The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1904-01-27
BUT STILL PREACHING WITH
MARVELLOUS POWER.
Some lines Three Sermons a day
DR.. Driver and Something
About Him-Death of
David Millhollen.

About Him-Death of
David Millhollen.
At the M thodist church this
week, there is presented the unus-
ual phenomen' n If a man at the ad
vanced age Of eighty years de-
fendiI g the claims of the Christian
faith with as much vigor lad pow
er as though he we're just merg .ng
int, the primo Of lifs. With God
and the Christia religion for a
theme. he delivered three powerful
le. tu,es on Sunday, the third to
an audience that pa ,ked the an
mex and auditorium to the utmost
cap city, and every day this week
he is addiog two more ssrm DOS to
the list, one at three in the after
noon and another at 7.3o in the
evening.
The sp 'aksr is DR.. D. ,Driv r
whose nam for nearly fifty ysar-
has been familiar one in vii.
lamette valley homes. In spite Of
his great age, there is no trem ,r
in his powerful voice, no lapse of
memory, no dimming of his fine
mental power. no lack ofvgr 10
the present on of his suhjHct. He
sp aka point -dly and powerfully.
ard with sped tn, t implies an
eff 'rt 10 compress vat amount
of thougf into ths allotted time.
His ppis.ts are sometimes a-rayed
ia such swift procession tt at t re-
quir. S trorg eff1rt on the part f
toe listener t. g'ap t1e succession
of ide s. He speaks, however. in
such a way as to b lid the attsnt on
Of his audience perfectly, no matter
to VII l-rg'h the theme may be
drawn nut. In physical appear
ance, DR.. Driver is still robust and
powerful, movu 6 about in the pull
pit with a the ease characteristic
of mau half his age. 49,.
HIS TILT WITH BOB INGER>oLL.
1t is doubtful if the Christian
faith and the B BILE has on earth
more able defender than DR. Driv-
er. He il known throughout the
Uuit+d 5 ates a one of the a,lest
blbl cal dlsputants of the time, He
has measured swords wit the fore
most inhdels of the wo Id, and it ia
doubtful if be ever cana out of an
argument worsted. Ole of his
most memol able tils was with the
lats Col, Robert q. Ingersoll. 1t
occurred at Eugene in 1884. In-
gersoll had delivered lecture there
and as the audience was about to
be dismiss. d, Dr.. Driver was seen
advancil 6 firm the audience to the
pla form, The audien'e at once
grasped the situation and remained
seated. They were we'll paid for
their pains, for on the plstform oc-
Cured collrquy that lasted for a
considerable time. and which only
ended with the retirement of Inger-
soil f:om the platform and his re-
fusal to pursue the subject further
The report IF the impromptu de-
hate a id of it's ending, followed
b Col Ingersoll back to his home in
Illinois, where it soon became
known that out on the Pacific
Coast the noted infdel had en.
countered an unFnown Methodist
preacher and received from the lat
ter one of the worst mental dub
biz g. that ever fell to the lot of the
great exponent Of in6deli'y.
THE CHICAGO DEBATE.
Perhaps thegreatest debate of the
kind that ever took place in the
country happened at Princess Opera
House Chicago in May 1889. The
exponent of the free thought was
Charles Watt, editor of a Magazine
at Toronto, Canada, and an ack-
nowledged champion of infdelity.
The side of Christianity was man
tanned by DR.. Driver, who was Sc
lected for the purpose, by the late
Dwight l.. Moody. The contest
extended through three days, and
newspaper accounts of it show that
an intense interest prevailed, and
while there was no way of measur-
ing the weight of argument on both
sides, the world was led to believe
at that time the doctrines and be-
beliefs of the church suffered moth
ing by being entrusted to the man
from Oregon.
Another similar disputation took
place in the Victoria Theatre