Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-01-22
VA ;IE OF THE R'giE :
Extra ircaz al tddress by Jndqs BUR-
nett Before the ,enton Cor atty Bible
ciC, ID 1897

| HStL bG-OfG ING sG1EOh %Oft MY SfDiS
ciC. ID 1897.
Since Attorney u Ell eral Blackburn rem.
dered his opinion upon the matter oil
reading the Bible in the public schools,
much has been said pro and con in the
press OF the state. The following ex
tracts from an address delivered
by Judge John Burnett in 1897, be-
fore the Benton County Bible Society.
while not bearing directly ON the ques-
ton, show the awful results. that follow
disparagement of the Bible. and reject
ment of Christianity:
A little more than century ago the
French people banished the Bible and
ignored Christianity and then came the
French Revolution, and what spectacle
was then presented to the world, ga
country without God" The revolu-
tionists determined by decree to abolish
Christianity. The throne was gone !;
the nobility had fled, or was hiding, or
in prison waiting death. but a covering
form of religion remained. The impa-
tient Atheists aud Jacobins clamored
for the destruction of all churches, the
abolition of the Sabbath, the banishment
of the Bible, and the total extirpation
of Christianity; just as socialists of the
radical schools clamor for it today in
our land. What the anarchists cry for,
what the socialists of France and Ger
many and America cry for, was fully
realized in blood. stained France in 1793
Forever let the American people hold up
before them the awful picture of warn
ing and advice to be found in the
abolishing of religion in France, con-
the guillotine. The reign of terror in
France filed the whole world with hor-
hor. A century has only had tile effect
to deepen and intensity the hatred and
execration of mankind as the awful
record is read. 1t presents the most tre-
mendous period of butchery under pre-
tended legal forms that history can re-
veal. It's solemn lessons read in the
light of facts and truth, should impress
upon humanity how weak and self de-
ceiving is man, when left to his own de-
vices, how certain the punitive; results of
crime and sin, and that the only safety
for people is in obedience to those
laws of mercy, justice, temperance,
purity and truth, which flow forth from
Sinai, and Calvary, to bestow liberty
under law and the peace and prosperity
and happiness of righteousness. "Bless-
ed is the nation" says the Bible, 'swhose
God is the Lord
America has made day OF ''Thanks-
giving to God" one OF her permanent in
stitutions, and this leaven is proving
the power that is working out of her life
all dangerous elements. Our people are
being unified in their interest and ex-
alted in their conceptions of the rights Of
others, through the Gospel. There is
small danger of extravaganza in prais-
Ing the Bible as every one will allow who
appreciates what the Bible contains,
surveys the influence of the book
in the past and knows its indis-
pensible services in awakening and
supporting the life of religion in the
soul of men. The Bible not only in
terprets God in his holiness and un-
fathomable love and pity to man; it is
the interpreter of man to himself.
Coleridge tells US that, having striven
to cast aside all prejudice, he perused the
books of the Old and New Testaments,
each book as whole and also as an
integral part" Sand need I say" he
testifes. 'that have met everywhere
more or less copious sources Of truth and
power, and purifying impulses; that
have found words for my inmost
thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances
for my shame and feeblenees, In short,
whatever finds me bears witness for
itself that 1t has come from Holy
Spirit, even from the same Spirit which
of old entered into the prophets" This
is not the expression of one mind alone,
but from many kindreds and tongues age
after age.
Sir William Jones, one of the most
learned men that ever lived, said: "I
have regularly and attentiqely read the
Holy Scriptures, and am of the opinion
that this book, independent Of its divine
origin, contains more true sublimity,
more exquisite beauty and finer strains,
both Of poetry and eloquence, than can
be found collected from all the books
that were ever written, in any age or
nation. The antiquity of the book no
man doubts, and the most unstraired
application of. its predictions to events,
long prior to their fulfilment, are no
mean evidences that this book is Divine
and consequently inspired
The Bible is the revealed law of God,
and upon the law of Nature and upon
the law of revelation depends all human
laws: and the divine revealed law as
found only in the Holy Scriptures is a
part of the original law of Nature. This
is the language of one OF the most emf
nent law writers the world has ever pro
duced,
And I affirm that, Notwithstanding the
scofhngs of such eminent infdels as r.
G. Ingersoll, without the Bible there
would be 10 American Republic today.
1t was the Pole Star of the Pilgrim faith
ers, 1t was the guide to the trainers of the
declaration of independence. 1t was
the reliance and mainstay of the Father
of his Country in the great struggle for
independence. It is tue corner stone of
4l,n- e IL.