The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-04-15
He Points Ont Numerous Weak Points
I'm the Arguments Used by the
Noted UnbeIiever.
THINGS GOD DOES NOT DO
AND HIS REASONS FOR DOING OTHER
THINGS AGN0sTICs DERIDE.
Christians, DIR. John Says, Reject the
Kind Of He'll Described by Inger-
soll-The Bible and Science.


well-known Methodist minister. replied this
evening to the address OF Colonel Ingerson
delivered at the Militant Church Sunday.
DR., John said in part:
Il have not come to abuse Mr.. Ingersoll
Abuse is not argument. He has proposed
some difficult questions. to the defenders of
the Christian faith IL is not a suficient
| answer to say that he is blasphemer. That
Is to beg the question Let him be a GOOD
man; that will not serve as a crutch for his
logic If 1t be lame. Let him be a bad man:
that will not make his logic limp II 1t be
sound Truth is in sorry plight IL II must
rest on epithets. 1t is old enough to stand
alone. The truth is worth its face though
uttered by the devil, and sophistry does not
become logic in the mouth of the saint. Mr.
Ingersoll claims that the Christian religion
and its reputed author are both man-made.
and therefore no better than the man who
made them He objects to the reputed au-
thor of the Bible on the ground that. like the
men who made him. he is ignorant cruel.
savage. unjust. immoral inconsistent, un-
faithful, and that ne is opposed to art, SCI
ence, education, progress and liberty. He
objects to the Christian scheme the broad
ground that 1t is unscientific. That is. hav-
| ing been made by unscientiIc men, the
Christian scheme is contrary to fact. un-
| natural, superstitious and not adapted to the
| task 1t proposes
The Bible must be judged by the manner
| in which it does what IL processes to do and
not by a foreign standard. 1t came TO teach
| men of duty and destiny-not to teach art.
science or literature. If the Bible is opposed
| to these things because IL Is not a good text
book on these subjects, Mr.. Ingersoll must
be opposed to the public schools. because ne
| does not make plea for them in his elo-
quent oration at his brothers grave. Judge
| funeral Grafton by what ir says of death.
and the dead, rather than by what 1t falls
to say of an educational system Judge the
Bible by what it says of duty and destiny
and not by what 1t omits saying Of the
things it did not come TO teacn.
| Il will put all Mr.. Ingersolrs charges un-
der two heads, namely, moral objections
against the character of God, and intellect
ual objections against His revelation. First.
| the objections against His character for or
| dering I'm ancient times, and permitting in
| both ancient and modern times. acts which
men cannot commit against their fellows
without being guilty of robbery. oppression
and murder. / viii put these in two classes
| First, those instances in which God de-
stroyed life by natural agents, such as
| flood fire and the like, and second. those In
of tom Of ,i property f and destruction Of lie cc-
CURED through human agency under His
order or by His permission
GODS GIFT IN TRUST.
First, natural agency. The answer Is
| short: Life is the gift of God I'm trust. The
most refined ideals of justice demand that
trust once accepted must be surrendered
according to its terms, and that the bestower
of such trust may Of right determine the
conditions OF the bestowal. But the agnostic
4 hot ha nof rulf tad of1 Eo
| trust, and that 1t is unjust to make him =
compulsory parry to the transaction. He has.
however, accepted the terms Of the trust,
and he stoutly claims all the advantages
| arising therefrom. Attempt to relieve him
of his embarrassment by taking his life.
and he protects himself against your we'll
| meant endeavors. He gets yaccinated when
the smallpox comes. and when the cyclone
| begins to blow he hurries to the cellar. As
long as men continue 10 live in Gods boun-
ty, human life Is a trust as sacred as II II had
been originally sought from. the hand OF
God, but what of the savageries of war and
by S n s easy ory "a
| race? The only new element In this case
is the reflex influence on the men who acted
| as Gods agents. For life being a trust, all
It's content is eqaally a trust including pos
sessions of every kind. Society may, Tor its
own protection deprive ,ns, men h OF % What would
of the right becomes destructive Of society
itself. and shall not the Maker OF heaveb
but what OF the reflex influence on the
men who acted as Gods agents in the
deprivation of liberty. and the destruction
miracle is so easy, says Mr.. Ingerpol, make
the Israelites at once what he wanted them
be without ~ ana the he
could not. God can make clods the way
he wants them, and so they will remain,
but he cannot make parallel lines meet, for
they will no longer be parallel, and he can
not make men virtuous against their wills.
for they will no longer be men, Education
bridging of extremes. Ancient israel had
| been slaves for centuries, and they came
out of their bondage ignorant, animal ana
brutal God could not train them by the
methods he would use under the civilization
| OF the nineteeDth century. You cannot
train lion by the methods OF a lamb. Edu-
cation must proceed in harmony with en-
vironments- magnet will not lift .
feather, though II viii lift ton OF steel.
Ancient ne % israel % did not not know now truth. @ besaty.
tenderness and lofty sentiment, and God
himself could not do otherwise than adapt
his methods of education TO their feeble
capacity for truth.
but Mr.. Ingersoll raises his chief ob-
lection against God because CT his pro pro
He hates hell he says. and so do i, but
neither Of can hate IL out OF existence
Hell is already here. The majority OF man-
kind are already in its fires. But the hell
10 come Is not the one described by Mr..
Ingersoll and long ago rejected by infelli-
1
hereafter, other than that whose fires are
kindled by the law of sowing and reapInG-
Hell has already come because sin mas
| come and * will remain as long as sin
| endures. The fires OF hell cannot go out
tin sin disappears from the universe. Mr.
Ingersoll exalts science, but science de-
clares that hell Will be eternal IN sin be
| eternal.
MOSES HAPPY GUESS
"All the intellectual objections against the
Bible may be put under the one general
charge that IL is unscientlhc that Is. II II
contrary to fact. unnatural. supcrstitious
! and not adapted to its work Does the
Bible conflict with any known fact OF mod
ern science? IL so, that much OF II Is not
inspired. II not. II must have been inspired-
for the best astronomical. geological and
biological knowledge contemporary with
! the age Of sacred writers was a chaotic
| mass OF ignorance. Ii you had been guess
| ing 5000 years ago about the creation OF
| light-yea. less than century ago-you
| would have guessed the sun frst and light
| simultaneously or afterwards. But Moses
| made a happier guess. He saw without the
| spectroscope what our generation has seen
with one There are uniyerses now in pro-
| cess OF evolution before eyes In which
| light has appeared. but their blazing srns
will not appear for cons yet 20 come. Moses