The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-24
L,|NGERS0LL -WH|CH2
The Subject of Rev. L. j. Albrit-
tons Sermon.
SIMPLY A FLASHING LIGHT
The Great Agnostic Dwelt Only Upon
the Surface-He Tried to Tear
Down, but Never to
Build Up.

paul, ngersoll-Which?" was the
subject of Rev. L. ]. Albritton's SER
mon in the Auditorium last night. The
pastor quoted the bit of conversation of
history had by Ingersoll and Henry
Ward Beecher one day in a passenger
coach on the railroad. Mr.. Beecher's
sentiments were those of Mr.. Albritton
in the matter of Ingersolps influence
among men. The substance of the story
is something like this:
Mr.. Ingersoll was travelling with a
party of friends, who thought it would
| be good thing to draw Mr.. Beecher,
| who sat nearby, into the conversation.
One of the friends of Ingersoll turned
around and asked Mr.. Beecher what
he was thinking about.
| Il was thinking about sight L wit
messed to-day replied the minister. Il
| was standing ON street corner and l
| noticed poor crippled man trying to
| cross the street. He tried to pass
| through the vehicles that crowded the
thoroughfare and one of the wagons
| knocked his crutch out from under him,
| and he fell. A man rushed out into
| the street and beat him down, instead
of assisting him to his feet"
| His eyes extended, his face paled
with Indignation. Mr.. Ingersoll turned
| towards the preacher and asked: who
| was that wretch?" Beecher, his eyes
| flashing fire at his questsner, replied:
You, Mr.. Ingersoll, We're that man.
| There are thousands of halt and lame
| men in this world trying to move on
| ward and upward towards the life of
| eternal happiness. But you crush their
hopes, beat them down instead of as
| sisting them on their way"
Rev. Mr.. Albritton said that Inger-
soil lacked depth of thought and that
he dwelt only upon the surface. He
was simply a flashing phosphorescent
| light that endured for moment and
was gone. The pastor took for his text
| these words:
| Il know whom l have believed and
am persuaded that He is able to keep
| that which I have committed to Him
against that day."-Paul
| Il am out on an unknown sea, drift
ing | know not where without chart or
| compass. "-IngersOll.
I'VE know people and things in vari-
| Gus ways, first, by what is said of
| them-this is reputation and not al
ways reliable; by what they have said,
| as Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare. Moses.
| David. Solomon, Paul: by what they
have done, as Caesar, Napoleon, Wash
ington, Lincoln, Grant, Dewey. We
know them by coming into personal
| contact with them. If in talking of a
|
| him personally we are ready to listen
| to anything he may say. | remember
| Judge Lawrence, the former controller
| of the treasury, while | was talking
once of Ingersoll, saying, I know him
| well. l. have been entertained at his
| home, and | listened to what he had to
| say and learned more of his private life
| than | had ever known before.
| when | was appointed pastor of
Fremont, Ohio, / had seen President
| Hayes, but knew little of him, but
| there / was brought into personal con-
! tact with him and learned to know him
and honor him as he deserved to be
honored. We know persons by init
| mate relations and bonds of affection as
| parents know their children, as hus-
| bands and wives know their compan-
| ions-we know their hearts, their lives
| Now apply these thoughts to Christ
| We know Him by what has been said
| of Him. Almost all men of all classes
| speak we'll of Jesus. We knew Him by
| what He has said. His words live and
| comfort hearts to-day as the words of
no other man. BY what He has done
His works live. He founded no institu-
| ton of learning; He reared no costly
| monuments of granite, but by His own
| power He has lifted and is lifting men
| up into higher and purer life He
| is drawing the people together in bonds
| of friendship and love. He has turned
| the world right about. We know Him
| by coming in touch with Him. He
crossed our path and we We're changed,
| either for better or worse. We know
| Him by intimate relations and bonds
| of affection. Accepting His guidance
| when He first crossed our path, VIC
| found Him friend true at all times,
and all those who have trusted in Him
are willing to-day to die for Him. He
gives a hope that is sure and stead
CT n tbptl Il l-,
clare to-day with Paul. know whom
| have believed
Take these strong declarations this
firm confidence, this bright hope i'll the
future that Paul has through The
knowledge of Christ and compare them
with the words and with the life IF the
great agnosttc who sleeps to-day in his
home in New York, mourned by his de-
voted family, and answer the question
Paul or Which?
Robert G. Ingersoll, one of The most
remarkable men of the present century,
a son of minister of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, bright versatile. naetic
eloquent, kind of heart. maa devoted
to his family-a thousand things that
one could say well of him-a face that
was full of sunshine; hands that We're
ever open to bestow aims upon the
needy: yet with all this, without God,
without hope--out on an unknown sea,
holding up the great law giver, Moses,
the man of God, to ridicule; declaring
the religion of the Nazarane to oe TN
just; not able to see one ray of light
in the future.
|. Mote the doubt that is expressed in
an eulogy that was delivered over the
bier of friend, Here the pas tor read
the following extracts from that Ia
nous sermon: . "a
IF there is beyond the Veil, beyond
the night called death, another world in
which men carry all the failures and
the triumphs of this life: f above and
over all there be a God VINO loves the
right, an honest man has naught TO
Tear. And if there be another world in
which sincerity is a virtue, in which
fidelity is loved and courage h0nored.
then all is well with the dea" friend
whom we have lost
But II the grave ends ALL if all that
was our friend is dead III y,,nrI1 *