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Show BOH 1XGERSOLL WITH A II LO. H In one of the stories of Boccaccio, ou remem- H ber, a man who had been very bad all his life, who had absolutely exhausted the possibilities jH ior violation of all laws of both God and man, who M hod Increased his crimes by the very strength of M his mind, went to a town where he was not yet. M known, even by reputation they didn't have dally, M newspapers or tho "Who's Who" then and thore H came on to dio. He sent for a priest, and to him M made confession. He impressed tho priest as a fTH very good man because he tried to make It appear TH he was grievously troubled with tho memory of 1 sins committed. But when he citme to confess H them to the priest they were of so small mport- M ance that the prlesi belieed they were the whole M truth. And, he dying man leaving a substantial H sum for the ihurch, the jriest enlisted all his fel- H lowship to gK-e the rem. ant a very handsome H funeral, and gave it out that the strange man had H died In all the odor of sanctity. And the people jH raised a monument to him, and told their children H of his unusual goodness, and as time passed the TH fame of his lrtues grew, and finally he became a H saint. H I can remember when nine preachers out of H ten couldn't escape skinning Bob Ingorsoll any jH moro than they could help their love of spring. H It was forced upon them by a power greater than FBI their own. And how they did flay the rotund H srentleman from Peoria: Of course he never knew H anything about it, and didn't care a whoop. But H the skinning went on from Sunday to Sunday. H uddly enough, as they skinned Bob, they forgot H to paint pictures of Hell for the rest of us. A H man can't do two things at one time. And when H they abandoned Bob, they had no doubt uncon- jH sciously gottun out of the habit of conjuring HI Tophet for their congregations. And they never HI went back again. H Now and then, as the years have passed sinco H the Colonel went to his reward "Peace to his H ashes, or God rest his soul!" as Paul Hull usod to H say of his old friand Phoachin Howard, "which- ever way ho went" I have heard ministers con- M ceding thcro was some virtue in tho llfo and tho H mission of Bob Ingorsoll. But nevor until one re- JH cent Sunday have I heard a proucher in a Chris- jj tian pulpit make tho author of "The Mistakes of flfl Moses" subject for praise. And Reverend Dr. M Gashen of the First Congregational church of hi3 M city did it then. M I dun't suppose thero has been in forty years & JH H sermon more worthy to ho remembered than was Hj that. -Undcmetttitd, it -was not thaBoccacdo-attompt H to make a saint of a sinner. It Simply ws the M effort to give 'fair and duo credit to a man of Hj great honesty of groat -menial -Strength and of Hj great courage. It simply was th expression of H thanks from one- brova and strong- man to an- H ottier. Ingersoll, you remember, never denied the Hj existence of a God. The inearest he came ever, H no mattr what they say was to declare that ho H dWn't know- But at the grave of his brother ho H delivered an oulogy which proved that he shared H with the rest of us the hope if not the belief that H there is anothar world, and a great Power that H manages the affairs of all the universe. H iAnd Dr. Goshen's sermon, one in a series of H very great interest and usefulness, was his con- H trlbution to the honor of a man who benefited H tire race by making men think. There is no dls- H loyalty to G6d in thinking. lie never gave that H faculty to the race with the purpose of damning H it- if the faoulty were exercised. And above all H things, Gad never meant that men should be H afraid, or should try to do right because they H wenp scarod into it H Qne time, down in the great state of Illinois, H I wss talking with a minister,, a Methodist, by the H way though the denomination doesn't matter; Hh and expressed the sonthnont that it seemed more Hfl likely men "would really do right because they H loved than because they feared. And he said: H " "Aren't you afraid the Devil will get you?" Which Hj had only the effect to make me laugh. Mere '"as Hj a -man who probably never did wrong. And yet H his controlling motive was that he eschewed evil H beoause ho didn't want to go to Hell. The fact B that he did want to go to Heaven was a lesser H consideration. It lay at the background of his H motive. H t. . JDngoESoll faqod the paradox of an almighty God H - and a still more almighty Devil, and bluntly de- H elated he didn't believo it What he said in maln- H t&lnlng that position cost him the governorship H of Illinois. But there isn't a governor of Illinois Hj trom the first one who sat at Kaskaskia to the H limt one who site in Springfield that will be known H as well or, loved as much as will Ingersoll. Not H oe of them has done a millionth as much for H the liberation of mankind. Not one of them has H done as much for right living, for truth, for oour- H asj, for freedom of thought and for purity of wor- H ship aiad nono of them over will. H fJingocsoll held that by the orthodox creed, Satan H and not God was the suprome. And he made most H , man take thoir choice. Either they had to con- H code his. position, or shut their oyos to ever-prosont H evidence. I don't mean that Dr. Goshen framod H a-.halo for Ingersoll, but that he did -have the H cQm'ago .to give fair and due orodlt to a great H squl who .has helped the whole world, and who H has done 'an inoaloulablo service to the cause of H Christianity. And that was a worthy and noble M thing -to do. H The problem itself is still rogarded as unsolved H In certain olrclos. But the truth seems evident. M Bid either of you aver read an old poem callod H "Bitter Sweot"? It is from the pen now still H of. Dr. J. G. Holland, who wrote some excellent H things in both prose and vorse thirty and forty m yaH,rs ago. Let me recall a i'ow pages of it to. H yqur memory. It expresses the principle, and j argues it .not only beautifully, but oonvincingly. H RUTH. m i 3m not satisfied. If evil live v Against God'a will, evil is king of all, j And they do well who worship Lucifer. H I 'am not satisfied. My reason spurns Suoh proaMfcutien to absurditios. H 3 know that you are happy; but I shrink From your blind faith with loathing and with M fear. H AJhd feel that I must win it, If I win, H VSttth the tfiurreador, not of will alone, H But of .the nfcilost faculty that God II H' crowned mo with. H DAVID. I There, Ruth, sit down! Hi "TIs the -old question, with the old reply. You fly along the path, wiSh bleeding feet, 1?TOiere many feet have flown and bled before; And ho who seeks to feuTdo you to 'tho goall' Has let me say it, father) stopped far short, And taken refuge at a wayside Inn, Whose haunted halls and mazy passages Receive no light, save through the riddled roof, Pierced thick by pilgrim staves, that Faith may lie Upon Its back, and only gaze on Heaven. 1 would not banish evil if I could; Nor would 1 beso deep in love with joy As to seek for it in forgetfulnoss, Through faith or fear. RUTH. Teach mo the better way, And every expiration from my lips Shall be a grateful blessing on your head; And in the coming world I'll seek the side Of no more gracious angel than the man Who gives me brotherhood by leading me Home with himself to heaven. DAVID. Bo this my plea: God is almighty all-benevolent; And naught exists save by His loving will. Evil, or what wo reckon such, exists, And 'not against His will; else the Supreme Is subject, and wo have in place of God A phantom nothing, with a phantom name. Therefore I care not whether Ho ordain That evil live, or whether He permit; Therefore I ask not why, in either case, As If He meant to curse me, but I ask What He would have this evil do for me? What is its mission? what its ministry? What golden fruit lies hidden In its husk? How shall it nurse my virtue, nerve my will, Chasten my passions, purify my love, And make me in some goodly sense like Him Who bore the cross of evil while He lived, Who hung and bled upon it when He died, And now, in glory, woars the victor's crown? RUTH. I face your thought and give it audience; But I cannot embrace it till it come With some of truth's credentials in its hands The fruits of gracious ministries. DAVID. Does ho Who, driven to lnbor by tho threatening weeds, And. .fojood to give his acres light and air, And traps for dew and reservoirs for rain, Till, in the smoky light of harvest time, The ragged husks reveal tho golden corn, Ask truth's credentials of tho weeds? Does he Who prunes the orchard boughs, or tills the field, Or fells the forests, or pursues their prey, Until the gnarly muscles of his limbs And the free "blood that thrills In all his veins Betray the health that toll alone secures, Ask truth's credentials at the hand of toil? Do you ask truth's credentials of the storm Which, while we entertain communion here, Makes better music for our huddling hearts Than choirs of stars can sing in fairest nights? Yet woods are evils evils toil and storm. Wo may suspoct tho fair, smooth face of good; But evil, that assails us undisguised, Bears evermore God's warrant in its hands. RUTH. Thank God for light! Those truths are slowly dawning on my soul, And take position in the firmament That spans my thought, like stars that know thoir place. Dear Lord! what visions crowd before my eyes Visions drawn forth from memory's mysteries By the swoet shining of these holy lights! I soe a youth whom God has crownod with power, And oursed with poverty. With bravost heart He struggles with his lot, through toilsome years, Kept to his task by dally want of bread, And kept to virtue by his daily task, Till, gaining manhood in tho manly strife, Tho flro that fills him smitten from a flint Tho strength that arms him wrested from a fiend-He fiend-He stands, at last, a master of himself, And, in that grace, a master of his kind. To the thinker it seems absurdly inconsistent to hold that God is all powerful, opposed to evil, and yet can not make an end of evil. That was the point in all the avgumont of Ingersoll. That was the argument that made thinking preachers free. Thatwas the dootrine that did more for the causo of true and Intelligent religion than has 'been done by an army of orthodox preachers. "Never In my memory of ovonts has anything "been said inSalt Lake of so much importance as that serme . of Dr. Goshen, giving credit to Bob Ingersoll where the credit was so certainly due. |