The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-02-03

! CollSoiIlLS ueSlfe to 90 the master
! work in fitting manner, the Paulis
been zealously laboring in Montana
for months, not only stirring up re.
! ligious feryor and a Christian spirit
among Catholics, but also disseminat-
| ing truths concerning the questions OF
! Catholic doctrine among our Protest
ant friends. Since September last, mis-
sions, each one week in duration, have
been given in Butte, Anaconda, Great
Falls and Helena and other places.
In each case success was the hand
| maid to the noble work. The spirits OF
devotional piety and Christian charity
hlossomed after each mission as read
lily as flowers spring from the bosom
of Mother Earth when called out by
the invigorating rays of a southern
sun. Montana boasts of her immense
mineral wealth, her fertile valleys and
matchless scenery, but the work of the
Paulist Fathers has brought happi-
ness to wrecked homes, peace to many
a sin scourged conscience and hope to
many a discouraged soul that nature S
richest and rarest powers could never
give, blessings that could come only
through the channels of a ZealOusly
preached mission.
Forgetful of self, but ever mindful
I
and the laborers few, these men press
forward, prepared to battle for Cod
truth at all times and to plead with
the hayward sinner in all places, until
the vital chord snaps.
The latest triumph scored by the
Paulist Fathers was the non-Catholic
mission given in Helena during the
week ending Jan. 20. The lectures were
given in the Auditorium, a building
which seats 1850 people. Standing
room" was frequently the order of the
evening. All denominations were well
represented. The lectures were given
Truth Society" Music by the Acad-
envy and Catholic choirs furnished
pleasing overtures and interludes dur
ing the entire week. On the opening
evening the Reverend lecturers We're
introduced by Colonel Saunders, who,
during his few remarks, made the gen.
erouS statement that the people of Hell
ena were broad enough and liberal
enough to hear both sides of any ques-
ton, willingly, before passing judg
ment. Rev. Father MaCCorry opened
the series by speaking on 1.-THE Divinity
of Christ" Before launching out into
his subject Father MacOorry spoke of
the happy results that must accrue
from the course of meetings just begin
ming, as they would give to all at
tending a mutual understanding of
their respective religious beliefs.
Though we disagree, let US join our
hands across the unfortunate chasm
and unite our efforts for the betterment
of mankind"-a noble sentiment and
expressed aptly the hopes of the
speaker.
During the entire week the attention
of the audience might well be charac-
terized as "breathless, and frequent
bursts of applause greeted the speak
ers when some telling point was scored.
Every thing that faultless dlctlon,
apt illustration, logical reasoning and
rhetoric could do was pressed into serv-
ice in order to put before our dissent
ing brethren the reasonableness of our
belief and to portray the work of the
grandeSt life that history can hold forth
for the admiration and imitation of
men.
There is a candor about the nom
Catholic missions given by the Paulists
that is in itself convincing. Many were
present who thought they differed on
points with the speakers, yet were
moved by the earnest, whole-souled
and the seriously earnest an
sWers made to all questions.
L
forts was in defense of the Bible In
part the Reverend gentleman said:
Books like men live and have their
being only to die and pass to dust. They
have their age and of, that age they
form a part. They set forth princi-
pies and discuss living issues vital to
their day but of today and tomor-
row memory only. Books, historical
and complete at the beginning of CEN
tury pass to decay, while others more
recent take their places But every good
book written has its life, it's soul, the
essence of it's being embodied within
that one grand work, the fountainhead
IF wisdom, Of knowledge and truth, the
Bible.
Dante, Milton, Bunyan, Shakes
peare, Pope, Macauley, Byron, in
fact, all the great authors, drank
Of this fountain of knowledge. 1t has
been the inspiration of poetry and the
model of prose, The orator, sculptor,
artist, has learned and lived in the
genius of the scripture. The lecturer /
spoke with great earnestness of the |
stories of ages the whitening scorn |
md cutting ridicule of infdelity, the |
persecution of fanaticism and constant |
malicious abuse bestowed upon the BIZ
Die at all times, but, he added, "thank |
God it has withstood and will continue
% Withstand these attacks unchanged |
md unscathed."
Regarding the authenticity of the |
Bible, he said that mankind has just as |
rue proofs that God, through the in |
of his inspired men, wrote |
he Bible as we may prove that Shakes /
'eare wrote Hamlet" and Macbeth"
n Milton Paradise Lost" That in |
giving. credence to authority we must I
'ather regard the testimony of the |
many than the assertion of the few.
We should believe rather the multitude /
If Christians, said Rev. Father Mac
Cory, than the unbelief of a few indi-.
RITUALS. Notwithstanding a Voltaire,
/ Hume, a Chesterfield, Paine and In
,ersoll, the Bible lives and speaks to-
lay, as forcibly as in the early days |
# Christianity. If scripture were not
If God, he asked, how could it have |
vithstood these attacks? The scrip
ure writer's were simple uneducated
men. Then how could their words
imple as themselves, have come /
through time hurled with the force of |
catapult if not of divine origin. Paul, I
he tentnlaker Of Gallilee, and his col
eagues wrote as none have written l.
ince.
@Infidelity charges the Bible with de-
.rading woman" That" asserted the
peaker, is lie as base and malicious
IS the heart of the man who uttered
t." Regard" he added, "the attitude
f Christ toward his blessed mother
Turing his divine life and his solicitude
or her and the sorrowing woman even
n the cross. The infinite pathos OF
hat scene is inexpressible. Consider
hen the position of women in coun-
ries where the scriptures are practi-
ally unknown and compare their abb
ect slavery there with the freedom, the
ignity and high regard of womanhood
o countries Christian. See their posi-
ion in China and Asia and then in
rec America. The scriptures have
one more for an enslaved womanhood
han all other agencies combined"
Father Hopper's defense of the Con-