Nebraska advertiser., 1880-12-23

sage she thought she received from the
Virgin in the vision. There can be no
charge of deception with this child, he
said She was a sincere, simple hearted
peasant girl, and she believed she saw
the mother of Christ. The apparition
was accepted as a verify of the church
of Rome upon what was deemed suffi-
cient grounds by learned, wise, and sin
cere men. Many cures as result of
faith have, the speaker said, undoubt-
edly been wrought in the presence of
the shrine In the Enclosure of the
shrine he saw crutches without number
left there by those who had been cured.
DIR. Tyng then continued that he had
been called an ecclesiastical bigot by
very respectable newspaper. If he had
one bigoted hair in his head he wanted
to pull it out. Il am no bigOt," he
said. Il have no prejudice. The RO-
man Catholic church is wise in its gene
ration above all societies of believers.
do not find it in my heart to impugn
their sincerity. The man who can by
any sort of doxy relieve the suffering in
this world, / will hail as a worker.
Who shall say how much of hetero-
doxy there is in prayer that shall be a
! blessing? 1t is not possible for me to
say that the congregation | cannot pray
with is not praying to God"
The story of Our Lady of Lourdes is
well known. In the gear 1858 young
girl of fourteen, the daughter of poor
parents, and in delicate health from in
| fancy, wandered one day from her
! home, with two other children, to gath
er fagots. They came to picturesque
cavern or grOtto in remote spot on the
side of a mountain. The young girl
advanced alone into this grOtto, while
her companions busted themselves in
gathering sticks of wood. Presently
there burst upon her a vision of sur
passing beauty. 1t was the figure OF a
lovely woman, draped in white, and
holding in her hand chain of gold,
whence there hung a crucitix. On
eighteen occasions the child saw this
apparitiOn, and each time it smiled
sweetly upon her, and made the sign OF
the cross. The neighboring priests
were made aware of this amaziEs:ee ey-
perience, and were at first increzIEEIosss.
They imposed on the girl certai,I tests
by way of affirming or correcting the
miracle One of these was that of hav-
ing a rose bush bloom at the feet of the
ghOstly figure, the time being the
month of February. But they were in
formed that a blooming rose bush at
mid-winter would be but an ephemeral
wonder, and that a more permanent
proof would be given; and on the next
day living stream gushed from the
rock, and for twenty-five Years has con-
tinued thus to flow, without cessation,
as an evidence of the power and the
reality of Notre Dame de Lourdes.
Last summer, it appears, DR.. Tying
visited this shrine. THERE'S now built
over the grottc and the surrounding
grounds a church Of splendid dimen-
siOns and architecture. This editice
was erected by the contributions of be-
levers, and is SAID to be one of the
most imposing ecclesiastical structures
of modern times. During last summer
there was an average of fifty thousand
pilgrims a week there. On the walls
hang more than three hundred silken
banners, showing most delicate needle
work and many of them Ornamented
with precious stones. At that shrine,
says DIR. Tying, there is unceasing pray
er; and as the prayers are answered, ii
is impossible, he adds, to say that those
who offer them up are deluded. Let us
quote here the preachers words, as re-
ported: ''There was no doubt of the
cures effected there. In the Enclosure
Of the shrine were crutches, trusses and
badges thrown away because their
wearers had been cured and had no
thousands of letters of thanksgiving
Among the most touching things were
the thousands of letters by the side OF
the alcove-letters of written prayers
sent by those who could not come in
person. God could read as well as hear
prayer, and here was evidence of indi-
vidual faith in that fact. He had spoken
of the cures there. 1t would never do
to dismiss such well authenticated facts
as these"
DR.. Tying is the first prominent Pro-
testant who has looked upon the mia
Gle at Lourdes with any charitable juGg-
ment, and his position is one that many
Protestants will be found Supporting;
that the power of faith is as great in
his day to bring about miracles as il
was of old. The regret of DIR. Tying is
not shared alone by him chat this pow
er has not been used ard cultivated by
the church people of the Protestant
classes. Whether there is, or there is
not. anything marvellous in the waters
of Lourdes, it is none the less truth
that many seeming miraculous cures
are authenticated by men and women
too honest to be parties to cheat. The
scoffer will find one way to account fol
it, some Protestants another, while
there will be some of all churches who
have faith in the power of prayer and
good works to secure the favor of pow.
erS that rule the infinite. Some will
claim the whole demonstration as 8
physiological phenomenon, and study
it from that stand point.