The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-24
Never Denied God. Existence.

:
he believed the Christian Church 10 be aoi-
ing in good faith. but mistakenly and foe
ishly. At the same time he never speelt-
cally denied The existence of a God; he
merely said that he did not know. In
other words. he was a pure aguOstic. Nat
urally he was bitterly attacked and vilthed
from many quarters. all Of which attacKs
he sustained with unfailing good ma Lure,
occasionally permitting himself a biting re-
tort. From time 10 time clergymen chal-
lenged him to debate the great questions
of religion or tried at him through letters
in the public prints, but so great was his
power of satire and the resources of his
eloquence and wit that he more
than held his own I'm these encounters.
The only opponent of IngersoI who made
a good showing in controversy with him
was "A Catholic priest in a small village in
New York who replied to the great agnos-
tics diatribes with ammunition of the
same sort. ridicule Of Ingersolrs views,
and satire directed at his logic, which was
by no means invulnerab bic. This cOntrover-
sy fourished for a few months and then
dropped because of the departure of the
priest to Europe. Bitter as he was against
dogmatic religion, Ingersoll felt no rancor
toward the churches themselves, and fire.
quently expressed his admiration of the
humanitarian work which they performed.
He was an admirer Of Henry Ward Beech
er, DR.. Lyman Abbott, DIR. Charles S.
Briggs and many other clergymen.
His Arguments in Brief
In 1sa5 the Salvation Army and Christian
Endeavor Society united in offering pray
ers for his conversion, and when he was
asked how their action affected him, he re-
piled:
Not TO any great extent take it for
granted MAJ fbev are sincere and 7 hank
them one and all They believe in a God
of infinite power of infinite wisdom and
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lO"el' WOulu men Ig5aiu sN's'iOe a. w
NitS'iS " ii''i'-i, H"Pltii'99 an 80
a. tIlS ao.i oS "i'on WI ue9 SIO"' ID, Il
"ouiu lSlS On d ''IdH VIM Id9 peeH u1'1
LOT nearly 1'~o years 10 secure me sea-
III Lal a'n9S' l 'ni"h ndp H7I,el eiialii
ds am ild" pe''el Ioilo" ''le "eH' vi
my reason ne true 10 myself express my
iolis9t 'il0u sIil9 eiIu ~ 'le - a. -
LOT the uest[uctioh OF SUPERSTITION, tLe
ptaih' Iof the increase OF intei'1otual nos
pliaHty ana me aplli'ss o. my Iei'o" pe-
lhss' one "oIld az tlIle'
In TINS was summed up ms creed ne
always spoke OF the Blpie as oeau'lIui
DOOR, anu saiu ne Wou-u give al ne pOS-
sessed II ne could beIleVe II. lie frequently
SAID that ne hoped there was a paradlse'
put ola not beIeVe IN one.
uc Made CoDverts
iHat ne nililseil Hlaue many converts III
an paIlS Oh Iue country IS lol 10 De uoV3l-
eu, loI ne was an aCllve eu5iHS ol IeIls
ION anu co.l9iI'Ieu ms oploSi'Iol 10 II DIS
himself to be thus combating
the forces of darkness and su-
perstiuon' says the New ork
Sun. Even where he did not convince the
mind wholly ne often won the partial ac-
quiescence of his hearers to MS doctrines.
typical instance of this Is related about
his lecture in Saratoga on THE Bible
several years ago. The ministers and
prominent church folk of the place united
| to prevent his getting hail in which to
speak, but in this they were unsuccessful.
A very prominent deacon OF FIespyte-
rian Church then announced that he was
going to the lecture to hear what the dew
IFS advocate had to say. He went and lis
tened, making occasional comments Of
strenuous disapproVal loud enough Tor
tloSe near MN 70 HSdI' but when 'liS
lecturer came to his taVorlte topic, Inc
injustice of a God who would cast souls in
to everlasting punishment, the deacon be-
| came deeply interested With the dramuc
emphasis for which he was famous, niger
soil cried:
| - 81 -, Nth s'Iot a Deitvi
&c III - CO 1o,Id r." burSt ont the
49,, 1a,,.iad avca,, in snita Of himself
1891 ot,,f, rf vbicI his cbnrch n1If him
| - triaI a,d he had a narrow escaDe from
vi ~ as s,oneraIil, believed that
! ~ fattb in eternal punishment mad been
| iil,.,1,.,,'artII, ,1rdarmined
pei
War Incident.
| vba,, tho war broke out he volunteered.
| His political prominence gained for him
| the colonelcy of a regiment but his rec
ord in the war was not a particularly brill
liant one. While guarding a crossroad in
| Tennessee with small detachment he was
! captured by Confederates, his own captor
| being a very young boy. The Confeder-