The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-11-07
Col. IngersoII's Gods.

Bon INGERsoLL's appearance in the
market here IA a wholesale purchaser Of
gods and goddesses has excited much curl
osi:y. People naturally ask why man
who despisos gods Of ali descriptions and
loses no opportunity TO hold them up 10
ridicule, should be buying them at the rate
of forty or fifty week. Is Bon lNGERsoLL
laying the foundations for n museum Of
comparative theology? Is he going to
lecture on idolatry and illustrate his re-
marks by exhibiting specimen gods from all
parts Of the world |? Is he planning to make
Il pantheon Of his residence Mt Peoria, lli-
nois ? Does he purchase these venerable
relies of false religions In order that he
may smash them and trample them under
his feet and kick them around the room for
his private satisfaction? Or is he buying
on speculation, merely as n business enter
prise These are some 81 the questions
suggested by his extraordinary investment.
There Is another theory which will com
mend itself at once TO those who have had
occasion TO study the phenomena OF intel
lcctual reaction. The sudden rebound OF
the mind from one extreme Of belief to the
other extreme is frequently the result Of
dwelling too long and too steadily upon
single idea. 1t is not uncommon TO see a
bgot Of the narrowest stripe plunge with
out warning into the ocean OF skcpticism.
Neither is 1t unusual to see the freest Of
free thinkers suddenly converted into blind
fanaticism. The further the bob OF pen
dulum is carried to one side OF the perpen-
dicular, the further it will swing to the
other Side as soon as 1t Is let go.
For good many years Col. INGERsoLLs
mind has been dwelling ON the idea that all
the deties ever wOrshipped by mankind are
equally false and ridiculous. Between the
fish god Of the Philistines and the COP OF
ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JACOB, he makes no
distinction. Having long ago proved to his
own satisfaction that all gods are bogus
and all worship foolish and dcmoralizing-
the Christian religion especially so-he has
lost no opportunity in private or in public
to proclaim his disbelief and TO assault the
faith that Is sacred to others. The strength
of his lungs and his facility Of utterance
have enabled him TO secure listeners who
would boot down n less lusty blasphemer
Nobody questions Bon lNGERsoLL's right TO
think as he peases on religious subjects.
lie has not contcnted himself with the en-
joyment of this privilege He has under
taken to brighten, rdlcule, or browbeat his
fellow citizens into his own way Of thinking
So persstently and intently has he dwelt
upon his one idea that the sight OF a Bible,
or Of tho open door of church or Sunday
school, has come to have much the same
effect upon him as red rag is said to have
upon frenzled bull
This having been Bon INGERsOLL's mental
condition for the past thirty or forty years
no thoughtful person would be surprised TO
learn Of his sudden conversion to poly
theism OF the grossest kind, From denying
all gods TO worshipping all gods, would be
the natural reaction OF II mind as positive
as his.
The belief that the reaction in Bob NIGER
SOILS case has already occurred is
strengthened by the fact of his indiscrimi-
nate purchase Of idols Of every variety at
the auction sale on Broadway last week, by
the eagerness which he manifested to secure
at any price gods Of tho rudest kind, the
] ignoblest appearance and the obseurest