Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-12
THE INeERsoLLIAN HEREAFTER.
Points on the Philosophy of Ultimate
Nothingness.
ISt. Louis Globe Democrat

ISt. Louis Globe Democrat
1t Is remarkable how often, perhaps I'M
consciously, in6delity pays to Christianity
the tribute of imitation. For example,
at the recent funeral OF Mr. Seaver in Bos-
ton, where Colonel Ingersoll delivered an
eloquent address, the floral devices in
cluded torch with the inscription "Gone
| Before" From the standpoint of infdel-
ity, may We ask, gone where? According
, to Colonel Ingersoll, the answer is, "gone
nowhere" His philosophy ends at the
grave. 1t does not and can not offer any
hope or consolation beyond that point
He tells us that life is only "a dream that
lies between the shadowy shores of sleep
and death" Not all his boasted contempt
for fables and miracles, not all his assumed
wisdom as a teacher of greater truths than
are to be found in the Bible, can do more
| than to proclaim that the clods failing
upon coffin leave nothing further to be-
lieve or expect We are born, we live, we
disappear, he declares, and that is all that
can be said; eve mingle again with the
dust, and the knot intrinsecate' forever falls
apart" In short, his logic leads to ami
hilation, and those ''gone before" are SIM
ply so much discarded matter.
The infdels themselves do not like to
acknowledge this empty and dreary con-
clusion. When they come to put their
own dead away they are constrained to
reach out for the comforts which religion
supplies They are not satisfied with the
idea that they are never again to see the
loved ones whose departure is so hard to
bear. In spite of their professed scorn
for the Christian faith, they practically
confess its value and render indirect hon.
age to its influence. They are unwilling to
believe that in case which comes directly
home to them the penalty of annihilation
must be exacted, and so they seek to mod
lfy their doctrine with acts of reverence
and tenderness which plainly betray the
thoughts which they refuse to speak. 1t
does not seem to them either necessary or
reasonable that life should go out like
snuffed candle, with no chance of continu-
ance elsewhere. Try as they may, they
cannot quite conquer the feeling that
their philosophy, when put to a personal
test, fails to answer a sound and consistent
purpose. The theory of "the eternal
march of causes and effects" as Colonel
Ingersoll calls it, does not appear so
rational and admirable when they are
required to make sacrifice to it by giving
up forever a child, wife or mother.
1t is all very well to say that noble
life enriches the world, and that to labor
for others is at once both duty and re-
ward but that is not sufficient. The best
of service does not reconcile either the
judgment or the conscience to the idea of
humiliation. On the contrary, the better
the service the harder it is to overcome
the belief that the grave does not put
stop to the work, nor shut out the prospect
of higher recompense than this world can
give. The fatal weakness of infdelity lies
in this refusal to provide hereafter, either
for the glorifcation of the good or the
punishment of the transgressing. The rest
to which it invites the heavy-laden implies
only everlasting darkness, whereas, that
promised by Christianity means a release
from toll and sorrow, with condition of
active happiness succeeding. Colonel
lngersoll presents the philosophy of ulti-
mate nothingness in an attractive and au-
dacious style; but it does not furnish any
nourishment. His afiiuence of adjectives,
his facility of ALTERATION, and his frequent
touches of wit and poetry make his dis
courses always readable but they do not
contribute anything to the popular well
fare. Christianity is insulted, but not in
jured, by such assaults; and they are
worth noting only because they serve by
contrast to emphasize the superior excel
lence OF the faith against which they are
directed.