Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-08-03
;OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW.

;OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW J;
observation-disclosures
Written for the Times Republican.
The writer in common with many
others has been reading the pulpit and
press utterances on the death of Col.
Ingersoll. AS has been remarked, these
sentiments have been remarkably free
from radical bias. and mark an era in
the religious world much different from
that when Tom Paine was gathered to
his forefathers. For instance the Rev..
Bruce Brown, pastor of the West Side
Christian church, Chicago, in sermon
on 'Watered Stocks in Religion" took
occasion to say that Ingersolls contro-
versy with the church arose from the
fact that 1t often attempted to do
business on inflated values. He said
among other things:
Robert Green Ingersoll was biased
against religion in his early years by
hearing things preached that he knew
were not true. He heard with horror Of
unconditional election and OF the cries
of the lost as they were thrust into
roaring, flaming furnaces. He was
shocked beyond measure when he heard
II taught in the name of religion that
the innocent child was wholly corrupt
through inherited sin and the subject
of the wrath OF the righteous God. He
tells us that his earliest remembrance
of the church was in little community
where the majority of the population
We're regularly converted every winter
at the annual revival and just as regu-
larly backslid every spring. Had he not
in the receptive years of his life met
with the cold. formal, repelling re-
straints that false conceptions of relig-
ion had brought into the church he
might have become the greatest preach
err in America and Thousands of hearts
that he has made hopeless might have
been blessed by an overcoming faith in
God and man. With an inpulsive. out
spoken nature he began warfare that
finally opposed the true and beautiful
in religion as we'll as the antiquated and
grotesque. But his successful battles
were not against what was really In the
Bible, but against what ecclesiastlcs
had written between the lines. and
many things old and obstructive We're
pierced by the darts of his sarcasm and
have been left as useless luggage on the
battlefield. His criticisms have been
very profitable to the church, for 1t has
become more practical and there are
probably more church members today
1 than there would have been if Robert G..
Ingersoll had never been born"
| Now if the above had come from an
other infidel these words would not
carry with them the weight they have
from such source. They arc worth
| reading, for all that applies to Inger-
soil applies to many thousand lesser
lights, who have tried to accomplish
some things along the same lines Here
| is more from pulpit source: Rev. Z.
4 f. Matzinger, of the Campbell Park
Presbyterian church. Chicago. recently
preached on the subject, Shall Christ
Be Abandoned?" in which he discussed
the death of Mr.. Ingersoll He said
among other things:
mo true friend of Christianity but
feels satisfaction because of his scath-
ling but just denunciations of supersti-
ltion, dogmatism and perversions of the
Esprit of Christ's sayings. Then, too
l!et it be admitted that the church has
taken far too much care 10 protect ane
defend sanctimonious cant and shallow
4 adherence and unthinking to ancient
land man-made dogmas. and ceremonie:
of churches, and lamentations of priests
We need still again and again Cote:
lGeisel' to scourge them out of the tenn
ple. Let us be candid enough to admi
that we even owe him a little debt o
gratitude, for wher he ruthlessly at
tackled our faith we began to revise ou
tenets and examined our scripture
lmore carefully, and as result are bet
tier able now to give reason for tn
lhope that is in US. The New Testamen
! has stood the test. Forbid it that an.
], Iof us should assume the Responsible,
of Judging his life. He is facing on
5 more capable OF doing him justice thal
any man.
And II is no idle claim that Pope Bo
was the main factor that made it posi-
!. bic in 1899 for a Presbyterian and
$ lChristian clergyman to thus fairly stat
o conditions and results. For 1t goe
r without saying that these men did nc
: utter these words in q Christian pulp
q without knowing how such sentiment
! would be received. The religious worl
has changed, and that for the bette
Not only changed, but acknowledges i
which is stil better. Just why an IGOR
!" oclast of the IngerSoll school is nj
e gifted with power to produce a new In
i age no one can explain. And tn
" lis the worst of it. Bob Ingerso
10 rudely smashed the superstition
% craven images when he destroyed II
doctrines of the fathers. 1t was beyor
his power or desire to replace them wit
, !, lothers nobler and better. 1t was cru
work, but conceding he felt 1t a duty !
~ only carried out the part he was capi
i, BILE Of Others have picked up II
y pieces, others restored the canvas, eve
lie these two referred to ministers are el
- gagged in this work. but never again W
IN this world offer the work 1ngersoll S
: out to perform. The agencies the Or
ator uses to carry out his plans are b
&c yond human ken. And If minister
" the gospel can say. I'VE even owe hi
a little debt" will the religious wor
go farther and admit that the couplet,
Id God moves in a mysterious way
at His wonders to perform"
lg can be soberly and reverently applied
+ the work of Robert G. Ingersoll?
q A1txaLA~5