serve Him As He De-
serves To Be Served.
There was large audience present in
ST. Mary's Church last night at the open
ing of the mission for Catholics and non
Catholics. Father Mulhall opened the
services with an address OF welcome, and
once more explained the order OF servl-
ces. His remarks were followed by the
singing OF the hymn "Nearer. My God,
to Ihee, which was beautifully rendered.
Then Father Sigl gave an instructive
lecture on "The Divinity of Christ. He
said in part 1--WE take for granted that
YOU believe in the existence OF God, in
The Immortality OF the soul and the divine
inspiration OF the Bible, II we were to
explain these doctrines to you, the week
would pass before we could speak OF any
distinctively Catholic subject. We might
even presume that you believe in the
divinity OF Christ, but as there are men
who deny this great and fundamental
doctiine, we will make it the subject OF
discourse tonight.
"Christ is God, if in the Old Testa-
ment His coming, His lite and His death
were ioretold; il 1t was mentioned in these
prophecies that He is God, and il they
were fulfilled in Him. Christ is God, IT
He claimed to be such. aud made good
His claim by miracles and prophecies
which God alone could perform or utter.
Christ is God, il He lived and died as
God only could live and die.
The preacher then read and explained
the prophecies conceT ming the Redeemer.
He showed how Immediately after the
tall of man God said to the serpent 81
will put enmities between thee and the
woman, and thy seed and her seed; she
shall crush thy head" How Jacob pro-
phesied that the scepter should be taken
from Juda till he came that is to be sent,
and who is the expectation OF nations.
How Micheas foretold that Bethlehem
should be the place of His birth. How
Isaias said that He should be born of
virgin and that His name should be call
ed Emmanuel is God with us.
How Daniel pointed out the time of His
advent in weeks of years. How many
OF the circumstances of His passion and
death were foretold by lsaias.
These prophets at the same time pro-
claimed the divinity of the coming Mes
siah. "His going forth is from the days
of eternity says Micheas. "Thus saith
the Lord" we read in Isaias--words that
invariably indicate that God is introduc-
ed as speaking, 81 have given my body
TO the strikers All these prophecies
were fulfilled in Christ. He was born
when the sceptre had passed from the
descendants OF Juda to Herod, the stran-
ger; He was born in Bethlehem of Mary
the Virgin; He suffered and died as the
prophets foretold. Therefore Christ is
the Messiah and the Son of God.
The preacher then proceeded to show
by quotations from the New Testament
tn at Christ claimed to be the Son of God;
that He claimed powers that belong TO
God alone; that He demanded faith in
Him as the Son OF God from His Disci-
Piles, and that He made good that claim
by miracles and prophecies. He referred
TO some of the most prominent miracles,
such as the testimony to life of three
dead persons, and to the wonderful pro-
phecy of His death and resurrection, and
drew the conclusion that Christ was, in
reality, what He claimed to be - the
Son OF God.
Finally the lecturer spoke of the grand
eur OF the doctrine OF Christ; of the per-
feet sanctity OF His life; OF His wonderful
power evinced in death and quoted Jean
Jacques Rousseau, a famous French in
tidel, who said Socrates lived and
died as philosopher; Christ lived and
died as God, and yet the history of
Socrates is not nearly SO well attested as
is that OF Christ" In conclusion, the
preacher exhoIted his hearers to acknowl-
edge Christ as their God; to give to Him
all the affection of their hearts, and to
serve Him as God deserves to be served.
The lecture was followed by the sing
ing of a beautiful 20 Salutoris," which
was accompanied with violincello by
Prof. Charles A. Zimmerman. Then
prayers were recited to God, the Father
of light. and giver OF every perfect gift,
and the services closed with the bene-
diction. A lecture on very interesting
/ topic, "Work of Christ. on Earth" is
announced for tonight, and all are in
,,;tad IN attend