The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-01-26

SOIL, THE CHAMPION BLASTIiE5ER OF
AMERICA, ANSWERED.
TEXT-Ephesian iy, IS: Having the
understanding daTkened, being alien
ated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them"
1t seems from what we have recently
heard that the Christian religion is a
huge blundeT; that the Mosaic account
of the creation is an absurdity large
enough to set the nations into TOlliek-
ing guffaw; that Adam and Eve never
existed; that the deluge and the ark
were impOssibilities; that there never
has been a miracle; that the Bible is the
friend of cruelty, of murder, of pOlyg-
amy, of adultery, of all the baser crimes;
that religion is wOman's tyTant and
mans qualification; that the Bible from
lid to lid is an impOsture, a fable,
| humbug, sham, lie; that the martyrs
| who died for its truths were dupes; that
| the Church of God is fool; that Thomas
| Carlyle, the skeptic, when he admitted
| the Bible to be noble book, was getting
! imbecie; that it must have been by
| some weakness when Theodore Parker,
| the iniidel, admitted it in Music Hall,
| Boston. There is not boy or girl all
| Christendum through but theii life is
made better by this great book that it
| is something to make every patriot
| blush when John Adams, the father of
American Independence, declared THE
| Bible the best book in the world" and
| liun-hearted Andrew Jackson became a
-uiyeilug coward when he declared
/ "luaG book sir, is the rock on whi h
| our Republic rests" and Daniel Web
| ster forgot his logic, and abdiCated his
! throne of intellectual power, and from
! beng the great eXpOunder Of the Con-
! StitutiOn and the great American law
| yer, turned himself into an idiot when
| he said, My heart has always assured
| and rpaSSured me that the Gospel of Je
| suS Christ must be divine reality, and
| from the time that at my mothers feet,
! or my fathers knee, | first learned to
lisp verses from the sacred writings
they have been my daily study and Wig
liant contemplation, and if there is
anything in my style that is to be conf
mended the credit is due to my kind
parents in instilling into my mind
real love of the Scriptures" that William
III. Seward, the diplOmatist of the centu-
ry, only showed himself puerile when
he declared ''The whole cf human pro-
! gress is suspended on the eyer-gTOwing
| influence of the Bible;" that it Is Wi5est
for us to take the Bible from its throne
| i'm the affections of uncOunted millions
| and put it under our feet to be tramp
led ON with scOrn and kissing contempt;
that your father was hoodwinked, and
cheated, and befOCled when his hair
white, and his hands tTemulOus, he
leaned on this staff, when his steps
shortened as he was about to stop his
earthly Journeys and that your mother
| sat with pack Of miSrepresen atiOns
on her lap in those days when reading
of the better world, and the end of all
her aches and pains, and the reunion
under SUMMER skies with you, the chill
dren who stood around her, and more
1 she had buried with infinite heart
break, so that she could read 10 more
s until she took off her spectacles and
wiped from them the thick mist OF
many fears; alas, that for thirty or forty
. years they should have gone under such
u delusion and had it under their pillow
in the back room when they lay a-uying
ana should have requested words from
J the vile thing cut OH the tombstone un'
der the shadow Of the Old meeting
/ house, where they sleep this morning
4 waiting for a resurrection which Will
never come. This book having deceived
men ana deceived the mightiest intel
lgctS Of all ages, we must not allow il
TO deceive our greater and mightler, anC
yasteT, and more stupendOus intellects
ana so out with it from the Courtroom
where they use it in sOlemniZatiOn OF
testimony; out with it from under tLt
foundations of church, and asylum; out
with it from all your homes. Bring
the Bibles of your children, the family
Bibles, the newly-bOund and those with
WORKOUT lids and half-ObliteTated page,
Obliterated by fingers long ago turned
to dust, and let us with a torch, kindle
a blaze and stand by it, warming our
cold criticism, and afteIward turn un-
der with the plOwshare of public indig
nation the pallid ashes of book so vile,
so bloOdthlrsty,. so obscene, so adulter-
GUS. so deathful, so bitterly antagOnis-
tic to mans liberty, wOman's honor and
the worlds happiness. But STOP" says
some silly old man; stop" says some
weak-minded woman; stop" says some
small-brained child, "and give the book
a trial before you condemn it." Well,
perhaps we had better give it trial.
impanel all this entire audience for a
jury. Twelve jurors in other cases are
all that are required, but as this is a
case of vaster moment than any other,
take the thousands this day here assem-
bIed and ask you in silence solemnly to
affirm that you will we'll and truly try
this issue of traverse, Joined between
Infdelity, the plaintiff, and Christian
ity, the defendant. r.-f
Call your first witnessl Robert G.. In
gersOll! Here! Swear the witness,
But how shall we swear him? There
are only two ways of taking the oath in
bll6 Ohb ny hlSSllB bllc DOoh
and the other by lifting the hand. /
can not ask him to swear on the Bible,
for he says that is pack of lies. Twill
not ask him to lift his hand heaven
ward, for that seems to imply the exist
ence of a God, fact that in this case is
disputed. So / swear him by the rings
of Saturn and the mountains in the
moon and the milky way and the nebu-
lar hypothesis, that he will tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth. Let me say that l know
nothing of this witness in private life
neither do want to know. 1 have nc
taste tor exploring private character.
deal with him to-day and all through
these discOurses as public teacher.
shall not be diverted from this course
because he has publicly assaiIed my
name in his lectures and interviews.
i have no personal animOsity. 1 invite
him, if he changes his mind on the sub.
ject of the Christian religion, to come
and stand where I now stand, and
preach his first sermon. l shall confine
myself to his public teaching. Why dc
l preach this sermOnp Am l fearful
that Christianity will be OveTbOrne by
his scOfing and tirade? OIL no. 1 tel
you just about how much Mr.. Ingersoll
will impede the great cause of Christi