| Show WONDERFUL FACTS I 1 observe that my old friend colonel ingersoll still lives and diffuses his errors concerning christians and christianity seeing this I 1 felt a strong desire to once more point out a tact or two which the enthusiastic infidel in his aphorisms seems to entirely forget what knowledge has the christian says colonel ingersoll of another world the senses of the christians are the same as those of the agnostic he hears sees and feels substantially the same his vision is limited he sees no other shore and hears nothing from another world the proposition implied in this statement is a that all the christian ideas of ef an unseen world of god of angels of demons of devils and of a life after this are founded dimply dimi F I 1 ly on supposition that they exist only Y in the imagination of the christians m sud and have bovo no as their fun da laments mental basis it is asserted by the colonel that no ch christian ristian ever heard or saw anything that justifies him in believing in the existence of another world besides this let us see how much truth there is in this assertion john the baptist shill be kurfirst our first witness he testifies to the jewish nation that he saw the spirit descend on jesus at his baptism and that he heard a voice from heaven jesus himself in the presence of two witnesses held a conference on a mount with moses and elijah who had bad left this scene of action thousands of years ago stephanus when being stoned to death testifies behold I 1 see the heavens opened and the son of man standing on the right hand band of god paul testifies that he had bad seen jesus and this testimony he proved to be true by the fact that hea hefron brorn being an ingersoll became a christian if this can be intelligently explained on any supposition other than that he had really conversed with the crucified but resurrected jesus of nazareth I 1 would like to know how paul was a bitter enemy and a persecutor he was a man able to investigate any fact that came under his observation and what he heard and saw from the other world was of that nature that he left all his worldly prospects and friends and became a martyr for what he had heard and seen yet the colonel will have us believe that all this was dobbing nob bing john the baptist heard and saw nothing christ heard and saw nothing on mount tabor stephanus rejoiced in his d dying ving hour in the he midst of his murderers at nothing paul was converted by noth ng and lived and died for the great idea of not nothing bing oh colonell colonel excuse me but what you say sounds to me merely nothing I 1 anticipate the objection that all this happened so long ago that we do not know whether it all he be true or not to this objection it is a sufficient reply that if we cannot believe these facts as history then no facts particularly of ancient history can be credited As ak chief justice bushe speaking of the origin nature and progress of christianity ti remarks tf if those facts are not therefore established nothing in the history of mankind can be believed can we on the testimony of historians to believe that titus destroyed jerusalem that charles XII lost the battle of Pul tava or that napoleon went over the alps we can also believe on the testimony of historians that jesus had a conference with two men from the other world and that paul was coave converted arted as a consequence of having seen jesus in his glory reliable history is sufficient evidence to any ordinary mind were this not so we could believe only what little e comes under our own individual observation and we would be under the sad necessity of doubting everything which lies beyond our own little horizon to show allow ones self to go thus far in doubt would prove lumn lumnitz ity on irrefutable evidence of history therefore I 1 maintain that the christians have both seen and heard enough from the other shore to justify their belief in its ite existence their belief being founded not on i magi nation but on OB facts facto the christians stand in their belief on sure ground for example A man comes and tells us that he has ban been far up into the arctic regions he has discovered an island he scribes describes dp its situation marks it on the map and gives many particulars tic ulars about it As long as he id 10 the only one to speak of this shore he may perhaps be doubted but here comes another and tells the same story and another r and so another they all agree in abo tb main points finally the world must accept the account as true however wonderful they may appear in this necessity amity stands the christian one has told us what he has seen of that other shore others have come and told the sanae sames and still others all reliable meu meik have corroborated the previous accounts from personal observations to believe the combined testimony moDy Is therefore the only rational course to take to deny and deny in the face of overwhelming evidence ia what the christian sees and hears aota now ing from another world I 1 suppose the colonel will allow the romal romaic A v ests to call themselves christians 4 P 0 is known in all the world now abo tta millions of these maintain that mary the mother of geoppo personally visited a certain place it a prance france in the year 1858 and in w presence of thousands talked to of the little miss bernadette soubirous K do not here care to express WL opinion concerning the nature 0 that appearance but certain it w that it was something not net belongia entirely to this visible world I 1 need not however go baak 9 the beginning of our ers era nor yet to foreign countries in bruer to field fin the required evidence for the elbl ence of that other world la ill abc own country and ana within our 0 generation men have lived wbk W have seen heard and converse 01 with angels with jesus with G when joseph smith an cione youth with the fervor of his heart plead to god gid is prayer for enlightenment and fv big prayers were answered when ba w saw and conversed with not dwelling on this earth we ww accord ing to I 1 ng angersoll nger eoll ersoll suppose ibo of those personages were nothing wf 0 nothing joseph was wisdom superior in many reap to that of all the learned of world by nothing his eyes ji w 0 opened ned and he could pen tarin things past and future like MW of 0 old I 1 d inspired by nothing s was able to perform in a few XA a work the consequences of W E will be felt in time and et 0 toy ity and the many hitoe ajl sop who 0 together with joseph have and heard and can testify to tow 00 power of god in various ways ft mistaken it to is merely nothing 1 has impressed their hearts a rosand avla deuced the marvelous ma effects wa we see ee today in the church of at ua B the coloneus Colo theory or non theory nathl nothing n must be the est w power that can be conceived of elal the idea is taken from that theology according to which the ble universe was made out of nothing thing to any reasonable mind the exist efte of that other shore is mod beyond a doubt by the testimony mony not only of christians but of X sorts of people there is ably ay iy not a people in the whole world among whom there has not appeared which must be ex fined as belonging to another ald that among these much is ne work of imagination I 1 will nut not deny ny but that au ait is such it would be oe daddese to believe the rhe following anecdote speaks for W if king friedrich edrich wilhelm I 1 or of okien prussia and king august II 11 of en were on such intimate terms that ft 4 wl they y generally go rally paid each other au visit at least once a year such a visit had also taken place a short wa before the death of king au call st this monarch was at the time appearance perfectly well ex hepting inflammation of one toe ro physicians had bad on this account honed c him not dot to take any strong drink the king of prussia who kolew w this had also ordered his bismar mar vf S yon von grumbkow who accod amed the king to the border of the to avoid by the customary W eions 1111 ti ons every excessive use of ue as the ua physicians had ordered t when king august aekes for a A ff more bottles of champagne to ah UP grumbkow who him ake te this wine very much confuted he an fell that on hearing the king fiad and aneda a severe anju injury ry lt art y next morning he saw the t before his majesty had had tle ww ta t finish his toilette he was ny wearing a shirt and a polish elined mined coat so he took his leave or 01 the king 1 AL short hort time after on february lve 1788 SS when the marshal was lying 8 or on his bed sleepless from the he he had sustained stained he hisaw saw that door boor ri of his bedro bedroom in opened 1 NOV l human form approached the king of poland abd hai afore gf webre ore him dressed only in clear all ahk rt and coat and said haicl with a voice oice cc mon oher aher te 18 te ce moment ei wolfe my y dear grumbkow I 1 nat ROW BOW dead in darsow Var sow after T he departed 1 I through the th the is the marshal arshal ni instantly rang he bell 1 for his valet t and asked if aft t bd B seen anything which the rde denied nied W grumbkow grUl couthon Cout labkow wrote immediately him von on seckendorf and asked to w communicate comm the tidings through the to the P r appearance t about two days g toe the dispatch came from wary to 10 berlin that stating king bad ad died the same hour at iea be had visited grumbkow another alao ther revelation which also 0 H 40 0 to bistor history y I 1 here cite it is art at haal copning cep ning the duke of 4 buck digs and as aa jung stilling ha 1 Is 8 proved beyond doubt uke ke was minister to king s I 1 of fingland england whose dav he was but as he was considered the instigator of the evil doings of the king the people hated him and he was finally murdered by lieutenant pelton felton who stabbed him with a knife the following a appearance from the other shore p preceded r the death of the duke and is related by lord ord clarendon in the history of the rebellion and civil wars ware of england 11 among those who were employed in the royal guard at windsor was a man who was generally esteemed on account of his prudence and justice he was about fifty years of age during his stay at A college in paris he had formed an intimate acquaintance with george villiers the father of the duke who was also a student at the same college about six months before the murder of the duke this gentleman who was perfectly well in body and mind was lying awake in his bed at windsor in the middle of the night a reverent looking gentleman appeared lifted the curtains around his bedstead and fixing his eyes on him asked if he knew him the officer could not at first answer so afraid was he but the apparition apparicio D repeated te bated the question and the officer said he thought him to be george villiers this the apparition affirmed and asked the officer to go to his son the duke of buckingham and tell the duke from his father that he must do his utmost to gain the goodwill of the people or he would not be permitted to live long after this communication the apparition vanished when the officer awoke the following morning he thought he ha hai i had a dream and paid no more attention to the matter but one or two nights after this the apparition again appeared and asked him if he had carried out the commission previously given he also reproached the officer very earnestly saying he had expected more friendship of dimand adding if he would not du do as he had bad been asked he would find no more peace in his life but would always be haunted the officer promised to do as he was hidden bidden in the morning however he still hesitated to consider this second appearance as a dream he would not but the difficulty of obtaining an interview with the duke was also so great that he did not know what to do finally he concluded to do nothing then came a third this time the inhabitant of the other shore rebuked the officer in very bitter terms for the neglect he had shown in keeping his promise the officer pleaded that he had bad not known how to overcome the difficulties of obtaining an interview with the duke and that it was vy very improbable that the duke would belleve him even it he would secure admittance into his presence ile he would perhaps be considered insane or thought to be in the employ of wicked persons who plotted against the life of the d duke u k e the rhe apkari apparition tion 1 insisted ns isted however on its request it said the officer should not be left alone until the duke had bad been warned of the I 1 threatening danger to obtain an interview with my son the apparition said laid would be difficult dRi cult in order to be believed the apparition told two or three circumstances relating to the duke which the officer should communicate to him but to no one else on the hearing of which the duke would believe that thai his father had really appeared the officer could hesitate no longer he felt he must now obey and started the next day for london on his arrival he went to sir ralph freeman who had married a lady related to the duke and through sir bir ralph freeman he obtained the privilege of an interview with the duke for the following day the two spoke together for an hour when the officer told the secrets which the apparition had disclosed to him the duke changed color and exclaimed that none but the devil could have told the officer this the secret was concerning delicate relations between the juke duke and a lady of his near relatives known to no living person but the duke and the lady herself one more anecdote I 1 would like to give showing that some people see and hear more than others and that testimonies from another shore have been given not through christians alone the story is found among the papers of la harpe a freethinker and a member of the royal academy in paris who towards the end of his life was cured of the Volta irean epidemic and became a christian la harpe says it seems as if it were but yesterday and yet it was in the beginning of 1788 we were all seated around the table of one of our colleagues of the academy a noble and gifted man main the company was numerous and consisted of all kinds of people courtiers courtier jud judges e p professors sors etc As usual the afe pleasures a su afes of the table had been much enjoyed after dinner the wine flowed freely and liberties were taken which were not always within exact boundaries at that time the world was thus far advanced that almost anything could be said if a good laugh was the object in view Cham fort had recited his blasphemous and slippery anecdotes and the noble ladies had listened without even hiding their faces A current of jokes on religion followed one remembered a tirade from another cited from Di derat with the guts of the last priests hang the last king and all applauded still another stood up lifted his glass and shouted yes gentlemen I 1 am as convinced that there is no god as I 1 am certain that homer was a fool no doubt he was just as certain of the one as of the other but several remarks had just been made concerning god and homer and some of the guests had spoken a good word for the one or the other the conversation now became more serious the revolution of which voltaire had laid the foundation was admired J and all agreed that this was the real ground on which the memory of that author should be perpetuated he had changed the color of Us hia ap age and had so written that he could be read in the parlors and in the assembly halls with equal pio briety one of the guests told the story of a barber who once said to voltaire look here sir air although I 1 am but a poor laborer A borer yet I 1 have no more religion than any other men it was agreed that the revolution would be completed and that bigotry and fanaticism would soon have to give way to philosophy the probability of the commencement of this anticipated happy period was calculated and the guests asked |
