Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-09-25

the nllllUS OIL lUOSC WHO nCilTt W. IHSti7
soil in his recent lecture in this city. Rev.
Mr.. Gould, pastor of the Bcrean Baptist
church, preached at the College street
church. and Rev. Messrs Jump and
Parry in the Methodist and First Baptist
churches, respectively The attendance
was noticcably large at each house OF Wof-
ship, and the interest great
Rev MIR. Gould's Remarks.
At the Third Conc regatonal church,
Rev. Mr. Gould spoke to Il large audience.
He pretlced his remarks by saying thHt
from what he had seen OF MT lnGeraOll,
and from what he had learned OF hlm, ne
indeed him to be IL man who, with some
grave omissions, intended To he Il gentle,
man aud who possessed also a certain klnu
of moral instinct that led him to make his
tiuht against what he considered the i'm
mOraltieS of religion. Anyone can see
furthermore that there is II certain sweet
ness of spirit running through what he
says. | have, said Mr.. Gould, no contro-
yersy with the man, but serious con
troversy with the position which he takes.
think he is not sufficiently aware of the
dangerous tendency which he is Great
ing.
position that we can know nothing about
religion. But if there be God, he says
he certainly ought to be Il very different
one from the one we worship. 1t Is upon
/ this point in particular that ! wish to
meet him. AS regards the fall OF man
and its consequences, the objection Mr.
Ingersoll makes is this That here was II
great state and a great interest made to
depend upon the action and the state of Il
man and II woman having absolutely no
experience of light and wrong. He makes
the point that God ought to have made
the balance of subtlety in favor of man
and not the serpent, or else he should
have directly intertered, to prevent the
consequences of the first sin. How does
God come into human events Does he
in any case or in any way come in to make
the circumstances about us any less diff
cult than they really are ? No; he leaves
us free to make for ourselves our own DIES
tiny. 1t is because of this fact that you
and have our freedom. Thlsis the way
the race has been trained. Am ! saying
that God leaves us without influences ?
No, but these things are brought to us i'll
such Il way as to absolutely respect our
moral freedom. The Old Testament
statement as to the consequences OF the
fall is to be taken simply after one has
been through the entire scriptures and
studied it in the light one passage gives to
another. God applied to this event, as to
everything else the laws by which single
events are prolonged and multiplied.
What is the reason forthis 1t is simply
the law by which the race grows.
Mr.. Iu0ersOll comes next to the Ten
Commandments. He says, with respect
to them, that what Is good is not original,
and what is Ori-lnal IL not good. He
takes all the prohibitions which govern
mems relations to such other, and says
that they belong 10 the primary instincts
of the race. the difficulty is that Mr.
Ingersol has mistaken his notion Of what
ought to be for what really is. These
things do appear obvious to us; they did
not appear ouNlpus to men at the begin
ming. Strange It's ii may seem, men were
a long time III learning these moral dis
tinctlOnS.
Mr.. Iugersoll says that those of the Ten
Commandments which are original are
not good and first, Thou shalt have no
other Gods before me-" founded, us MIR.
IngersOll says, on mere jealousy But
why is it that God wishes to keep people
to the worship 81 himself? Is it merely
out of regard for his own rights No.
He Is the God who has revealed himself to
men. over against Him are the gods
which men have made out of their own
imaginaliUn Worship of these gods has
always been largely the worship of ma
ture, and in particular the reproductive
power of nature, with all the license and
impurity which it involves Against
these things God protested; but ii was
the moral and splrllua welfare OF men he
was considering.
Chou shalt not make unto thee any
craven image" Mr.. lngersoll says that
by this prohibition everything of beauty
was stripped from .ludea Does the pro
bow down myself to them nor serve
them" 1t is not the making of things of
beauty, but the making OF anything which
is the product of mans hands to bow
down to and worship, which the com
mandment prohibits.
AS to the suggestions which Mr.. Inger-
soil would like to have made for the
Decalogue; He names four things in the
tables OF the law which contain III them
selves all evil, and the extinction of which
n Ind I all aNrll lh.N- nra
eXterminating wars slavery, polygamy
and religious persecution. He would have
inserted prohibitions excluding each OF
these But what difference would there
be between this class OF laws and the ones
actually given i'll scripture ? tuuda
mental difference with The balance in ia
yor of Scripture Mr. IngersUll deals with
sins which belong to men III Glasses rather
than as individuals. lie is not Il Well-iu-
formed man. He judges Christianity by
the scailOlding and not by the completed
building.
The cause Of great deal~If the scepti
csm of our time comes from judging
Christianity by its false and pretended eN'
ampcs. do not believe that fair and
decent representation of Christianity mas
ever produced an unbeliever This is 4
side of scepticism lin our times which
comes home to us.
Rev. Mr.. Parry's Reply.
MI Parry's evening subject was the one
announced as the subject of Mr.. lngersOl's
lecture, (Which Way" The speaker an
nounced as his text Psalm xxi: II, and
Proverbs xiv: 10 "Thou wilt show me
the path of life in thy presence Is fulness
\ of 10Y, and at thy right hand are pleasures
forevermore" There is a way which
seemeth right unto man but the end
thereof are the ways of death"
He said the whole human family is
swiftly, and steadily, and resstlessly and
noiselessly moving on in journey This
double text brings before us two contrast
ed ways of journeying-one the way Of
way,i are we each on? The first thing
necessary in journey is to determine
which way we intend to go and then TAKE
the way that leads to it,, There are but
two ways of which we know anything
the one leading upward to bliss the othe
nrnnrintelN callnd the MAN of lie beCMMse