St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-16
PRACTICAL ATHEISM.
Archbishop ireland Considers
This the Crying Evil of
the Times.
Sermon Delivered on the FeS-
tival of the Holy
Name.
The Great Divine Inveighs
Against ordinations OF
Gods Name,
And the Flippant lrrever9nee
OF Men in Taking
OathS.

DRAFTED the festival of the Holy Name OIL
Jesus. Archbishop Ireland occupied the
pulpit at the cathedral at high mass and
delivered the following sermon:
The festival of the Holy Name was
instituted by the church with the intent
to teach us to honor holy nameS-the
name of God, the Supreme Master, the
name OF Jesus. the Savior of the world
Respect for what is good, great and no
bic is the dictate of all hlgh-minded
natures. To fail in respect, either pre-
suppOses ignorance of what is good Of
n lack of appreciation of its merits. II
is of the very essence of intellect and
will to know the good and the noble,
and to go forward towards it, Respect
is the result of generous hearts and en-
lightened minds. 1t is as men say
among themselves, the result Of gentle
breeding, OF manners: hence, men who
deserve the name Of gentlemen, men
who appreciate IN any manner loyalty
to the teachings of reason, honor
whatever is good and deserving
of honor. The child hOnOTS the
parent, the subject hOnorS authority,
men honor their fellowmen. Man is a
child Of God. made to his own.image
and likeness, and even where there are
defects, and when we despiSe these de-
fectS in themselves, we still find reason
for IGNORING the creature. Pride, as
we'll as ignorance and lack Of fine feel
ing, lead men to withhold the honor due
10 others. Now,if this is true among mon,
and that 1t is no one doubts. how great
must be the honor due the omnipotent
God who made all things, who reignS
sovereign over the universe, the infinite,
who gathers within himself all possible
excellenceS? His majesty is above all
comprehension Of the human mind;
His goodness all creation; from the
tlnieSt plant in the field to the greatest
of planets i'll the armament proclalmS
it. We live by him. we live in him and
are absolutely
Dependent Upon Him.
Whatever there may be achieved of
obligation on the part of man finds its
first and chief object III Almighty God.
The very thought Of this grandeur over
whelmS and daZeS the mind. God is
the Great One, the Master, the Supreme
Sovereign; therefore the children Of
men have respect for Him. Speak
aloud the dictates of your reason and
give full etfusion to the feelings Of your
heart. To refrain from showing re
OpCCG ~ NUl, HUN IlOllOI4ll1 III Ill. IS
either 10 declare that the eye of your
mind does not see through the work
ingS OF the OmnipOtent, the great and
Supreme Creator of all things-it is
either to proclaim that you are prac-
tically deprived Of the light of intellect,
or that your heart is so chilled by the
cold Winds Of earth, or so diseased from
the malaria of sin that it cannot beat
responsive to the Whsperings of
Gods supreme love. Respect for
Almighty God is one of the
laws OF mans intellect, hence the
constant anthem running through the
pages of Revelation is this: To praise
and worship, thank and obey the ON
nipotent; and so we learn from the
sa me source that in paradise the life Of
the blessed is praise and love never
ceasiDg towards the throne of Almighty
God. And yet when we look at the
world and even examine our own do
ings, strange, indeed, the tale. 1t is
often one of negligence and disrespect
for the Creator and Master of AL
Things.
The most grieYouS sin of which men
may be guilty in this regard is the
practical atheism seemingly pervadlng
great part of our fellOwmen. Theo-
retical atheism, the profession that God
is not, does not exist. There are philos-
ophers who, in their wild imaginings
and dissatisfaction with their own vain
efforts to bring the Infinite within the
apprehension of their own little minds,
will tell you they know not what
God is. He is to them the unknow-
able, the incomprehensive. He is the
incomprehensive, but not the unknow-
1hIp fnr oil araotion faonhnC IL,
the lesson that God is. But even with
this declaration, they themselves speak
of the First Cause, the Infinite Power,
the Great Incomprehensive Energy
which has put the universe in motion
and maintained it in harmony. This
First Cause, this Incomprehensiv Eli
ergy is the God on whom we all depend,
whom we recognize. worship and love.
The world is practically atheistic. Men
live and speak as if there we're no power
above. They would fashion their own
bodies into masterpieces Of skill and
wisdom. They act as if they were mere
individual beings, having no one above
them to whom they are accountable for
their existence and preservation. And
this is the plague of our times, this prac-
tical atheism, this setting aside Of God.
silly Effort Of Funny Men
TO drive God from creation and demand
that the earth be turned over to them
selves! In all calculations of success
they never dream that the greatest Of
all factors is the Supreme Master; i'm
their needs these men never think of
the OmnipoteDt help: i'll their conduct
they act as if each one was his own leg
iSlatOr, and they tell us they are salts
fed with themSelXeS-the do what is
right, forgetting that God alone fur
nlSheS the supreme standard of right.
Men have lost the sense of their utter de-
pendency that they are simple creatures,
and they would place themselves OIL
thrones and declare their superiority to
God. False necessarily the philosophy
III which God is not the beginning and
the end; false necessarily the progress
which does not flow from God and lead
upward to God; sad and dreary the life
upon which the sunshine of God does
not descend. But the soul does
not open to receive from God
toVe and benediction. This is
The evil and the sin of the
times. There are sins various forms;
sins OF passion, sins of wickedness, sins
against fellowmen, and the world cries
out shame against them; but the sin of
forgettulness of the Supreme God: this
lncomprehensive pride which would
make of each man supreme being and
bring the Omnipotent down to the rank
or an insignificant servant, mere
creature of ones Imagination.
The children of Gods church are free
from this evil. You are Christians and
profess openly that you are children of
4he Supreme Being. You can never be
too grateful to God for your faith which
by its promptings constantly lifts you
above the dreary earth and keeps open
before our eyes the avenues TO Gods
own Kingdom. But we must be on our
guard against the evil of the day. We
live IN a world addicted to practical
atheism, the air we breathe is saturated
with poison. and unless we keep our
eyes constantly on God contagion fills
our hearts and we gradually sink into
the abyss. Be on your guard then, and
the colder the world the stronger your
faith shall he.
Rut even wa Chri stianC do yna not of