The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-26
TEE CHRISTMAS SERVICES.
HOY THE CHURCHES cELE- :BRATED THE DAK

Festive ExereIseS-ApProRriate Ser
 mons Preached by Local olerEymen-
 Large Attendance Testiaes to the Re-
 IiEious Spirit of the Day.
 Owing to the fact that Christmas came on Sunday this year the attend ance in the churches was larger than is usual when the holy day falls upon week day, and the scene in the churches demonstrated that the deep religious significance of the day has not passed away with the fading centuries. The day was observed generally as a festive day and the church buildings were dec- orated in a manner befitting the joyful season. The day was a typical Christi mas day, cold, crisp with snow and ice generously scattered over the land- scape.
 At St. Paurs church there were two celebrations of the holy communion. the l first at and the later one after the reg ular 1o:S0 Sunday morning service. The church was handsomely decorated with evergreens. At the front of the chanc@, between the choir stalls, a beautiful arch of evergreens has been erected. The pillars of the church, the chancel rails. pulpit and the whole front of the church, together with the galleries and the pillars were twined with Christmas greens.
 At the morning service the rector, Rev. MT. Perry, preached taking as his text "Immanuel," from the Christmas passage in Isaiah Rev . Mir. Perry preached an excellent Christmas sermon treating in his main theme the linear nation and its meaning. The morning offering was taken for the aged and infirm clergy of the diocese.
 In the evening the Sunday school fes- The Christmas carols were sung by the children.
 I On Wednesday the Sunday school cell ebration will be held. The afternoon exercises at 1 o'clock will be for the in- fant and intermediate departments, while the higher classes of the school will meet at 7:5O in the evening. l Next Sunday evening special mu- sical service will be held at 7:3o O clock. when the full choir will sing the canta- ta of The Holy Child by Horatio W. Parker.
 I At the First Baptist church in the morning the pastor, Rev. Mir. Lent and Thomas D. Jenkins, superintendent of the Sunday school, spoke. It was the occasion of Sunday school Christmas service. In the evening the choir rem dered the cantata of The Holy Child, ( by Adams in the monthly praise ser vice.
 l The special Christmas feature at the Church of the Redeemer was the violin soloist work of Miss Rebecca Wilder Holmes, who played at the church in the morning and at the Welcome Hall mission in the evening. pr. Phillips preached at both services.
 \ Trinity P. E. church was as usual fit- tingly decorated for the day. At the morning service the choir rendered Haynes "Lo, God, Our God has Come, < as the offertory and in the evening the cantata of .'The Holy City by Adams, was sung. The music at both the ser vices was excellent.
 At Trinity NJ. E. church the regular Christmas music was rendered in the morning. Mrs. Horton sang The New Born King as an offertory, and the quartet sang Schnecker's 70 Come ye lFaithful'' and Warren "sween Babe of Bethlehem" The morning sermon by the pastor was on The Call of Human ity in the Birth Of Jesus" At o'clock \ the Sunday school gave its annual Christmas concert, which was very pleasant service.
 Special musical services were arrang- ed at the different Roman Catholic churches about the city. At St. Mary's $ the soloists comprised Miss Sullivan so- prano; Miss Lynch, alto; Mr. Lauten- bach, tenor; Mir. Grabb, bass. The choir was supplemented by Fichtl's or. chestra. An elaborate musical service was given.
 1t the 5:30 mass at St. Joseph's one of the priests of the Connecticut apos- tolate was the preacher, and at the 10:30 mass Rev Father Mccarthy was the preacher Special music was the feat ure of the services. The attendances were very large.
 l At the Pilgrim church the morning | service was entirely a musical one there being no sermon. The regular quartette was augmented by a chorus, and the service was a very pleasant one. Tn the evening the Sunday school held it's Christmas concert. On We'd nesday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock the Christmas festival for the primary de- partment of the Sunday school will be held.
 At the Congregational church in Branford very elaborate musical pro- ! gramn1es were sung by the choir assist ed by Mrs. Dunning and Miss Buckbee of New Haven, and Miss Edna Smith of East Haven. Mrs Clara B. Forbes is the organist and musical director. 4 cantata took the place of the regu- lar preaching service at o'clock It is an entirely new work by Hartford man, and is called "The New Born King" It tells in solo, quartette and chorus '"rhe Prophecy Quest of the Wise Men," and Birth of the King" and closes with beautiful double chorus leading up to, the finale in which choir, congregation and organ join in one description of praise and adoration, in grand arrangement of the familiar old choral "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing"
 E. F. Isbell sang as the offertory solo in the morning Gounod's Noel. \