T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, AUGUST 17. 1899.
5
An Agnostic’s Tribute to Ingersoll. polarized free thought and
C ontinued from 3d page,
of thé mean and designing men of
both church and state, who have
ever endeavored to enslave and en
chain the m inds of the ignorant by
clothing all m ystery with the super
n atu ra l, and by denying the people
the right to criticise, th in k and in
vestigate for them selves.
A gainst the allied powers of king
craft and priestcraft, arm ed with
the sceptre of ju s t’ce and the shield
of tru th , Infidelity stands, a coun
sellor of the ignorant, a guide of
reason, an advocate of independ
ence, a proclaim er of liberty, and a
defender of ju st governm ent.
Like an arm ed w arrior, like a
plumed k n ight, Robert G. Ingersoll
m arched down the highw ay of pro
gress, scattering the
dim
ages like the m orning sunlight
scatters the m ists of the valley.
Full and fair upon the hrazen fore
heads of the m onsters of supersti
tion he threw his shining lance,and
powerlesp th ey fell before him . The
m ailed giants of orthodoxy came
out to do him b attle,o n ly to add to
the wrecks th a t strewed his path.
Down went E n g lan d ’s great pre
mier and A m erica’s great ju rist,
and few thereafter dared face this
m an of m ight, th is man of men.
From thicket and cave and far-off
horison the cohorts of m iracle
howled defiance, but the m ultitude
of sm all voices disturbed him not.
There were beating of wings and
ra ttle of arm or and blare of tru m
pets such as never broke silence in
heaven before, but onw ard and u n
daunted he held his shining course.
He was not the greatest scientist,
nor the most profound scholar and
exponent of Agnosticism in the
ranks of F re e th o u g h t— he was the
m asterful general that led the way.
Ask ye what he did? He unloos
ed the shackles of superstition with
which C h ristian ity im prisons the
brain of childhood, and set m illions
free.
T he whole world of men
is more
free to think
and
speak since he first cham pioned the
cause of “ L iberty for Man, W oman
and C h ild ”.
Let speech be free,
and ty an n y and superstition can
not live. He who does most to free
the mind of man from the gods and
ghosts and hells and devils and
fears of religion, does most to m er
it the love and praise of m ankind.
Ask ye w hat he did? He gave
more money to ch arity in one year
than most preachers have brains
to earn in a lifetime. Ask ye w hat
he did? He lectured on G hosts for
two thousand dollars a night, when
preachers who defam e him could not
com m and an audience of one h u n
dred people with free adm ission.
ghosts of
Ask ye w hat he did? He tau g h t
men to think for them selves — to
have opinions
their own, and so
lifted the in d iv id u ality and dignity
of the race. By his fearless public
exam ple the tim id grew brave. He
of
free
speech. He dispelled the odium
and contem pt which superstition
had cast upon the F reethinker. H e
resurrected the fair fame of T hom as
Paine from the m ountain of lies
un«ier which raalic’ou« C h ristian ity . . . .
had buried it. He cham pioned the
despised side of m ondern thought
and illu stra te d the pow’er of one
m an, arm ed with the tru th , against
ihe intrenched and overw helm ing
forces of creed and greed.
He
stam ped his indiv id u ality upon the
age. He assisted F reethought to
ward organization, and helped it to
become a force to be reckoned with.
He broke the ice-bound harbor of
orthodoxy and forced its port open
to the free sailing of every craft.
He aroused the whole world from
its drowsy, drunken dream of faith,
and opened its eyes to the fact th a t
freedom of thought and free d is
cussion of all subjects m ust be the
basis of free governm ent.
Ask ye w hat he did? W h at he
did to the clergy, they wrell know.
I t is only a question of tim e when
the C hristian people will realize
th at he was their friend and their
defender against the centuries of
organized attem pt to fasten upon
th eir brains the m iracles,the ghosts,
the superstitions and the morbid
beliefs of a barbarous and ignorant
age, and so keep them hum ble and
subservient to aristocratic and ec
clesiastical power. W hat he did,
for one m an, was plenty; and well
the powers of superstition realize it.
The
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They are more or less happy th a t
the voice th a t th rilled and charm ed
the world, and ¿.wakened it from
the dull lethargy of blind belief to
the sober realities of reason, is still
ed fcrrever; and freely they prophe
sy th a t his power and influence will
expire with him. T h at fond delus
ion m ay serve for a tim e as their
consolation. Ingersoll is dead; but
the thousands of brains he freed are
not.
An influence so enorm ous
can not die. It is beyond com put
ation. I t insures him a cherished
m em ory and a fame which will for
ever brighten the track of time. In
his day, presidents, crowned rulers
and potentates, great theologians
and great statesm en have lived and
passed from the m em ory of m an.
He lived to see the great tribunes
of orthodoxy, Jones and Talm age
and Moody, become extinct exist
ences. He lived to see thousands
of the im aginary great who aspired
to meet him in discussion pass into
hopeless oblivion.
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The good he has done for the MZ
world in liberalizing C hristians and
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all classes of men can never be es
tim ated. All the advanced thinkers MZ
of the church in this country are MZ
largely the result ot hfs work. His
exam ple taught them to dare to
tell the tru th . He so lilierated the
m inds of the laity th a t the clergy
were forced to vacate illogical and
false premises. He drovp inspira-
Concluded on ttth page.
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