The herald., 1896-04-24
1ne CREED OF "BRoTneR" lNaERsoLL

Col. Robert q. Ingersoif delivered on
| Sunday last what. from preacher.
would be considered sermon. and be-
| fore the congregation of chufch. the
Militant church of Chicago. which is
/ presided over by a brother with
clerical title, the Rev. MI. husk. Ine
[ address was delivered in Hooley's the
ater because, probably, the church In
which the Militant Christians worship
| was not large enough TO contain those
who wished to hear. To talk for
church and. so to speak, alongside OF a
minister seemed a long step for Col.
Ingersoll. but it is but justice to say
| that he took it with grace and dignity.
! and when he was through there was
not much in his discourse differing from
| the ordinary teaching received ny the
Militant church ON Sundays from the
| pastor thereof.
| Col. Ingersoll said we must be good,
what everybody calls good, we must be
| tolerant and merciful; we should favor
universal peace and the abolition OF
| war; we must foster and favor the
| home; we should build school-houses
and support public and universal cdu-
cation, and it would be better to cease
our hard and heavy work ana have a
! bodily and intellectual rest on SUNDAY.
There should be. Col. Ingersoll said, re-
form in our prisons and penitenttaries,
which should be made schools and re-
gersoll-it seems too distant ana formal
TO call him "Colone1-said: Let every
human being do all the good he can.
and let him bind UP the wounds OF M
fellow creatures. and at the same time
put forth every effort to hasten the COM
ing of a better day."
These observations of Col Ingersoil
are very sound and were douptleS urgeu
with an abundance of all the oratoricai
qualities, but somehow they seem
strangely familiar. A reference by Col.
Ingersoll to the facts that the grass IS
green and the sky is blue would hardly
be more trite These maxims seem akin
to those embodied in long ago dis
course usually called the Sermon on the
Mount" and yet older deliverance TO
mankind bearing the name OF tne Zen
Commandments. This idea OF every
man doing his best and so bringing on a
better day is very old among men, and,
there can be no doubt about IT, was
preached long centuries before Col: In
gersoll or any Of us who now tread this
mundane sphere were born. II IS
good doctrine and men cannot by any
possibility hear it too often, but 1t Is not
original with Col Ingersoll nor even
with the class of thinkers and reasoners
to which he belongs.
1t may be said, further that Colonel
Ingersoll was not alone in his Sunday de-
liverance Could listener have been
connected by telephone last Sunday
with Hooley's theater and with all the
places of worship in Chicago, confused
sound of minister, priest and rabbi, min
Cling their voices with that of Colonel
Ingersoll, would have come in upon him.
but, supposng each voice separated
from the others like the strands of a
rope and it would have been found that
each and every one was talking about
the better day" that is coming to the
world, and how it may be helped forward
by love and mercy and forgiveness and
enlightenment, and even by healing and
developing not merely the souls but the
bodies of human creatures.
Perhaps every one of the speakerA
save Colonel Ingersoll would have said
last Sunday that he (the speaker) was
melted to deliver his message by some
religious belief; not all by the same be-
lief, but each and all by some belief
From this circumstance it would seem
that Colonel Ingersoll and every other
man interested in the betterment of hui
manity should draw the inference that
in the religions sentiment in man is to
be found the hope of man-the hope that
will keep him moving onward toward
the better day" Colonel Ingersoil,
iudely and unjustly called Pagan
Bob" is in accord with prophet and
priest as to what the world needs, and
| so on the Sabbath day declares 1t. There
| should be great advancement hereafter
| of the consolidated forces, for in union
| there is strength.