there is
little urged against Christianity in our day that is original. Almost
every cavil and argument may be traced to Voltaire, Porphyry, Celsus and
Julian, the old enemies of the Christ. Infidels, who dislike (will you
hear it?) the labor and trouble of investigating the question of the
claims of the Christian religion upon their intelligence, seize with
avidity upon the labors of others and parade them before the public
mind. Just now there is no question put so often by men who feign to be
unbelievers as, "What do you think of Colonel Ingersoll?" "He stirs you
up." The little city of Logansport was favored not a great while in the
past with a visit and lecture from the Colonel. After the lecture was
over some half a dozen gentlemen were taking a lunch at an eating
restaurant, and there was one very talkative creature in the group who
had much to say of the Colonel's effort and of the "unscientific and
absurd character of the Bible." Finally, one noble-hearted gentleman
said to the boasting skeptic, Now you have said a great deal about the
Bible, and I venture the assertion that you can't quote one verse that
is in it. I challenge you to do it. Just give us one, long or short,
from any chapter in all the Bible. The man failed. He couldn't do it.
Then, said the Christian gentleman, you fellows are always talking about
science and about the "unscientific character of the Bible," so I will
now ask you one of the most simple questions known in science, and we
will see whether you will answer it. It is this: How many teeth have you
got in your mouth; how many does a man have? To the utter astonishment
of the company the man failed again, and the company told him laughingly
that he must treat to the cigars. Such fellows know comparatively
nothing, and yet they are always championing their men, who contain all
their knowledge and do their thinking for them. Ask the infidel who his
leaders are and he will point you to Hume, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, etc.
Are Christians always holding up their great minds? Suppose we test the
merits of the case in this manner, then who are your infidels that will
compare with Jesus Christ and his apostles? or, with such men, even, as
Milton, Clarendon, Hale, Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Addison,
Lyttleton, West, Johnson and Campbell? Where are your persons of such
profound understanding? To compare such persons as these with Voltaire,
Hume, Gibbon and Thomas Paine, is as silly as to compare ma