Show TH PRAYER TESTIS TEST-IS ITS APPLICATION TO THE AUTHOR AU-THOR OF MISTAKES OF MOSES Dr John Husk of the Militant Church Addresses n Letter to Col Bob IngcrsoH Inviting Him to Occupy Its Pulpit Thinks that Christian and Infidel Alike Should Work For the Upliftiiij of Humanity CHICAGO Jan Thousands of prayers pray-ers were said for Colonel R G Ingersoll a little while ago Dr John Rush of the Militant church wishes to know how efficacious these prayers may have been To bring the question to actual test the clergyman ha forwarded the following follow-ing letter to the author of TheMistakes of Moses Colonel Robert G Ingersoll Adrian Mich Dear SirThe Militant church which is organized for the purpose of bettering the condition of mankind regardless of creed or lack of i desires to extend to you an invitation to preach for us some Sunday morning the lear future on the subject of your views as to what the Christian church should do and how The motto of our mens club is Act in This World Theorize in the Next Some of our most earnest workers hold your views others are devout Christians All work together however think for themselves them-selves and no criticism of reed is exchanged ex-changed We have a volunteer orchestra of twentyfive pieces and a legal commission commis-sion composed of over thirty of the leading lead-ing lawyers of Chicago who are each pledged to try one case a week free of charge for the poor or to take up the prosecution of lax city officials or lawbreakers law-breakers breaers Our committee of physicians hunt up the poor and care for the sick delegates visit pr police stations and cure drunkards drunk-ards by practical methods The health committee of ladies fight the saloon by trying to provide for the workingman a better club house not by invectives I Knowing your interest in honest practical prac-tical work for humanity and feeling that > the fact that I am a Christian and you I are not should not prevent us from working work-ing together for the uplifting of human ity and leaving it to the Individual helped to udge for himself what is true I earnestly earn-estly invite you to give us the assistance of your ability for one Sunday in building build-ing up a movement great enough to highest to the lowest Very sincerely embrace and love all humanity from the yours JOHN RUSK Since Dr Rusk mailed his invitation I many think I is the first stage in the fulfillment of the thousands of prayers that he might be turned to the vocation of the church Speaking of the matter Dr Rusk sdI sd-I do not see that the invitation is at all astonishing I may be remembered I generally that Colonel Ingersoll at onetime one-time visited a modern institutional church i one of the many practical working churches which are doing grand work for I humanity today He was interested In I what he saw and expressed admiration of I the possibilities of such church activity I In fact he said that he should like to join that kind of a church himself So why Is i all strange to think that he may be glad to speak from the pulpit of the Militant church whose creed is the good of humanity I firmly believe that If there had been an institutional church when Ingersoll w is a boy he would have been Americas greatest divine instead of the greatest enemy of organized Christianity A 1 Is he ha made people think The clergy too are thinking The people of the church may have been cold and lifeless In fact they make more infidels every year than Ingersoll has made in his lifetime life-time They have been negligent of mans temporal needs and well being thinking only of his spiritual needs Ingersoll objected ob-jected to that Now there Is beginning to be a competition among the churches to see which caa do mot for mens bodies here in this Trirld t i C c |