Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-02-21
THE HERALD.
Religion Under Fire.

The assaults on Religion take q
new form in each age. Now it ia
attacked on philosophical, now on
historical, and now on critical
grounds. The chief point of attack
10 our day 10 scientific. The won.
derfal discoveries of fact, and de-
velopments of law, have upset some
of the old theories, and have turned
tho heads of not few men who car.
ry moro eail than ballast. Skeptic-
al minds have seized on the apparent
discrepancies between these new
discoveries and the differences drawn
from them, as so many
missiles to break the liues
and batter down the outworks Of
religion, or all that goes under that
name. One of the most audacious
of these assailants of religion, who
is Just now forcing his infidelity up
on the public is Colonel Robert G..
IngersolI. of illinois, we'll known
lawyer and politician. He is now
stumping the country "preaching"
the baldest materialism. He lectures
wherever he can get q paying audi
enoe, and bis lectures naturally
draw crowd who 60 from curiosity.
He is a portly man, with smlrking
good-natured face I; an offhand speak.
or, talking TO his audience without
notes, and with q good deal of ready
humor and wit. lie sbounds in"bits"
even when they are not fair nor just.
He is q dexterous master of the art
of confoundiug reason with fallrcies,
and assails religion with all the spirit
of an advocate who thinks of moth
ing but Winning his case. There is
not O trace 10 him of the judicial
mind, or the philosophical sempera.
ment. He never goes to the bottom
of any thing but deals in oaricature
and ridicule. AS a lawyer he must
know very we'll that such "fiings''
while they may be effective with an
audience as with jury, do not set-
tie anything and are not the means
which q candid mind employs in
getting at the truth. His lectures
in this city last week were specimens
of adroit sophistication. He did not
reason directly. There were no
massive links showing an iron chain
of logic running through his dis.
courses. He seized on the worst
abuses and errors and superstitions
which have hung upon religion. as
dead limbs and caterpillar's nests
and old hats hang on the limbs OF
apple trees, as though these things
were Religion itself or its legitimate
fruits.
OF course he SAID great many
things which were true. He very
srtfully put himself forward as The
Apostle of humanity and the advo-
cato of human rights Overlooking
the fact that the best features oil
modern society are born of Christi
anity) giving the impression that all
these good things are products of in
fidelity and atheism ignoring the
fact that Protestant Christianity was
the forerunner of popular liberty in
Europe and that the Christian re-
ligion has been the nurse and sup.
port OF all the humane features Of
modern civilization. Yet the thing
was done so cIevorly and adroitIy
that tho brazen effrontery of the
speaker was not recognized by most
of the audience who applauded bis
hits and laughed at his witticisms.
The personal sincerity of Colonel
Ingersoll is not in question. he
may be honest in his opinions, az he
is certainly q skillful advocate; but
for this very reason be may do jail
tn, more harm. 1t is with the shall.
low philosophy of the man that we
find fault, with his war on all that
the greatest minds of all ages have
held sacred, with his reckless at.
tempts to destroy all those moral
forces by which mankind have i'm
proved and on which rest all hopes
of future progress. There is NO
question that there have been many
errors associated with religion, false
beliefs and gross superstitions, lead.
ing to practical consequences injur-
ious 10 society. We do not defend
the Inquisition on the contrary, we
regard it as the device of fendish
malignity, which was fastened TO
the Church, "a if to bring it into ha.
tired and contempt But can Col.
Ingersoll or anybody else trace any
connection between the Inquisition
and Christ's sermon on the Mount
or with the spirit and essence of the
Christian religion ? The attempt to
confound the two, and make the lat.
ter responsible for the former, is O
mere trick, utterly unworthy ofs
speaker who boasts so much of can
dor and common sense. He knows
perfectly we'll thss religion is nc
more responsible for these abuses,
than liberty (of which he is such an
advooste) is responsible for the ex.
oesses and atrocities of the French
Revolution. 20 Liberty" said
Madame Roland as she assembled the
scaffold. "what crimes have been
committed in thy name !" Yet q
thousand such crimes did no,
change the fact that Liberty Col
course we'll understood and we'll reg.
ulsted) was an inoaloulable blessing
to the world. The Age of Terror ID
not to be charged to Liberty, but to
the abuse of liberty, to the grossest
misconceptions of Its nature, running
into maduess and @ carnival of crime
Religion is no more responsible for
the Inquisition than King Alfred OF
OliverCrom we'll were responsible fol-
many defects in English laws and
government which have chung tc
to Thorn for ages, and only disappear
with the slow lapse of time. Puri.
tauism in England may have been 9
little over.striet in some features
but it might well put on a grave and
stern look when rebuking the vices
of prodigate age, Men calling
themselves Christians may have
been bieots and bad men, but thil
was not in consequence of their re
ligion but in spite oft. L man ca,
pable of discriminating between