The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-11-29
INGERsoLL IN WHEELING.
His Lecture on Moses at the Opera
House Last Night.

Med to hear Col. Robert G. Insersoll
r.ture on the Mistakes Of Moses" Abot
every seat on the lower floor was occupied
and, perhaps, one-half Of those above.
w,,a house that would be called in theatr
al parlance good business" Many {
,hp audience were in their seats full thre
on,r,ers Of an hour before the lecture con
nence,l. There were only few ladie
present Otherwise the audience wa
i,irly representative Of the town, or, il
otber words, a mixture Of all sorts OF pee
pie.
Ats o'clock the bell rang and the cur
,,in lifted, and the far.famed orator mad
bs appearance. He stepped briskly t,
,be Eoo,lights and disclosed to the audi
.pce a full view Of the man who has mad
himself notorious as the champion Ere,
Thinker Of this free thinking age. The!
saw jolly looking person, fat and vel
sized, having smoothly shaved face, I
slightly bald head and a rotund stomach
Ne looked as il neither his conscience mo-
hi. worldly affairs kept him awake a
nights In other words, he presented {
yery prepossessing appearance. He look
hjrly like the pictures OF him that have
been in the windows for several days past
Col. lngersoll was not accompanied BY
.ny one on the stage. He took for grant
al that he needed no introduction and
he .ensibly dispensed with that formality
Stepping forward he proceeded at once tc
business. The substance Of his remarks
Tp as follows:
He began his lecture by explaining why
la troubled himself about these matters
and said, in the first place, he wished to
lre the public mind OF this country. He
would like to take the chains and the man,
,rles from the pulpit OF the country and
I,sist in giving liberty to thought He
wanted to free every politician, SO that ii
would not be necessary to be hypocrite
70 get any position in this land; to assist
in making people noble enough, grand and
sublime enough, to allow every being in
telertnal liberty, SO that man running
ar office will not have to pretend that he
i Methodist or Baptist, or that his
vie is Presbyterian, or that his grand.
mother was Catholic; so that the people
will not care what his religion may be,
bot will Judge him by his acts and deeds,
instead Of his professions. If we are to
haze Tree Government, he said, 1t must
le founded upon free thought. II our
Government ever goes down, it will be
because people have not been allowed to
express their real honest thoughts.
lie wantedevery minister in the land TO
be an investigator; to dive into facts; ex-
pase them up to the people as they were.
There seemed to be feeling that Chris.
dan ought not to be like the man at the
Ieseriemain show, who looks under the
nagician's table and tries to see whether
the egg il in the hat or whether the pistol
Hrealiy loaded, but that he should act the
Gentleman, and turn his back when the
performer was about to execute his trick.
iLaughter.l This was great mistake to
bgin with, and itdidn't happen to be the
sIlnsiye error of Mr.. Moses. He believed
,heGergy were doing the best in their own
Uayior the salvation OF mankind, but he
did not believe they were meeting with
tltteing success. They hitched them
selyes toa creed or n church and stuck
there. To be one, a Methodist or o Pres,
byterian or minister OF any other demon.
nation, was to be always minister oil
that denomination, and il perchancc alot
people got up q pony purse to educate
Young man US q Baptist minister,
din after life he embraced some other
bm Of religion, they would think them
Vlves .swindled. What he wanted was
~ tmen aud women to think and act for
thapSelves as they went along. Not long
IgOh4 had seen an immense and terribly
oli Bib le, put together long before the art
OIprintin Z was discovered, with clasps and
Alsps and i; ;inges upon it big enough Tor q
Rni,eutary. In an age when not one IN
1900 could re or write, he could readt'
y imagine what an effect the produe;
ton Ot this enormous book would
have upnn the simple people gath
efel in the awe-inspiring Cathedral
bat he could not account for the ei
let the same book had upon people
enjoying the benefits OF our ciYillzation;
We have sacred records, and our sacred
records are like the sacred records q othei
@untries. Mingled with some gooG
things will be found an immense mass q
HpeStitious rubbish. While he. was val
hag to believe everything that is good
.Eect, tender, pure, holy, he could MOI
believe that such thing Us mira,
de ever was performed. He could
na believe that nature is any diter
eai to-day from what it has been through
Ilthe ages. He believed thatall the laws
principles and facts in nature always have
teen and always will remain the same
lie believed that fire Is always hot; tna
Elier Is always wet; that the attraction o
SavttatiOn has always been atwor6; tina
water has always run down hill, and al
%ys will, and nothing moro wonderfn
eve' happened in the history OF this worir
tAAn is happening now right before you'
Sy& One sacred record we get from tn'
;seES II they were to write IT now tn'
aorriblc things would be left out, aud tht
ioolsh things would not be written. III
Considered this letter or record addressed
o him rs much as to any one else. l
Nod wrote it, He knew exactly how hi
E'QId understand it, and If he could no
understand 1t rightly, then the fault wa
Nth the writer and not withhim.
IL didn't make any difference whethe
Noses wrote what is ascribcd to him o
aotith question was whether what Nose
SsmtC was true. Neither did II make an,
difference whether the book Of Moses wa
Inspired or not. A fact was TACT where
Ssver found. II needed no inspiration :
tSIster up the multiplication table-tel
VaeS ten made hundred, inspiration Q
70 Inspiration. 81 take It for granted,
aI Col. lnSsrSoll, that the God VIII
aaae this world knew the shape OF 1t; ths
ne knew every Laot in astronomy. ever
aa IN geology, every fact In chemistry
ga' lie hAd u splendid idea Of tho right
" man; that real God would think tu'
much Of women as 0I mon, and II ther
zone single mistake in the record, thi
astlkc was not made by Infinite wisdom
1Mnst have been made by the writer, !;
%ttSe' cannot imagine q Creator. J d
' SoI ay there is not one. l just say len
liinaNnr one. cannot imagine aIl
Yang that livntl in infinita nothing and q