The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-21


 Forty Hours. Devotions, He places Him self upon our aItars to be adored. but we must remember that life is a prep aration for eternity. that after afeH mercy ceases, that then God is a God of stern justices God must be just. in- fintely just, for being infinite, He must be infinite in all perfections, and if He were not infinitely just, He would not be God.
 We live in a boastful age. an age in which we vaunt our progress, our en- lightment, our civilization. Notwith- standing all this, we are in many re- spects little better of than were the pagans Nowadays. too, with all the evidences of immortality thrust upon us, many are unbelievers; some in theory, some in practice. We ape the skepticism of Greece, the unbelief of Rome. the hypocrisy of Judea- Be- cause the soul cannot be found beneath the scalpei In dissecting rooms. there fore 1t does not exist; because we do not see God face to face, therefore He does not exist. The sun is hidden be- hind the lowering clouds. Does 1t, therefore cease to exist?
 '.Remember the warning addressed in the courtly halls of the imperial Caesar surrounded by the wit and elo- quence of a golden age, the age of laundering Ciceros. delightful Horaces and courtly Senecas, by the boy Pan- cratius, Beware, O Caesar So. too, must we beware. What Is the butter fly life of the worlds applause. of fame. compared with the never-ending bliss of heaven, or the eternal torments of the damned?
 "As the ruins of Solomon's temple
 remain a silent witness to the awful nf a raaaaaA " al angry God upon an unfaithful people, so will eternal loss remain a terrible
 witness to the dread sentence of damn
 ation inflicted on an irreligious soul" The reverend preacher thus pursued his train of thought, which he inter spersed in a charming way with inci- dents taken from history. and from the philosophIc attitude of world devoted to false ambitions and the idols of a base materialism.
 Before concluding. he remarked that the principal discourse of the day would be delivered at the evening ser vice; consequently. 1t was not surpris- ing to find that he was greeted with a large and very attentive audience last night.
 The devotions conducted were a f,t- ting climax to the peaceful nature Of the day's proceedings, and the many silent worshippers who visited the church in the course of the day to whis- per messages of love and gratitude to their sacramental Lord, returned again 10 consecrate to Him the hours of re- pose.
 Rev. Father Eaton ofhciated at the rosary and benediction. Father Slevin's theme was the Real Presence" a suo- feet dealing with the very essence or Catholicity. Taking his text from the Gospel of St. John, kill: l-"HaVtng loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end"-the preacher said, in part:
 ''The works and designs of God are characterized chiefly by grandeur and immensity. Infinite love, wisdom ana power accompany His least manifesto tIon. To have any adequate idea of the subject that occupies us this evening"
 The Real Presence, and the purpose that God proposes therein'-we must rise above the low level of our ordi- nary. material speculation and >give higher and wider range to our thoughts. We must retrace the flight of time back to that moment when the world, with all it's amazing grandeur aprane into. existence at the omnipoteht hat of Him who Is eternal.
 when the Almighty had created man inc masterpiece of Creation, he en- dowed him with all the qualities, wnlch could entice a God to love a creature of his own handiwork, and therefore
 1t was that out of tneffable love ne deigned to grace with his presence the Garden of Paradise, the cradle of the bunnan race. He communed with our first father in the shady groves of Eden' and treated him as a dear and loving friend, but subsequently, offended by the base ingratitude and prevarication of him on whom he had laxished so
 many and singular gifts, the Almighty withdrew into his own inaccessible light while earth mourned her abandon ment.
 From time to time that God who was love-sick for humanity, the won- der of Creation, promised to forget his anger and to send a redeemer to repair
 mans great forgetfulness. Vixen the fulness of time had come the great
 heart of the man-God cried out '1et
 us descend" and now make ourselves like unto man in order to tempt him
 to love us. He came in the guise of an angel to Abraham's tent in the long,
 long ago, but now he comes as the infant babe of Bethlehem; further on he gives man the eternal legacy of his love hidden under the sacramental spe-
 cies of our altars. Thus his great love shows itself in the creation, further
 proves itself in the redemption, and | finally reaches its glorious climax in
 the eucharastic presence on our altars.
 Tt needed the omniscience of a God
 to conceive it and the omnipotence and
 love of God to put into execution so
 ineffable and lasting a miracle. After
 the three and thirty years of his mor-
 tai life were spent before he sprang
 from the dark cold tomb of death he
 gathered his disciples around him and
 bequeathed to them his own priceless
 body and blood TAke ye, and eat.' he
 said, for this is m ,ody. This is my