| Show GLADSTONE OX INGKRSOIX The grand old man Gladstone may be J in his dotage as some of his enemies assert as-sert but he does not exhibit any sign of mental failure in his writings his pin being as keenly sarcastic and his arguments as logical as ever In the May number of the North American Review Mr Gladstone has a paper on Colonel lngersoll3 attacks on Christianity Seldom if ever before has the great American infidel been so completely laid out as by this old man who has found time amid his political labors to write this defense of the faith in which he was born and has been zeared and which seems to permeate his whole system Gladstone shows how Ingersoll makes points with the thoughtless and superficial by taking tak-ing up the weaknesses of a limited number of professing Christians and parading them as an argument against the great body of believers Gladstone points out how the infidel apostle picks out the misdeeds of the black sheep and flgjintsthem as examplesof the doings do-ings of the whole flock how he takes a part of the church and separates sep-arates it from the rest and then k insists thai the part is a sample of the 1 whole Under th t magic spell of his Ii wonderful voice and cunning pen peo pie rarely stop to consider Ingersolls methods as pointed out above but when they do so halt and reflect the absurdity absurd-ity of his way is at once seen The English Eng-lish Christian statesman is unacquainted unacquaint-ed with Colonel Ingersoll except through the latters writings hut the former has read the infidel aright He says Col Ingersoll writes with rare and enviable brilliancy but also with an impetus which he seems unable to control Denunciation sarcasm and invectives may be said to constitute I the staple of his work and if argument or some favorable admission here and there peep out for a moment he soon leaves the dry and barren heights for f his favorite and more luxuriant galloping gallop-ing grounds beneath What better description than this could be given of Ingersoll Those who have lift ned to him and those who have read his writings will appreciate the correctness of the picture The effort of Ingersoll and his imitators is not to induce men to cool and deliberate reasoning en the contrary the aim seems to b s by oratorical shouting by jre and reckless asertion by the Go blare of trumpets as it were to 9 J f I cause men to forget that they have reasoning faculties and to thoughtlessly thought-lessly if not madly jon in the wild and meaningless hurrahs which are interpreted as endorsement and approval Mr Gladstone has performed many services for his race in the various fields of hnman thought and activity and now he has added another in em poying his powerful voice in protest against the ism of the infidel |
