The Rock Island Argus., 1877-05-19
From tie ". Y. World.
Concerning bob" Inpersoll.

''To the Editor of The World.
SIR: have Just read article in your excellent
paper entitled Who Wants Inhde' Well, as |
for myself, can assure you that have no employ
ment for the man but want TO ask some questions,
so ! write this letter.
a. You say that Bob Ingersoll goes about de.
claring for money that there Is no God Now In
this statement you seem to intimate that lngersol
is not In earnest; in other words that he don't be-
heve what he breaches. TO know whether You
really mean this not is one OF my questions.
y. Again you say, We can tell him referring to
lngerso that the Peoria school OF atheism will not
be accepted by the cultivated and refined sceptics
OF this metropolis If this be truth, will you
please state what is Ingersoll's doctrine and in
what manner II differs from the doctrine OF the re
fined and ltivated sceptics' of your city,
''3. To conclude, what do You think of Ingersoll
in broad and Unprejudiced way! Do you think
he is the most eloquent OratLr in the west a.
some journals have 1t, or do you think he is great
scoundrel without any genius, and mostly famous
Answers to the above questions will be eagerly
looked for in the columns of your paper. In the
interval, subscribe myself, most respectfully,
Concord, Fla, May 6,.1s77"
/. We do not mean to intimate that
bob" lngersoll does not believe what he
breaches. He breaches it, that is to say
he lectures it, for hire from such lyceums
as think they will get their money back
from such persons as are willing to pay
sums ranging from so cents to $l50 with
reserved seat) to heaI Bob declare that
there is no God. We do not believe that
Bob would 90 about declaring his atheism
except for money but we fear that he be-
lieves it gratis
2. We have not given special study to
Bob 5 doctrine, but it differs from the doc
trine of the refined and cultivated sceptics
OF New York in several essentials, partcu-
larly in the mode of its propagation. The
Peoria school of atheism was founded by
Tom Paine, and consists in violent objec-
tions tc all gods, but particularly to the
God Of the Hebrew Scriptures, aud also
exhibits a marked aversion to all priests,
including Methodist ministers and even o.
Il. rockingham. This mode of atheism
is obsolete in highly civilized communities
The refined and cultivated sceptics of this
metropolis hold that shocking the feelings
OF other people, including religious people
is in itself an offense unless the person whC
commits it sees some valuable object to bt
gained by it which cannot be gained with
out it. The Peoria school holds that tn,
shocking OF Christians is itself gooC
thing, and that the man who believes IN
God has no feelings which the man VIII
does not believe in God is bound to re
spect. Bob holds with the sect 10 this ar
ticIe OF disbelief. lie is also PERSONAL
distinguished by extreme personal animos
ity to the God who, he maintains, does he
exist.
3. Our general broad and unpreju
diced opinion of Bob may be inferred froI
the previous answers. Our reporters VIII
have heard Bob assure us that Bob
smart. Bob is very popular and effectiv
stump speaker, The principal troubl
with Bob seems to be that be is vulgar an
shallow. He is too fond of applying scul
rilous epithets to those who differ with hin
and of stating that they are infested wit
vermin, to make his discourse agreeable t
fastidious people. He uses the same meth
cd in his controversy with his Maker
Bob's book on The Gods" gives the reaC
er the impression that God is the Demo
cratic candidate for local Office in Peoria
and that Bob is conducting the campaig
in the Republican paper. This Illustrate
may sound unseemly, but we assure ou
correspondent that it conveys better ide
than any other we can think Of of the char
acter of B0b's book. We would not go :
far as to say that Bob was "a great scour
drel, but we think be is "a humbug, anc
as our correspondent says, mostly famou
for his inpudeucc"