The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-12-22
FOUNDATION OF FAITH
THIS Is THIS sUBJEC OF BOB
INGERS0LL's LAfESf
LECTURE.
LECTURE
DR. TaLMaCE IN WASHINGTON

Both These CLANS IN InteiIect Spoke
thc Va ionai Capital Last Sunday
Night - inmeu.e audiences-~If Ghey
Could D. gSroUga. Together in De-
bate Ii WOULD b. a Battle of Genius--
Some Of Iagersosi's haractistic Ut
terances About the Il bic.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 21.- (Special)
DR.. Sunderland preached last Sunday
morning on THE Sunday Question"
Mr. Talmage was a listener and sat in
one OF the pews. Mrs. Cleveland was
expected, but did not come. Her pew
is seventh from the front, on the right
side of the left aisle. They sing old
fashioned hymns in DR. Sunderland's
church, but there is nothing old-fash-
toned about DIR. Sunderland's sermons.
He kept the congregation in a broad
smile by his droll. dry humor. Quoting
the text that sabbath was made for
man and not man for the Sabbath, he
said that simply meant that man was
made first. and the Sabbath afterward
Sabbath MAS a word that meant rest.
The Sabbath was kept holy to the ex-
tent that man was holy. Works OF
necessity and mercy were allowable on
the Sabbath, and Dr. Sunderland
seemed to think life had now become
so complex as TO include Sunday news
papers, railroads, telegraph and mod
ern conveniences among the necessi-
ties. He thought the remedy for holy
Sabbath-keeping lay in a powerful
evangelical revival of religion, 10 the
end that mems hearts might be made
nearer like that Of the Savior. If the
hearts of men were holy, the Sabbath
would accordingly be kept holy.
The church was not quite filled, but
was packed tonight to hear DR. Tai
mage. They say the pew-rent has
risen 200 per cent since DR.. Taimage
came. And while the great preacher
was impressng the vast congregation
with a sermon. the text of which was
'.I will magnify Thee, o God, my King
and will praise Thy Name for ever
and ever, Amen!" Bob Ingersoll
at the New National Theatre was
bending the brilliant energies of
his mind toward an attempt to obliter
ate the foundations of Christian faith.
In fact that was his subject, THE
Foundation Of Faith" is his latest
production If Talmage and In
gersoH could come together in a hand
to hand combat, it is not probable that
there is building large enough TO
hold the audience that would come to
hear them. 1t would be a battle of
genius that would make folks see
lightning. Half hour before the thea
ire opened the people were in line
waiting for tickets, for over half
~ 81, tn Il
street The building was filled from
pagqpIet to peanut-gallery with seem
ingly representative Washington au-
dience of 500. Ingersoll spoke for
over two hours. with frequent APP
plause, and with an attention that was
incessant. His flights of rhetoric went
from dazzling bIasphemy 10 passages
performed with the touch of the per
feet master of poetic utterance. 1t is
useless to follow the trend in this mere
line. But two passages, which / give
here verbatim, may not be uninterest-
ing, as representing the two phases
noted above. to those who would know
of this mans dangerous methods
Said he, toward the conclusion:
christians believe in infinite torture,
in eternal pain. Eternal pain. All the
1neanness of which the heart of man is
capable is in that one word, He'll. That
word is den, a cave, in which crawl
the Shiny reptiles of revenge. That
word certifes to the sayagery OF priIni-
tive man. That word is the depth. the
dungeon, the abyss, from which civili-
zed man has emerged. That word is
the disgrace, the shame, the infamy, OF
our revealed religion. That word fills
all the future with the shrieks Of the
damned That word brutalizes the
New Testament, changes the sermon
on the Mount to hypocrisy and cant,
and pollutes and hardens the very
heart Of Christ That word adds an
infinite horror To death and makes the
cradle as terrible as the coffin That
word is the assassin Of joy. the mock
ing murderer of hope, That word eX-
tingujshes the light Of life and wraps
the world in gloom. That word drives
reason from his throne, and gives the
crown 10 madness. That word drove
pity from the hearts OF
men. stained countless swords
with blood lighted fagots,
forged chains, built dungeons, erected
ecaffolds, and filed the world with