Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-12-26
FATHER sLoCT1M's SERMON.
Greatly Pleased Those Present at Last
 Mass Yesterday.


 Mass Yesterday.
 The sermon which followed the l reading of the gospel at the church of the Immaculate Conception at the 1O;3O o'clock mass yesterday was by Father S1ocum and was beautiful, simple and sublime explanation of the incarnation. The preacher explained the helplessness and wickedness of men in their natural state; he pictured the sadness and hopelessness of the human family during the ages which preceded the coming of Christ, and touched pathetically on the proud ness of the human heart to what is wrong. Then he dwelt on the good ness and the love of God the Father in sending his only begotten son for the redemption of the human race. He told the story of Christ's coming with all its beauty and sublinity; with all its majesty and misery, its joy and pain. The fear, the fervor, the fond ness of the virgin mother, the per plexity of the foster father, the help lessness, the weakness of the new born Savior, the wonder and joy or the adoring shepherds-these and many others circumstances of the com l ing of the long promised one were made plain as he proceeded.
 He explained eloquently what the birth of the Savior meant. for the vlr~ gin mother, for the foster father. for 1 all mankind. For the virgin mother there was begun that night life of sorrow and toll and pain and tears. The Son of God was given to the keep ing of a human being, and over her life even the shadow of Mt Calvary was thrown. For the foster father l there was the problem of looking ar fer the human life of the God Man; l and vet this man Joseph was not an l adept in what the world calls knoWl l edge and wisdom For all manK1nd there was the most glorious and Won- ! derful night in all it's history. For I the flesh which had been degraded by sin was elevated into union with the divinity; the gates of heaven were opened by the tiny, rosy fingers or the Babe of Bethlehem.
 l And vet, said the eloquent preacher, T as we look at this babe first come mo ] the world, though He isfGod 1n all ms strength. vet we cannot forget that He is man also, and His dimpled cheeks and rosy fingers cannot make us TOT pet that Judas Iscariot will betray Him. that the garden of Gethsemanae and Mt Calvary are on his path or life.
 Then in a dozen ways the preacher arnlained how the life of Christ strengthened the faith of men. The life of the Redeemer is the best known , in all human history. Men may argue and doubt and dispute. but as the years roll on Christmas and Easter and Good Friday are red-letter days III inc lives of men. Faith in God, faith in inc Redeemer are growing Tn sp1te If all human contriyances to destroy them.
 He contrasted this faith with mere nhi1osonby and the wisdom of the un aided human mind. He drew pa +betic picture of the death of Herper' Snencer. who, in spite of his wonder fal intellect lived without faith ano died without hope of life everlasting and he contrasted with the last leaves of this philosopher the death of the
 sinonle-nIinded, unlsstered Christian
 who hopes, when the sorrows or ilIs shall have passed, to go into the glory of the eternal morning,
 R,1t these are only few or many ideas which he lavished on his near org No resume of his sermon cal rive an adequate idea of the eloquenc' with which he told the Christmas
 Wieh M#%
 story.