The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-18
Col. Robert G. IngersOll Lee
lures on Superstition
At the Columbia Theater to an
Immense Audience.
VICTORY AT MANILA
He Says Should Not Be Credited
to God.
Spain's Prayers, He Declares,
We're Never Answered.


IngersolI lectured on Superstition at
the Columbia theater to an audience
which overffowed even the standing
room in the house so that chairs were
placed about the lecturer on the stage
and several score men and women lis
tened to his wit and argument from
that vantage point. Despite the crowd
the throng was attentive and applause
punctuated the lecture from the open
ing paragraph to the end.
Superstition, Colonel Ingersou said,
was to believe without evidence, to be-
lieve against evidence; to mistake a
guess for a demonstration; to disregard
the true relation between. facts, be-
tween causes and effects; in fact, sup
erstition was to believe in the supernat-
ural.
level" he said, whether they are triv-
ial or important; none of them has any
foundation in evidence. For centuries
and centuries it was believed that
eclipSes of the sun and moon were the
precursors of pestilence and famine, or
the death of kings. All strange appear
ances in the heavens, the northern
lights, the circles about the moon, the
sun dogs, filled our intelligent ancestors
with terror and they fell on their knees
and did their best with sacrifice and
prayer to avert the threatened disaster.
Men believed in miracles. What is
miracle? A miracle is an act performed
by a master of nature without regard to
the facts in nature. If a man could
make a stone falling decrease in ratio
it approached the ground, that would
be a miracle in chemistry; if he could
make a perfect circle, that would be
miracle in geometry; If he could make
twice four nine, that would be a miracle
in mathematics; if an orthodox minis
ter could prove his creed, that would
be a miracle in theology. Miracles are
not only impossible, but they are I'M
thinkable to any mind capable Of think
ing. I have never found in any relig-
ion a God of sense described. No man
now in whom the torch Of reason burns
believes in signs.
IF the Old Testament be true. the
air is full of devils. John Wesley was
RICH hen he said, You give up witch
era nd you give up the Bible. It
was not Gods plan to develop the hui
man brain so that man would cOmpre-
bend between right and wrong. Where
is heaven and where is hell-no one
knows. The telescope has taken away
the ancient heaven-the new Jerusa-
lem-and the revolving world has
ouenched the flames of the ancient hell.
The evidences of the existence of
God and the existence of a devil are eX-
actly the same-they are both inferen-
| ces-each one is a perhaps They have
! not been seen; they have not Ventured
on the horizon of the senses.
II do not thank God for the victory
at Manila. 1 thank Dewey-the bra
| vest Admiral that ever trod a deck. I
| thank the brave men ard officers under
| him; I do not thank God do not
| thank God for the destruction of Ger
| vera's fleet. I thank the brave eff
J GERS and men. I do not thaTl- God
| for the capture of Santiago. I thank
| the heroes, 1 thank the regulars, white
| and black; I thank the men in the
| trenches; the volunteers, the rough RI
| ders, the wounded and MANNED; I thank
| the worn and fainting; I thank them
| all, the living and the dead. For the
! victory on the sea I not only thank the
| officers, but I thank the gunners. The
| gunnerS with cool heads and warm
! hearts, the gunners with eyes like ca
| giles and nerves like steel. I say, give
! them our gratitude, and when the heart
| of man bursts into blossom gratitude is
| the perfume of that flower. Give the
| heroes the credit; do not give
| give it to the unknown, to a guess, to a
! vision Of the clouds; give it to the men
| who planted the flag in fearless victory,
! to the heroes who fought, to the heroes
| who died for the right and for the honor
| of the great republic.
! Il do not believe that any God gave
| US the victory al Santiago, and I viii
| tell you why. Spain at one time owned
| half the gold of the world. At that
| time the nations were in the darkness
| of superstition, and Spain had her creed
| Some nations began to think; Spain
| continued to believe. Some of the ma
lions began to interest themselves in
| science; Spain told her beads and
! prayed to the Virgin. Her prayers were