The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-04-19
AnsersOIl's Gods.

A fair-sized audience Assem- bled last
night at the Tabernacle to hear Mr..
George r. Vending reply to Inger-
soil from a secular standpoint. DR..
Arthur Edwards, editor of the North
western Christian Advocate, introduce
ed the speaker. Mr.. Vending is q
young man of about 80, q clear and
foreible speaker and good reasoner.
The speaker began by saying that he
had come to reason and not amuse.
Heretofore assaults against religion had
been left for the pulpit to answer.
The general rule was reversed this
time. He came thrice armed, for he
was right and Ingersoll was wrong.
If Ingersoll was right every man made
his own God-Christ was q myth, the
Bible a curse, and Immortality ex-
trenely doubtful. He thought there
was political question underlying the
whole of this. Look at the financial
and practical phrase of the question :
The p, 500, 900 church sittings in this
country, the 1854, 0O0, 900 invested in
| church property, and an army of ten
times as many men who believe in the
Christian religion. In addition to this
it must be remembered that 40, 000, 900
people in this country alone cease to
work for fifty-two days in the year on
account of religion. Why, beside
these immense interests, free trade,
the reconciliation of silver, and so on
! are mere bagatelies. The speaker
then, IN order, as he said, to show the
difference in the solution of the words
God, Christ, and the Bible, given by
IRgersoll on the one hand, and the
church on the other, touched slightly
on the religious aspect of the question.
He looked up the meaning of the word
God, in the first sentence in Ingersolfs
| famous New York lecture, which be-
gins. /" Every nation has created q
God" This was the keystone of In
gersoll's argument. By subtle soph-
ism Ingersoll attempted to cOnfouDd
the word God with the word idol. In
this connection he took occasion to say
that the great need of the day was the
destruction of ancient atheism which
was known to be cropping out In var
ious forms and shapes throughout In
gersoll's lecture. Before Diminishing
IngersoIl's denials OF God, the speak
err took occasion to call attention to
the logic of the old philosophers who
set forth that the thought of sight
must have existed before the creation
of an eye, and the thought of hearing
before the creation of an ear. In or
der to have a thought you must have q
thinker, as this argument, through its
very simplicity, was the best and most
ringing proof of an eternal and all
powerful God. He pictured in eloquent
terms the condition of the world I'M
der the rule of the philosophers OF old
or, as the speaker termed it, ancient
| Ingersollism.
After rapidly sketching the birth OF
| the Christian religion, in Judea, which
/ nn0n tho XvnrlH like the ia W in o
day, the speaker pointed out with
much eloquence the absolute pertec-
ton of the character of man-God.
From a purely secular point this char
| acter stood forth in bold relief, and was
| irreprOachable. Another powerful ar
| gument which pointed out the univer-
| sal religion was the absence of a single
word, which could be found in all 9TH
er religions, and which to the speakers
way of thinking was far more hateful
than superstition" "bigotry," and
"oppression,'' spoken of by Ingersoll
because it sums them all-cGste. Nc
system of religion but the Christian
pronounced all mankind divine. A
very telling point was then made in
which the speaker, after picturing the
greatness of Napoleon's mind, placed
him upon the witness stand to testify
in the cause of Christianity. At st
Helena Napoleon acknowledged thai
he could find traces of men like him.
self in all religions but that promul-
gated by Jesus Christ. "He," said the
great General, "astonishes me: His
| spirit overcOmes me, and 1 see some
thing insolYable, mysterious; who
but God could have produced such 6
teaching?" Yonder in New York or
the platform, is Ingersoll sneering a
Christianity /; at st. Helena calmly sit
the greatest prodigy of earth, the in
tellectual wonder of the age, and &C
knowledges that the teaching of the
man-God overawes him. Let niger
soil profit by the comparison.
might be urged that Napoleon's many
sins made him an incompetent witness
but the speaker did not think so. Thu
facts, so far as examined, show, first
that God exists; second, that Chris
had God-giYen power; and, third
as logical sequence, that the BOOl
which faithfully relates these fact
must also be true.
But the immediate objects will
which we are concerned are, first, al
citizens, pure government; second
the acquisition of property third, from
social standpoint, the establishment
of happy homes. Ingersoll's teach
ings are crime against the govern
ment, against commerce and trade
and against humanity. The only pow
er to safely guide the vast surginl
multitudes of republic was the pOwe
of God Almighty. Remove tn
strength of religion, and GENERALIZATION
follows. The whisper of an earnes
priest is more powerful than scores o
Calling guns. In short, then, Inger.
soils teachings were high treason
| against property, trade, commerce
and the countless enterprises of thi
busy world, his teachings also aimee
| direct blow, for they did away with
Conscience and confidence. Take ava,
the thought that each man stand
equal in the sight of God, and conf
dence is shaken and chaos ensues. b.
the light of the Pittsburg cenflagra
ton, see the practical results of Inger
sails teachings in that frenzied mob
And lastly, from a household point
| It Is round the home that civilized maj
draws his brightest dream of happi
ness. Mother, sister, wife, child ar
magical words. 1ngersoll's doetrin
would take away from these Lover
ones the comforts, hopes, and the in
fluence of religion, and cast over then
} the black pail of infidelity. Either b
does not comprehend the question, o
! his cruelty is unutterable. He eithe
plays part or is stark mad. But {
close this part of the argument. TIL
shadow of death has come to tn
household. A loved one is gone for
ever. Sit beside the coffin and real
Ingersoll's lecture, and comfort your
self; or go to the newly made grav
and invoke his aid there. Those argu
ments show conclusively the relatioI
of Ingersollism to the household. Il
conclusion the speaker called atten
ton to the fact that the existence O
God had been proven; the moral pow
J er tor good of the example of the Man
God was undeniable; from q busines
and commercial standing point, relig
, ion could not be dispensed with; and
socially considered, is was q blessini
in our households. Political economy
therefore, said keep up the church
Citizens, Board of Trade men, bushes
men, professional men, and politician
cannot afford to dispense with Il
Lastly, there were two things fc
, which IngersolI's advent would prov
8 public blessing; first, he forced th
issue between infidelity and religion
second, his arraignmeBt Of hypocrite
! would tend to rid the church of then
: and as hypocrites were inf1dels he sal
, God speed IngersolI In scourging b
/ own disciples.
:
Fulller cf faith tl,s, ,g Sa.rs