St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-09-17
Ingersoll and Moody.

WHAT THE VENERABLE THURLOW WEED
OF NEW YORK SAYS ABOUT THE TWO
MEN.
Men entertaining infidel opinions for
the past twenty or more years, and un
til the appearance of Robert G.. Inger-
soil, have seldom obtruded themselves
upon the public. There is nothing in
the manner or matter of modern divines
either to provoke or invite antagonism:
Clergymen do not, as formerly, dwell
and linger upon the dark features of
theology. Nothing is now heard of the
fate of ''infants not a span long" The
ministry of our day is a ministry of
peace, charity and goodwill. This
generation learns to love and serve
rather than to dread and distrust our
Creator, our Saviour. Whatever grounds
existed formerly to tempt scoffers and
revileTs, the religion of our time dis
arms and silences unprejudiced criti-
cism.
Col. Ingersoll, whom do not know,
has the reputation of being gentleman
of education, with a well stored mind
and attractive personal manners, who
speaks fluently and eloquently. A man
thus gifted can do much good, but
much more evil, according to the prin
ciples espoused and the line of conduct
marked out for himself. Col. Inger-
soil, it seems, upon his entrance into
active life, chose the left instead of the
right pathway, and becomes a reviler
of, instead of believer in, religion
which has been making the world bet
ter and happier for almost nineteen
centuries. Without questioning Col.
IngersOlPs sincerity, or impugning his
motives, l am persuaded that if half
the time and labor expended in fOrtify
ing himself with arguments against rell-
giOn had been devoted to an Intelligent
and impartial consideration of the evi
dences establishing its truths, the coun
try would have had instead of a reviler
gifted follower of him whose mission,
labors and character, viewed merely
from q worldly standpoint, inspire ad-
miration, affection and gratitude. Is it
not, therefore, painful to see men rich
ly endowed perverting their gifts, mis-
using their talents, in presumptiOus re-
vikings and ribald jestings against a
Creator and Savior from whom every
earthly bounty and blessing emenate7
No act of the Savior's life and no
word he ever uttered has been or can
be construed or tortured into hostility
to the welfare and happiness of every
member of the human family. Human
laws are founded upon the divine law.
All that concerns our happiness here
and our hopes of happiness hereafter is
derived from the Scriptures. On the
other hand, what has infdelity done
for US Who profits by its teachings ?
After depriving its followers of their
belief in future, how does it compen
safe them What does it offer in ex-
change for life of immortality If,
for example, Col. Ingersoll was sum-
moned to the bedside of dying friend
or relative, what words of comfort or of
hope could he offer Of what service
could he be to that stricken friend {?
| Would he aggravate the sufferings of
one whose last hours needed soothing
by telling him there was nothing but
the cold, dark grave awaiting him
This cruel theory is repelled not only
ture. Nature is instinct with evidences
and confirmation of the truths of reve-
lation. The vegetable and floral world
only die to live again. The products of
the earth live and die annually. The
buried acorn reproduces the living oak.
And yet infdelity insists that man, the
image of his Creator, wonderfully en-
dowed and gifted, under whose auspi
ces the world has been enlightened,
elevated and adorned, is after brief
existence to be as though he had never
been. Contrast the labors of Voltaire
and Paine with those of John Wesley.
Can it be said with truth that the for
mer two made any one better or hap
pier? Hundreds of thousands of the
followers of John Wesley have lived
and died, and other hundreds of thou
sands survive, rejoicing in their con-
version from sinful to Christian life.
The memory of Wesley is everywhere
cherished by the good and the pure,
while Voltaire and Paine are only re-
membered for the evil rather than the
good they did.
If it is urged that the promises of the
Savior have not all been realized, that
sin still abounds and that the world is
as bad as ever, it may be answered that
religion is working out its mission that
the benign influences are constantly ex-