Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1881-04-05
THE BIBLE
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY
REV. MR.. ADD.

m Suffering.
The District Courtroom and CALLER,
were filed to overlooking on Sunday even
ing by an intelligent audience, principally
drawn thither by the announcement mad,
in the SENTINEL that Rev. Mr.. Ladd, Of the
Methodist-Episcopa Church, would reply
to Rev. Mr.. G~allagher's lecture in the
Opera House the Wednesday evening pre-.
vious. Mr.. Ladd was temperate, though
vigorous, in speech, and made a decided
impression upon his hearers by his practi.
cal way Of reasoning. He spoke, like
almost all Methodist ministers, extempo-
raneously, and showed a n easy flow OF
speech. The lecture lasted a little over an
hour, but was listened to throughout with
rapt attention. After the usual hymns by
the choir, Mr.. Ladd said
The first time I ever visited a large
cathedral / was in Montreal. As ! passed
along under those grand arches all at once
1 came upon a few suppliant Catholics
bowling in prayer. Almost instinctively l
stepped softly as l passed by. A charity
that is always kind teaches me to respect
every man in his opinion.
A change in faith frequently results in a
change in society relations, and such a
change often occasions suffering. In this
community a church has been filled with
sadness "a man has suffered. Commonly
the individual suffers more severely than
the community. / have profound sympathy
for any man who is honestly following that
which he considers a conviction OF truth
and is thus suffering. Tonight we have
to do with reasons, not with a man. NV
only criticism on Mr.. Gallagher ia this (:
l am deeply sorry that at an hour when he
was exhausted land l know something
about the exhaustion that comes over a
preacher after the labors Of the Sabbath,
for many times after the work is lone |
am SO completely Frustrated that it would
be utterly impossible for NE to arrive at
any reasonable conclusion regarding any
intellectual proposition-I say / am sorry
that at such an hour Mr.. Gallagher should
permit himself to remove the old founda-
ton principles upon which he had been
building for so many years. and at such an
hour attempt to put into position other
foundation principles for a new structure.
Tonight he is fastening toward the intel
lect and libraries OF the East. Fervently
do | hope that he may yet attain unto
glorious manifestations Of the truth in
deed, and that his life may be a benediction
to the race.
We were told that the change Of faith
was occasioned by reading certain e~ncyelo-
pgdia articles. | am astonished that the
gentleman was not acquainted with the
most Of these articles previous to two or
three weeks ago. Before / left the Insti-
tute a Professor referred me TO DR.. Smiths
writings, and l have in my library quite q
list OF statistics taken from these articles.
For some few months / have not had ac-
cess to the Britannica, and am not ac-
quainted with all Of DR.. Smiths writings
in that work. But you need not be alarmed
regarding the results to follow a perusal of
these articles. The great majority Of the
preachers Of all English-speaking peoples
are perfectly familiar with them.
Again, l was a little astonished to hear IL
intimated that within the limits OF ortho-
dox churches and schools the Bible is not
to be submitted TO al honest examination.
/ never saw Princeton, but the Professors Of
the Northwestern University and Of Garrett
Biblical Institute say to their students
Gentlemen. here Is q book TO be examined |
by precisely the same principles Of cri-
ticism as any other book. We are to de-
termine the genuineness and authenticity
Of the books Of the Bible by the sam
methods Of investigation adopted in the
study Of Plato or Demosthenes, Cicero or
Caesar, Shakespeare or Milton, Macaulay's
History Of England or Greelev's History
Of the American Conflict" / say, we will
study 1t in the same way-yes, upon the
same principles Of criticism ; but we will
be ten-fold more exacting. We will place
it in the hands OF friend and foe, and care
fully consider their presentation OF reasons
for and against. We will weigh the evil
dences pro and con, and n, after we have
faithfully gone to the limit OF our ability
to investigate, we find the Bible false, we
will lay 1t aside-place it in the refining
fire; iii is not pure gold it will consume to |
ashes, and We will take them out and give
them to the winds. Such were the direc-
tions regarding the investigation Of the
Bible / received as . student for the min
istry. Is that a satisfactory basis?
1t does not appear in the published report
Of the lecture, but those who heard Mr..
Gallagher will remember that he made the
bold assertion that the gospel by John is
spurious. He stated it in a word; | shall
spend but a moment in reply. In the
year 1885 the great German skeptie,
Strauss, very sharply assailed the gospel
by John. This resulted in searching in
vestigation, which so far determined the
~genuineness OF this gospel that in the third
edition Of his Life OF Jesus he acknowl- |
edged that che had again become doubtful
respecting his doubts Of the gem
uineness of this gospel. In the
fourth edition of the same work, how
ever, he returned absolutely to his doubts,
principally. as he himself confessed. be-
cause without them one could not escape
from believing the miracles of Christ"
The most violent charges against the Cos
nal hu Tnhn N I, from a IA.l-- tu-A..
who practically confesses that he will not
believe it genuine because he does not wish
to. o reason, how thou art stabbed by
thy pretended devotees
The lecturer. after stating that he did
not believe In the inspiration of the Bible,
said:
81 believe it to be a compendium of
divine truth, that 1t contains revealed
truth that could not have been known
| except God had revealed il. L do not be-
lieve that we know to whom God revealed
| the truths of the Bible, but the evidence
| OF the revelation is in the truths them
selves"
In order to make a proper examination of
the position herein taken, let us come to an
understanding regarding a term or two.
Revelation means otherwise unobtainable
information given, by some means, to man
through special interposition of God.
Inspiration means Godgiven ability to set
forth truth free from error.
An illustration A San Francisco friend
| sends you ST. 900 in coin. He could send
1t in a freight car, but there is danger Of
loss. He sends 1t by Wells. Fargo & Co.'s
Express. In short he takes all possible
means to secure safe transit. The coin is
| the revelation. the safe transit is the in
spiration. Truth is revealed in the uni
verse about us ; we study the flowers and
we say botany; we study the rocks and We
say geology; we study the stars and say
astronomy; we study the race and we say