The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1895-02-07
THE BIBLES FRIEND
Archbishop Ireland Would De-
fend the Good Book With
His Life.
People Of the Bob lngerSoll
Stripe Severely Rebuked in
a Public Address.

Fully $500 people assembled at tn
Church Of the Immaculate Conception
to hear Archbishop John Ireland's re
ply to Robert Ingersoll's latest attack
1.-THE Bible, What It Is and What l
Has Done" was the subject of the emf
nent prelate's discourse. Eloquent
scholarly, logical, masterful, convinc
ing are terms that most fittingly char
acterize this, one of the most powerful
sermons ever delivered from Il Minneap-
oils pulpit and one of the most scathine
rebukes ever administered to the teach.
ings of the greatest agnostic of the
present century.
Among the congregation assembled
We're members of every sect and denomi-
nation in the city-pastors, laymen, edu-
Gators and scholars all drawn thither by
the force OF man whose eloquent dis
courses breath no less the spirit of loyal
devotion to his church than do they to all
that is liberal, broad minded, patriotic
and Christian. Seats had been reserved
and Were occupied by large number of
university students, and long before the
service began the nave, transepts and
gallery of the church were filled to over
flowing, until at last it was difficult to
obtain even standing room. After an
impressive musical service and the in
vocation by the pastor, FIR. Keene, Arch
bishop Ireland stepped to the front of
the platform and in clear, penetrating
tones, vibrating with the most intense
earnestness, delivered his address, of
which the following is comprehensive
synopsis:
The Bible! My soul goes out to it in
love, gratitude, reverence, worship. 1t
is, indeed, the Bible-the book of books.
The voice of the Great Master of the
universe speaks to me through its pages;
the light, illumining the religious and
moral world, radiates from His own di-
vine face; the sweetness which it distils
is the tenderness of His own fatherhood.
Written in it are my hopes for time and
eternity. It is Gods message to me tell
ing of my maker and my relations to
Him, marking my road to bliss, sustain
ing me on the earth in trial and suffer
ing, until the goal beyond heavens por-
tails is reached. They who do insult the
Bible, insult what is best in me and
dearest to me; they insult my aspirations
and my hopes; they insult my God, and
I were traitor to myself and to Him
were I not ready to defend it, even to
the sacrifice Of my life.
In speaking mine I have spoken of
your profession of faith, my Christian
brethren, and as we take the Bible, so
does world wide Christendom take it; so
have Christendom and the world taken
it for two decades Of centuries.
The Bible is in possession; Christen-
dom is it's kingdom; Christian civiliza-
ton is its flower ana fruitage. Back Of
it rise the centuries giving to it 'plenary
loyalty and receiving from it their high
est thoughts and their most sacred affec-
lions. The Bible imposes itself with all
the weight of Christian history and
Christian civilization.
The burden of proof rests upon those
who contradict the Bible, who deny its
authority and power. Clear and potent
should be the arguments that could de-
throne it from the pedestal of glory
where the centuries have placed it.
The enemies of the Bible have been
heard. What are their weapons of at
tack? Denials and assertions. Argu-
ments totally beside the question, mis-
statements and misconceptions. give
no consideration to loudness and assur-
ance of tone and to vulgar sheer; so apt,
however, to catch the attention of the
unwary and the weak minded
The denial of God and the denial of
the Bible go together, the one proceed
ing from the other. But God is; and
denial of His being is denial of your
own mind, which, if recognized in any
measure, compels you to confess God.
This supreme mind is God; and, He
living and reigning, the Bible is posi-
BILE. 1t purports to be a direct revela-
ton from God to the word of men. Can
not the mind who made the universe and
constituted it in the harmonies of law
speak to us through manifestations other
than the ordinary ones of nature? is it
not, even, an antecedelt probability
that He will speak to us through mani
festations supernatural and extraor-
binary, since the ordinary ones do not,
in matters vital to us, satisfy the ques-
tioning of our minds and the thirsting
of our hearts? We can never be made to
believe that the sky is so leaden that a
message from the Ruler of Nature can
not come to us; that the goodness and
truth which nature makes us attribute
to Him cannot in direct scintillations
light and sweeten our dark and desolate
souls. God is no guess, and a revelation
is no absurdity.
The Bible is book to be read and be-
lieved. Why, it is replete with stories
of miracles, and a miracle is impossible.
ga miracle is the badge and brand of
fraud No miracle was ever performed
No intelligent, honest man ever pre-
tened to perform a miracle and never
will" But miracles are possible, aye,
antecedently probable. On what reason
able grounds, we ask, will it be said that
the supreme mind from whom all beings
in nature receive their energies has 10
energy of His own, and is impotent at
any moment Of time to exercise it, to do
within his realm what His lowliest sub
jects may do?
Mere assertions are Of no value; cast
against the Bible they are pebbles hurled
against the walled city, and denote the
weakness and rabid hatred of the .assail
ant.
Assertions are easily made; they are as
easily denied. The Bible is unhurt by
them. The insult offered to hearers.