The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1879-01-28
IN0ERSOLL'S BOOK.
from the Boouvi,le Weekly Topic.


Mr. Editor: The following review of one @
IngersoiI's books has q history which. indep~n
dent OF its merits. NAV interest many Of you
readers. The .uthor, James Rollins Bingham, d
a pupil Of the kemper Family school. and wroi
IL N 4 summer when not yet seventeen years old
In - truly HE own production HI> fsther t'en
Bingham the artist. seeing HIM reading inger
soils book entitled The Gods, and o,he
Lectures advised him not TO read the work al
more mature Years should prepare HIM 60 JUDI
wisely 81 IFS merits. The boy replied. "Ihs
hook cannot hnrt me. 1 can answer II An
:his is his answer composed without snR:esno'
from parent or teacher. r. j. h.
CHANGED not many weeks ago Il
peruse a work of which / had heard 8
great deal. it was a small volume and
bore upon its back the title Of 'Ths
Gods and other Lectures" by Robert
j. Ingersoll. The author is well known
as the leading infdel Of today. and
by his seductive tongue and seeming
" plausible reasoning. has caused
doubts TO enter the minds of many
persons, and especially the minds Of
young persons, who are always easy
to be influenced.
On the first few pages the lecturer
evidently endeavors to prove the non
existence Of a deity. although he is
not bold enough to come TO the front
and make the assertion, instead how
ever, he says that all nations have
had god, and each god differed in
asmuch as the various nations were
unlike, for instance, a commercial
nation would have commercial god.
a warlike nation a warlike god, a
cultivated nation a refined god I; OF
conrse all this means that these gods
we're merely the natures of the people
worked out, and hence these deities
existed only in the imaginations of
their creators. At first glance this
indeed seems to be true, but in reality
nothing is more false. 1t is evident
that long ago all nations were one.
there was but one language spoken
upon the globe. the similarity of the
different languages spoken now upon
the earth is abundant proof of this.
The Sanskrit in India is remarkably
similar to the Latin and Greek, the
Chinese have words derived from
roots which are evidently allied to
the same. In every language how
ever balbarous, some words can be
found which betray their origin. any
eminent linguist will tell you the
same story. This body of primitive
men must have inhabited the same
nothing is more natural than
this, since they spoke the same
language. The Bible says that this
land was the plain of Shinar, that is,
Mesopotamia. The traditions of
various nations give some foundation
tor this. Hindoos say they came
from the North; the Chinese say
hey came from the West; and
nearly every tribe and nation extant
have traditions somewhat similar.
The Bible also gives an account of
their separation that they did
separate is fact too we'll known to
admit of doubt. Various bodies Of
people moved in different directions
and settled in lands dissimilar in
every respect, some Of course re-
in their primitive country.
Now does it require any stretch of
he reasoning faculties TO believe that
hese hOrdes settling in countries SO
lew and strange. should gradually
ldapt themselves to their surround
ngs. that their language already
confused at Babel should in the
course of ages become so changed as
Utmost to lose every trace of former
imilarity, and that the worship Of
he deity, in the first place pure and
indebted, should gradually become.
m account Of the absence Of teachers,
corrupted with a thousand forms and
bsurd iancies? But every tribe on
he face of this earth, savage or bar
'arous, enlightened or civilized. has
eligion. and the prime feature of
ach religion is that there is one God,
upreme. the ruler of all Others, the
reator. the lord of the univers. This |
rod is the God of the Christians and
one other. Mr.. Ingersoll may prob
bly, ask why this God. who is so wise
nd far seeing, should allow his
eligion to he corrupted and almost
bliterated by the wear and tear of
every one of any wisdom
all knows that even the workings
{ the human mind cannot be &C
ounted for, and in attempting to
xplain the workings of an intellect
, immeasurably superior to our own, i
e are far below the ignorant African
no attempts to grasp the mighty
lans of a Bismarck or Disraeli.
Men are not prone to believe in
lings that never we're and never will
:, and human brains can conceive of
,thing which their surroundings do
1t indicate, then if there is no such
ling as a God, if he never gave any
dication of his existence, and he
an imaginary being, which he is 6
,t, where could this idea of a deity 4,
I'VE crept into the minds of men! [
! the earliest times men believed in Z
e existence of a deity, and this fact =
itself is one Of the stronghOlds Of i
ligion. u
The character of this being, who !
only our nature worked out, and q
ly an imaginary deity existing in e
If minds. is the subject of attack i
ter Mr.. Ingersoll has endeavored to q
owe his non-existence. In the first
ace customs, laws and feelings now =
lays are very different from their e
ndition in past times We have q
shed ourselves TO a much higher a
gree of civilization than was ever s.
joyed before, and kindIier feelings a
We taken the place OF those passions 81
itch moved the ancient IsraeIites I
nee very different laws and examples G
re used in the government of those {
MONT frihas than uould lso v,ut :cto ~