Evening journal., 1888-12-03

teristic.
ITO know God is to know the greatest
and most glorious of all beings. To be
acquainted with Jesus Christ. who i.
God manifest in the flesh, is therefore Ia
attain to the highest honor that is within
the reach Of earthly ambition. And let
me say here first, that this acquaintance
is not forced upon US. A stranger coming
into community must wait for an intro
duction. That Is one of the objections
made to churches. We invite people Ia
come among us. We throw open oar
doors 70 strangers and give them cor
dial invitation and yet when they come.
and the usher puts them in the same
seat or one near us they are sometimes
greeted with a sneer and we allow them TO
depart without inviting them to come
again.
Now Jesus has been properly intro
duced to you. How have You treated
him2 How do you intend TO treat him1
Then second, ! urge that If we do not
glory in this acquaintance with Christ.
the Son of God we debar ourselves from
all the advantages of such an acquaint-
ance.
Addison says, the mind never un.
bends itself so agreeably as In the con
versasion Of well chosen friend, there
is indeed no blessing of life that is any
way comparable to the enjoyment of dis
erect and virtuous friends
God has saved the world from the dead
level Of mediocrity and dullness and imbe-
cility by the marriage ring. The friend
ship Of a good woman for a poor sort of a
man has given the world many hero
When the ravens croak which is now
current, that marriage is a failure, ="
becomes fact, If it ever does. You may
close the books of history, there will be
nothing more for the scribe to record
worthy Of the thought or memory Of man.
The man who secures the friendship OF a
good true woman can say with Shake.
speare | am wealthy in my friends.
Choose Jesus Christ as your friend.
And now as these are almost self
evident truths-that common politeness
demands and self-interest requires our
understanding and knowing God in the
person of Christ. The corollarv of these
truths is clear, viz That we should study
the only book by which we can form ac-
quaintanee with Christ
we ARE all aware that the Roman
Catholic hierarchy has set itself the task
Of destroying the public school system OF
this country You know the history Of
the public schools. They were born in
the Netherlands during that memora
bic struggle Of the Dutch for civil and
religious liberty. From thence the public
school system was brought in the May
flower to Plymouth, and the school was
planted on the same hill with the state
and church. T. was an axiom Of the
fathers that civil liberty could not be
maintained without the support Of re-
ligion and education. Not a sectarian
school, but one that taught a
vital morality The Bible was
text book but the teacher was not de-
preacher. Now what is the
condition of the public schools to-day.
Twelve states and territories have no law
religion in the public schools
Five prohibit sectarian teaching, two in
sist upon the teaching Of morals and good
behavior Iowa and New York simply de
clare that the Bible shall not be excluded.
In only four states as far as can learn IS
there any positive legislation, requiring
plety and the fear of God to be taught to
children This is the condition then that
after two hundred years Of public schools
IN our land that one of the fundamental
ideas of the system has been abandoned
IN all but four of our smaller states. One
half Of the elemental idea Of the public
school system gone, and over ten or
eleven millions Of children are not pro-
vided with religious instruction in the
schools.
There must be a cause for this? What
IS the causel Has it lapsed from neglect2
Np Of s1..,
the agitation of twenty five years AGO
well know the cause. Then the Roman
Catholic church all over the country
arose and demanded that the Bible be
cast out. And | speak what every intelli-
gent man knows to-day that the present
Of the school system exists, be
cause the people accepted as the pro
testations Of the Roman hierarchy that
they were opposed to the Bible in the
schools. Nenal politicians rode into
power on the vote Of Roman Catholics
pledged to Danish the book of books from
the schools. Now, having accomplished
their end is the Roman Catholic church
satisiied2 No but ii is calling the public
school system Goddess, and Is planting
parochial schools and demanding that
the public school fnnd be divided and
their share be given to said schools Let
me read to you what Roman Catholic
journals say. The FFeeman's journal saws
The Catholics ask nothing but Justice
what do the Catholics want? Justice
absolutely nothing but justice, equal Jus.
tice for all They do merely and sin
cerely with no reservations, no sinister or
Interior designs whatever. that the
public school system be reformed and so
reformed that it will be in harmony with
the constitutional guarantees against
state interference with the religious
beliefs or ctnsciences Of the citizens The
Catholics ask that the state let them edu.
cate their own children in their own way
with their own share Of the school tax or
else the state itself shall provide and
schools in which the children of
Catholic parents shall be trained in the
secular branches, and the
knowledge of their elementary and relig-
lous duties THE speaker here referred to
the Catholic review, The Freeman's Jour
nal and to two other extracts where
this claim for the division Of the school
fund was amplifed and demanded.) No
intelligent man can deny that the schools
are made goddess to crafty the Roman
And now we can see why they de-
it. 1t was done to destroy them.
They pay the school taxes. Not one
Roman Catholic in one thousand contrib
utes towards the school fund. They
want you to spend your money to educate
lsa4.n oh = Il l..