Show I SERVICES AT CHURCHES Christmas Services Were the Order of the Day I INTERESTING LESSON DRAWN At St Marys Cathedral Rev Father Kennedy Reviewed the Story of th Incarnation in a Most Impressive Manner Dean Eddie Filled the Pulpit at St Marks Cathedral I Rev Ellis Bishop Discoursed on tho I Child Jesus xat St Pauls Plymouth Ply-mouth Church Exercisesr f f j Ii e t Fivc masses i were hejd In St Marys I cathedrh1 I yesterday and at llpclook the Christmas sermon was preached by 1 Father Kennedy The church wa beautifully I beau-tifully < 1 cQr ted aJ1l sI1Cclri1 musiC ap propriqlo to the day was jendercd 1 Father KenrCdy reviewed the goopel wtorr of the Incarnation bringing out I the idea that our IxMJ came in away perfectly l meet with perfect pow irto accomplish the puriVose for Which he I panic and with absence Cth outcry and poinp which theETctt ones oC the worlll detflh needful to announce their coming That Whichis greluest and fllronKehThc said comes most Vuiclly i I and he nl IRtlUed UhcHde wltlvlhese words What rules so widely ds the j light and yet what ever comes so I I quietly as the silent footsteps of the dawn What is stronger than the storm And yet the wInd comes fOrth ironi Us first faint source in tremulous I I ivhlspeis What smites so surely and rends so fiercely the lightning And 1 yot before the thunder rushes It has done its WOrld The sun shines the I trc03 grow the flowers bloom the stars move up through the heavens the forces of nature do their appointed task and all in silence And it IK still more th cane in spiritual things that alienee is the condition of perfect ppwer I THE GODMADE MAXI MAX-I shall not therefore sti ftc to cx I cite your wonder at Im lowly condition condi-tion of the Messiah 1 shall not be I anxious to dwell on the hardships humiliations I i hu-miliations and the absence of earthly pomp and earthly ceremony at the manger cradle of the Infant King These things are admirable in their way and from all we may draw lessons les-sons litted for special times But the apeclal lesson of Christmas day lies deeper far than these I shall no more think of dwelling on them than I Kh on Id think if 1 had some rare picture I pic-ture to show you of diverting your attention to tho beauty of its frainc The truth is when we consider the mjstery of today the Godmade man vu may well cease to wonder that things which arc ever wonderful In themselves cease to be matter for much wonder when we take this mystery mys-tery Intb account Thit God looking on human conditions should choose the meanest and lowest ceases to be a wonder when we consider that he condescended con-descended chooe any human condition condi-tion at all Between the highest human hu-man condition and the lowest the difference dif-ference is not great Between the Condition Con-dition of God and any human condition l condi-tion the difference is simply inllnlte Hence I would ask you to prostrate yourselves before the infant Jesus and make an act of > jalth Inihjs ityvhiltlf and In his humanity and then se yourselves to learn and apply to your own needs the lessons taught by the nublime spectacle of the Godmade man REMEDY POR EVILS OF SIN We can see in the manGod a complete com-plete remedy for the evils that sin brought upon the world Man had been created by God In a perfect state In that precise state In which God wished him to preserve The two great faculties of man are intellect and will and according to the perfection of their action is the perfection of the human 3 i naturewhlch they cOnstitute Now the object of the Intellect is truth and the business of the will Is love The intellect d in-tellect weeks that which is true the will tends to what Is good Hence the knouledgo of God who Is perfect truth i1 and the love of God who Is perfect 4 goodness are the two things required 10 make porfct the nature which God has given us In the beginning God revealed himself to the Intellect by his t law and to the will by his grace and as long as man would observe that law and preserve that grace so long would he be fulfilling the end of his being But man did not do so INTELLECT BLINDED BY SIN LI Man by his sin and by his dls obedience to God blinded his Intellect II and weakened his will and from this source proceed all the evils of the world The welfare of the world depends de-pends upon two things Its knowledge and Its action In the order estab llsncd by God the knowledge was to be supplied by faith the acllrm was to be based upon morality and whatever blinds the intellect weakens faith and leads to error Whatever weakens the will undermines morality and results In corruption Hence It is easy to sec how natural It vas that before the Doming of the Messiah Jcnow Icdgo of tho true God should have almost died t out of the world and that all flesh iL l f should have corrupted its way Hence the one Important thing that man must I neck again was the knowledge of God to enlighten the Intellect and the graca of God to strengthen his will And fret t tns wag supplied as only God could tII i supply It by the mystery of the incarnation In-carnation which the nature of God who Is the fountain of truth and the to i author of grace is united to our human l hu-man nature |