The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-05
LIKE A CIRCUS.
Ingersoll Pleased at Being Com
pared With a Show.
Thanks DR.. Banks For COmpli-
ment to His Powers.
SERMONS ARE POOR
Says the Noted Agnostic, and He
Does Not Wonder,
Because Same Old Straw is
Thrashed Over Often.
SERMONS ARE POOF

Cleveland. O., Jan. 5.-Colone1 Robert
G. Ingerso1 takes exceptions to the re-
marks which were made concerning him
by the Rev. Albert Banks in this city.
pastor of the First Methodist church,
Sunday evening.
DR.. Banks runs question box" and
as prelude to his Sunday evening ser
mons answers questions which he finds
therein. The evening in question an in
quirer wanted to know why Colonel In
gerson could draw better audiences and
charge admission than most ministers
can who deliver their addresses free.
In answer DR.. Banks, among other
things, said people go to hear the noted
agnostic just as they go to g. circus.
The remarks of the pastor were
brought to the notice of Colonel 1nger-
soil, who, IN his usual manner, wrote
an interview, including both questions
and answers. This interview, signed by
the colonel, was forwarded from New
York.
In a letter accompanying the inter
view Colonel Ingerson very generously
declares he would be pleased to put a
box at the disposal of DR.. Banks when
he lectures at the opera house next
Sunday evening.
Colonel IngersolPs reply TO Dr. BANKS
is as follows:
Have you read the remarks made
about you by the Rev. Mr.. Banks, ana
what do you think of what he said?
1.-The reverend gentleman pays me
great compliment by comparing me to a
circus. Every body enjoys the circus.
They love to see the acrobafs, the ,8.ll1-
ers on the tight rope, the beautiful girls
on the horses, and they laugh at the VIII
of the clowns. They are delighted with
the jugglers, with the music OF the
band. They drink the lemonade, eat
the colored popcorn and laugh until
they nearly roll off their seats Now
the circus has q few animals, so that
Christians can have an excuse Tor go
'sThink of the Joy the circus gives to
the boys and girls. They look at the
show bills, see the men and women
flying through the air, bursting through
paper hoops; the elephants standing on
their heads and the clowns, in curious
clothes, with their hands on their knees
and open mouths supposed TO De LAled
with laughter.
IAN the boys and girls for many miles
around know the blessed day. They
save up their money, obey their parents,
hand. They see the procession and then
they see the show. They are all happy.
No sermon ever pleased them as much,
and in comparison even the Sunday
school is tame and dull.
ITO feel that / give as much JOY as
the circus fills me with pleasure What
chance would Rev. DR.. Banks stano
against a circus?
1.-The reverend gentleman has done
me a great honor and tender him any
sincere thanks.
DIR. Banks says that you write only
one lecture a year, while preachers
write a brand new one every Week-
that if you did that people would tire
of you. What have you to say to that!
cit may be that great artists paint
only one picture a year, and 1t may De
that sign painters can do several JOBS
a day. Still, / would not say that the
sign painters were superior TO the
artists. There is quite q difference be-
tween a sculptor and a stonecutter.
There are thousands of preachers
and thousands of thousands OF sermons
preached every year. Has any ortho-
dox minister in the year 1898 given just
one paragraph to literature? Has any
orthodox preacher uttered one great
thought, clothed in perfect English, that
thrilled the hearers like muslc-one
great strophe that became one OF the
treasures of memory?
at will make the question little
broader Has any orthodox pulpit ut
ed scuIptured speech since Henry Waro
Beecher died?
II do not wonder that the sermons
are Door Their doctrines have been dis
cussed for centuries. They not only
thrash old straw but they thrash straw
that has been thrashed million times
straw in which there has not been a
grain of wheat for hundreds OF years.
No wonder that they have nervous
nrostration No wonder that they need
vacations and no wonder that their
conversations enjoy the vacations as
keenIv as the ministers themselves.
"Retter deliver a real good address
ffty-tvvo times than fifty-two poor ones,
lust for the sake of variety