The Wilmingtonian., 1888-06-09

uogic.
his literature.
That was too general for us. and long
ago we invented word to fit these special
cases.
We called 1t 'buncomhe."
You evince some amusement at seeing
him tie up the Darwinian hypothesis OF
development to his hitching post.
We have seen him bowl down Aristotle,
Descartes, Kant, Bentham, Hamilton and
Huxley without taking his thumbs out OF
his waistcoat and without having read
them.
You imagine his enmity is against one
book.
We have found that his inaccuracy and
sloppiness are against all books.
He has misquoted Spencer, Hume, Dars
win, Draper, Gibbon; Colenso, Renan,
Strauss and Webster's Dictionary oftener
and more yiciously than he has misQuoted
the Bible.
Such an antagonist is not damaged by
the Christian evidences. He dodges them
with a nimbleness that would do credit to
Mr.. Crowley. He is toofree and independ-
ent to be hampered by any shackles of &C.
euracy, and too original to follow in the
track of logic.
All this has been shown in former con-
tests. We have here sturdy pulpiteer,
De Witt Talmage by name, who came at
Mr.. Ingersoll with the Mosaic cosmology
thundered literally, and SO successful was
| he that he left the impression on the
minds OF Iheists and Atheists alike that
| 1t was quite as necessary to the salvation
| of man that God should have made the
| world in particular time and manner as
that he should have made it at all.
| When these tournaments were moved
| from the rostrum to the review one of our
most distinguished jurists, Judge Jere.
miah Black, took up the old-fashioned
-. A., 4
with a ponderous majesty that was un'
avoidable in his case, but that was en-.
tirely disproportionate to the size of the
opponent.
it thwacked the tin armor Of Agnosti.
cism robustly. But the few sparks that
were emitted were popularity supposed tc
come from the armor and not from the
club, and the evidence of the Judges su
periority was not furnished by his bril-
fancy so much as by his antagonists dis
cretion, for Mr.. lngersoll began to squea
to the editor before the fight was over.
More recently an able and reyered Pres
byterian clergyman, the Rev. Henry M
Field, came into this arena in differ
entail and winsome manner, minglint
gracious arguments with strong persona
compliments, and tempering respect fo
the faith with admiration for the Pagan
One result in all these encounters wa
Just that which might have been ex
pected.
Mr.. Ingersoll was always in the field a
the finish, assailed by "roars of laughter
and "peals of laughter" and Grounds o
applause"
, and an intellectual bravo had come tc
gether, and the judicious grieved becaus
an INSCRIPTIONS man can deny with NOR
yolubility and glitter than cOnscientiou
and scholarly man can affirm.
, One reads now with calm admiratio
what that splendid master of critics
exegesis, Mr. Gladstone, says, and q fee
ing of regret must remain with some Q
us that this captains spear had not bee
aimed at some leader in the conflict II
stead of being thrown at noisy cam
follower
, Perhaps, too, there is an impressio
that the heaviest gun of the battle wi
carry quite over the head not only of th
immediate object, but over the heads {
l his applauding congeners, only to explod
l shelf of thought in far away solitude
q doubt, and that when the smoke hi
a cleared the Pagan will be there in IL
foreground cavorting with undiminishe
Yigor.
4 For such Goliah we may not need IL
i trained and honored captain of clel
n thought with his enginery, when al
a David will do, IL he will let the "fi'
|, points, of Calvinism alone, and takir
only the five pebbles from the brook
self-evident truth smite him bravely
the forehead with them.