The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-25
OF INTEREST TO BRADY.
Editor of The Spy:

Editor of The Spy:
Sir:-I notice in this mornings issue
the account of a discourse on the late
Col Ingersoll by clergyman whom
his denominations annual shuttle has
placed in temporary charge of a Wor-
icester pulpit. Realizing that at is the
height of glory to have been Ajax's op-
ponent this cleric proudly announces
!ngersoh as his" great antagonist,
nlntlng that at the magic of the
preachers name the agnostic was wont
to turn and fee abjectly. My ignorance
may be due to the fact that most of my
NE has been spent in limited area,
but though | am voracious reader of
newspapers and periodicals, including
religious journals, and am familiar
with the names of several eminent
divines who have with ability and dig
NIFTY completely controverted the at
lacks upon our revered and honored
faith, | have thus far not been able to
recall any instance where Col Ingersoll
reeled under the powerful arguments or
Wr1thed upon the trenchant satire Of
my for-fhe-time fellow townsman. In
oeed, the clefgyman's very name was
unknown to me until in company with
that of local church, it was drawn
out OF the presiding elders wheel.
POSSIBLY the reverend gentleman
might find it profitable to borrow from
the pubdc library a copy Of Aesop and
SIT down to a reading of the story of
the fly seated on a cart, who feared
lest his weight should overtask the OK
between the shafts.
AS a member of the Christian church
l wish to protest against the coarse
ana repulsive imagery with which the
preacher exultingly depicts the fancied
fortunes of his fellow being. Is this the
spirit OF the apostle, who said: "He
that loveth not knoweth not God: for
God is love-? Does it SAVIOR of the
angels who rejoice over one sinner that
repents, or of the devils whom Dante
graphically describes as in frantic glee
at every new soul that enters perdi-
ton?
Another morning paper ouotes-I
hope erroneously-this tender shepherd
as saying, Mistakes of Moses? Mis-
takes be damned!' and as observing
that he "felt like kicking some one
who disagreed with him Is this a low
ing pastor and counselor to whom a
weary and stormtossed soul may come
for tenderness and comfort? Will souls
fly to such teacher to learn the wav
that Ieadeth unto life and peace? Is II
not bitter irony that the utterer of
cruel taunts against the dead should
NSdt lHC livery Oh the Master who
carefully spares the broken reed?
Such indicative bigotry will do in
caloulaple harm to the Christian cause.
although | am glad to say 1t seems to
be solitary case. The great minds Of
the church, men whom all delight to
honor, have united in burying strife
and argument and speak nothing but
good of the dead Even the army of
journalists, who during the noted or
ator's lifetime banded jests and ir-
reverent sayings, treat his memory on
~ with sympathy and respect. AS one
Of them wrote, 1T will seem a strange
world without Bob Ingersoll in it,
1t is true that many of us Christians
tremble at the thought of soul fleeing
eternity and casting aside the single
promised means of salvation But lei
us bow in awestruck, forgiving silence,
writing him only as one who loved his
fellowmen; and be content to leave him
In the almighty care Of Him. who do
eth all things WE'LL
John NJ Kendall