The Worthington Advance

PRAYING FOR HIM.

"Col. Ingersoll, with whose religious views we do not agree at all, but who is doing a noble work in freeing men from bigotry and religious bondage, receives a number of letters from bigoted clergymen and others. At Buffalo recently he received one containing the following prayer to have him "cut off" if he did not change his views and believe with the bigot who wrote the letter:

O God, pity this reviler and rejector of the blood of atonement by sending such truth to his conscience as shall cause him to turn to Jesus. O God, smite this man think. O Jesus, make him think that after death comes a just reward for all he has done. O my Father in Heaven, if this man insists upon living just as he has, and will not believe in Christ that he may be saved, don't let him live to do harm. Either cut him down as unfruitful or stop his blasphemous mouth from sowing infidel seed."

Now, if Ingersoll were a praying man, he would answer the letter with a prayer something like this:

O God, pity this poor bigot and rejector of thy truth, and send him some power to open his eyes. O God, make this poor priest-ridden man think, that by thinking he may be freed from church error and bigotry. Our Father in Heaven, do not cut this poor man off until he is freed from his ignorance and his sins, but let him live until the truth can be brought to his mind. Restrain his foolish utterances and his bigoted and frenzied zeal in the cause of error, and lead him, before he dies, into that freedom of soul which is to be the heritage of all thy creatures.