Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-05-21

! 1.-THE party that claims all the brains, all the
virtues. and most OF the offices in this coan-
/; try"
ton OF Christianity has nothing to do with
them"
We'll, perhaps you are right, my dear. but
| IL might not be wise to say so. The Christian
statesmen are not all dead yet"
say again that 1t is sin and shame to
Ibis city that large audience Of respectable
tend lectures Ike those given at Booths The.
afer and the Academy by an avowed and bias
hhemous nadeL declare. I'll never enter the
Don't be rash, my dear. This Is free city
and free country. An American citizen is al
lowed liberty OF speech and an American au-
diepce liberty of hearing"
YES, but not blasphemy."
But suppose they believe with the bias.
"But they cannot 1t is impossible. They
his lectures? ?" -
| II looked at it."
| "And what did you think OF it7,
y! Thought 1t remarkably silly
| and did you read the replies 2"
~ Looked at then."
markedly Silly AZ
John. how can you talk so?n
| Because / think so. They were silly. Az
replies they were no replies at all. The whole
thing is mistake
| u
tngersol. lngersoll is ready, quick witted
! speaker. He knows the average American audi
ence to its finger tips: He knows just how,
| He knows that there Is always more or less of a
| secret instinct IN man to break his gods. LAUGH
at the priests"
JOIN, are men and women-Chrlstian men
:. Men and women are men and women, and
1t IS and always Will be their nature 10 rebel
| against restraint. We are surrounded on ali
| sid bound down, chained In by the bonds of
IsstralnI visible or Invisible, from the cradle to
the grave The man who strives to break those
chains viii always have his followers for the
moment at least"
have I?' '0N'
Happy woman never to have found tho,,
out!' o Ao1A0 'ne"
"But how am restrained?n
well you can't indulge In the luxury OF two
husbands, for instance"
Nor in the more expensive luxury OF two
wives" VI WV
"You shouldn't talk in that way
"That Is an instance of restraint Tnere are
thousands OF others all around Us Well, what
sense? Nothing else but our common Christi
anity. Other religions allow multiplicity OF
wives. The old Jewish dispensation allowed it.
the moral code that inspires and holds II to.
only end" "no Will
"End?"
when Colonel IngersolI has succeeded IN
ggib66e1ting it to the same tree on which Christ
~ very much fear that Colonel 1nperso,, Will
find himself In another place before that hap.
pens"
"Mr. !Dgersoll thinks differently, my dear.
Ihat other place again Is restraint against
which the Colonel kicks vigorously he doesn'e
believe in hell
"a fellow-feeling makes US wondrous kind.
ana the wish Is fatner to the thought"
=, Wen, he Is attacking Christianity, because
say, IN that form OF Christianity In which he
was brought up. He believes 1t was q sham
ana raise system; cruel marsh. hypocrltical.
through the world and through life he has en-
countered many another who has gone through
tne same phase OF religious distlluslon. So
prophet OF the new dispensation to free men
from this thraldom. And
''Well-and?"
"And he finds 1t pays.
., Yes nice way OF making money. BY spit.
Ting IN the face OF the cruclned Saviour
my dear. don't know that IngersoI regards
IL IN that light. BE probably thinks that Christ
himself was the victim OF the very falsehoOis
against which he is now striking, and don't
him In this"
John, how can you say so2'
"Well, 1t is certain at least that Christ was
crucifed. and crucifled at the instance OF the
priests OF his day and race, This object was. as
ne saio not to destroy their religion but to build
IL up; NOW, men who consider themselves In
told that their religion needs altering or build
lDg up or fulfilling. So Christ was regarded as
was condemned to death. He was stealins S the
hearts and the faith OF the people from the
priests"
"Wei?"
great miracle. The death Of Christ was the
birth OF Christianity, OF the social and reli-
gious 81 stem that was destined ever after to
rule, II not TO possess, the world. Empire after
empire. race after race, through nineteen cen
turtles, have been subjugated by the sign of the
cross and by faith In Christ the Redeemer Ia
facts OF Christ's tirth, death. resurrection, and
on the words that came from His mouth and
were committed to those He chose to be His
apcss5es was b ROUNDED into po system
consisting of men through all the ages and |
consequently mixed up Ia human affairs 1t
necessarily came TO be 9esmirched often and de. |
filed often, within ana without. There are |
many dark and foul stains upon its BODY, and it |
Is ansWerable for much evil. Great revolts |
even and tearings away and eruptions have at |
men like 1ngerson find their opportunity of
attack, ana ample opportunity. It is not the |
part OF Christian aPologists to try to explain |
occurred In the history OF the Christian church.
Quite the contrary. It should be theirs TO de- |
cry and stamp such things with their condem
ooAoAA Aoc SHOy AoVO w uV ID W AO0P GlcI l
eyes and hearts fast on the clear teachings ct !
Christ, which have never failed. have never |
been lost to the Church, though they have |
sailed These are what constitute the life and |
soul Of Christianity. What does 1t matter to |
Christians whether Voltaire or Tom Paine |
were good or bad men? That is the concern
chiefly Of Voltaire or Tom Paine. It would |
matter very much however, If Col IngersoII
could take up the Ten Commandment and |
prove to the satisfaction of an American
audience that one or all OF them were absurd
and wrong and unreasonable; or that the Ser
mon on the Mount or the words OF the Our
Father we're the utterances OF a knave or q |
fool.n
II see; 1t is Christ he should assail II he |
would prove his point; not Christians"
Precisely SO; -, TO say that the Christian
BODY through all its life past and to come has |
from Pope to parsoB, Is simply to say that It Is
composed here on earth OF very weak human |
beings always liable to 60 wrong and do |
wrong. But their doing and going wrong |
hardly comes from obeying the Ten Command |
ments, or believing In the Sermon on the Mount, |
or devoutly saying the Our Father. And here |
Is Ingere0lls weakness. He makes 1ippant |
attacks on acknowledged weak spots In the |
human side Of the Christian church, attacks |
that are only puny echoes translated into |
smart stump oratory OF some OF the attacks OF |
very able men. There are. to be sure. mys- |
ter1ee In Christian teaching. the Trinity, for |
instance, and mysteries they VIII always ne. |
main on this side OF the grave. But are mys. |
terieS confined to religious teaching? We |
live and move q daily life OF mystery