Morning journal and courier., 1880-05-10
Colonel Ingersoll Reviewed.

caSlOu or the 66cOQu QlGcOufso Dy the paStOrs
 Rev. MT. McAIister, in reply to Colonel Rob-
 ert G. Ipgersolrs recent lecture in this city.
 Long before the time for services to com-
 menee every available seat was filled, and
 settees in the aisles and within the altar rail
 were placed for the accommodation of those
 who gathered to hear the eloquent defender
 of the faith" After the usual opening exer-
 cises Mir. McAlister proceeded to his subject
 by saying that as it was very warm he would be
 thoughtful of the comfort of the audience, and
 would endeavor to confine his remarks within
 the limit of forty-five minutes. He said that
 during the past week he had received 8 letter
 from Mir. Frank, prominent merchant of
 this city, in which he was asked to correct an
 impression that he had made last Sunday
 not like to be called Jews. Mir. Frank in-
 forms me, said the speaker, that they do like
 to be called Jews. My impressions were re-
 ceived from Professor Adler, who was in the
 same class with me, and he did not like to be
 called Jew, but preferred to be called
 Hebrew; this was also true of
 Professor Adler's brother, with whom
 I was also familiar during my college days.
 I had found also that the word Jew when
 used as verb was defined ia cheat, 8 swim
 dle," &c. Mir. Frank informs me that he can
 trace his tribe away back to the sons of Levi
 and that he is proud of it. I am pleased that
 this eminent merchant can thus trace his an-
 cestry. too am proud of the Jews of the
 Bible in those old days when God was the
 founder of theocracy and the Jews were his
 chosen people. I am glad that to-day the
 Hebrews are not ashamed of that chosen peo-
 pie. am glad. too, when I find among the
 Jews 6 tendency to cling to the names of
 Moses, Jacob and Abraham instead of adopt
 ing the more modern names. I have also
 been handed the copy of letter published in
 one of the Sunday papers and signed "C. K. !"
 cannot say so much for him as I can for Mr.
 Frank The latter I consider 8 gentleman.
 The preacher then referred to several errors
 in the printed communication, and read
 from several authors previous to Shakespeare's
 times in support of his statements made on
 the previous Sunday. He then proceeded to
 say know that the Christians are responsi-
 ble for the persecution of the Jews. know
 that their bleached bones mark the track of
 orthodoxy all through the ages. I said they
 were a perseeuted people, and repeat 1t,
 only giving what history enables me to give.
 I know that the Saviour on the cross said,
 Father forgive them for they know not what
 they do. If said in this pulpit tonight that
 the negro was a persecuted and despised race,
 would anybody deny it While there are
 eminent men among them and those here
 and there who are not despised, does that al-
 ter the fact that they are despised as 8
 race? only desire that the people of New
 Haven shall know that am not misrepre-
 senting and that don't mean to do so.
 After this explanation the preacher pro
 ceeded to dispose of MT. Ingersoll. He said
 On last Sunday evening we considered Mir.
 Ingersolps methods, and found that they
 were very shabby ones That he has the
 spirit of the age with him none can deny.
 It is an age of scientific investigation, and
 the spirit of the age is with the assailant. am not ashamed, and am not going to cry
 about it. There are those who tell us that the Bible is going to pieces. Now I am pleased that this tree of life should occasion ally shed it's leaves, but have no fears that the scientist will find anything whereby he can upset the truths contained in this book.
 If God is going to expose something to the view that will change some historical facts in the Bible, He himself will take care of it. He lives, He reigns, and nobody testifes against the Bible who has tested it. Mir. Ingersol testifes to what he knows nothing about. Has he ever studied the doctrines of the Bible? Let him harmonize it and he will find it quadrates with the great prinoi- pies of the Saviour and the Father. MT. In- gerson disposes of matters in single epi- gram, snaps his fingers, turns on his heel and says it is done. It is true that the theme of MT. Ingerso1 attracts the common people, They do not feel interested at pres ent regarding their souls salvation. have seen such men who cared nothing about re- igion while in health, and I have visited them when they were near the grave and when they had to look death in the face. Then it was that they wanted to talk to somebody and they wanted something to take hold of as they went out into the darkness. Mr. Kearney arrested attention until he was arrested himself. The Molly Maguires at- tracted stten ton until they were squelched by the strong arm of the law. MT. IngersoIl at tracts attention because of his recklessness You all know that men will go further to see a house burning than they will to see one building. In one of his books Mir. Ingersoll has for frontispiece picture of the Saviour hanging on the cross, while on either side of jim are the thieves. Below this he has repre- SC nted three telegraph poles, made also in the form of crosses, which he says are of more than the other. am not pre- pared to believe these men to-day when they ask for bread are willing to take stone. Conscience tells man what he wants and what he ought to do. The reverberations from Sinai trouble the conscience of men, and so long as the world stands and so long as men have consciences they will respect the teach ings of this Bible. Notwithstanding the elo- quence that is required to enforce the teachings of Mir. IngersolI, yet believe the spirit of the age is against him. go back to the time when the cry was ''If 8 man die shall he live about the immortality of the soul at that time. I want to live yet again; do not want to be plotted out this spirit is strong in man and will ever continue. Itfs this thought of immortality that makes man happy in this world. It makes him, wherever he is, feel that he must call on some one and that there is superior being. He looks for one that can centralize and vitalize all his love. What good is there in what MT. IngersoH says, what is there satisfying in it What would you think of MT. Edison if he should come here and say, you have very bad gas; put put your light, I have something bet ter, or will have as soon as completed. You would say, give us something better and then we will talk about putting away what we have. But Mir. Ingersoll don't give us anything better than what we have. Faith is the substance of things hoped for; or in other words faith is the understanding of things hoped for. Heaven is evidenced to us by faith, and there is nothing of so much i'm portance or so stupendously grand as these thoughts. Logic and adjudication are the powers Mir. IngersoN uses; but we do not test religion by his method We knew that all of the arguments regarding the existence of God may be refuted by 8 sound logician. believe in the philosophic intuition of the soul. Every man that lives is anxious to ob- tain causes, and in the common world this is called curiosity. If we were brutes we would have no curiosity or causality. Just as soon as causes are presented they must be sufficient or will not accept them When I look out upon the earth and sea and skies I want to know the cause of all this If man tells me it is sham, resent it :; they are not intelligible to me. The moral ntuitions of the soul are enough proof for ne. Logic cannot answer these questions The youth, the laborer, the commercial man, Ill deal in faith. God is not imposing any new laws upon us. Without faith it is im- possible to please God. It is impossible to please anybody without faith. We could not transact business unless we had faith in man. Columbus had faith, or this iwestern world night never have been discovered. Faith ] las brought into existence the telegraph and | he telephone. Faith has gone up into the l blue ether and brought down all these things Ill man has to do is to have faith. Have | ,aith in God and all will be we'll.
 The discourse, of which we have only giv- | n an abstract, was listened to with deep in l crest by the large audience in attendance