The times., 1898-12-12
COL. INGERsoLL's LECTURE.
Discourse ON superstition MT the
National Theatcr.

"A OlscOurse ON Superstition mt the
National Theatcr.
The eloquence of Col. Robert Ingersoll
attracted to the National Theater last
evening large and Interested audience.
The colonel who was in excellent voice.
and whose genial face rapidly changed
its lines of expression as he dilated upon
his epigrammatical discourse, presented
new topic to his hearers. that of "Su-
perstition.''
Mr.. IngersoIl's resonant voice is par
ticularly agreeable, to the ear when Civ
ing utterance to- his favorite views. and
last night furnished no exception. Since
he delivered his famous eiIlogy on the
late Roscoe Conkling, quite number of
years ago. he seems to have lost none OF
his subtle powers to hold vast body
of hearers and make them sway TO the
music of his rhythmical sentences.
Whatever ones views upon orthodox
Col. Ingersoll, for even his prose. when
delivered in his inimitable manner
sounds like the flow of verse.
From his discourse on Superstition"
the following epigrams were selected and
they convey fairly good outline of the
trend of his latest argumentative lecture:
THE foundation of superstition is ig-
norance. the superstructure is faith and
the dome is a vain hope. Superstition is
the child of ignorance and the mother of
misery. Belief Is the devil and evil spirits
laid the foundation for another belief:
Witchcraft. An act performed by mas
ter of nature without reference TO the
facts in nature. This is the only honest
definition of a miracle. Miracles are not
simply impossible, but they are unthink-
able by any man capable of thinking.
ITO deny the existence of evil spirits, to
deny the existence of the devil, is to deny
the truth of the New Testament. To deny
the existence of these imps Of darkness
is to contradict the words OF Jesus Christ.
If we give up the belief in devils, We must
give up the inspiration of the Old and
New Testaments. We must give up the di-
vinity OF Christ. The success of the. devil
in the Garden of Eden made the coming
of Christ a necessity, laid the foundation
for the atonement. crucified the Saviour
and gave us the Trinity.
IF the devil does not exist, the Christian
creeds all crumble. No intelligent man
believes in the existence of devil-no
longer fears the leering fiend. Most people
who think have given up a personal God.
creative deity. They now talk about
the Unknown the Infinite Energy. but
they put Jehovah with Jupiter. They re-
gard them Nth as broken dolls from the
nursery of tie past.
THE meanest thing charged against the
devil is that he leads the children of men
into temptation. and yet, in the Lords
Prayer, God is -insuitingly asked not to
initiate the king of iiends, Lead US not
into temptation.H
"Only 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 helplessness she
sued for peace.
THE inspired Bible has been and is the
greatest curse of Christendom, and will
SO remain as long as il is held to be in
! spired. There may be a place called
/ heaven. the home of God, where angels
! float and fly and play on harps and hear
with joy the groans and shrieks of the
lost in hell, but of this there is no evil
I dence 1t all rests on dreams and visions
of the insane We know that supersti-
tion has given US delusions and illusions,
dreams and visions. ceremonies and cruel
ties. faith and fanaticsm, beggars and
bigots, prosecutions and prayers. theology
and torture, piety and poverty. saints and
slaves, miracles and mummerles. disease
and death. We know that science has
given us all we have of value. Science is
| the only civilizer.'