The San Francisco call., 1899-07-25
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.

! + the reputation of Robert u. IngerSoH depeliueu
| upon his atheism or his agnostclsm 1t would DC
ephemeral Ii the theories he so oStentauouSy
announced were true there would be no excuse even
for reference to his extingulshed existence Inc
Preacher says: And how dieth the wise man! AS
the fool! Wherefore" he added 4 praise the dead
which are already dead more than the living when
are yet alive"
But Robert G. Ingersoll was not great atheist
nor great agnostic Dissnilar though they are, he
apred in his published lectures and addresses to Doth
distinctions His rreverence however his theory
OF deistca brutality, was mere phantasy' unsuS
tanned by scholarship or by reason and contradcteo
by every element of his personal character HIS love
for his wife and for his children, his tenderness to-
ward relatives and friends would have been spurious
and repusive in his heart he had not accepted what
in speech he derided and contemned.
Mr. Ingersoll was not great lawyer He was
fine advocate before jures. He an effective plat
form orator He was capable OF graspng immediate
situations and exciting the emotions OF men and OF
women Upon occasions he would beat thin sentl-
mentasm into a gitterng leaf that violated Shake
speares injunction against painting the lily or adorn-
ing the rose. And yet the man was intensely emo
tionaI and shocked human sensibility IN terms that
Knocked the iconoclasm he proessed.
1t was fashionable years ago for the narrowheaded
worshpers of themselves who intest modern com
nunities to parade as gems sentences from Ingerso
that when they were analyzed, meaningless
The nineteenth century has produced great agnosticS
Strauss the German, and Renan the Frenchman, were
specimens OF this particular cult. But Robert u In
qersoll belonged to lower range OF scholarship and
OF thought He had never studied the great German
and French critics of the Bible His mistakes OF
Moses" were pervaded by misapprehensons OF the
text of the Pentateuch. When he attempted debates
with Jeremiah Black of Pennsylvania and with Viii
liam Ewart Gladstone, his propositions were liter
ally pounded into dust His logic and his literature
completely failed when subjected to those tests that
represented the highest intellect and profoundest
knowledge of the world
And yet though not a great man. Robert G. In
gersoll was not common The injury his avowed
sentiments might have done to the youth OF the
country was counterbalanced by the cashing &C
acknowledgements OF his life, 1t was idle for man to
deny the existence of God who confessed and pro-
claimed the principle of fraternity The aridities Of
atheism were divested of their corrosive power when
pervaded by the magnetic affections The bruta1i-
ties Of chance were idle assumptions when accom-
panied by the admission of the certaines OF law. The
hard conception OF annihilaton had place in
tences that were infused with the glow and with the
heat OF immortality
There is some OF the work OF Ingersoll that will
survive and refute his atheistca and his agnotc pre-
tensions He delivered some addresses that were re-
pete with tenderness and gently touched the finer
issues OF life, He made some arguments that mani
tested power and energy. On many occasions he
developed deep capacity for humor which was at
once broad and delicate. His heart and his intellect
frequently collded and those sentiments that the
eternal answer to the materiasts broke through the
crust of his nihilstic dogmatism with the refreshing
influence of the dew or of the rain
The prevailing view Of Ingersol will sound in char
ity. He was better than his opinions, some OF which
arrayed against him personal bitterness and held him
below the political and rewards that he would
otherwise have reached With all his peculiarities he
stood for lofty principles and in many respects was
helpful to men and to OF all races. His voice
rang for freedom and against every form OF wrong
and injustice that illustrated the inequalities OF civil
zaton. He will be remembered in America and not
forgotten throughout the world