The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-12-06
.INGERSOLL.
The Great Opponent of Christianity
Addresses a MankatO
Audience.
A faster of .Ridicule and Eloquence
He Furnishes No New
Argument.

lie furnishes NO New
Argument.
A large audience greeted Col. Robt.
G.Ingersoll at Mankato TheatreThurs
day, the building being damned
from top to bottom. Time seems to
have dealt very kindly with the bril-
liant infidel, and if God is as unjust as
he declares when pouring forth his
torrent of invective against christian
ity, the Colonel has not apparently
been made victim of that unjust
ness, for while his hair is somewhat
whittier and his form more rotund than
in years gone by, he looks the very
picture of health, and the kindly smile
and expression of benevolence that
have always been the chief character
istic of his countenance are still with
him.
That Col Ingersoll is a master of
ridicule there is no denying. In fact
it is his strongest card. Take that
away from him and you have taken
away his best weapon, for in his logic
he is not notably strong.
AS a speaker he is pleasing, pos
sesses fine voice. which he uses well,
and his lecture was adorned with
many passages of eloquence of the
highest type.
His lecture, 1.-THE Foundations of
Faith,n contains nothing new, but is
possessed of the same line of thought
used in his previous lectures, only
differently arranged. He advances
the same old specious arguments in
his objection to the Christian faith
that marked his previous lectures, ac-
companied with the same whitening
sarcasm and ridicule. From the
standpoint of the master of ridicule,
and oratorical effect, the lecture was
as near perfect as could come from
man, but in logical reasoning it was
most disappointing.
In helping to clear away the webs
of superstition which have drifted
along through the centuries Col.
Inge.ooll has done a great work, but
he does not stop with the tearing
away of superstition, he would tear
away the Christian faith and the
Christian church also No one can
take exception to his idea of good
morals and good living. Christ was
not more emphatic on this point, but
the Colonel would destroy the only
organization through which they have
been successfully spread in this
world-the Christian church. In fact
he is essentially destroyer and not
builder. Finding much in the Bible
that he doest not understand, or
which seems more or less inconsis-
tent, he casts that book aside as I'M
worthy the attention of intelligent
man, and yet he consideres it worthy
of couple of hours of ridicule and
tearing to pieces and that was the
object of his lecture last evening.
Harping upon the Inconsistencies
of the Christian, he showed that he
himself was only human, and not free
from some of the faults which he
found with the believers in religion
In starting out he said he would
show the bible to be an unreliable
book, that it was never inspired, ano
was not the proper book for a guide
through life. He would convince any
one who had good brain power if he
would only use /, his reason. [ shall
give you facts, he said, and if at the
end of my talk you are not so con
WINGED, it will not be my fault nor the
fault of my proofs, but the fault Of
your brains. An instance of his in
consistency was exhibited in his al
fusion to Christ. In the early part Of
his lecture, he declared there was NJ
Christ, such a character was never
born nor had existence. Later on he
acknowledged that Christ did live
and 'said: 1.-THE best that can be
said of Christ is that nearly 10 cen
turtles ago, He was born in the lane
of Palestine, country without
wealth, without commerce. in the
midst of people without knowledge
of a greater world. A people en-
shaved and crushed by the mighty
power of Rome. That this babe, this
child of poverty and want, grew to
manhood without education, know
ing nothing of art and science, and at
the age of 30 began to wander about
the hills and hamlets of his native
country, talking with the poor and
sorrowing and leaving his words in
the memory or forgetfulness of those
to whom he spoke, He attacked the
religion of his time because it was
cruel and he was finally arrested and
crucified because he was hated by the
tyrants in power" This peasant,
he said, had since been worshipped by
millions as God.