"the christian's defence"

the debate out of which this volume grew was held at columbus, mississippi, in the spring of 1841, between rev. james smith and mr. c. g. olmsted. mr. olmsted, the author of a work entitled, "the bible its own refutation," was a resident of columbus. dr. smith visited this city during the winter of 1839-1840, and finding the young men of the place to be very largely under the influence of mr. olmsted, he delivered a series of lectures, especially addressed to the young men of the place, on "the natures and tendencies of infidelity," and another upon, "the evidences of christianity." while these lectures were in progress, dr. smith was approached by a committee, who sympathized with mr. olmsted's views, and who, with the sanction of mr. olmsted, brought a written challenge to dr. smith to meet mr. olmsted in a public discussion of the whole ground at issue between them. dr. smith accepted on condition that he have time for adequate preparation. he communicated with friends in great britain, who procured and sent to him the latest and best material bearing on the subject. his book contains reproductions of the supposed zodiac at denderah, and a colored reproduction from the monuments of egypt of brickmakers, believed to be israelites. the researches of rawlinson were made available to him, and a considerable body of additional literature.

because dr. smith's book has been spoken of slightingly by men who never saw it and who had the vaguest possible notion of its content, and because the book itself is so excessively rare that in the nature of the case few readers of this volume can have access to it, i have copied the title page, a portion of the advertisement, and the whole of the very full table of contents.

we need not concern ourselves with the question whether dr. smith's line of argument is that which probably would be found most cogent if a similar debate were to be held at the present day. sources of information are now available, of which[pg 359] neither dr. smith nor his opponent could possibly have had any knowledge. but any reader of this chapter analysis will be compelled to testify that a book which covered the ground of this outline and did it with logical acumen and force of reasoning, is not to be spoken of now in terms other than those of admiration for the industry and earnestness of the author, and the cogency of the conclusions which he deduced from his premises. one is prepared to believe from the testimony included in a number of letters that are reprinted in the advertisement and in the preface that these lectures produced a profound impression upon those who heard this discussion.

the more carefully these lectures are examined, the more probable does it appear that in form and method they would have been likely to make, what they appear to have made, a very strong impression upon abraham lincoln. it must have been evident to him that dr. smith was familiar with both sides of the question, and lincoln can but have admired the courage and ardor with which he went into a discussion so fully in keeping with methods which abraham lincoln himself enjoyed and which later he employed in his great debate with douglas. we can well believe that he spoke with the utmost sincerity when he told dr. smith that he counted the argument unanswerable, and stated to his brother-in-law, hon. ninian w. edwards, and his associate at the bar, mr. thomas lewis, that these lectures had modified his own opinion.

notices of the debate which led to the

publishing of the christian's defence

from the southwestern christian advocate, columbus,

miss., 1841

mr. editor—i have thought that a concise account of this debate might not be unacceptable to your readers. it is a mortifying fact, that this city has become famous—or rather infamous for the prevalence of deism and atheism among her citizens. this has been produced in a good degree by the efforts of an old gentleman by the name olmsted. since his residence here, which has been for about four years, he has been[pg 360] untiring in his exertions to sow the seeds of moral death in this community. he has organized his converts into a band, that operates systematically. he has written a book, which is not exceeded by tom paine's age of reason, for scurrility and ridicule. the old gentleman is as artful as the old destroyer himself; by which means he has obtained an immense influence over the minds of the young men of this place.

the circumstances which gave rise to the debate were as follows: the rev. james smith, during a visit in this city, delivered a few discourses on the dangerous tendencies of infidelity, addressing himself particularly to the youth. this induced a committee of infidel gentlemen to address a written challenge to mr. s., to meet their champion, mr. o., in a public debate. mr. s. by the advice of many intelligent friends of truth, accepted the challenge. the time arrived, and the discussion commenced. all was anxiety and interest. the house was crowded, even the aisles and windows, with attentive hearers. they arranged to speak alternately, one, two hours each night, and the other a half hour; so the debate continued two hours and a half each night. from the representation of mr. o's talents, learning, and preparation, we were made to tremble for the results; but we were not a little disappointed to find the old gentleman fall far below his fame....

he asserted that the jews did not believe in a future state of existence, until after the babylonish captivity; that they borrowed their doctrines of the immortality of the soul from the nations among whom they were dispersed—that the jews believed in a plurality of gods—that st. paul was the author of christianity—that christianity encourages polygamy. to prove this last position, he quoted paul's directions to timothy: "let a bishop be the husband of one wife." and to crown the mass of absurdities, he endeavored to prove that the blessed jesus was a base impostor.

we found mr. smith well prepared for the contest. he had his arguments systematically arranged—had written them all, and read them well. he proved to a demonstration, the genuineness, authenticity and inspiration of the old testament scriptures. his arguments were interesting and convincing. his arguments on the new testament were equally happy, and if possible, more convincing. the conclusion of every inquirer after truth, must have been, that the champion[pg 361] of deism was signally defeated, and his cause left bleeding on the field. i doubt not but the defeat would have been more complete, had mr. s. omitted some of his personal allusions, and had he suppressed his natural inclination to sarcasm. indeed his blasts of sarcasm were truly withering. his opponent, finding that he could not cope with him in this respect, retreated, and took shelter under the sympathies of his audience.

yours, &c.,

one of the hearers.

[pg 362]

the

christian's defence

containing

a fair statement and impartial examination

of the

leading objections urged by infidels

against the

antiquity, genuineness, credibility and

inspiration

of the

holy scriptures;

enriched with copious extracts from

learned authors.

by james smith.

"the christian faith,

unlike the tim'rous creeds of pagan priests,

is frank, stands forth to view, inviting all

to prove, examine, search, investigate;

and gave herself a light to see her by."

—pollock's course of time, b. iv.

"if i have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is

that which i desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it

is that which i could attain unto."—2 maccabees xv, 38.