Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-05-07

both sides, what has been proved or dis
proved, or left in doubt, by their examining |
what has been shown by the whole evidence,
come from which side it may. Those &C
auainted with Mr.. IDgersolPs way of dis |
cussing biblical questions will see at
once that he does not weigh the evil
dence for and against, but that he il a |
special pleader, acting az counsel for the |
prosecution. He presents one side of the
question, and if his side is that of error then
those who follow him without further exam
ination will bring in an erroneous verdict. |
He is treading the very course taken by mar
row-minded theologians, whose methods he |
20 earnestly condemns, for such are special |
pIeaders also, only on the other side. Neither
enc nor the other take the part of the i'm
partial Judge. For instance, Mr.. IDgersoll
takes up particular laws and acts prescribed
for a semi-civilizsd people who were ignorant
OF important facts that our school-boys know,
and were strangers to the refnements of the
present day, and holds them up without
reference to the time and conditions with
which they are connected, aud says to the
men and women of this intelligent and civil
lied age-what do you think of these laws
and this conduct? Are either, in your
opinion, wise, or just, or good? He knows
the mass of his hearers will misunderstood
the question 20 az to ask, if they reflect at all
would this be wise, or just, or good HotO, as
with the influences under which 1 have been
born and those coming from the society in
which l move appreciate things? He knows
this, and he gives no caution to prevent the
mistake; such cautions are no part of
| special pleader's business, he simply wants
/ to get a verdict-not for truth nor against
truth in the abstract, but for his side, true
or untrue. Mr.. Ingersoll points to the de-
| struction of men, women and children by
| the Jews, who are fully warned that they
are acting as mere instruments, and who are
themselves punished by reverses and in
other ways when they change in any way
the manner of performing the ts rrible duties
laid upon them for methods of their own.
By the side of this fearful picture of judg-
ment, in which the Jews were the eXecu-
TONERS of the sentence of law, Mr.. Ingersoll
dramatically contrasts the praitliDg, con6d-
ing child, and the sweet, pure, innocent
maiden, and asks with the vigor OF declama-
ton and the pathos of poetic expression:
"What think you of the savage Jehovah
who wrought, or caused to be wrought, hor-
rors 40 black and bloody as the slaughter Of
such az these% But he does not point out
that, suppose there is no Jehovah, just
| the same fate from other instrumentalities
overtakes the just and the unjust. Tenn
pests, earthquakes, cyclones, fsmines, fever,
cholera, all iDhict suffering and crush out
| in wholesale massacre the lives of innocent
babes, pure maidens and unoffendipg men.
The inhexible laws of nature pursue their
course needless of the wrongs they perpe-
trate,. and blind to the multitudes they
slaughter. Clear the universe of the savage
Jehovah who is put on the stage endowed
with all the ruthlessness with which Mr.. In
gersoll's teeming imagination invests Him
and still all the horrors exist which that
orator finds so savage and revolving. But
Jehovah in the future that His intelligent
creatures inherit awards to innocence and
purity all that is due on the grounds of jus.
tice, and adds the mercies that flow from
infinite love, while nature brings humiliation
and makes injustice eternal. The good and
the evil, the pure and the prohigate share
Unfortunately the effects of violated
equity. 1.-THE Bible" says Mr.. Ingersoll, "is
bad book" If it be so those who follow
its teachings and conform 10 its precepts are
necessarily worse people than those who are
not misled by its vicious influences. Here
not in Mr.. IDgersolPs declamatory dramati
cations, is the true test, the test given by the
author of christianity, who declared "by
their fruits ye shall know them" The Jewp
about the time of great crisis in mans his
tory, were closely associated with the Ro
mans-were the Jews with.their Old Tesla
ment more stepped in gluttony, in vices VIZ
may not to-day even name, in infanticidC
and in crime, than the Romans, who were
free from the influences of that book
When Christ brought new religion
that shattered forever the whole framework
of paganism, did the world become STEPPED
in infamies before unknown? Were tn,
, debaucheries of paganism, its babes offeret
by fire to Moloch, its virgins depraved il
| THE ScTNlCc VI SOuo- OH thCcC CA
ceeded through the influence OF the New
Testament, and mans corruption made We
more vile2 The heather were free from
the influence of that bad book"-were TIL
christians their superiors in guilt, out
r stripping them in depravity? When
D thoughtless youth to-day changes his follie
and his vices for obedience to the require
ments of that book which he had before dis
' regarded, does he become an imbruted, de
e bauched, reckless sot, such as he never wa
p before? If he become no worse than b
3 was before, the Bible is not bad book Her
8 is the genuine test If the book is bad il
8 followers are worse than the heather are VIII
e are not depraved by its teachings. This ties
: Mr.. Ingersoll does not apply, because he
: not an impartial examiner, but a specis
: pleader bent upon making out his case. Hi
error is not willful fraud, but grows out o
' the line of argument he adopts, for the spe
e cial pIeader argues back to a conclusion
I assumed at the outset; the cautious investi
p gator reasons forward TO a conclusion whic
arises from the evidence as a result. MI
' Ingersoll assumes starting point that re
: ligion is false, because he has been shocke'
at the sight of false religion. He forget
I that men counterfeit the true and the good
| oot falao aud uorthlesc