Show ERRORS OF INGERSOLL ix IN the april number of the north american review jRe view col B R G ingersoll has an article in praise of the philosophy of professor huxley and in condemnation of that of the principal of kings college cambridge the farmer opposes and the latter so far as he understands under stanis stan is it defends the theology of the bible without entering into the merits of this tripartite discussion we will take up a few propositions put forth by col ingersoll which are evidently designed to be general in their charac chame ter and not confined to points raised in that debate col ingersoll says there is a relation between evidence and belief the mind is so constituted that certain things being in accordance with its nature we are regarded as reasonable as probable it is very easy to see that the noted agnostic is in deep water here and that he is not the metaphysician he would assume to be his attempt at defining the carela relation between evidence and belief 11 is a complete failure evidently he does not himself comprehend that relation and hence cannot state it the relation between evidence and belief is simply that of cause and effect faith respecting any thing matter or proposition pertaining to science religion or any aff affair air of life is created in the human mind by evidence without evidence there can be no faith if the evidence be true the faith created by it will also be true if the evidence be false the faith will be fallacious again ingersoll says what knowledge has the christian of another world the senses of the christian are am the same as those of the agnostic he hears sees and feels substantial lythe same his vision is limited he sees no other shore and hears nothing from another world this is a misstatement of the facts the senses of the christian using the term christian in its proper meaning are not simply and only the same as those of the agnostic two men stand upon an ocean beach the waves lash the shore making music at once sweet and impressive one of the twain listens and his spirit is awed and subdued the other stops up his em ears and denies that there is any melody can it be truthfully said that the two hear I 1 substantially the same again several persons stand in a group gazing at a rainbow one can distinguish but three colors another can see four a third plainly makes out five and a fourth declares there are seven pew few persons are entirely free from color blindness and have the power to see and describe all the tints and hues that characterize a many colored object or scene what maybe may be said in this regard of the physical eyesight is still more emphatically true of mans mental vision it is not true that the christian sees no other shore and hears nothing from another world he does both and what he sees and bears of that other shore is to him as real reliable and substantial as what he sees and hears of this ingersoll further declares k knowledge is something that can be imparted it has a foundation in fact at it comes within the domain of the senses it can be told described bed analyzed and in addition addition to all this it can be classified whenever a fact becomes the property of one mind it can become the property of the intellectual world there are words in which the knowledge can be conveyed what is here said of knowledge is utterly untrue in reference to many cases knowledge to is not always something that can be imparted by one human being to another indeed a major part of the knowledge a given individual has acquired during life could not be by him imparted to a second person the first could do no more than testify to what he knew and it would remain with the second to believe or disbelieve that testimony As a proposition of refined metaphysics it may be doubted whether it is possible for one human being to impart to another any knowledge at all Is it not more accurate to say that the evidence of a truth may be fim imparted parted f the mind of the person listening to it digests it and extracts knowledge from it by innate powers of assimilation A man may know certain truths with a knowledge as vivid and positive as clear and indubitable as he may the fact of his own existence and yet be powerless to communicate it or even the faintest shadow of belief in aitto it to a second individual the persons executed in new england for witchcraft are cases in point there did not exist words in which the knowledge knowledg elP of their innocence could be conveyed to their executioners execution ers numberless illustrations lust rations of a like character readily spring up in the mind when contemplating tem plating this subject we quote again the christian is not a supernatural person filled with supernatural truth he is a natural person and all that he knows of value can be naturally imparted it is within his power to give all that hp has to the agnostic it is no more within the power of the christian to impart to the agnostic the knowledge of spirl spiritual truths he may possess unless the agnostic be willing and able to receive it than it is within the power of the agnostic to deprive the christian of that knowledge the agnostic has the power to prevent the christians Christi anas knowledge from taking root in his mind despite the christians Christi anas efforts to plant it there to this extent most men are able by an exercise of the ta e will to measurably protect their minds against receiving knowledge which they do not desire the last sentence of the last quotation expresses an idea which is flagrantly incorrect were it indeed within the christians power to give all that he has to the agnostic how long would there be any agnostics how long before the stubborn negative which possesses poss their minds would be replaced by the affirmative hope the confiding faith and the personal knowledge of spiritual things which the christian possesses and is so eager to impart to all men ingersoll Inger eoll might answer that this hope faith and knowledge are nothing that it is impossible for one person to give a nothing to another and that this is the reason why the christian cannot give that which he claims claim to have to the agnostic this idea is plainly conveyed in the article under consideration though it is not specifically specific aUy stated it follows then that the impulses which move the christian world are nothings and that the agnostics are contending against nothings yet these nothings are the most potent factors of human life and history the following sent sentences enow are also incorrect there is also this fact that must not be overlooked that Is ie that just in the proportion that the brain is developed it requires more evidence and becomes less and less credulous ignorance and credulity go hand band in hand the more the brain of a given man is developed the more that man will be prepared to believe the development of his brain gives him increased power to comprehend truth and the more truth he comprehends the more indre he will give credence to accept assimilate and utilize he is compelled to believe that truth which he comprehends hence to say that he believes less and less as his brain develops is to say that he be comprehends less and less as that process progresses again a man having by a development of the intellect acquired one truth is better prepared than before to believe in the existence of a second truth and that it may be reached and the oftener this experience peri ence is repeated the more credulous does he become respecting the existence and accessibility of new realms of truth I 1 intellectual development increases the power and propensity to believe and Inger declaration to the contrary is a flat contradiction of the every day experience peri ence and observation of men as well as natural law ignorance and credulity cre dulty do not go hand in hand but ignorance suspicion and doubt are inseparable the less a person knows the harder it is to teach him or make him believe a truth which is new to him but the moie more a person knows the easier it is to induce him to accept new truths it will of course be understood that the knowledge which leads a person to readily accept new truths to have that effect must belong to the same department of intelligence as the new truths thus a person ignorant of other sciences but learned in astronomy would accept a new truth pertaining to that science and would appreciate its value for far more readily than would a person learned in the branches but ignorant of astronomy some persons are more learned that is have acquired more knowledge and intelligence telli gence respecting that department of science which embraces religion than others and are for that reason better prepared to accept and appreciate the truths of that science than are persons who have not acquired a knowledge of it only a portion of the errors committed by ingersoll in the article under consideration are here considered si it is a more reckless production in regard to its erroneous statements sophistical reasoning and unwarranted assumptions than even he ordinarily puts forth he has a brilliant dazzling literary style which passes for sound reasoning with some people but when his premises and conclusions are examined in the lighton light of pure intelligence it will be seen that they are honeycombed with error and false philosophy |