The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1879-10-23
THE LIBERAL CONTENTION
SEQ: :. !. e AGAIN. 18TH So.

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" E AGAIN. s. 1.
Letter from y. CSzHalkcr. Is h,qersoll
an Atheist Olious. Coom,astock
Lo,0-Lts Total Repeal Demanded. :
| FLORENCE, Iowa, Oct. 4th 1879.
EDITOR ADVANCE: In your issue of
Sept. 25th, under the heading of the
Liberal Convention, you says:
Neither is he (IngersolD an Atheist,
although he rejects SUPERSTITION. anv
more than Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Paine were Athe-
lists. ct. ...,,.. ~.>-s-, :s.>,s.
did not suppose that at this late day
any Liberal could be found who would
deny to Col. Ingersoll the honorable IT,
tie of Atheist. Certainly he is an Athe-
ist if there is one in the world. AS CO
Paine, Franklin and Jefferson, your
statement is certainly correct. They
were not Atheists, but Deists. Col.
1ngersoll himself says Of Paine:
Paine was splendidly in. advance of
his time, but he was orthodox compar-
ed with the Infidels of to-day.
Let any one who doubts the fact of
hgersoll's Atheism read 1.-The Gods. ~
or almost any one of his lectures and he
will become convinced that he is as
pronounced All Atheist as Charles Brad
laugh, Annie Besant, Ludwig Freucr-
bach, Louis Birchner, Elmina Slenker,
Charles Southern, B. F. Underwood
and thousands of other good men and
women.
AS to those bigots who are bowling
about the Cincinnati Convention being
controlled by Atheists, Free Lovers and
Communists it is sufficient to say that
they do not know what any of those
terms mean. The term "Atheist" has
ceased to brighten sensible people, and
the time is not far distant when the Or
binary reformer will neither faint nor
grow red with rage should any one
chance to call him eithera Communist
or 4 Free Lover. For our own part,
we are certain that there were not
enough Social Freed"mists in the Con-
gross Of the League, or those resolu-
tions relating to the Comstock Postal
Law would have had more ''sund'' i'll
them.
So long rs that law remains upon the
statute books, bigoted and ignorant
judges and juries will use it to crush
unpopular thought. That law is neither
constitutional nor right. We must de-
MAJ d its Immediate, unconditiona. and
total repeal. At prese.t, the League is
occupying Mr.. Abbott's position of last
year. But it cannot stop there long.
The enemy will drive it from that
ground and it will be forced to advance
and retaSe the position so ably Defend
ed last year by Messrs. Wakeman. L.
land and others, or, better still, come
forward aud stand side by side with
Haywood and Tucker.
E. $. WALKER.
We certainly agree with Mr.. Walker
about the repeal OF the internal. inquis-
itorial Comstock Postal law, which was
engineered through Congress by Com
stock and his co-Satans for the very
purpose of entrapping and imprisoning
Liberal men and women. That WAS
the one paramount, if not the sole, Oh
ject OF Tie lnquisition, and the bead
Devil Comstock, boosted that the Truth
Seeker would b. suppressed anil that
then the Banner OF Light and other
journals would follow.
AS to Col. Ingersn!l's Atheism, we
suppose the dispute, if there is any, is
about terms, for, as Wlately says in
his Logic, nearly all our disputes are H.
bout the meaning Of terms. For exam-
pie, we believe in an Intelligent Power
at the Il: I'D and ut the bottom Of the
Universe. Our definition OF God is, The
Bottom Fact. Call it Law, Force, God,
Deity, Supreme Being, or what you will,
but the human race il, all ages has been
nearly unanimous rs to the e1istence ct
such a Power, while we have quarreled.
fought, cut Threats, burned each other
ut the stake, and done everything wick
I'd because we could not agree us to the
name, or the mode IF action, or the
purposes. Of this Infinite Power.
SIX PERSONS ~ y. I Is TRANCE THREE
The Rev. $. 7. Galbrith, local
preacher of the NJ. j.. Church, vino
came here from Ireland last spring, a,'l
who has been preaching in this county
since that time, related last SATURDAY..
in Jones, the merchant tailor's store, to
the editorsof the Lemars papers occur
rences which, he said, transpired in
Elkhorn township on last SUNDAY,
Monday, and Tuesday, and which are
very singular. to say tile least OF it.
lie left Il. J. Cambtil's Sunday NOR
ming OH horseback, for the purpose of
filling his appointments. and proceeded
to .. Iligday's in Elklnrn. Here he
found five persons in all, comprising
two men aid thr women, in Il state
ct great spiritual eleyatio In Il short
time they fell OH the floor. and he, tora
sifZe.i by tie same fascination, sooi. fol-
lowed. lie laid in trance. during
which he had the most ecstatic visions.
In few hours the six persons recover
ell their consciousness, and each learn
ed that the other had been blessed will,
heavenly visions. One Of the sisters be-
gan prophrsyina, and told the band that
they must remain there for three days
and three nights without Other food
thar she Should he directed to permit.
They all again fell on the flo n in II
trance that continued till ,n;dnirI,t
when they again awoke. In one corner
of the room, near the ceiling, they saw
II large, bright and beautiful star. and
lights passed to and fro through, the
room. One Of the sisters began singing
the doxology toa new tune, one She had
heard while i'll the trance, and all the
others, 10y an instinct, sang the differ
ent p'rts, making the most delightful
M9l0IV eual lt.:lrll