The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-10-14
PAGAN BOB'S LECTURE
Robert G. IngersOlrs Interesting
Talk on the Gods.
ALI of Them, He Contends, We're Made
by Men-Greeted by Fairly
Large Audience.


lectured to a fairly large audience at the
Grand Opera House, last night on The
Gods Time is beginning to make silvery
the few locks on the orators head, but the
voice is as rich as ever and so flexible
that 1T still can sink from the powerful in
one breath TO an undertone of tenderness
in the next. 1t contains the same wealth
Of feeling, the same subtle fascination
that makes men struggle to disbelieve
what the voice would seek to convince
1.-THE Gods does not contain a great deal
of what MIR. Ingersoll has not said before,
but his arguments are perhaps more strik-
ingly presented.
The orator had as a background a stage
vestibule in which a nude statue Qt might
have been of Venus, it might have been
naiad, or it might have been of the woman
of original SIM was displayed with calcium
light effects Mr.. Jngersoll was clad in
evening DIRE IS, the coat Of which, cut IN
the prevail ng mode, with long tail, gave
him the appearance of being, SO one
woman said, a genteel devil himself, with
Mother Eve in the background to heighten
the effect. The orator had quite little TO
say about Mother Eve, directly and Incl
dentally. Walking to the reading stand
provided, he began his lecture with a
statement very solemnly given, that ever
since the world began the nations have
been trying to get help from above or
from their gods. Millions of prayers have
gone up, thousands of self-imposed sac
rifices have been made, agonies have beer
endured to propitiate these gods-and yet,
queried the orator, what solitary request
has been granted? Have these prayers
avoided the nliseries of the world, the
crimes, the pestilences, the agonies? Has
any prayer been answered? Then the great
thinker paused.
All the old religions, the great religions
Of their day, have persisted, and we only
have their ruined temples left. OF what
use were these nations gods? The people
of to-day are a practical people. Yet they
invest millions of dollars to get some,
thing from on high. Thousands are hired
to make weary the ears of heaven. Have
they done any good? I'VE have got be
1--WE 1--WE have e got Ito to the practicai text: What
good have all these gods done?"
He contended that the nations made the
were all patterned after men. The gods of
the Africans were black, those of the Chi
nese yellow; where the god was one OF
the South Sea islanders he was great on
the sea- where he was Of the Arctic coun-
try he showed fondness for whale blubber.
These gods showed their gratitude to the
the nations TO butcher. each other. They
were ignorant gods and cruel gods. They
were gods that knew nothing of science.
These gods were all committed TO errors
OF science; errors that are all patent to US
now. lone of these GODS continued the
speaker. believed that he could lengthen
the day by stopping the sun or blow down
walls by blasts Of a trumpet. You read that
he commanded men to love him; that he
compelled them to do so. You cannot COM
mand men to love you. You cannot compel
them to love. Love is like the perfume of
the human heart"
1t was insisted that according to the be-
lief in God that prevailed in the early days
of the church nothing was pleasing to
Him as the hutchery of an unbeliever. For
hordes of Mohammed, suffering from hard
ships and disease, to rescue the empty
sepuichre in which Christ was said to have
them? Did he assist them In defeating the
infidels?
In speaking further Mr.. Ingersoll spoke
in substance as follows:
Our ancestors had not only god factories
but devil factories as we'll, and in nearly eV-
cry case the devils have been more humane
than the gods Murderous orders, pestilence
and plague were always sent, not by devils,
but by the most merciful God. What a
stain such acts would have left upon the
name of the devil.
Why should we suppose that the devil in
another world infiicts fortunes upon those
who were his friends here? We borrowed
our devil, and the first account Of him Is
found in Genesis. where he told our first
parents that if they would eat of the fruit
of the tree of knowledge they would have
some sense. The devil was the first school
master, the first advocate of education, and
If the story be true he was the author of
modesty. Some nations borrowed their gods
and ours is one of them.
Our forefathers accounted for what they
saw, and manufactured gods, modelling them
themselves, giving them ears, feet, and
made them TO speak the language OF their
own country One Nation made very good
god out of a king of hearts Above nature
mo riS nal ma he
Man formerly supposed that man was sur
rounded by good and bad angels. Even
Christ taught that man could be possessed
by devils. 1t was necessary to have a god
to preside over them Man supposed that
the rain fell, the river ran, the tides rose
and fell for them, while 1T is true that II
there not man on earth everything
go on just the same. The priest pretended
to stand between the wrath of God and the
fears of man. He was the attorney at the
cringing hypccrite and slave.
Millions have resorted to prayer. Did you
ever know of any one producing surgical
operation by prayer? Did any one ever get
back lost arm? Some even pray to an all
wise all good and mercfful God not TO lead
many cases where the order of nature has
been changed, but the witnesses all
dead. Animals used to talk, but not now
Women are changed into salt in order to
men. That muscular development could not
depend on the length of hair, or the speaker
sons of God became enanored of the daugf-
tiers of the earth, but he never blamed them
much for that.
There was an old clergyman who took ev-
cry occasion to prove to his little boy the
goodness of God One day he saw a crane
wading in the water. His long legs are so
arranged that he can approach the fish
without warning, and showing conclusively
the wisdom and goodness of God In so
adapting the bird to obtain his food The
boy answered: Yes, father, / see the
goodness Of God as far as the crane is con-
cerned, but don't you think the arrangement
is little rough on the fish?' Could any
god change the relation between the dame
ter and circumference of a circle, make
twice three seven, or change things so that
the shorter the lever the more you can lift
The church members insist that there IS
so much beauty that there must be a de-
sign. They never stop to think that a
cancer is just as beautiful rose, and as
well adapted TO its position as an April rain.
If God created the universe, He created
the fangs of snakes, and is accountable
for every crime that is committed In the
universe. The idea of an infinite person
atty is an infiuite impossbility. Nearly
all scientific minds admit that matter must
have existed from eternity. Think of tho
wonderful chemistry by which bread and
meat were changed into the divine tragedy
Of Hamlet"
Pluck from the endless chain Of exist
rla aCfa ~