Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-04-17
BOB INGERSOLL'S CREED
SERMON TO THE CONGREGATION OF
THE CHURCH MILITANT.
L.
In Small Towns He Would Have All
Churches Com med in One
intellectual Center.

congregation today il response to an in
vitatlon extended by the pastor ReF'
John Rusk. The Militant church Is or
ganized for the purpose of betterinB the
condition of mankind, regardless OIL cfeeu
or lack of it,.
Colonel Ingersolrs address, which was
given in Hooley's theater, was in part
as follows:
Man has advanced just in the proper
ton that he has mingled thought with MS
work, just in the proportion that ne mas
succeeded in getting his head and hahds
into partnership. Nature, generous ana
heartless, eXtravagant and misery as she
is, is our mother and our only teacher
and she is also the deceiver of men. Above
her we can not rise, below her we can
not fall. In her we find the seed and soil
of all that is good, of all that is evil. Ma
ture originates, nourishes, preserves ana
destroys.
yet for many years man in all direc-
lions has relied upon and sincerely be-
lieved in the existence of the supernatu-
raj. He did not believe in the uniform
ity of nature. He had no conception of
cause and effect, of the indestructibility
of force. For many centuries his only
conception of morality was the idea of
obedience, not to facts as they exist in
nature, but to the supposed command of
some being superior to nature. BY ex-
perience, by experiment, possibly by ac-
cident, man found that some diseases
could be cured by natural means; that he
could be relieved in many instances OF
pain by certain kinds of leaves or bark.
This was the beginning. Gradually his
confidence increased in the direction of
the natural and began to decrease in
charms and amulets. The war was waged
for many centuries, but the natural gain
ed the victory.
80 our ideas of morality have changed,
and millions now believe that whatever
produces happiness and we'll being is in
the highest sense moral. Ceremonies,
prayers and inspired books, miracles,
special providence and divine interfer
ence belong to the supernatural and forms
no part of real religion. Every science.
rests on the natural, on demonstrated
facts. In order morality and religion
must find their foundations in the neces-
sary nature of things.
Ignorance being darkness, what we
| need is intellectual light. Man should
cease to expect any aid from any super
| natural source. BY this time he should
be satisfied that worship has not created
/ wealth and that prosperity is not the
| child of prayer Man should turn his
| entire attention to the affairs of the
| world, to the facts in nature"
SHOULD END SAVAGE FORCE.
Colonel Ingersoll said there should be
a stop put to appeal to the savage force
| For 1900 years, he said, peace had been
| preached, yet the civilized world had i'm
|
and navies. Instead of paying these
| amounts out for the purpose of killing
and preparing to kill our fellow men,"
| they would be better applied in building
schools and supplying the wants of the
people. An international court wherein
national differences might be settled was
| the proper solution of the question, he
| thought.
| There was another direction in which
energies and wealth of man were wasted.
Immense amounts had been paid for the
| erection of costly church edifices, and
vast other sums were paid for keeping
| them up. The returns are remarkably
| small, said he, the good accomplished
| does not appear to be great There is no
| great diminution in crime. The decrease
| of immortality and poverty is hardly per-
ceptible.
In towns of 1000 or 5000 people, Colonel
| Ingersoll would have all churches com
| bined in one in great building. In this
| building should be the library of the
| town. 1t should be the club house of
| the people; plays should be presented by
| home TALENT rooms for billiards, cards
and chess should be arranged. 1t should
be the intellectual center
| They could employ gentleman of
| ability, possibly of genius" said he, Ito
address them on Sundays on subjects that
| would be of real interest. or real impor-
| lance. He should base his sermons on
/ history, philosophy of art and the genius
| of the Greeks. Let him make his con
| Sregation conversant with the philosu-
| plies of the world, with the great think
| ers the great poets, the great artists
actors orators, inventors, captains of
| industry the soldiers of progress. Let
| them have a Sunday school in which The
children shall be made acquainted with
the facts of nature, with botany, ento.
mology, something of geology and IS
| tronomy."
| In spite of all that has been done for
| the reformation of the world, it is still
| cursed with poverty and. crime Penttan.
tiaries. he said, should be transformed
into schools and workshops and the con.
| victs should be educated and paid =
| reasonable sum for their labor.
| A TRIBUTE TO THE HOME.
| Colonel lngersoll paid pretty trib,l,e
to the homes The more homes, said he
| the broader the foundation of the nation
and the more secure. Everything should
be done to keep this from being a nation
| OF tenants. The men who cultivate Tbs
| earth should own ii. He would exemnt
| homes from sale not only under exaau.
| ton, but from every description of taxes
| In granting divorces, he would give the
| wife divorce 'if she requested it, if she
| wanted it, There is no danger of de.
moralizing the world through divorce
| He would not allow the man to cast oe
his wife unless she had 1agrantly vic.
| lated the marriage contract But for the
sake of the community he would give the
woman divorce for the asking. There
would never be a generation of great mer
until there had been a generation of free
] women.
The speaker referred to the labor 1ues.
ton and said he saw no satisfactory so.
| luton of it, except through the civiIiza.
ton of employers and employed. Great
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