Show GLADSTONE AND INGERSOLL IN the oe polemical tournaments in which tha great modern pagan 12 E R G Inges In geMoll soll has been either the challenged or challenging party both the weakness and the streng strength ih of the christian religion as it is known among the various sectarian denom of the day has been displayed with considerable thoroughness on the que hand ingersoll has made him self master of all the principal pria cipal weapons ever used in any age against revealed religion and on the other hand his bis opponents have shown that even in we incomplete and imperfect versions of the religion of jesus which they represent there are truths which successfully cess fully resia resl atthe the most powerful onslaughts lits ts of unbelief u the contes faith and agnosticism cism in ill its ts progress during re cent years tears esp especially eci ally has bas established the fact that t ha t there it is in man a spiritual sense or faculty which merc elves and holds persistently th tb a C certain I 1 class of truths eyen even when na intellectual powers of reason the ysis and add logic lag behind in the t to his faith toe fur far ten fact acal Is 8 shown that there are found all t economy of god a class of aee I 1 01 a which are spiritually discerned uLlI ted rather than compre bended through tigh a process of scientific investigation it is also evident that in some men toe the power to discern spiritual truth or to grasp truth as it if by the aid of a spiritual sense or faculty y I 1 is much more fully dov developed eloped than in alers others As an illustration of the truth of these observations we may cite the paper in the may number of the north coith american review written by gladstone on Inger reply to dr field gladstone possesses a gigantic and versatile mind min as well as what men term grand qualities of heart and soul but he plainly reveals the fact that he perceives the truth of things which ingersoll denies and yet has not the power to categorically meet the batters lat oba objections sections to those truths with that and detail ot et reply and closeness and accuracy of logic necessary to do justice to his bis WILY convictions and conceptions concepti of them gladstone apparently feels with keen appreciation and intense regret the truth there is in Ingers Inger arraignment of ail christianity for its inconsistencies aad contradictions upon this feature he says belief in divine guidance is not of necessity belief I 1 that such guidance can never ut ver be frustrated by toe laxity the infirmity the perversity of man alike in the domain oi of action and in the domain of eliou thought ht 11 ile he then proceeds to ac acknowledge knowledg e that there has been among christian sects a crop alike abundant and multifarious of errors in tenet temper and feeling and that these deformities help to indispose men towards belief headds he adds Wh when enthis this lu indisposition disposition has been developed into a system of negative warfare all the faults of all the christian bodies and subdivisions sub divisions of bodies are as it was natural to expect they would be carefully raked together get lier and become part and parcel of the indictment against the divine scheme of redemption I 1 notice no lice these them things in tile mass gwi particularity which bigat be 3 that we all who hold by tile the gospel and the christian church may learn humility and mod mad esayas well as charity and indulgence in the treatment of opponents frog from our oar consciousness conscious nesb that we all alike by our exaggerations and our shortcomings in belief no less than by faults of conduct have contributed to bring about this condition of fashionable hostility to religious faith with a dignity and calmness which are admirable and in which an element of severity enters at times gladstone reviews specifically some of the favor ite arguments af pf ingersoll making plainly apparent their dishonesty c cunning un and audacity in respect to jephtah and the question of his sac rif icing his daughter gladstone makes a complete reply to the agno agnostic stid who has never tired of using toe tae argument he draws from this incident of se scriptural history in answering ao the in infidels argument drawn from abrahams willingness to sacrifice isaac glad stone has been successful though tie has in part pursued a line of thought with we cannot woolly thiep to attempt to justify abro abrahams proposed sacrifice ot of his als son on the ground that in those times the practice of human sacrifice as an act of religion was in vigor is to make a poor defense indeed to the sublime conduct of the patriarch the following is a much preferable method of defending his example the faith of abraham with respect to his supreme trial appears to have been centred in this that he would trust god to all extremities and in despite of all appearances the command received was obviously inconsistent with the promises which had preceded it it may be that A brabam when he said my son god will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering not only relieved Heli eli eved ex that god would do what was right but moreover believed implicitly that a way of rescue would beloney for his son SOD 0 1 1 and further it the few straggling rays of our knowledge in ia a case of this kind rather exhibit I 1 a darkness lying around 18 than dispel it we do not even know all that was ift the mind of abraham and are not in a condition to pronounce upon it and cannot without de departing partin from M sound found agao reasia abandon that anchorage c rage by w aleh probably held that the law of nature was safe in the hands of the author of nature though the means of the reconciliation between the law and the appearances have not been fully placed within our reach entering i upon the phase of the controversy tro versy which iv bich relates to evolution gladstone writes with a broad abroad intelligence and fairness which are very impressive and reaches the conclusion to which it would seem his reader must also come ehst the doctrine of evolution does not necessarily eliminate the idea of a creation his statement of the reasons wh why man should make a sacrifice to god is a splendid elucidation the superior of which in eloquence power or effectiveness is rarely met with in polemical literature space will not admit of an extended review of Glad stones paper while not agreeing with all of flae theological ideas advanced therein and while feeling that the writer lacks keys and weapons which a knowledge of the gospel in its falness would afford him we cannot but admire the dignity I 1 honesty and power with which he has mot met his adversary his article is well worthy of careful per perusal asal |