The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-12-11
INGERSOLL'S
NEW LECTURE.

- W. w ~ Nj y
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Col Robert G. Ingersoll, the noted
atheist, has prepared new lecture for
the coming season, the theme OF which
Is Superstition" 1t Is, of course, on
the same lines as his former atheistical
addresses. Col Ingersoil has discov-
cred that it is easy to gather paying
audience to listen to an address il the
speaker viii crafty the fiippant or
shock the serious by ridiculing that
which most people hold to be sacred,
and declaring with uplifted hand and
clenched fist that there is no God
There are two classes OF people who
attend such lectures, and listen with IN
terest to them: The class that would
like to believe there is no obligation
resting upon them to obey the moral law
other than that which society imposes,
and those serious gropers among the
mysteries OF the unknowable, followers
OF this and that phantom light which
Is ever leading them into the bog holes
OF weird and grewsome marshes. into
the dark and forbidding grounds OF be-
wiidering doubts and stalking spectres.
Intermixed with these interested listen
ers will always be found a goodly num-
Der who attend out of curiosity and evil
IDENTIFY experience a painful pleasure in
the shock with which they listen to this
plump, rosy-faced, bald-headed. elderly
individual as he shakes his fist at the
skies. defies Him whom Christians call
God, and whom other thoughtful men
like Herbert Spencer awefully term In
scrutable Existence
Probably the most sensational feature
of his grafton, which was delivered for
the first time at the Academy OF Music
in New York two weeks ago tonight,
was his sheer at President McKinley's
thanks to God for the victory over the
Spaniards in the recent war. In this
connection he said:
only a few days ago our president, by
proclamation, thanked God for giving us
the victory at Santiago. He did not thank
Him for sending the yellow fever. To be
consistent the president should have
thanked Him equally for both.
Spain gave her gold to superstition, her
brain to priests, but she faithfully counted
her beads. Only few days ago. relying on
her God and His priests. on charms and
amulets, on holy water and pieces of the
true cross, she waged war against the great
republic. Bishops blessed her armies and
sprinkled holy water on her ships, and yet
her armies were defeated and captured, her
ships battered, beached and burned. and in
her heiplessness she sued for peace
The lecturer further declared:
The success OF the devil in the Garden
OF Eden made the coming of Christ a ne
cessity, laid the foundation for the Atone
ment. crucified the Savior and gave US the
Trinity.
..Jf tho davil doae M, ax;.t .ha r,hr.-.,-
creeds all crumbls.
The inspired Bible has been and Is the
greatest curse Of ChrIstendom, and will so
remain as long as 1t is he'd to be inspired.
There may be place called heaven,
the home Of God. where angels float and
the groans and shr.eks OF the lost In hell,
but OF this there Is no evidence. 1t all rests
on dreams and visions of the insane"
Col. Ingerson occasionally proclaims
himself an agnostic. but an agnostic Is
one who neither denies nor affirms the
existence Of q supreme being. The ag-
nostic goes no further than saying, II
do not know" and Ingersoll says There
is no God" He Is therefore an atheist.
To illustrate the difference between
profound thinkers. men of cultured
thought, and the eloquent. though often
coarse. atheist who ''prattles of sci
ence," contrast of the respective decla-
rations of IngersoI and Herbert Spen-
Ger, the most eminent of agnostics, will
prove of interest. AT the age of 76, two
years ago. the latter finished his great
work synthetic Philosophy" on which
thirty-siX years Of careful study ard
thought were expended, work dealing
in mastery way with biology. psychol-
ogy, sociology and ethics. Spencer has
carefully traversed the fields Of science.
history and religion. Ingersoll has no
standing in the circles of philosophy or
science. He could not get hearing be-
fore any university or assemblage Of
recognized scientists or philosophers
Those who have read the answer to his
Mistakes Of Moses by the learned
priest, Father Lambert, in which, with
clear cut, mercless logic the arguments
OF the eolquent atheist are torn into
shreds. will not credit him with being
either close reasoner or deep
thinker. Yet the colonel says loftiiy:
Science has given TO us all We have OF
value. Science Is the only cIvilizer. II
Christ said what was attributed 20 Him.
He was either ignorant and foolish or else
an imposter. Superstition created God and
the angels gave us all soothsayers and
prophets and wrote the history OF man in
miracles and lies"
That is the way this pseudo-scientist
and philosopher airs his views. and it is
with these brutalities of speech he
would satisfy the yearnings and aspira-
tons of humanity
In the more cultured and truly philo-
sophical way Herbert Spencer discusses