Show THE foundations OF or FAITH the an and dansi 11 of in ger infidelity wilch curds with cricks bricks without straw on a foundation roun dation of sand Mar markville col robert ingersoll is tho tile prince of skeptics lie he is the plumed knight of the infidel world and gaily into the hits lists amid the plaudits pl edits of admiring thousands he lie strikes the shield of the christian not with the blunt end of his lauce hut but with sharp point until it rings again the challen challenge o is to aortal combat lie ile strikes not nt at the follies or excesses asses of christianity but at the very foun foundations dati ons of re religion i ion he ile is not the ablest freethinker free thinker but he is the most daring and renowned freethinker free thinker of the age Asan As an orator he stands preeminent there is but one ingersoll on the tile platform we went to st SL joseph last week to hear col ingersoll tell us what we had to do to be saved the opera house was crowded from pit to gallery le we went expecting to hear bear an orator orr ator r W we e h heard c ard one wo we went expecting to hear many grand rand boblo things we heard them we went expecting to hear licar tn many ny bad very bad ideas idem we were lvere not riot disappointed ingersoll lug ersoll is a curl curious ous mixture of good and evil he is n R large fine looking man and the picture of health and good living he ile takes his audience by storm tonii fc mid and they surrender without firing a gun agun he ile moves them te to tears and to laughter as he would move the titu laries of the chess board ingersoll doca does not argue he ire adopts the same method that alexander did in untying tho the gordian knot his epigram malic ina ticeen sentences bences cut like a Dasin damascus blade and his carcasi pierces like a dagger with him the mast sacred subject are puppets made to dance to excite the laughter of his audience ence while denouncing fanaticism col ingersoll is him himself selfa a fanatic of the broadest type ho he is also as self ri righteous oteous as any pharisee of old if if lie were a church member he lie would belong to the holiness sect and mid with the utmost assurance call upon the world to look at it him a it man without sin lie he would also aso without t mercy send scud to bell by the first express train everyone every one who did not believe just as ho lie did in asking fairness and justice he lie seems to bo be the last one willing to grant these things ho he looks upon but one side of a question nad aad utterly refuses to look farther lie ile sees but one thin thing when he lie examines the Chrit christian iun religion and hat that is the crimes that have been committed in its name to all other results he is utterly blind he ile would be just aa ai justifiable in the pages of the history of the world and pointing out every excess bevc every ry committed in t tho he name of civil lib liberty eity and saying there is your boasted liberty ale the crime she has bas commit committed tea see the agony she has caused seo see the oceans ot of blood that has been shed in her name and then talk to me of the beauties beautie of liberty it is this talk of liberty that arrays man against man brother against brother and the citizen against his country and the very idea of civil liberty ought to bo be swept from the earth just as consistent just as logical would cel col ingersoll be in thu thi i argument as he is is in his philippics philip against the christian religion against bigotry and su superstition per I i against narrow darrow creeds and depot nepotism ism ingersoll uttered language an none too severe bevere and i if f it awa awakens keirs the diff rent churches to greater charily charity and leads then them to look more to mans maua daily walk than to loud professions of orthodox faith he will aloa 30 a great re atgood good but the trouble willi with fa ingersoll gerroll is ia it is not only these imperfections lie he v uld sweep uway but them the very of the whole christian fl faith aith aud proposes nothing i u in return right here a st joseph the very night of hid his lecture lie could have seen sorrow enough to have cast cost a shadow over all the remaining dav days of lafr if r if he ile bo be so go ex exceedingly aeed sympathetic ae as he would have us believe he ile woud have found hundreds that c him bin would not of thanked god that they had been born in this world he ile would have haye found fair women poisoned by the leprous touch of lust sunk in degradation aud and shame he ile would 11 have found hearts breaking in agony eyes banded with weeping cheeks checks scorched with burning tears he ile would have found the guilty holding high carnival over the bleeding bedy body of prostrated innocence gaunt poverty would have haye stared at him through the pinched features of half starved children and brokenhearted wives would have pointed hinted in grim despair a at t their ewes homes and a ask k him of the joys ji of this world for them what does col Inger phil ahil affine of fine clothes and paintings and statuary and f or chwe despairing souls it i is s in inthe these ee homes of bin of y of despair dee pair that many or the poor despised ministers of christ for whom col ingersoll has nothing but sti sneers cers are found doing the work of their humble 31 alaster aster with tender touch they wipe away the burning tears they raise tho the drool drooping i dg lands andi toward heaven into t the h des despairing pairin heart they pour wor words d a of consolation for one nia lits lecture ingersoll received half of that sum would be a perfect godsend to many of these theae faithful minister s f for or a whole years work and yet col in ersoll would deprive them even of that r for shame and after this iconoclast has torn down all the religious belief what would ho be place in ite its stead INI music painting statuary love of home can an fl be farther Is christianity opposed to music to statuary painting to love la the home ef of the infidel happier than the home of the christian Is the mother who holds in her happy adms arms her darl aug babe and aa as she pre presses mes it to her thrilling bosom and gazes into it its eyes yes and thinks she see sees lookin looking out from their depths the immortal soul ot of one destined to live forever and forever less a mother than one who thinks aho she beholds in her child a clod of earth dea destined tined to perish as it were in a breath if fine houses and paintings gsand and clothes bring goodness and happiness how good and happy vanderbilt and gould and the millionaires of earth must be but alas it is ft a fuel well known that great riches too often canker the affections actions and bard harden en th the e h heart C art we are not sorry wo we bieard heard col in ingersoll In e he ile uttered many ennobling thou thoughts shu and said many things calculated calculate to make man better but he lie said oh so many things that had better not have been aid said ills his beauty of language is hard bard to excel the following metaphor ia one of the most beautiful boever wo ever heard life ie is a golden bridge spanning the river of time one end reeling resting on mists and the other on eternal shadows in speak speaking of the thought that this life might end all lie said next to eternal joy next to being n forever with these those we love and those so who have loved us nex next to that ia is to be wrapped in the dreamless dr drapery ry of eternal death upon hpe the shadowy do wy shore of death tha thada rea r ea of trouble casta casts no wave eves that have been curtained by the ibe everlasting dark will never know again the touch of tears lips that have been touched by tho tile eternal silence will never utter another word of grief hearts of dust do not break tho the dead do not weep I gin any language be more e exquisitely X bitely toti touching ching tender and sad iry el every man to a greater or less extent is born a skeptic the mot mo t devout of christians often die in the dungeons dun geuns of doubting castle the key of faith alone cap can open its heavy doors blended is is he lie who baa has this thi key for it shall let I et him into the glorious pl orious sunlight I of gods truth gods love gods mercy |