St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-21
THE AGNOsTIC.
Rev. Father CIeary "Roasts" In
ger5oIIian Ideas


Rev. Father CIeary "Ioasts" In
ger5oIIian Ideas.
st. Charles church was overcrowded
last evening as Father Cleary reviewed
Col IngersolPs recent attack ON the
Bible. Father Cleary defended the
Bible against the unWarranted assaults
of its enemies, and clearly demonstrated
that the Sacred Scriptures are fully de-
serving Of all the esteem and reverence
with which the wisdom of the world has
honored them for ayes. Inc following
is a brief outline of his discourse:
The blind:and VaInglOrious egotiSm
Of Col. Ingersoll is equaled only by his
coarse and rude bufooneIy. His lofty
assumption OF manly courage in con-
fronting the convictions of centuries
loses its force when thinking men re-
member that this universal conviction
of intelligent men is convincing pre-
sumption in favor of the veracity of the
Bible 10 which civilized man has so
tondly chung. The worthlessneSs of
his pretensiOns 10 honesty and
candor are exposed by his reck
less misrepresentation. This con-
and "hODor bright conduct, this
boastng friend of human reason
wantonlv insults the intelligence and
reason OF every honest man when he
assumes that all men but himself are
either hypOcrltes or towards. lie brags
that he alone has the courage to tell the
truth about the Bible, and forthwith
proceeds to fashion the most absurd
distortions of the Bibles teachings.
The Bible-the book of b0oks-has
been in the hands of honest men who
believed in a living and omnipotent
q cd for ages. Tie Bible has been
guarded by the devotion of its friends,
and ScrutiniZed by the vigilance of its
enemies. No book has been so ably de-
Tended and so violently assaulted. No
other book has stood this trying test of
hostile criticism as has the inspired
work of God.
On the living principles which speak
from Its pages our progressive civiliZa-
ton is builded. Our love of truth, our
reverence for human reason, our deVo-
ton TO liberty, our respect for law, our
social culture, our peaceful prosperity,
our love Of Justice and hatred OF wrong,
are the golden fruit that we gather from
the enlightenlng teachings of Gods in
sDred word. In every land where the
ewes of the nations are blinded to the
light of the Eible'S teachings sorrowing
millions sit in the darkness and the
shadow of death. 1t has been the great
emancipation Of the human soul.
1t has broken the chains Of
slavery and safeguarded the uni
YeTsal brotherhood of man. 1t has
given US the Christian home, which
is unknown where the Bible is a
cemented society's foundations. Either
the most Intelligent men of all ages and
of all lands have lost the use of their
reason, and that little flame of light
divine has failed to burn in the minds
of the best and n0blest of human kind,
or the Bible is the word of God.
If we are to doubt the authenticity of
the New Testament we have no GER
tainty Of the authorship of any book
that was ever written, and the classics
Of Homer, Virgil, Ovid, and the his
tories of Heroditus. Tacitus and Julius
C83er are so many mythical tales that
have deIudei the human MUD for all
time.
The visionary agnostic Of our time
shows his contempt for the civilization
which the Bible hass given to the world
by preSuming to compare its ennobling
influences to the distorted fancieS of
Buddha or Brahma. If C0nfucius and
Brahma are entitled to equal esteem
with Christ, why do the muItitudes
swarm IN abject ignorance, degradation,
slavery and hopeless wretchedness in
all those lands where the teachings of
these false prophets have been unable
to lift the people from their superstition
and sin?
Only among civilized nations. where
the power of the Bibles doctrines has
softened the hearts of men, has it been