New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-04-15
POPE BOB" In A PULPIT.
Col. Robert G. Ingersoll breaches Sermon
in Chicago.
He Addresses the Militant Church Congre-
cation on "There is no Darkness
but Ignorance"
The Renowned Freethinker Confines His
Discourse to Education, Treatment
of Criminals, Labor, the Home,
Marriage, Divorce, Etc.

In Chicago Robert G. Ingersoll spoke
before the Militant church congregation
Sunday morning in response to an invi-
tation extended by the pastor, Rev. John
Rusk. His text was: "There is no dark
ness but ignorance" ana he said in part :
"Everv human being is necessary
product of conditions, and every one is
born with defects fer which he cannot be
held responsible. Nature seems to care
nothing for the individual, nothing for
the species. Generous AID heartless, OK
travagent and misery, she is our mother
and our only teacher, and she is also the
deceiver of men. Above her we cannot
rise below her we cannot fall. In her
we find the seed and soil Of all that is
good, of all that is evil Nature origi-
mates, nourishes, preserves and destroys.
Good deeds bear fruit and in the fruit
are seeds that in their turn bear fruit and
seeds. Great thoughts are never lost,
and words of kindness do not perish from
the earth.
EVERY brain IS a field where nature
sows the seed of thought, and the crop
depends upon the soil. Ignorance be-
ing darkness, what we need is intellect
ual Light. The most important things
to teach as the basis of all progress is
that the universe is natural; that man
must be the providence Of man; that by
the development of the brain we can a
void some Of the dangers, some of the e.
wis, overcome some of the obstacles and
take advantage of some of the facts and
forces Of nature; that by invention and
industry we can supply, to reasonable
degree, the vans Of the body, and by
thought, study and effort we can in part
satisfy the hunger of the mind.
"Man should cease to expect any aid
from any supernatural source. By this
time he should be satisfied that worship
had not created wealth and that prosper
ity is not the child of prayer. he should
know that the supernatural has not sue
cored the oppressed, clothed the naked,
fed the hungry, shielded the innocent,
stayed the pestilence or freed the slave.
Being satisfied that the supernatural does
not exist, man should turn his entire at
tention to the affairs of this world to
the facts in nature. And, first of all he
should avoid waste-Waste Of energy,
waste of wealth. Every good man, every
good woman, should try to do away with
war and stop the appeal to savage force.
As far as we can exchange mistake for
a fact, a falsehood for truth, we advance.
We add to the intellectual wealth of the
world, and in this way, and in that way
alone. can be laid the foundation for the
future prosperity and civilization of the
race. blame no one; call in question
the motives of 60 person; I admit that
the world has acted as 1t must.
"But hope for the future depends upon
the intelligence Of the present. Man
must husband his resources. He must
not waste his energies in endeavoring to
accomplish the impossible. He must take
advantage of the forces Of nature. He
must depend on education, on what he
can ascel tain by the use of his senses, by
observation, by experiment and reason.
He must break the chains Of prejudice
and custom. He must be free to express
his thoughts on allguestions and become
wise to live in accordance with them.
ain spite of all that has been done tor
the reformation of the world, in spite of
all the inventions, in spite of all the for
ces of man, in spite of all Improvements
i'll agriculture, in mechanics, in every de-
l'dl CllCuG VI uuluIu 1slOO Gilc WOlAu is
still cursed with poverty and with crime.
Man should not be sent to the penitenti-
airy as punishment, because we must
remember that men do as they must.
Nature does not frequently produce the
perfect. In the human race there is a
large percentage of failures. The ques-
ton is whether the reformation is posi-
bic, whether change can be produced
in the person by producing t. change IN
conditions. The criminal is dangerous,
and society has the right to protect it
self. The criminal should be confined
ard, if possible, should be reformed. A
penitcntiary should be a school; the con-
victs should be educated. So prisoners
should work, and they should be paid q
reasonable sum for their labor. The
best men should have charge Of prisons.
They should be pl,ilanthropists and phi