The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-12-27
ANOTHER VIEW.
GOOD THUNDER, Dec %

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Ingersoll by Gen. j. III. Baker, 30
which, with your kind permission, /
would like to say few words in
answer, mot from the standpoint of
either of the disputants, but from
that of doubling Thomas, who
neither believes in an actual, practical
Christianity as preached by Gen.
Baker, nor in the total negation of
theoretical Christianity as Col. Inger-
soil seems to teach.
l doubt in the first place, whether
Gen. Baker knows one iota more
about God, Heaven and He'll, than Col.
Ingersoll does, although he cries to
make us believe that he knows great
deal ofthese unknowable things.
Gen. Baker is reported as saying:
"The most distinguished intellects in
the world have acknowledged the
divine character of Christianity.
While this undoubtedly is true, is it
not also fact, that the most distin-
guished intellects have denied the
divine character of Christianity ?
Gen. Baker ascribes everything
good in the world to the influence of
Christianity but neglects to point out
the bad which was directly caused by
Christianity; to mention only few
of them: The Inquisition, the burn
ing of Bruno, the 80 years war, the
persecution of the Shakers and others
by the Puritans, and in our own days
the prosecutions of the Seventh Day
Adventists by means of laws insti-
gated by the National Reform Asso-
citation whose members consist only
of Christian people.
christianity brings the lofty and
the low to the same level at the feet
of the Master of ALL" Well, may be
in the world to come, but not to any
great extent in this one.
Christianity conducts civilization
along the lines of highest develop
ment and give people and govern
ments the trnest notions of liberty
and Justice" To illustrate the
highest development of our Christian
civilization, allow me to quote one OF
two items from our daily papers, as
they appearalmost every day: Carrie
Fodder, mother of six children, res
ident of Cincinnati, swallowed car
bolic acid and hopes to die from it's
effects; cause, no money and no
work." ''Miss Nancy j. Thompson,
aged Is years, was found starved to
death near Maple City, Kan"
Chas. Nordhoff writes as follows in
the New York Herald: "Who do you
suppose owns the slums of New York,
Chicago and other great cities? Who
do you suppose owns the disgraceful
Chinese quarters in San Francisco ?
To large extent eminently respect
able, church-going people people of
great wealth and high social standing,
who live carelessly on what seems to
me the "wages of iniquity."
The Minneapolis Times of Dec. 20,
in an editorial entitled Remember
the poor" says: The charitably dis
posed citizens of Minneapolis are
awake to the situation and are be-
stirring themselves to practical eff
forts to relieve distress as far a pos
sible. They propose to inaugurate
the campaign against want and suf-
fering by bestowing upon each family
of deserving poor Christmas din
ner." A Christmas dinner against
want and suffering!
Wonder what Christ would say
against such mockery? Would he
not repeat what he said 1000 years
ago: "Woe unto you, hypocrites,
who eat up the widows houses, and
send long prayers to heaven; you will
be damned the more!
Can we boast of such Christian
civilization, which allows single hui
man being to starve to death in a
land of plenty, like this glorious
country, which is populated by a
Christian nation?
Is there any difference between in
fidel Ingersoll who breaches his be-
lief or disbelief for the money there
is in it, and that shining light of
Christianity, Rockefeller, who with
one hand endows his eminently
Christian university, and with the
other hand robs the people of twice
as much as he gives on the other side?
But, Col. Ingersoll is no worse than
the rest of infdels, neither is Rookie
Teller more than the rest of good
Christians. The jails and peniten-
tiaries all over the land are full of
Christians, and while one infidel was
hung last week, he is Offset by Dur
rant in San Francisco, who is under
sentence of death and will probably
be hung twice, although a Christian
Sunday school teacher.
Ii it is true what the founder of
Christianity has said, that Shy their
fruits We shall know them" than our
Christian civilization is worse than