Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-31
UNDERTAKING WCERSOLL.

quire a valid title to immortality by the
course he pursued in mundane affairs.
But since his death a number Of clergy
men, in different parts of the world, have
undertaken the work Of Undertaking
him. They seem bent upon doing for his
name what their system of religion failed
to do for his soul. 1t was the attacks of
the clergy that first brought Mr.. Inger-
soil into prominence as a lecturer. and
added materially to the influence which
he subsequently exerted upon the people
through the beauty of his word paintings
and his marvellous charm of expression.
If his false philosophy lives after him,
to become the canonical literature Of ag-.
Mysticism, it will be because the clergy
cannot permit the great sceptic to rest in
peace. With the exception of here and
there an individual. who is welded
against his will to the doctrine of human
hopelessness and functional d~espair-who
believes that nature created mankind for
a joke-the world stands ready at all
times to ~repudiate the logic which Inger-
soll clothed in the beatitudes of linguistic
beauty. From the top-lofty saint to the
groveling savage the instinct of immor-
tally is Embedded in the consciousness Of
man. and by no process Of intelligent ana
logical reasoning can the Fundamental
principle Of the s~oul-l.fe be disposed Of.
Ingersoll himself recognized this intuit-
ional element in the makeup Of a man to
such an extent that while he doubted, and
believed his doubts, he ACKNOWLEDGED the
possibility and hoped for it.
His strength before the public did not
rest upon his concrete reasoning as 10
questions affecting the Immortality of the
soul-he did not build up a reputation
upon the lines that made prominent such
men as Voltaire, Baron d'Holbach or
Thomas Paine, but chiefly by trying to
show the incongruities of manifest relig-
ion upon the experiences of mankind. His
works deal not only with the alleged
mistakes of Moses"but with the errors
he imputed to lesser lights from the dawn
of religious history to the present time.
He vigorously placed the stamp Of his
disapproval upon the actions of men in
the name of religion and r.dicule the pre-
tentions of the church., but in none of his
QUESTION against the possibility Of life
after death.
lngersoll died without undermining to
any appreciate degree the Fundamental
principle of immortality-the spirit life il
man-but he did attack the ~strongholds
of the church in which that principle is
applied to the present and future welfare
on the abstract proposition of a future
life carries with it no argument which
any one need fear, and his attacks upor
the church will become the recognized
textbooks of the critics of the future
only through the invitation which tht
clergy is now extending to posterlty tt
make them such.
Every effort to belittle the work of tn,
dead man. When he can no longer b.
heard in his own defence, excites a com
parison between his views on many Of tn
practical questions affecting human hap
piness in this life and the views of thos
who represent the religious thought 0
the age. In some points the comparison
are clearly in the dead mans favor. an,
thus his name and fame is st]rengthene,
and p~erpetuated and his post-bellum in
fluence widened. For instance, no on
has ever clothed the divine attribute Q
love in sweeter language than Ingersol
and no one lived nearer to the highes
ideals Of domestic life than he. By pre-
cept and example he taught mankind tn
value of domesticity and love. OF tina
divine sentiment which quickens tn
blood and fires the soul and inspires tn
heart, Ingersoll says:
Love is the only bow in life's dar
cloud. 1t is the morning and the evenin
star. It shines upon the babe and shed
its radiance on the quiet tomb. 1t is tn
mother of art. inspircr OF poet, patrio
and philosopher. 1t is the cir and light g