The times., 1899-07-22

What MS ultimate influence will be. He
was a unique personality and the power
OF such a man is always hard to sum up
until long after his death, when the tangled
footprints of those who followed more or
less in his steps begin to make one road
which can be seen and surveyed. He was
an orator. and the Importance of such
mans work IS difficult to gauge, because,
in one sense, his personality dies with him,
and, in another, it only grows stronger
with his death. The next generation,
knowing Ingersoll only through his books
and it is improbable that these Will be
universally read-will get an entirely diff
ferent impression of him from that of their
fathers. who felt the magnetic, warm,
human personality of the man. Few could
know Ingersoll without being attracted to
him. His enemies were largely made
among those who had seen reports of his
speeches, or read his books, and saw in
them only determined attempt to ridicule
and destroy their own cherished opinions
On the other hand, the memory of a great
orator, like that of great actor, grows
stronger in the minds of those who have
heard him and felt his charm. 1t is hard
to convince men who heard Webster, or
Calhoun, or Clay, that there are any great
statesmen in these days. Their fame has
grown since their death through just such
agencies. The fame of Ingersoll will wax
great in very much the same way.
1t is difficult to say positively of what
nature his future influence will be. Many
of the issues against which his eloquence
was directed are now dead. Many of his
most brilliant speeches are now apparently
simply the thrashing of man of straw.
When they were delivered, the abuses at
tackled We're real; now they have disap-
peared. Intolerance of the religious opin-
ions of others is a mere shadow of what
1t once was. The God of today is a merci-
ful as we'll as powerful God. The ring
ing peroration, the cutting sarcasm, the
vivid metaphor or smile, lose their force
when they are no longer applicable to a
living wrong.
But the one fact which remains, out of
all the career of Robert G. Ingersoll, ora
tor, lawyer, philanthropist. and man of
the world in the broadest and most humane
with all the force that was in him, the i'm
portance of character as opposed to mere
belief. We do not realize in these days, so
swiftly has the world changed, and so
many and subtle have been the powers at
work. that We are coming to regard char
aeter as the important thing in life. where
sentiment was once held up as the all
needful quality: that we are beginning to
ask what man is, instead of what he
has or believes; that we are judging men
by their deeds. not by their position or
profession; that We have saner, more sin
cere, more healthy way of looking at life
than men had in the days of the old
martyrs and the old prescription of books
and free speech. The lingering ghosts of
Old World despotism are being driven out
of the New World and life is on a new
basis. not only for the few, but for the
many. The Church itself recognizes this
fact, and asks now. not for profession, but
for work. from its members. 1t honors, not
the skillful metaphysician, the Calvin or
the Edwards. but the Henry Drummopd
or the Phillips Brooks, the man who
breaches and exemplifies love of all the
world, purity, honesty. and self-sacrifce,
not for the sake of personal salvation, but
for the good of humanity. OF this wave of
progress Ingersoli was a part. He was one
of the first teachers of the new thought
AS times goes on, his work will be con-
trasted with that of the men who opposed
him on doctrinal grounds, preaching eter-
nal punishment when he denied its right
eousness; preaching foreordination when
he preached the duty of personal integrity;
and future generations will judge which
was most in accord with the spirit which
moves mankind toward realizing the king
dom of heaven upon earth.