Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-07-19
INGERS0LL UNHORSED.
JUDGE JERE BLACKS PLEA FOR
CHRISTIANITY.
A Mastery VIndieatEOD-The Bold
Infidel Attacked, Beaten In Detail
and VanquIshed-AT Trumpet Blast
of EIoquence.
Baltimore Sun.


soil on the Christian religion, and the reply
to Ingersoll by Judge Black. 1t need scarce
| lY be said that Ingersoll makes the strongest
presentation Of the case that the side which
he takes will admit of, while Judge Blacks
| defense of the Christian religion, like
all his controversial papers, is written
in that vigorous and mastery style
in which he has few rivals and nc
superior. Col. Ingersoll's motto is: "In
the presence of eternity the mountains are
as transient as the Clouds" whilst Judge
Black flies this quotation from the Merchant
of Venice: "Gratiano speaks an infinite deal
of nothing-more than any man In Venice
his reasons are as two grains Of wheat hid
in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all
day ere you find them, and when you have
them they are not worth the search"
THE CAUSE AND THE ADVOCATE.
Mr.. Ingersoll is not, Judge Black says, as
some have estimated him, the most fOrmida-
BILE enemy that Christianity has encountered
since the time of Julian the Apostate. But
he stands at the head Of living infidels "by
| merit raised to that bad eminence." His
which fit for such place. He is all imagi-
nation and no discretion. He rises some
times into region of wild poetry, where he
can color everything to suit himself. His
motto well expresses the character Of his ar
gumentatioD: Mountains are as unstable as
clOuds;' fancy is as good as a fact, and a
high sounding period is rather better than
logical demonstration. His inordi-
nate self. confidence makes him at once
'ntro Ha Uoo taal
politician before he "took the stump against
Christianity" and at all times has proved
his capacity to "eplit the ears of the ground
lings" and make the unskillful laugh. The
| article before US is the least Objectionable of
all his productions. It's style is higher and
better suited to the weight of the theme.
Here the violence of his fierce invective is
moderated; his scurrility gives place to an
attempt at sophistrY less shocking If not
more true, and his coarse jokes are either
excluded altogether or else yelled in the de-
cent obscurity of general terms. Such a
paper from such man, at time like the
present, is not wholly unworthy of a grave
contradiction.
He makes certain charges which we an
swer by an explicit denial, and thus an issue
is made, upon which, as a pleader would
say, we 'put ourselves upon the country" +"
He AYERS that a certain something called
ODLlSbidhilf 10 a ldloC IdItu ILlpO66u Ou bJt
world without evidence; that the facts it
pretends to rest on are mere inventions;
that its doctrines are perniciOus; that its re-
quirements are unreasonable, and that it's
sanctions are cruel. | deny all this, and as
sert on the contrary that its doctrines are
divinely revealed; its fundamental facts In
contestably proved; its morality perfectly
free from all taint of error, and its influence
most benefcent upon society in general, and
oil ind MI ala L, ~ n r,oIzo
it their rule of action. l want decision
upon sound judicial principles.
Mr.. Ingersoll's first specification against
Christianity is the belief of its disciples
''that there is personal God, the Creator
of the material universe" Ii God made
the world, 1t was most stupendous mira
Gle, and all miracles, according to Mr.. In
gersoll's idea, are ''the children Of meIdacl-
ty." To admit the one great miracle of
creation would be an admission that other
miracles are at least probable, and that
would ruin his whole case. But you eau
not catch the leviathan of atheism with a
hook. The universe, he says, is na.ural-it
came into being OF its own accord, it made
its own laws at the start, and afterward i'm
proved itself considerably by spontaneous
evolution. 1t would be a mere waste of
time and space to enumerate the proofs
which show that the universe was created
by pre- existent and self conscious Being,
of power and wisdom to us inconceivable
The notion that all things owe their origin
and their harmonious arrangement to the
fortuitous concurrence OF atoms is a kind of
lunacv which very few men in these days
are afflicted with.
But Mr.. IUgerSoll asserts that, at all
events, this material world had not a good
and beneficent Creator; It is a bsd. savage,
cruel piece of work, with It's pestilences,
storms, ar'hquakes and volcanoes; and
man, with his liability to sickness, suffering
and death, is not success, but, on the con-
trary, failure. To defend the Creator of
the world against an arraignlnent so foul as
this would be almost as unbec3ming as to
make the accusation. Meantime we do not
discredit our mental independence by taking
1t for granted that the Supreme Being has
done all things we'll Oar ignorance of the
whole scheme makes us poor critics upon
the small part that comes within our limited
perceptions.
OBJECTIONS TO MOSAIC Law.
Dsmissing 10 scathing words Colonel
Iugersell's charge against the moral code,
Judge Black aludes to his structures on the
civil code of the Jews, which Ingersoll pro-
nounces go bad and unjust that the law
giver by whom 1t was established must have
been as savagely cruel as the Creator that
made storms and pestllences; and the work
III UOtu WAS uOIC WOEtu1 VI utFi IMAM
God: His language is recklessy bad, very
defective in method, and altogether lacking
in precision. l find four objections to the
Jewish cOnstitution-nOt more than four
which are defnite enough to admit OF an
answer. These relate to the provisions of the
Mosaic law on the subjects of ID Bias
phemy and Idolatry; ~ War; ~ Slavery;
(4) Polygamy. In these respects he pro-
nouDces the Jewish system not only unwise,
but crIminally unjust"
appeal from his profane malediction to
the conscience of men who have q rule to
judge by. First, be regards the punishments
IL fl cled for blasphemy and idolatry as be-
ing immediately cruel. Considering them
merely as religious offenses--as sins against
God slope-I agree that civil laws should
notice them not st all. But sometimes
they aft ct very irjuriously certain social
rights which 1t is the duty Of the State to
protect. Wantonly to shock the religious
feelings of your neighbor is grieyous wrong
To utter blasphemy or obscenity Ia the
presence of a Christian woman is hardly
better than to strike her In the face. Still,
neither policy nor justice requires them to
be ranked among the highest crimes In a
government constituted like ours. But
things were wholly different under the jew
ish theocracy, where God was the personal
head Of the State. There blasphemy was
breach OF political allegiance: idolatry was
an overt act of treason; to worship the gods
of the hostile heather was deserving to the
public enemy and giving him aid AID COM
fort
Is GOD TYRANT?
Mr.. Ingersoll not only ignores these con-
siderations, but he goes the length of call
ing God a religious prosecutor and tyraut
because He does not encourage and reward
the service and devotion paid by His
enemies to the false gods OF the pagan
world. He proposes to believe that all
kinds of worship are equally metitorious,
and should meet the same acceptance from
the trne God. 1t is almost incredible that
such drivel as this should be uttered by
anybody.
"a CARNIvoRoUs AMERICAN FULL OF BEEF"
As to the sacrifcial solemnifies of the
Jewish religion and their manner of making
war, "the killing of those animals was,n he
says, "a terrible systemn a Shedding of
innocent blood" shocking to a refined
and sensitive soul" There Is such depth
Of tenderness IN this feeling and such
splendor of refinement that | give up with
out struggle to the superiority Of the man
who merely processes 1t. A carnivorous
American, full Of beef and mutton, who
mourns with indignant sorrow because bulls
nd q. b la t. Id Al