Omaha daily bee., 1893-10-22
ATHEISM RECEIvESA REBUKE
Few. Leo Franklin Scores Colonel Robert
Ingersoll and His Ideas.
ARGUMENTS OF NHDEls DISCUSSED
Origin of Mankind--some instances cited
Where Science rs short-why Men
shudder at the Power of
God-The Lecture.

Wv r. Aulihlih ltNtuttu uBOh NV sun
ject What is T~heisml" at Temple Israel
last Friday evening. He rebuked atheism
and paid his respects to Colonel Ingersoll.
The lecture, in part, was as follows:
zone Of the most difficult tasks that con-
fronts the preacher in his work is the selec-
ton Of subjects that shall at once interest
and at the same time be instructive and IN
telligible to the great masses OF his people.
SO various, indeed, are the tastes and the
dispositions of various people, to say nothing
OF the vast differences in degree that must
of necessity exist in education and In cul-
ture among them, that no MINISTER can hope
to reach all his people. In the same Lecture.
If a popular subject be his theme 1t Is too
light for the thinker, and IL he choose to
speak on n philosophical theme it will ususlly
have a soporifc effect upon the average con-
gregatlon. Thus, the poor preacher is placed
IN a peculiar position, and it is only when, by
fortunate chance. he is able to hit upon n
subject midway between the popular and the
philosophic that he may entertain the hope
OF carrying with him all his hearers.
"Tonight, friends, | am fortunate enough
to have selected a subject that will fill the
need, for though philosophic In its nature,
we shall treat it in a popular way. Still
must ask of you to kindly bestow your
earnest attention, as a single argument lost
may break the entire chain of thought. The
subject which we shall treat tonight is this:
What Do We Understand by the Term
Thcism2' In other words, what do we mean
by acknowledging a belief in Code
Different Method of Treatment.
AT the outset it may be well to state
candidly why we have selected this subject
for discussion tonight. Many OF you will
no doubt have guessed the reason readily.
Those of you who heard the arch-infdel, the
man Of perverted logic and of no philosophy,
speak at the opera house this week, will
surely understand that what / say tonight
shall in a sense be to counteract the
effect of what he was pleased to
say. But this also l would say
In my method of treating this subject
1, as a reasonable man, differ so widely from
him that l almost feel constraine ed to apollo
gize to myself for taking up the gauntlet
against him Ingersoll wins his audience
for the moment by ridiculing the views of
his opponents. We hope to gain ours by ad-
vancing reasonable arguments in support OF
our position. Still, let us not be too hard on
this Door intidel. He ridicules God and the
world. not because he has any great grudge
against either, but because he makes quite a
respectable living by doing so. Defeated
for political Office through the Vaccinations
of a religious body, he was driven to his
peated what lie says that l sometimes be-
lieve that he has persuaded himself that in
what he says there is some degree of truth.
For this, of course,yI am not prepared to
vouch, however. But this is aside from our
present subject. In our next discourse we
shall examine the possibility of atheism. To-
night we wish to investigate the theistic
belief, or, in other words, belief IN God.
I'm order that we may clearly understand
any arguments advanced in support of a
proposition it is essential that first and fore
most we have q clear conception of the prop
osition itself, and for this reason we start
out by stating briefly the theistic position,
namely: i believe In one God, the creator
of the universe, Who is the Supreme Being,
self-conscious and perfect With us the
root excellence of God is perfection though
in the ages past and historically considered
the place of this virtue was usurped by the
idea of power. This, however was quite
natural. When men saw the workings of a
God, who ut will, could call into existence a
universe, and at will wipe out whole nations
and peoples, what wonder is it that they
shuddere6 and stood in terror before this
majestic powerl That this idea should have
appeared first is as we have said, perfectly
natural, but that it should have persisted to
the present day is not SO easily explained.
except, perhaps, for the fact that the idea of
power. of strength and Of force, appeals
more strongly to the sensual nature of man
than the ideas of holiness ana virtue and
love.
Basis of Proof.
'But taking it for granted now that we
understand the position assumed by the
theist. we ask, "Can he prove his PROPOSE
tom that there exists a God who is a
supreme being, self-conscious and perfect?
Before attempting to do so, let us have a
tlCdI ulltCI Gillulh VI pIO LhUulS VI DloOl.
Proof is not demonstration in the same
sense that we may demonstrate that one
and one are two. All proof finds its basis
in similaritfes or resemblances. Because such
and such an effect has, always in the paste
resulted from such and such a cause, W.
infer the universal proposition that in the
future whenever the same cause shall eXis
the same result will inevitably be The out
come. TO use a concrete example propounded
by one of my revered teachers. Because
in the past all men who have lived have
died, we make a universal statement that
all men are mortal, That all men will die
none of us will ever have the opportunity OF
demonstrating, but because of the similar
ities in the nature of men, we believe it to
be absolutely true and proved. And now in
the same sense when we ask Can theism
be provedl 81 we are not asking can 1t be
demonstrated, for to do so it would be neces-
sary for man to come face to face with God
and already in the earliest written parts OF
the Old Testament it says no man shall see me
and live.' Those who ask us to demonstrate
God ask of us as much of an impossibility as
those who would ask us to demonstrate for
them the force of gravity, or the ether
with which we fully believe all possible space
is filled.
"In attempting to prove God from tn g
standpoint of philosophy there is yet another
truth that we must carefully consider.
Before we can argue about anything we
must know all that can be known about the
subject. One who has no music in his soul
anu Ouc WIN udo AZ ldiiih 10
not the proper person to pass judgment on a
musical composition. Because proof rests
on similarities, and as he has not the knowl.
edge of excellencies in past productions, he
cannot compare what he now hears with
what was produced in the past and, there
fore, his judgment is worthless and counts
for naught. And SO, TOO, in judging of spir'
itual truths, one must be able to feel ere he
dare venture an opinion.
This is amply proven by the fact that all
the arguments advanced by atheists. agnes
tics, infidels and antrtheists against the ex-
istence of God, come not from the side OF
perplexed intelligence that cannot conceive
a God, but rather from the side Of the emo,
tions. What seems to puzzle the unbelievei
is the strong con viGtion of what ought to be-
done by a perfect being, and those who OF
this ground judgethat there is no God, dc
so plainly because their intellect is no
large enough to feel and to know
the wisdom Of the ways Of God. They vast,
many words telling us what they would do
if they occupied line throne of the universe
and try to appeal5to the emotions of Thu
people by telling usi that that God is crue
who allows parents, to sacrifice their children
in His honor or who permits those who arr
Jealous in worshipping Him to suffer thu
tortures Of an inquisition.
sympathy for Ignorance.
snow these gentlemen, for whose ignor
ance and lack of logic / grant them my sin
cere sympathy, overlook the fact that M
God ,yhou 40 vyorshin aver damandad smell