The daily gazette., 1880-05-22

ert Ingersoll, aping St. Simon, the
French humbug and precepter of
Comte, who declared that he had
"proved the decreptitude of all exist
ing religion" and counselled his disci-
pies to organize a new religion-St.
SimonIsm. Mr.. Ingersoll, with roars
of laughter and torrents of Jest, tells
us the Bible is fabrication and Chris
tianity is no more. He proposes to
leave in its place-Ingersollism
We will imagine Christianity swept
from the world-every vestige of it.
That is what Ingersollism demands.
The observance of day of rest being
intimately associated with Christiani-
ty, it must, of course, be abolished.
every trace of it, and the day must
stand a work day on the calendar.
The fundamental principles of morali-
ty having been preserved in their COM
plete and literal form IN the Christian
Scriptures, they must, of course, fol-
low the Sunday holiday. Churches
and theological seminaries and church
hospitals must, of course, be blotted
out, being auxiliary to Christianity.
OF course, i'll the new Ingersollian Or
der of things, the Christian literature
must be destroyed. 1t will not do to
have vestige of the absurd delusion
left. Prayer being superstltious act
stringent laws must be enacted against
it. We have no knowledge of what
Mr.. Ingersoi will substitute for Chris
tIanity when he gets it swept away
and has tabula rasa before him. He
does not seem to fraternize with the
Theosophs, and seems to object to the
existence of anything claiming to be a
deity in the universe. 1t is possible
that Mr.. Ingersoll may find it incon.
venient and somewhat hazardous to
exclude religion from the world, and
he may permit people to fall back on
the Rig-veda, the Yagur-veda and the
Atharva-veda, and some of the more
extensive religious literature of the
Brahmanas, which Professor Max
Muller regards as subversive of the
records on which judaism and Chris
tianity are founded, but which ripe
Sanskrit scholars have discovered to
possess an antiquity not dating back
of the fourteenth century before the
Christian era.
The prayer, hymns, ritual ipjunctIons,
| CbCs, III tuCoO DOOho lCbdlu bOO
much of a recognition of the verify oi
the supernatural, and the rubrics pre-
scribe too much alteration aud sacrifice
to the delties. The priest played an
important part in the Hindoo religion,
and as priest are the detestation of Mr.
Ingersoll we do not see what of the old
or pagan religions he can substitute fol
Christianity. He might. like Comte
invent an elaborate religion and worship
of the collective Great Being" o
which man is a member. This is ex
Guiding the superstition of Christi
anity promptly enough to su it Mr.. In
gersoll' He can not possibly do bette
| than Auguste Comte, and it is general,
conceded that what Comte invente
less han half century ago, with sue
painstaking and enthusiasm, has perish
| ed utterly. "The idea of any theolog
: cal being whatever" said Comte, 81
> henceforth useless hypothesis" Th
plan to substitute humanity for thi
r theological being did not work at al
} The world wanted god, and 1t woul
> have one. Christendom had possessed
, its Christ for eighteen centuries, with in
finite satisfaction, and it would not pal
with that Christ.
Mr.. Ingersoll makes the same ar
nouncement and demand that Cont
4 did. We think he is receiving the sam
reply which Comte received. The "de
lusion" seems to have a strong hold ol
= large number of The most civilized AM
progressive people in the world. Pei
haps Mr.. Ingersoll and his co-laborer
would have more success among tn
races who have not yet emerged iron
: savagery, and whose minds are infantil
= and plastic. Let them apply the posi
s Twist altrulsm on these weaker brethren
= They may possibly capture them, but
J., will require good deal Of talking t
: convince the world, or any considerab
= part of it, that it must worship the me
9 aphyscal entity the Ingersollian reform
g ers call the collective great being
T. which is humanity.