The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-21

Both masses at St. Peters Catholic Church were largely attended yester- day.
 sodality and the Holy Angels Society in the white insignia of their separate confraternities went to Communion in a body.
 The late mass witnessed the unfold ing of the sublime ritual of Catholicity in the solemn service of the Forty Hours Devotion. The celebrAnt of the, occasion was Rev. Father DeBeurme, s. J., of Spring Hilr College, near Mobile, assisted by Rev. Father Eaton as Dea- con, and Rev. Father Savage, D. D. as subdeacon. ~
 At the close of the mass the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for the adora- tion of the faithful in an alcove lnl- mediately above the tabernacle. The altar itself is as fitting tribute as simple art can furnish to the majesty of Him, who silently reposes on II, the clustering flowers and myriad hshts completing an arrangement tnat AuAiS makes up in taste what It lacks m elaborate display. The exposltlon VIII continue today and will cease tomorrow morning at s o'clock, when the same magnificent ceremony that inIroouceu 1t will be repeated.
 The Devotion of the Forty Hours Is n prelude to the mission which will be conducted throughout the week. The notices read at the mass contained an exnianatfon of the Devotion and of the privileges attached to it. as well as of the mission and Its purport. Rev Father Slevin, s. J., of New Orleans, occupied the pulpit. His discourse, though advisedly of a general and ex- AaH A. tions of the congregation. Impress ively delivered, 1t was replete with beautiful ideas and telling aliusions drawn from scripture and romance, while profane philosophy and story con- tribtued their quota fin attracting the earnest attention of those who heard it.
 The Reverend Father took his text from the Gospel of the day: Amen, say to you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things be done, St. Matthew, xxtv, 34.
 Briefly dealing with an intelligent exposition of the text, he described some of the interpretations given to the word "generation," and then pass ed on to a vivid portrayal of the sur roundings in which was proclaimed the remarkable prophetic utterance contain ed in the text. The Temple of Solo mon, the glory of antiquity with all its beauty, and its grandeur, its massive walls of g1eaming gold and marble, It's gorgeous turrets of ethereal splendor, resembling in the sheen of an Eastern setting sun, some vast mountain or the whftest snow with its dazzling beauty and sparkling columns. was ptc- tured with a wealth of imagery. Yet with this scene before Him of a mag nifcence so delicately proportioned' Jesus wept.
 He went. for he knew that before many years not a stone would be teft upon a stone;' that about the the year of our Lord 62, the Roman legions would camp in siege before It. would pollute it's sanctity with heathenish device, would tear the Porta Speciosa from its foundations, would scatter It's silver and gold and precious stones and make its sacred courts the refuge of the bird and beast. And why all this? Because the Jews, Gods chosen race, had been unfaithful to their tra- ditions, because they had wandered af- ter false gods unmindful of the one true God, whose providence had direc- ted them, whose Son had come to save them. Those who should have been leaders of the people were the inspir- ntion of inIquity. The PhartseeS and Eadducees were hyprocrites he said' Christ read their thoughts. He did not snare them. He styled them "hypor- crites," white sepulchres full of dead mems bones" He knew them to be pseudo prophets, worshippers of Nam mon. deceivers of their race. In the co-mingling of the nations their philosophic and religious systems were corrupted. Where were the dreams of immortality, and where the belief in a future state of bliss? Where was tbe knowledge and worship of the true and only God? Therefore did Jesus weep.
 50 does Jesus weey todap," Father Rlevin continued. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, bodies with aouIs. and souls with God, as the phil osopher says, bodies, typified indeed by inc glory of the temple of Jerusalem, hut more beautiful, noble and grand than SoIomon's fane, because they pos- vess the living reality, the conscious peas of truth, the attribute of divinity, which was lacking in the architectural wonder of the pre-Chrtstian dispensa- tion.
 ''From the destruction of the temple ws learn how terrible a thing 1t is to fall into the hands of the living God God is now a God of mercy, but after life mercy ceases. God gives Himself to us now in many ways: He seeks us, He comes to us in missions, In