The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-02-02
A GREAT SERMON.
Continued from First Page

Continued from First Page.
When the laws and customs OF the lsra.
elites are viewed under their proper
aspect, in their time and place, there is
no cause for opprobrious words like
sscrueltiee," "bloodthirstiness'' and "bar-
barlties." It is asked why was not rev
citation full and perfect at once? The
answer is, Gods wisdom is not as the
wisdom Of mon, fitful and narrow in It's
bearings. Eternity belongs to Jehovah,
and He works in it as suits His eternal
purposes.
BLESSINGS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
View not the deficiencies, which we
explain from the social conditions Of the
Hebrews, but the excellence of the Old
Testament, which are not explained ex-
cept by the finger of God guiding the
people. While all the other nations pro
fessed polytheism and bowed to idols,
the Hebrews rose rapidly to the highest
and purest monotheism. Learned Egypt
sdored animala and plants; cultured
Greece and powerful Rome built affairs
to the tabled deities Of Olympus; but Is
rael knew only Jehovah, whose name, II
am who am" revealed sublime concep-
tione OF the Creator which the highest
philosophy of a Plato or Socrates never
attained. And the ethics of the Bible!
Jehovah, tho Master and model, was in-
finite purity; while Phoenicia adored AS.
tarte, Greece and Rome burned incel Sc
to Priapus and Venus, and deified the
giant criminals of their history. The
Ten Commandments may be discovered
sparsely distributed through writings of
Oriental and Grecian philoso phers. Moses
alone codifed them clearly and authora-
lively in the name of the Supreme Be
ing, and only among the Hebrews were
they living, practical law. How did it
happen that small nation, without out
side power or fame, surrounded by pagan
and corrupt peoples, alone preserved
monotheism and the worship of pure al
tars-alone of all the nations If the earth ?
Because they had the Bible and Jehovah
watched over them.
The record of Gods dispensation Of
tent,mes goes onward, side by side, with
the doings of mon. The Old Testament
is the story of Israel, of Israel's God and
of Israel's people, the latter often de-
parting from the ways Of their God, imi-
tating the Gentiles, disobeying their own
laws, SHINING, repenting and shining
again. Care must be taken when we be-
gin to criticise that We do not lay to the
blame of Jehovah and His inspired Bible
of crimes and fo]lies of men, of patriarchs
and kings which were contrary to Jeho
vah's will end to the law spirit of the
Bible. This is frequent mistake of I'M
belief.
LEO'S WORDS ON HOLY WRIT.
AS to supposed errors of science and
history in the Bible and contradictions
between narratives of the different writ
ers, I quote from the encyclical of the
Pope on the Scriptures:
1.-THE sacred writer's, or, to speak moro
The Holy Ghost who spoke
by them, did not intend to teach man
these things, that is to say, the essential
nature of things of the visible universe,
things in no way profitable unto saliva
lion. They did not seek to penetrate
The secrets of nature, but rather described
and dealt at times with things in more Or
ese fgurative language, or in terms
which were commonly used at the time
AND which in"many instances are IN daily
use today even by the most eminent men
If science. Ordinary speech primarily
and properly describes what comes under
he senses, and the sacred writer's put
Town what God, speaking to men, signi~
led in the way men could understand
and were accustomed to-"
Add to these words the fact that the
BOOKS Of the Bible we're written long ago,
n ages of which the metaphors and fig
1res of speech are unfamiliar to us, that
these books have passed through the
hands of an untold number of TRANSCRIPT
and translators, consciously careless in
minor matters; add the fact that the
Bible embraces all forms of literature,
he strict history, the moral instruction,
The allegory, and it will be easily seen
that careful study and dispassionate
Judgment are required before sentence
ian be passed upon it and it's true pur-
port proclaimed.
And now I. pronounce the name of
1anaes, Jesus of Bethlehem and Calvary,
md I bow hnmbly before Him as my Sa
Nor and my Incsrnate God. In defend
ng Him I defend the Bible-the Old
Testament which He made His own, the
New, which is the direct record of His
in defending the Bible |
defend Him.
With time at my disposal / could an
Awe IN. detail the attack of unhalief