Show INGERSOLL TO GLADSTONE A criticism by J da M S col ingersoll Ingers Is reply to mr gladstone lin the north american review tor or june IM 1888 is in several respect respects a remarkable composition over fields inhere the wisest and most competent men inen the world ever saw have moved but slowly feeling that this was the only safe way of reaching correct con elisions elusions elu the colonel moves like a agdern locomotive with a speed of CO 60 miles an hour regardless whether he be follows the track or not in a short article forty pases pages leaded long ion primer we are arc expected to follow the through the most winding branches tr passages of theology in its various branches anches philology criticism hermeneutics herm berm ene futics archos and doctrine the reply is as good as a miracle although the col denies the possibility of miracles ile Hs has however crowded everything so closely together that it may be doubted doted vili whether ether the different subjects treated can be separated from each other in the mind of the reader another 4 nother peculiarity is that the reply mostly consists of questions I 1 counted 2 on the forty thy the reply may be said to consist bagy 0 of questions airia the balance of it being unproved assertions this is a very easy way of disposing of appo bents when you have nothing to say bay ask questions even a fool Ws as the saying goes can ask more questions than a wise man can answer but it is not generally eue rally thought the best way in an h honest discussion of important subjects to bombard eat bah h other with more or less ingenious interrogatives this may do in a court for the purpose ol of confusing con and intimidating timi dating an unwelcome wit witness but can hardly be defended in a discussion of this kind at least it will produce no impression on any mind of ordinary cultivation even it will east easily lybe be setu seen that this way of replying is nothing more thin than a trick the rhe water is shallow and no stirring of it can make it deeper muddier it may indeed become and the bottom hid broin from view but none will mistake muddiness for depth if tie he has any ex per lence to be guided by only a child achild would be misled in this way but leaving the colonels mode of arguing if this term can be applied to his aphorisms r 1 will proceed to examine a little closer a lew few of his bis questions and assertions I 1 civilization OR BARBARISM FIRST in his reply page the col takes the ground of course that the first men who lived upon the earth were savages they had bad no language they lived in eaves caves naked crunching in the bones of wild beasts 11 it history to r proves anything he says it es tab lishes the fact that civilization was not first and savagery afterwards alter wards it history proves a anything sot h all of course history proves something e t g but nothing in the point at issue how can it history it is well known does not go far enough back to relate anything about our naked ancestors that is if we wc reject the sacred history no nation says dr angus has any intelligible records extending earlier than the flyod the dynasties of agypt traces to 2200 B a C the rhe first chinese cliine e emperor mentioned by confucius yoa can not be earlier than 2500 BC B C Noria nor is there any historical certainty till the year B C the celebrated chronology of india reaches no higher than B J 2256 commencing with ab ably the noah of moses bring these facts in mind it is clear that history will not help infidelity to establish the abe savage origin of man for from the time history commences civilization is already alleada an established fact 1 of I corriv without a 86 high grade of civilization iza tion there can be no recorded history at all but one brath history does teace it teaches us that no savage tribe no savage people eople as far as we know ever civilized civi civilized lizeN themselves without aid from somebody else archbishop whately has clearly proved this on the contrary the tendency among the savages is to become more savage dimple nants and arts mentioned by captain cook as found among the savage tribes the visited bad been lost when the same people were visited years afterwards if the naked savage ancestors of col ingersoll Inger soH have been able to civilize themselves they have been that muen smarter than any savage tribe now found on the earth but this the col dues not suppose for he makes them more destitute int intellectually I ly than any savages now avins ivin thus opposing his bis theory entirely to what history actually teaches experience also teaches us tw affat s t whatever is riot not continually under practice will soon be forgotten cardinal Mezzo fanti used to say aay that ne had to spend one half of his time in ia retaining what he had bad already learnt so BO as not to forget f 01 get it and this in may be said of civilized nations also they have to spead hall half of their time in retaining what they have acquired if they do not for some reason or other they will soon forgets conget it and this may reasonably be supposed lo 10 have been the case with all savages now living they have sprung frow a civi lizea lize a common origin afi hut it when cir eum stances compelled thern them to separate themselves from we tae centre of civilization oey ley bail bad to crapley all their energy in securing foo cooj i or defending defend im themselves against ag a in r t wild 0 emals and the consequence wad that civilization was forgotten and a state ut follower barown 0 jr own experience observation among nations nation history as lar a 3 it guts gots and sa cred records combine to prove that civilization Is prior to savagery on earth notwithstanding the colonels assertion to the contrary sAv SAVIORS ions the Colo colonel liel after hava having disposed of jesus and toe the atonement has as the following page intelligence the development of the mind the discoveries of science the ingenuous invent jons of genius the cultivation of the imagination through art and music and the practice of virtue will redeem the human race these are the saviors of joan mankind kind 11 and it aust be remembered that the colonel means an intelligence 11 1 ence freel free from rom any idea of god for r religion wilgion is accor according to his bis view synonymous wita wibb superstition he means a development of tte mind contrary to religion art and science without reference to anything aay thing anat is eternal these are his bis saviors I 1 had an idea that mankind had been given time to test these saviors thoroughly long ago there was no lack of of development of arts and sciences in enose ancient states babylonia babelonia Baby lonia E egypt gy pt greece and rome on the contrary they seem to have donta contained ined intelli gen gence ethe the of which in arts and sciences how never been sur our passed the saviors of the col had tree free hands bands to redeem those nations but did they do it no A contemporary describes the nations nation he was acquainted with in the beginning of our era in the following terms filled with all unrighteousness fornication ni covetousness maliciousness full fall of envy murder debate deceit malignity whis whisperer backbiters back biters haters baters of god despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things ahinga disobedient to parents aitho without ut understanding covenant breakers without natural affection implacable paul thus was the condition of the most intelligent people that ever lived on earth their intelligence could not net redeem them but may be the colonels saviors have bave improved and aird grown stronger in the nineteenth century than they were before this is to be hoped at least for the gent lemans own sake for one that dares to contemptuously trample under his feet gods gads plan of redemption will one day be in need ot of a strong savior if one is ii to be found JEHOVAH the almost blasphemous sentences which the colonel writes about je holab a name once so sacred that even true worshipers never dared to pronounce it would perhaps be best to ignore altogether they hardly need a reply the great objection of the colonel to the god of israel is that he Is cruet cruel A god of blood rep keply ya page and this because in his dealings akings with those ancient peoples he did not follow the rules of conduct which the col thinks he ought to have bee bew p guided by nor treat them according to tile the international laws now existing thousands of years after this is an objection that bears its stupidity on the surface for aft although bough I 1 am willing to admit the graat gortat advancement of colonel ingersoll yet I 1 venture the statement that gad knew exactly what he was doing and that his mode of treating treat lag the rations nations was anciently and is now infinitely superior to auy anything thing that the lofty genius of man can suggest 9 11 8 t 1 t ought to be self apparent that god could not treat those ancient nations in the same way as he would deal with the nations now god a rational being deals with everybody as circumstances require if the col would try he mi might ht perhaps be able to see the necessity of this nations as well as individuals possess different a rees of intelligence thiele and feel differently on the same subjects and live under different conditions these must be recognized or 0 else all intercourse would be a failure suppose for instance that ff M stanley should have traveled through the dark continents continent ts as he used lo 10 to travel through the united states he biad ex pecked to get along with the savages as he used to et along with the wait ers in the hotels of america the consequence would have been that he be instead of coming through all right would finally have found himself on the supper table of some chief he had to adapt himself to circumstances and show ills his guu gun as his bis recommendation alt bouga this would hardly have been taken kindly here in a civilized country A jol would he be who should try to go through ai a savage nation on the strength streng tn of a pass passport from a consul or through a civilized country the strength of his gun and yet is exactly what the Cf colonel lonel wishes make of god ile he would have him treat nations years azo aso to conditions under which wo we live t lolay loday 0 and this is the colonels wisdom extirpation OF THY THE god cruel it is iw impossible possible the limits ot this article to answer the charges made against god in ia to prove his cruelty I 1 will confine myself to that which in my iny judgment is the gravest the tiou of the how lid did Jebo vati command people to treat their neighbors his generals to destroy meu men women and babes this is objection reply page lot let tay tae reader bear tue me fol facts ia wind mind 1 I 1 the Canaan i wern so fo defiled d lowest of brutal hc nial sins were common uni hovi tieng 18 20 25 arid IS 18 1012 10 12 atheism had bad as atheism always does augmented licentiousness and cruelty 2 they had bad known the divine will but bat rejected god they were the descendants cen dauts ts of nosh noah and had for centuries had the light bight of revelation lingering among them Melchi sedek king of eswein aud and the priest of the most men high GOO god had bad been among them gen ft 3 they had been warned by the deluge by the fate of sodom by the destruction of pharaoh the overthrow of their eastern neighbors the AM Grites the passage bassage of jordan and the capture of jericho but notwithstanding all these warnings they prefer war against gods people 1 1 they had bad the alternative of emigrating as in fact many of them did who sailed to the shores of the mediterranean and founded flourishing C colonies ol onies 5 As their removal from the land that was not theirs but belonged to israel was necessary in order to preserve the people from the contamination of idolatry there seems to have been no course open but exterminating those that would not move nor r repent and join israel as one of their number boes woes all these facts are considered andallo the conditions under which those ancient nations were raised I 1 think any honest man will in his bis heart acquit jehovah of the charge made against him certain it is that the reverend theologian and philosopher the apostle john joan and thousands of others who were better acquainted with god and had reflected upon his works more than the colonel do not hesitate in declaring that god is love not a god ot of blood I 1 in treating of the history of jeph thab the col tries to make out that this judge of israel sacrificed his bis own daughter on en Jehova hs altar and that god was well pleased with this human or inhuman sacrifice reply p fill aa I 1 in a t this b is ins instance e t the 11 e eidner shows shows plainly how bow superficial he be is in hm observation of facts and unreliable in his statements he simply assumes his bis whole position on t the be strength of Ws bis exegesis of K king tug james english translation of the P passage as ge he does not even care what tb abu u true reading and meaning of the passage is this carelessness for truth ignot Is not new among infidels it has hao been remarked that most of ef the objections ot of famous voltaire were coined against the wrong translations of the latin version the vulgate instead ot of against the bible and if tile the colonel follows in the steps of voltaire we must berb perhaps aps not think vat that strange however the assertion that mat jephthah Jeph taah sacrificed his bis own daughter to god is as false as it is ridle ridiculous ulous not one word in thel the bible lible supports it let us see the verses containing Jephtha hs vow judges 11 30 31 can be rendered thus and jephthah Jeph chah vowed a vow wito the lord and said II if thou shale without fail deliver the call dren of ammon who had engaged in ID in an unjust war against israel into my hands then it shall be that thai whatsoever bat comes out of the doors of my house bouse when I 1 return in peace from the children of ammon shall be for jehovah and I 1 will offer hun aim a burnt offering that whatsoever met jephthah on his bis return should be tor for the lord that is devoted to the lord exclusively as harunah devoted samuel this was what the judge promised the narrative ve proceeds stating that the daughter of jephthah was the first to meet her father and upon learning his vow she said do to me according to that which hath bath proceeded out of thy mouth 11 lot let rue me alone two mouths months that I 1 may go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my virginity I 1 and my play sis 11 the words in italics show wherein where lathe the sacrifice consisted the girl was to be devoted entirely to the lords service and could no more engage in any secular employments not even marriage further and it came to pass at the end of two months ino that she returned unto her father I 1 who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed and she knew no ruan man observe this for this wits was the vow and it was a custom in israel that the daughters of israel went yearly to comfort or rather to make presents tha noth gift reward see psalm where the word is rendered so to the daughter I 1 the four days in a year 1 showing I 1 should think beyond ti a doubt the girl was not sacrificed sacrifice a at all as the col insists according to the mosaic law no human sacrifice could be offered see dent 12 10 30 31 lev even touching a dead human body reu rendered dered a person unclean tor for a certain length of time J jephthah ah could not sacrifice anything for he be was not a priest anal was w as no priest in israel who could be induced to slay a human sacrifice thereby defiling defilio tile the altar of god and making aimuel himself liable to capital punishment ish ment under such circumstances to assert jephthah sacrificed his bis daughter daw h ter and to rave against the bible on tat account shows an |