Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-19
Christianity and Ingersolism.

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 Christianity and Ingersolism. | What Christianity Has Done for the | World-A Challenge to Liberalism. Hon. Thurlow Weed has addressed the fol- \ ing letter to the editor of the New York Her ! aEd:
 | Men entertaining inidel opinions. for the ! last twenty or more years, and until the ap ! pearance of Robert G. Ingersoll, have seldom obtruded themselves upon the public. There | is nothing in the manner matter of mod 1 ern divines either to provoke or invite antag l onism. Clergymen do not, as formerly, dwell ! and finger upon the dark features of theolo- \ gy. Nothing is now heard of the fate of 'sin- ! fants not a span long" The ministry of our | day is ministry of peace, charity, and good will. This generation learns to love and serve rather than to dread and distrust Creator and our Saviour. Whatever grounds | CTS, the religion of our time disarms and si- fences unprejudiced criticism.
 Colonel Ingersoll, whom do not know, has | the reputation of being gentleman of edu- cation, with well-stored mind and attractive | personal manners, who speaks huently and | eloquently. A man thus gifted can do much ! good, but much more evil, according to the principles espoused and the line of conduct marked out for himself. Colonel Ingerson, it seems, upon his entrance into active life chose the left instead of the right pathway, and becomes a reviler of instead of believ- CT in, religion which has been making the world wiser, better, and happier for almost nineteen centuries. Is it not painful to see men richly endowed perverting their gifts, misusing their talents in presumptuous revil ings and ribald jestings against Creator and Savior from whom every earthly bounty and blessing emanate i?
 No act of the Saviour's life and no word He ever uttered has been or can be construct ed or tortured into hostility to the welfare and happiness of every member of the human family. Human laws arc 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 a future how does it compensate them? What does it offer in exchange for a life of immortality? If, for example, Colonel Ingersou should be sum-
 moned to the bedside of a dying friend or
 relative, what words of comfort or of hope
 c uld 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 nothing
 but the cold, dark grave awaiting him :? This cruel theory is repelled not only by revelation
 but by the laws of nature. Contrast the la-
 bors of Voltaire and Paine with those of John Wesley. Can it be said with truth that the former two made any one happier or better2
 Hundreds of thousands of the followers of
 John Wesley have lived and died and other
 hundreds of thousands survive, rejoicing in their conversion from a sinful to Christian life. The memory of Wesley is everywhere
 cherished by the good and the pure while
 Voltaire and Paine are only remembered for the evil rather than for the good they did. Infidels of all ages found their strongest ar
 guments against revealed religion upon what
 they regard as improbable. And yet we are
 not called on to believe anything more in comprehensible than our own existence. We
 might with about the same degree of reason
 deny this fact as to refuse to believe in a fu-
 ture existence. We know that we live in this
 world. Is it unreasonable to believe that we
 may live in another world If we are to be-
 lieve nothing but what we understand, we
 should go through life incredulous and aim
 less We ready enough to believe on in
 formation the things that relate to this world
 But we are slow to believe in prophecy and
 revelation, though both are corroborated by
 observation, experience, and events. Infdel-
 ity, claiming superiority in ''reason' and
 common sense, asks us to believe that all of
 grandeur and sublimity, all of vastness and
 power in the beautiful heavens and upon the
 bountiful earth comes by chance that every
 thing is self-created and lf-existing, and
 that law, order, and harmony are accidents.
 Those who accept this theory would find it's
 application to their business affairs anything
 but advantageous Infdelity and conmu-
 nisn are kindred in character, and aim by diff
 ferent methods to undermine the sanctions
 and securities upon which the world welfare
 and happiness rest. InfideGty strikes at
 ligion, communism at property. One seeks
 to weaken our faith, and the other demands
 the savings of the industrious and frugal.
 Agrarianism Communism of milder type)
 came to us some forty years ago from Eng
 land, with Fanny Wright and Robert Dale
 Owen as its apostles. This bad element has
 been reinforced by communism from France and Germany. All three working out their destructive mission in city where un- happily they find cooperation and sympathy. To these birds of ill omen comes infidelity equally aggressive, with Robert G. Ingerso1 as it's teacher. If it be said that, unlike the communistic leaders, NIT. Ingersoll is ''gen- tleman and @ scholar'' the danger is thereby intensified. The wonder is@why a man of good character and associations should take pleasure in teaching whose practical effect is to make his hearers and readers worse in- stead of better citizens The strongest argu- ment urged against Christianity, from the days of Voltaire and Paine, is that bad men make profession of it; that hypocrites are found in all our churches. This is true. But it is not equally true that everything intrin- sically valuable gets debased. Frauds are
 practiced in business. The richest fabrics have their limitations. Gold and silver coins are debased and counterfeited The evils, however, resulting from impositions of this nature were serious The intelligence of our people and the penalties to which the offend CTS are subjected afford adequate protection, and for one hypocrite who makes false pro- fession there are at least nine conscientious, devoted Christians. Another argument against religion is that our Saviour was an impostor and that as a corollary his teachings exert baneful influence. And yet both the accusations disproved by the experience of ,, 900 years. If Jesus of Nazareth had been an impostor His name and everything connected with it would hardly have survived the second generation. There would then have been no occasion for the labors of Vol taire, Paine, or Ingersou. Other and num- erous false teachers have appeared and disap- peared but time and truth have been attest ing the divinity of our Saviour. His apos- ties and their successors, in obedience to in- structions, have carried and carrying glad tidings to the uttermost ends of the earth As far and as fast as this gospel travels the world is civilized and its inhabitants benefit ed.
 Civilization and it's beneicent institutions abound by the religion which our Saviour in- structed his apostles to preach to the heath en. Geographical lines are not more dis tinctly established than those which mark the progress of missionaries; and, while religious light brightens the Christian world, the rays dawn upon the darkest portions of the earth. What have the doctrines of Confucius, Mo hammed and other false teachers done for their followers but to hold them for centu- ries in ignorance and barbarian ?
 And now invite Mir. Ingersoll or any of his followers to inform the public how and to what extent they have proited by his mission ary labors in this city, whatsssalutary reforms he has inaugurated or even suggested, or in what manner and to what extent he has con- tributed to the general welfare or happiness of his fellow citizens.
 The Increase Accounted For.
 From the Augusta (Ga.l Chronicle.l
 But when all is said and done, the East and West need not be unduly excited. The ex- plation of Southern increase is palpable one and we have already stated it. The people of this section, as a mass, Q virtuous race. They obey the spiritual mandate to in- crease and multiply. They either have not learned the more than Eleusinian mysteries of the East or West, or they do not practice them. The Southern people havelarge fami- lies and they are proud of the many sons and that grow up around them. They know nothing of Malthus or Robert Dale Owen, or Bradlaugh or Mrs. Annie Besant, or if thav have any auoh knoxvIadoa # ic