not been saved. Maybe the Methodists had better turn
their attention to the heathen of our own country. Then we have
a good many Mormons who rely on the truth of the Old Testament and
follow the example of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It seems to me
that the Methodists better convert the Mormons before attacking
the tribes of Central Africa. There is plenty of work to be done
right here. A few good bishops might be employed for a time in
converting Dr. Briggs and Professor Swing, to say nothing of other
heretical Presbyterians.

There is no need of going to China to convert the Chinese. There
are thousands of them here. In China our missionaries will tell
the followers of Confucius about the love and forgiveness of
Christians, and when the Chinese come here they are robbed, assaulted,
and often murdered. Would it not be a good thing for the Methodists
to civilize our own Christians to such a degree that they would
not murder a man simply because he belongs to another race and
worships other gods?

So, too, I think it would be a good thing for the Methodists to go
South and persuade their brethren in that country to treat the
colored people with kindness. A few efforts might be made to
convert the "White-caps" in Ohio, Indiana and some other States.

My advice to the Methodists is to do what little good they can
right here and now. It seems cruel to preach to the heathen a
gospel that is dying out even here, and fill their poor minds with
the absurd dogmas and cruel creeds that intelligent men have outgrown
and thrown away.

Honest commerce will do a thousand times more good than all the
missionaries on earth. I do not believe that an intelligent Chinaman
or an intelligent Hindoo has ever been or ever will be converted
into a Methodist. If Methodism is good we need it here, and if it
is not good, do not fool the heathen with it.

--_The Press_, Cleveland, Ohio, November 12, 1891.

MY BELIEF AND UNBELIEF.*

[* Col. Robert G. Ingersoll was in Toledo for a few hours yesterday
afternoon on railroad business. Whatever Mr. Ingersoll says is
always read with interest, for besides the independence of his
averments, his ideas are worded in a way that in itself is attractive.

While in the court room talking with some of the officials and
others, he was saying that in this world there is rather an unequal
distribution of comforts, rewards, and punishments. For himself,
he had fared pretty well. He stated t