Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-09-13
Miracles.

Colonel Robert g. Ingersoll said In
his lecture. on Friday that there is no
such thing in nature as miracle, which
Is an unnatural result Of a supernatural
cause, and its effect could always be ex-
planned by the law Of nature, and he
spoke, among other instances, Of Jacobs
ladder which he said was an impos.
sibility. But Col. Ingersoll has no need
to mystify himself or his hearers with
recitals Of ancient miracles Of which
there are no living witnesses. He should
come out of the clouds Of sophistry,
even come to Port Townsend and hear
the Oracle relate his wondrousexperience
There ia living here an ancient mariner
with glittering eye and snowy beard,
who tells ladder story which we would
like Col. Iugersoll to explain. The
mariner Gays he saw in the streets Of
Liverpool, England, a street iuggler
who set > long ladder on end, and hav-
ing carefully balanced it, he climbed to
the top, then he pulled the ladder up
and again climbed until he went out Of
sight. Also, that he saw o sailor with
ball Of tarred spun yarn under his arm
gazing wistfully into the clouds; pres
entity he climbed lamp post, made fast
one end of his spun yarn, then unrolled
1t and began to climb heavenward,
uurolliHg as be went, until he
too rose out Of sight. The an
cient mariner relates how he once
attempted to drill hole in a rock Of ada
mantine hardness. in California, and
after working hard all day and breaking
seventeen drills, he found at night that
instead of hole, there was q protuber-
ance or bump on the rock four inches
high. The ancient mariner also relates
as fact, that on one occasion the fog
was so thick at Port Townsend, that he
cut out q solid block Of it with his
sheath knife and stuffed it into a pickle
jar, where he kept il corked up for six
months, condensing it into liquid, which
he used to cure rheumatism, and it was
the most effective medicine ever known.
How can Col. Ingersoll explain these
facts, which are related by living wit
nesses now residing at Port Townsend?
Something wong here, sure" We
don't read that the angels pulled up Ja-
coh's ladder after them as did the Liver
pool acrobat, and moreover we read that
it was vision that Jacob saw. But the
Liverpool ladder and spun yarn story.
the rock bulging up under the dritl. are
stories related by disciple Of aud be-
lever in Ingcrsoll, who tells Us that he
don't believe in miracles, and If those are
not miracles we would like Col Iugersoll
to rise and explain what they are.
When the great iconoclast told US
what he did not believe, he kindly in.
formed us that his creed consisted in do
ing the greatest amount of good to his
fellow beings. In this he emulates the
ancient mariner, Of whom the poet Col
eridge writes. and depictsa state Of mind
eminently descriptive of that Of Inger-
solli
"oh wedding guest This soul hath been
Alone on q wide. wide sea;
So lonely twas. that God himself
Scarce seemed there 10 be-"
The ancient mariner then gave the
wedding guest this advice:
"Hs prayeth well who loveth well
Both man, and bird and beast.
He prayeth best who loveth best,
All things both great and small
For the dear God that loveth us.
He made and loveth ALL"
COL Ingersoll has come and gone;
much that he said was sophistry, and
much of dogmatic assertion; but he
spoke much also of our duties to each
other, Of his belief in a future existance,
aud of retribution sure to follow every
evil act. Those who did not attend the
lecture for fear Of contamination lost on
intellectual treat. Col. Ingersoll and
the ladies' Of his family. remarked that
at no place since they left Washington
have they received such marked kind
ness, hospitality and courtesy as at
Port Townsend, and they take with
them the most pleasant memories of
their brief visit at the port Of entry of
Puget Sound. d.-Port I'o,pnsend Argus.