Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-26

site of the great cathedral that is to stand
some day on Mt. St. Alban, as it were the
citys guardian angel. Beautiful for sltua-
ton is this site of the future sanctuary al
though, indeed, in a certain sense the sane
tuary is already there, for throughout the
long summer months thither Sunday by
Sunday the tribes have been going up, even
the tribes of the Lord, to testify unto Is
rael and to give thanks unto the name OF
the Lord. There on the spacious grounds
amid the cedars and the oaks, prayer has
been wont to be made Below Mount 81.
Adams slopes the national capital, rapid
ly diminishing the intervening space of
country lane and open field which lies be-
tween crowded street and cathedral close,
is seen as fair vision of beauty, while be-
yond it, adding its own special luster to the
glorious panorama. CLEANS the silver wa
tiers of the broad Potomac.
Hallowed by Memorials.
Moved as much by that deep apprecia-
ton of the supreme importance of the his
toric in religion which is so marked char
acteristic Of the bishop of Washington as by
his own sound judgment of what the times
demand the insight into which he owes to
his talent for practical craftsmanship, the
bishop has caused Mt. st. Alban to be hal
lowed by memorials of the holy places of
Anglican Christianity. Stones are here from
Jerusalem-nother of US ali-and the sa-
cred river of Jordan, and from Glastonbury
and Iona and Whitby-the Saxon Stream
OeSCndICu III DIlldlIl ~ SOVuiy VI
stones are these. more precious even than
gold or silver all destined for place in the
new cathedral
Attracting the attention of the stranger
first of all by the quaintness of its archi-
lecture is the Little Sanctuary small
and unpretentious chapel which stands at
the All Iiailcws Gate Of the future cathe-
dral. and which has' been built in part as
the sacred storehouse of those precious en-
blems in stone of the unbroken continuity
of the American church with the church of
Britain and the Holy Land.
Thus this little chapel, with its gravel
washed walls, scarcely larger than the wat
tle-built sanctuary which Columbus found
ed at Iona. has already come to great hon.
or. Itself lst fruits of the cathedral it
also guards it's same treasures and pro-
claims to the world that the place wherein
1t stands is holy ground. Rightly, therefore,
one feels how appropriate it is that the first
object to be seen. on crossing its humble
threshold is one of the veritable stones from
founder inscribed thereon: They who seek
the Lord shall want no manner of thing
that is good.
Near the Iona stone is one taken from
an arch in the ancient abbey which ST.
Hilda founded at Streanoeshalch in York
shire, and which the Mortimer left a smol-
dering ruin. Strange that from one of the
broken arches of the abbey at Whitby, as
the Mortimer renamed the place, stone
should be carried across the Atlantic to find
there an Eonored niche in another house of
God.
Within the iron screen which parts the
chancel from the nave is the cathedra made
from the stones of Glastonbury Abbey
more famous even than that of Iona or
Whitby, for here was the cradle of British
Christianity. Sweetly has Tennyson sung
the story and told of the wondrous legends
which gather around the Isle of Avalon
the misrs gather around it's marshes.
Not the least among these legends in beauty
and in interest is the story of the Holy
Thorn, which sprang, SO the story runs,
from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.
Having been driven into the ground, i'm
mediately 1t put forth it's leaves, and since
then it has ever blossomed at Christmas
time. Hard by the Little Sanctuary. at its
southeastern corner. an actual offshoot of
this holy thorn has found home. and there
has put forth leaves and branches-typical
OF the fact that westward, too, the course
of true religion takes it way.
Head Of Anglican Communion.
"And as the place is unique. SO is the man.
for the speaker is none other than he who
by common consent is primus interpares
among all the archbishops and bishops of
the Anglican communion. The American
church is a national church. in that 1t Is a
body complete in itself. To her our chill
dren, and to no other are her destinies COM