The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-12-21
CONVINCING AN lNFlDEl.
By ]. c. Munro.

a snort Ilme ago L SAN Dy IHe pap
ers hat the Christian Endeavorers of
the United States and Canada were to
offer prayer for the conversion of Col.
Ingersoll. and it brought to my recol-
lection the argument | had with an
Infidel about fifteen years ago, the re-
suit of which vas his conversion. A
man calling himself Prof. Watson gave
a lecture On the force of character, in
GRAVITY. He was a fine looking man
and a born orator, using the best of
language and his manner and actions
were such as drew the attention of
his audience as he went on; of course
by his lecture you could not tell any,
thing about his religion; it was edify-
ing in a moral way and that was all.
However, | was so much impressed
with him that l gave him an invita-
ton to stop with me all night, which
he accepted. When we got ready for
bed, | as usual had family worship,
after which he said, What profit do
you expect from such Worship" g"
expect and believe that God will fulfill
His promise to me, both in this life
and that which is to come" Said he,
THAT is all nonsense; did you ever
hear Ingersoll lecture; I said no; but
L nave T6du dDOul Hill anu 1t Is III d
fraud. Then he repeated some of In
gersolls lectures and said that if In
gersoll was within fifty miles of him
that night he would go to hear him.
When he stopped | would say some
thing about Christ, but he would soar
away again with his eloquence so that
l could not get a word in or if it was
a word it only sen him off again
4I4 AyyNr TI,. ~ rrAnf -,
till about n o'clock in the morning
before we got to bed. Before l went
to bed l remembered him to God in
my prayer for l could say what Christ
said about the young man that l loved
him. Next morning after breakfast
and family worship l took Mr.. Watson
into a room by ourselves and said, 81
want to have a talk with you before
you leave my house. You had all the
talk last night, and l could hardly get
a word in edgewise. Now want. you
to listen to me while I try to prove to
you that Christ is more than you say
He is. In the first place you consider
that there was such a man, but not the
] Son of God. Eyes" he said, that is
my belief" Now, in the second place,
by your lecture last night you are a
SOOu JuuSe VI Dltu dAu uOW ldl HlS
knowledge will advance into the flu
ture. Can he tell what will take
place, say, ten, twenty, or fifty years
ahead? mo, don't think he can"
Who, then. but God, through man in
spired, could tell of the birth of Christ
thousands of years before he came?
The first promise was given in Gen,
&c., 15v., four thousand years before
= ~ -1o1A gsTNL44 4h4 GOD oF fhA
woman shall bruise the head of the
Serpent" Next We have the promise
to Abraham more than two thousand
years after, in Gen. pc, 1Sv., I'm thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed" and then we have the
same promise given to Jacob more
than two hundred years later in Gen.
CSC, 14v. You, Ingersoll, or anyone
else cannot deny that the nations of
the earth have been blessed through
the coming of Christ. Is not Chris
tianity the bullwark and stay of all
civilization? Let Ingersoll take you,
and all the eloquent speakers he has
on his side and go to the heather or
Cannibals. Could they convert them
from the error of their ways; they
never have done anything of the kind
yet. How many of them would it
take to do what the Revd. Mr.. Mckay
has done in the Island of Formosa
alone?" Then we come to Gen. ACC,
low, "The septre shall not part from
Judah nor the lawgiyer from between
his feet until Shiloh come" Here we
have it that Christ was to be from the
tribe of Judah, of which tribe the
Virgin Mary was. and this was over
one thousand eight hundred years be-
fore it took place. Coming down to
seven hundred and forty years before
the birth, in Isaiah 7c., 14v, Behold
a virgin shall conceive and zeal a
son and shall call His name Imman-
uel." Isaiah &C., 6v., Unto us a son
is born; his name shall be called
wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of
Peace" Does that sound anything
like Christ being nothing more than a
mere man; seven hundred and ten
years before the birth in Mich. Sc,
", we have, But thou, Bethlehem,
though those be little among the thous-
ands of Judah, yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me, that is the
rule of Israel" I think you by this
time agree with me that there is en-
ough in the Old Testament to prove
that Christ was to come, and in the
four gospels you will find the fulfill
ment of the prophesies. In Luke, End,
we find that although Joseph and
Mary lived in Nazareth they had to
make a journey of owe one hundred
miles to Bethlehem to fulfill the above
prophecy. Here we see Augustus, a
heather, sent out a decree which IA
ed Joseph and his wife to make this
long journey; no easy task in her
critical state; a thousand miles with
our mode of travel would not be as
much. If this order had not gone
forth, Christ would have been born in
Nazareth and the scriptures would not
have been fulfilled. Here we have the
birth of Christ more than four thous-
and years after the first promise, and
if time would permit we could follow
up the prophecies above about his
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