Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-14


 l don't know; Christopher Columbus may have lived, don't know I may have had great-grandfather. don't knew-never saw him. A man who would talk that way would certainly incur the contempt
 Another man says, didn't make my self, find am here; see am crea- ture; can't create anything myself, how ever insignificant; suppose I must have creator, don't know; I see this sphere upon which 1 live passing through space in its annual journey around the sun at the rate of eighteen miles second; see the four seasons come and go with math- ematical preeision I see the tides come and go with exquisite regularity; I see heat and cold admirably adjusted for the continued existence of the animal and vegetable kingdoms on the earth; I see the myriad worlds in the cerulean con- cave sclntilating upon the sable robe of night millions and trilions of miles away; 1 see harmony. order and beauty every where; see that my intelligence and the combined intelligence of all men is as nothing to the source of all intelligence which must direct these things; yes, it's true there may be creator, God, but don't know. si
 That's the kind of trash that MT. h. gersoll. the colossal jester on the eternal and infinite, dishes out to his credulous dupes al s1 head
 Besides, we have Revelations, which no iSdSOHdDle IfldU cdT QenY. Why should man doubt that Matthew, Mark Luke and John wrote the gospels credited to them any more than doubt that Milton was the author of Paradise Lost" Dante of the Divine Comedy;" that Levy, Caesar, Homer, Tacitus and Virgil were the authors of their works? How is 1t that the authenticity of these gospels was never questioned until recent times? Celsius, a prototype of Ingersoll, who hated Christianity as he does. and who lived in the second century never once expressed doubt as to the genuineness of these gospels? Porphyry, another Chris tan hater in the third century, admits the genuineness of the gospels he op- poses. Julian, the apostate, an arch en- emy of Christianity in the fourth cen tury, calls the gospels by their present names and never once questions their authenticity. Men never act without a motive These men taught others that it was great crime to tell falsehoods. and why should they do what they denounced in others? They had nothing to gain in this world by deceiving people. and noth- ing but hell fire, which they taught. in the next life for deceiving the children of God.
 What else? Twelve poor, despised ig- norant fishermen preached God-born man. born in a stable, brought l1p in n carpenter shop, put to death on a cross between two thieves. These apostles | scorned the gods whom the world had adored Tor centuries. For the glittering and licentious Actions of their mythology they insisted on doctrine replete with mystery and severe morality abbor- rent 10 the passions. Submit your minds 1 10 fa1th, sacrifice your natural inclina- tons, despise wealth, honor, power. pleasure; love your enemies, forgive in- juries.
 Have yon any temporal rewards to promise for this unnatural sacrifice2 2l Yes. Hatred, contempt, persecution. loss or liberty. loss of property. the dungeon 1 the stake. the lions and every species of | horrible torture. Three hundred thous- | ana martyrs are buried atsthe Coliseum, | l5,0o0,000 more sleep around the walls of | Rome. The land in which Nero ruled | and Caligula laughed and played with | human life is saturated deep down with | the blood of those imperishable human | witnesses to the truths of the Christian | faith.
 Twenty years after the death of Jesus | Christ th" great Paul of Tarsus steps forth, who once hated Christ as Inger- soil does now. and he said, writing to the Christians at Rome: Your faith is spoken of throughout the world" and later on he gave his own life for 1t. The emperor. the priests of the idols, all human power armed itself against what l 1t called the odious superstition They | cried out: Give the Christians to the | lions?' But they multiplied under the executioners ax, and after three cen 1 turies of carnage and blood the despised but glorious cross was planted on the capitol
 Certainly a man must be possessed of an inexhaustible amount of credulity 10 l believe that any human power could | effect such a wonderful revolution, and | that against the bent and natural in- | clinations of mankind. But MT Inger- | soii believes it, but he don't know | whether there is any God or not!
 Nineteen centuries have pasSed ou,ox, and the best and the wisest and the l truest and the brayest have loved the | despised Galilean, and millions of hearts l today pulsate with sweet affection at | the mention of His name. Who are Vol l taire, Tom Payne. Diderot, Proudhon, | Rousseau and Bob Ingersoll, haters of | Christ and his father compared to St. l Paul. St. Augustine, George Washing | ton, Edmund Burke. Chancellor Kent, | William Blackstone Daniel Webster John Calhoun, Cardinal Manning. Chief | Justice Marshall, Chief Justice Fancy, | General Grant, Jefferson Davis, Stone | wall Jackson, William Shakespeare, | Dante, Tennyson, William E. Gladstone, | Robert D. Lee and millions of others?
 Why don't you haters of Christ build l the temple at Jerusalem? There are | men in Jerusalem wanting work There | are plenty of stones. mortar and wood. | There is plenty of money. The Jews | want it rebuilt. The Turks will help | you. It will help the cause Mohammed | to ifalsify the words of Christ. Besides | tho railroad is in Jerusalem The shrill | whistle of the American locomotive | cartbe heard on the crimson hill of cal varY. The depot is not great way from | whqte the temple used to be, and the | freight trains are ready to haul your freight. You probably remember the |, efforts of Julian the apostate to accom- | plish it, and what became of it, and de- cline to engage in the enterprise
 It is said that there is "joy in heaven | when one sinner repents," and if there | is any joy in hell think it's maximum is reached when the plumed knights |