Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1886-03-25

a man of the world, man of the Nineteenth
century, depending on the foundation of the
civilization in which he was protected in life
and in property, educated and freed. He did
not question the sincerity of Mr.. Ingersoll.
He simply doubted that gentleman's omni-
science. He simply believed that that gentle
mans faith in himself and his own errors was
sufficient to remove mountains He quoted
from the infidel's lecture ON Myths and
Miracles" as follows:
"All these old fellows were sun gods. There
was Samson. He was sun god. When his
hair was cut off he lost his beams of light.
There was Apollo, another sun god. He
shot the demon of darkness with his rays
of light. There was Little Red Riding
Hood and there was Christ, another
sun god. 1t won't do. They say he raised
people from the dead. Well, why didn't he
raise somebody we knew? If you was to go
around trying to start a religion by raising
people from the dead, you would raise some
body of some Importance, wouldn't yous
Why didn't he tell us something OF import
ance? Would't youl Why didn't he tell us
something about slavery when he was on the
crosse Why didn't he utter those inspired
words, Liberty, equality and fraternity
| tell you it won't don
Mr.. Wheeler simply burlesqued this to
show its shallOwness He said that in another
year, if agnOsticism succeeded in getting up
a class of pupils, this style would undoubtedly
be adopted with effect by the infidel teacher.
He could then say: 'There was the Goddess
of Liberty; she was sun god. She shot the
demon of bondage with her shaft and men
wOrshipped her. There was a Hail Columbia
and Uncle Sam, another sun god.
There was the man who struck Billy Patcer-
son, and there was George Washington, an
other sun god They said he was the father
of free country. Well, why didn't he abol-
ish slavery, if he was! If you were going
round trying to start a free country, you
wouldn't own slaves, would you? Why didn't
he tell us, in his farewell address, about Nor
monism and rapid transita Why didn't he
utter those inspired words, "Be sure you are
right, then go ahead"s
The effect of this satire of Mr. Ingersolls
method of mixing up historical and myth
ical personages was, to say the least, hllarl-
GUS. He poured all his sarcasm upon Mr..
Ingersolrs statement, made in one of his lee
lures, that he could write better book than
the Bible himself. "If," said he, ''you can
only get that sentence into the heads Of the
people they will never bother much with
what Mr.. Ingersoll thinks of the Bible. They
will be too completely overwhelmed with
what he thinks of himself" Mr.. Wheelers
closing tribute to the spirit of Christianity
was worthy of the best pulpit. 1t was fervid,
pictorial, eloquent He told what a news
paper man in the great metropolis, who had
spent the greater part of his life in active
journalism, knew about it. He spoke with
earnest reverence of that Master whose
mission opened with a benediction of peace
and closed with prayer for his own muir
derers, and then said:
During twenty odd years of eventful toll
in the great city l never found depth of
misery SO deep, poverty so rank, crime so
atrocious, despair so black, that some humble
follower of that Master did not find it out.
Into all the holes and corners of wretchedness
where vice and poverty, like twin wolves, had
hunted down their prey, the policeman and
the reporter always found the hooded sister
or the missionary ahead of them. They were
the first to come. They were the last to GO
They stayed and put up their supplicatiOn
when all else of earth had forsaken the wretch.
They followed him to the prison cell, and they
stood beside him on the gallows, and they
never forgot in all the obloquy of sin and
the cry of human vengeance the eternal
brotherhood of man. And they wanted no
pay, and they got no praise. They were
doing that Masters work. True it was 1900
years ago when He called them and bid them
90 out and bind up the broken hearts and dry
the tears, and thus, with tender touches of
tone, they carry out His mission; and in that
time empires have fallen and races have be-
come extinct, but these little streams have
widened and deepened till they encircle our
globe like its atmosphere and sweeten myriads
Of arid hearts
These extracts will give an idea of the
lecturers style. In appearance Mr.. Wheeler
is quiet gentleman of just so years. He
speaks earnestly but with admirable control.
His new departure is considerable of sur
prise to his friends, who acknowledge him to
be be the most brilliant of writers and con-
siderable of philosopher, though unaware
before that he was an admirer of the meek
and lowly Nazarene. 5. d. d.