The morning times., 1895-12-16
Noted unheIieyer Delivers His
New Lecture.
WAS HEARD BY THOUSANDS
He Attacked Christ ianity and the
Scheme of Redemption In Rounded
and ELOQUENT Senfences-Old md
New Testaments Assaiied With
Science as His weapon

W.
What they think today of his attack Oh thu
| foundations of the Christian creed is another
matter.
The title of Col. IngersoIrs lecture, ol
| rather oration. last night was the "Fountia
tions OF Faith" in which document he an
pears to have condensed his whole argn
meht against Christianity.
| A great many of the arguments last nigh,
I were familiar both from his books and lee
lures in this city, but some OF them Were
amtsiified AID in other cases presented witt
| new practical lights thrown on them ou
OF the fertility of the great unbeiiever''
| store. In few words ne scoffed at ths
| scriptures and ieered at Jehovah, claiming
warrant for his position from tie discoveries
OF Science and from internal evidence from
the Bible itself.
1 Not the least Interesting part of TN,
progress or his Oration was its growinl
| effect on the audience. Near The Times
| sat haff dozen ladies' who were apparently
shocked at the rir5t of the jestS at the cx
L pense. or the Almighty. but these offendt-,
Christians were among those who joined
\ in the applause from time to time TOWARD
l the close of the address. THIS was true OF n
great many others in the house. There
We're from the beginning, however. some oi
| the stalwarts who began the applause with
| the first few sentences or the modern Vol
| tairc.
Colonel Ingersoll did not c0niine himself
| TO hrs iibrctto. which was on sale in til,
lobby and IL the aisies-
INTRODUCED To HIS AUDIENCE.
| He was Introduced by Colonel era wferd
who. with the permission of Colonel Inger
soil, and lat the request of large nti:ii
her OF the citiZeIis or Washington announced
that all the friends of liberal thought in The
city who wished TO form an association
were invited to q meetiilg to be held next
Sunday afternoon at 3 O'Clock. at Metzerott
Hall. when the subject would be the
Morals of Jehovah
Colonel Ingersoll WIS received with UNI
StiQtpn lnDldtiS;. and began iOIsDwS-
Ladies aud gentlemen, the difference
between myself and my Christian friends -
that l believe this To be- a natural world.
| don't believe in the existence Of the super
natural. In my Judgment nature has no
master. l don't believe that the universe
Is sieisht-of-,and performance. tThis ts
where the applause broke out.l | believe
that everything that exists has natural.
a NECESSARY and efficient cause.
"fherc is no power IN my ludsnlen that
can assist or iDjure the children of man. "
Then he spoke of the millions who believed
IN Rjl,lsiha, Crishna. Jupiter, Horus. Osiris.
Isis aud Christ. He affirmed that Christ
ians believe in Christ ny tradition. This
scheme could he carried on Indefinitely but
Tor the advanced Thought uf the world. and
me began his attack by arguing that geology
had dIsproved the Mosaic account OF The
creation The theolsrian said TO the gcob'-
gisi+ Mr.. GeoIogist, yGa are IN atheist ,.s
you are crucifying Christ again" Tue
CheOlogians dodGed the issiIe ny agreeing
with some OF the proofs of geology aud
denylnS offers. He used the discovery of
nnpleinruts OF the stone age to prove that
man existed in the drift period and the
prove the delase myth. The bcain OF a
man who woald believe ii would hardly
enrich SOIL he said
TWO SUNDAYS A WEEK.
He averrcd, as God was said to have
made the firnament on Tuesday. and as
there was firfnanent. that He did
nothing op Tuesday, and that. Therefore.
| the ministers ought TO contend for two
Sundays ia a week. Then h. pitched into
The S-rlpjural battles. In which thouSa nds
| n nd thou ST, nds were slain by God. who did
| not wound any of them. but killed thenI
| 10 DEATH Next he argGcd that it was
| a absolutely impossible for Davids no matt CT
| how great a collector he may have
been. to have gotten together $4,000 tons
! of gold for the adurnmeut of the trnple.
which WIS only ninety fee! long and about
| the Old Testament. he said. The Old
| Testament has got to co. and / say let
| it go" - -
| He pointed out what lie considered con
| iratiicti,nS In the accounts OF The inspired
| writers. and accused the Almighty ot
''keeping this precious book in The library
of Heaven. while billions were going te
| bell" Christ. Ire s;Iisi. was accorded so
many different attributes by the .iB-
| spired writers. that IL WAS Impossible To
| didn't believe that Christ said great
| many of the unchrisi iau things he was
| made iu say by The inspired writers: II
would take an inspired public TO believe
| them.
What the speaker aid about Jehovah con
| tanned nothing particularly new. lie
accused Him OF being a savage and a wild
| beast. He then took up and analyzesi the
Trinity. and stated that the Introduction of
| the Holy Ghost was an invention or writer's
| who didn't know what they were talking
, about. and that all we have on the subject
is from the very people who would know
| absolutely least about 1t.
SCHEME OF REDEMPTION.
His next subject was the scheme OF re-
demptioU. He hated il for its connection
| with the ide:, of eternal punishment and the
| atonenient OF one man for the sins o1
| others. He didn't want to be in heaven III
he didn't get there on his own merits, "a
thoughts Thought pn'ii on he'll az are as follows:
| "ChristiaRs believe in infinite torture.
in eternal pain.
| Eternal pain!
! IAN the neanness of which the heIrt of
| man is capable is in that one word-heil.
THAT word is a den. cave, in which
crawl the slimy reptiles OF revenge.
.Tnat word is the depth. the dungeon. the
| abyss, from which civilized man has
| emerged.
..That word is the disgrace. the shame.
the infamy, of our revealed religion;
'That word fills all tie future with the
| siirieks of the damned.
"That word brutalizes the New Testa
! ment changes the Sermon On the Mount 10
| hypocrisy and cant, and pohutes ana
bardens the very heart of Christ.
| ..That word adds an infinite horror tf
death. and makes the cradle as terrible
as the coffin: -. a..
| nocking murderer OF hope. That word
| extinguishes the Hight of life ard wraps the
world in gloom That word drives reason
| from his throne. and gives the crown
to madness
POETRY IN PROSE.
He was not trying to destroy future
world hut merely trying TO prevent the
tEeoIogians from destroying this weird
l The hope OF Immortality was III the heart
! long herorc the Creetis. The most beautiful
! passage of his address is the following.
which he calls reilgion OF reasoR, tne
] creed OF science:
ITO love Justice. to long for the right. to
| love mercy. to pity the suffering. to assist
| the weak. to forget wrongs ana reneinDeI
| benefits-to love the truth. to be sincere
| to utter honest words. to love liberty, e.
wage relentless war against slavery III all
| its foruIs to love wife and child and friend.
| To make a happy home. to love the beautiful
| in art in nature. to cultivate the mind, TO be
| familiar with the mighty thoughts tiiai
! genius has expressed. the noble deeds OF all
| the world, to cultivate courage and cheer
| fulness to make others happy. to fill life
| with the splendor of generous acts, the
warmth of loving WORDS, 10 discard error
| to destroy prejudice. to receive new truths
with gladness. to cultivate hope. TO sec
| the caiui beyond the storm. the dawn
| beyond the night. to do the best that can be
| done and then to be resigned.
DEATHS OF a DAY.