Weekly Trinity journal., 1877-07-21
COLONEL INGERSOLL'S LEG
TURES.


The bigots of two centuries ago were not
Of one sect only. Wherever Church and
State were united, there religious intol
erance held full sway, and religions
whose votaries had furnished hosts of
martyrs at the stake who chose to die
rather than abjure their creed, when they
gained temporal power became in turn
the oppressors of all who dared dissen.
from its articles of faith. The Church
Of Rome had its Inquistion its racks,
fagots and thumb screws for the hereto
who dared question its claims as the only
true Church. The Church Of England
followed in its path and the stern Puri-
tans had little mercy for the dissenter.
Ecclesiastical tyranny drove men who
preferred liberty of conscience in the
Wilderness to life Of ease purchased at
the cost of submission to the forms ard
ceremonies of creed their hearts con
demned, to the shores of the New
World, and thus was laid the foundaL
tions of Empire where civil, political and
religious liberty, in the fullest sense of
the term, would be the LOT and part Of
the humblest citizen. Yeteven in the land
Of refuge the spirit of religious intoer-
ance reigned for time. The Pilgrim
Fathers, eXiles from oppression, be-
came opprcssors in this turn; exiles
from the land oftheir birth for conscience
! sake, they drove others into exile who
could not believe as they believed. But
the domain of the New World was broad
enough for all and from the settlements
thus founded in religious freedom grew
the nation Of to-day.
The progress 20 the privilege of free
thought and freedom now enjoyed has
been great in the later years. Though
the stake, the rack, and the dungeon
long since fell into disuse as a means Of
conversion or n restraint upon those who
dare cherish errors of belief, it is but re-
Gently, we may say that men Of ability
and station have had the hardihood to
avow their dissent from the crecds of all
churches. The infdel was held as one
to be stunned, who had no restraint up
on his actions such as would be acknowl-
edged by them who believed in God and
future existence. No matter how hon
orable he might be in his dealing with
his fellow men, no matter how open his
heart to the pleadings of distress, he held
no place in public opinion. The fact of
his lack Of faith, his inability to reconcile
science and revelation disqualified him
from all claims to respect. Such was
the place held by the man who rejected
the Bible; such is the place he holds
now in those communities where libcrality
holds no sway. Perhaps we of Calitor-
MIA pay too little heed to the great here
after, and too much to the present hour
But one thing is certain-that the lee
lures of Colonel Ingersoll have drawn
large audiences, who manifested great
approval of the sentiments expressed.
Half century ago, such lecture would
not have secured a corporals guard for
an audience, if, indeed, it were not the
means of consigning the one delivering
to the station house.
We are not sure that the lectures OF
Colonel Ingersol, leveled as they arc
against all the beliefs and traditions Of
the day are calculated to produce good
effect. The world is better for religion
when it is of the true kind, let it be o
what faith it may. What is best tC
avoid is the extremes Of belief and un-
belief. The bigoted sectarian who has
not n particle of Christian charity fol
one who cannot see the word Of revelation
with the same eyes he does, is no more
illiberal than he who SCOTS at the wor-
shippers ofevery faith and rejects then
all. We have grown up with an in
structive reverence for the old Book o
Books, which not even the better reas-
oning powers which come to us IN oul
later years will wholly drive away
We know nothing of mans destiny il
either this world, or in the world to come
on that point Cne man is as well informed a
another. The various crecds which hav,
their foundation in the writings of th
Old and New Testaments, all inculcatC
lessons of morality and hold out system
of rewards and punishments according
to the life VIC live on this earth. Will
us rs with many others, it would be
hard to say exactly what we believe,
and what we disbelieve, but in on
matter the generality of mankind vii
agree, and that is that the world is bette
for the Christian religion. Under it
benign teachings the march Of civilization
has been ever onward, and the create
the degree of freedom of thought allowe
in Christian nations, the greater tn
progress made. The fourteenth an
fifteenth centuries mark the true begin
ming of true freedom and true enlight
eminent. 1t was then that the art {
Faust and Guttenburg and Schaene
i first began to show its usefulness ; it wa
u tnen lne voices OF OalVln ana Lutnt
: were heard contending for release from tn
I shackles of religious bigotry and it wa
y then that Columbus turned the Prov {
y his vessels toward an unknown oceal
}. and discovered the land destined to /
r the seat of Empire where the broade,
!. and fullest enlightenment and its &C
% compartment, religious freedom woul
&c he found. The imlnepsc audiences til,
l., nocknd tO hnnr and apploud Tnoarso
n did not do so because they agreed wit
him in sentiment and came to appauC
II They acted more in accordance with thi
IS principle of Americans which induct
" them to listen to a speaker who know
II his subject and is capable of dealing wit
" it, whether they believe as he does {
" mi rhn fnult Of Innnrsnll,s tonnhin &