The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll novel. A total of 512 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll.Vol. 1.by Robert G. Ingersoll.PREFACE.IN presenting to
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll.Vol. 1.by Robert G. Ingersoll.PREFACE.IN presenting to the public this edition of the late Robert G.Ingersoll's works, it has been the aim of the publisher to make it worthy of the author and a pleasure to his friends
- 201 All the languages of the world are not sufficient to express the filth of polygamy. It makes man a beast, and woman a slave. It destroys the fireside and makes virtue an outcast. It takes us back to the barbarism of animals, and leaves the heart a den in
- 202 To my mind, the failure of the evangelists to agree as tu what is necessary for man to do in order to insure the salvation of his soul, is a demonstration that they were not inspired.Neither do the witnesses agree as to the last words of Christ when he wa
- 203 Mr. Black attributes to me the following expression: "Christianity is pernicious in its moral effect, darkens the mind, narrows the soul, arrests the progress of human society, and hinders civilization." I said no such thing. Strange, that he is
- 204 But there are natures which are not at all poetical or dreamy, only most simple and pure, which, in moments of spiritual exaltation, are almost _conscious_ of a Presence that is not of this world. But this, which is a matter of experience, will have no we
- 205 A REPLY TO THE REV. HENRY M. FIELD, D.D."Doubt is called the beacon of the wise."My Dear Mr. Field: I answer your letter because it is manly, candid and generous. It is not often that a minister of the gospel of universal benevolence speaks of a
- 206 Do you really believe that this world is governed by an infinitely wise and good G.o.d? Have you convinced even yourself of this? Why should G.o.d permit the triumph of injustice? Why should the loving be tortured? Why should the n.o.blest be destroyed? W
- 207 You may reply that all this is included in "Do unto others as you would be done by;" and "Resist not evil." More than this is necessary to educate the human race. It is not enough to say to your child or to your pupil, "Do right.&
- 208 Did they not follow one who offered a reward to those who would desert fathers and mothers? Of course you have only to go back a few generations in your family to find a Field who was not a Presbyterian.After that you find a Presbyterian. Was he base enou
- 209 It is a fas.h.i.+on among atheistic philosophers to make light of the argument from design; but "my mind is so that it is incapable" of resisting the conclusion to which it leads me. And (since personal questions are in order) I beg to ask if it
- 210 Besides, what right have you to say that I "look upon annihilation as the common lot of all"? Was there any such thought in my Reply? Do you find it in any published words of mine? Do you find anything in what I have written tending to show that
- 211 Compare, for one moment, all that the Savior did, all the pain and suffering that he relieved,--compare all this with the discovery of anaesthetics. Compare your prophets with the inventors, your Apostles with the Keplers, the Humboldts and the Darwins.I
- 212 Although the Reply is not careful to supply us with whys, it does not hesitate to ask for them (p. 479): "Why should an infinitely wise and powerful G.o.d destroy the good and preserve the vile? Why should He treat all alike here, and in another worl
- 213 We say that a thing is "warped" that was once nearer level, flat, or straight; that it is "impaired" when it was once nearer perfect, and that it is "dislocated" when once it was united. Consequently, you have said that at so
- 214 The question arises: Has every one who reads the Old Testament the right to express his thought as to the character of Jehovah? You will admit that as he reads his mind will receive some impression, and that when he finishes the "inspired volume"
- 215 These stories of Abraham and Jephthah have cost many an innocent life.Only a few years ago, here in my country, a man by the name of Freeman, believing that G.o.d demanded at least the show of obedience--believing what he had read in the Old Testament tha
- 216 It gave me great pleasure to find that at last even you have been driven to say that: "it is a duty inc.u.mbent upon us respectively according to our means and opportunities, to decide by the use of the faculty of reason given us, the great questions
- 217 "'Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?' And she said, 'Yea, for so much.' Then Peter said unto her, 'How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried
- 218 Do you mean to say that because pa.s.sion and prejudice, the reckless "pilots 'twixt the dangerous sh.o.r.es of will and judgment," sway the mind, that the opinions which you have expressed in your Remarks to me are not your opinions? Certa
- 219 The courts of the Vatican could not find room for the mult.i.tude of gifts and offerings of every kind which were sent from all quarters of the world.8. These things are here said, not because of any other importance, but because they set forth in the mos
- 220 "The achievement of Christ in founding by his single will and power a structure so durable and so universal is like no other achievement which history records. The masterpieces of the men of action are coa.r.s.e and commonplace in comparison with it,
- 221 All have the same interest, whether they know it or not, in the establishment of facts. All have the same to gain, the same to lose. He loads the dice against himself who scores a point against the right.Absolute honesty is to the intellectual perception
- 222 In the first place, nothing can be better than goodness. Nothing is more sacred, or can be more sacred, than the wellbeing of man. All things that tend to increase or preserve the happiness of the human race are good--that is to say, they are sacred. All
- 223 We all know that a good man may employ a bad agent. A good king might leave his realm and put in his place a tyrant and a wretch. The good man and the good king cannot certainly know what manner of man the agent is--what kind of person the vicar is--conse
- 224 Peter's chair--after the natural pa.s.sions of man had been "softened" by the creed of Rome--came the Ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew, the result of a conspiracy between the Vicar of Christ, Philip II., Charles IX., and his fiendish mother. L
- 225 Cardinal Manning takes the ground that Jehovah practically abandoned the children of men for four thousand years, and gave them over to every abomination. He claims that Christianity came "in the fullness of time,"and it is then admitted that &q
- 226 Certainly none of these things are above nature. We do not need the a.s.sistance of the Holy Ghost in these matters. We know that men are united by common interests, common purposes, common dangers--by race, climate and education. It is no more wonderful
- 227 * "Divorce and Divorce Legislation," by Theodore D. Woolsey, 2d Ed., p. 126.And for this no, his first and last and best reason can be but this: "_Thus saith the Lord_."As time goes on the wisdom of the church in absolutely forbidding
- 228 Marriage is the most important, the most sacred, contract that human beings can make. No matter whether we call it a contract, or a sacrament, or both, it remains precisely the same. And no matter whether this contract is entered into in the presence of m
- 229 The indissolubility of marriage was a reaction from polygamy. Man naturally rushes from one extreme to the other. The Cardinal informs us that "G.o.d inst.i.tuted in Paradise the marriage state, and sanctified it;"that "he established its l
- 230 _The Cardinal_. My dear woman, G.o.d inst.i.tuted in Paradise the marriage state and sanctified it, and he established its law of unity and declared its indissolubility._The Wife_. But, Mr. Cardinal, if it be true that "G.o.d inst.i.tuted marriage in
- 231 * This unfinished article was written as a reply to the Rev.Lyman Abbott's article ent.i.tled, "Flaws in Ingersollism,"which was printed in the April number of the North American Review for 1890.IN your Open Letter to me, published in this
- 232 This pretence that to do right is to carry a cross, has done an immense amount of injury to the world. Only those who do wrong carry a cross. To do wrong is the only possible self-denial.The pulpit has always been saying that, although the virtuous and go
- 233 The Archdeacon insists that all except a fraction of the human race acknowledge the truths which Agnostics repudiate, and they must acknowledge them because they are by them spiritually discerned; and yet, St. Paul says that this is impossible, and insist
- 234 After reading this philosophic dissertation on the dealings of Providence, I doubt if the Archdeacon will still remain of the opinion that Mr. Bancroft is one of the leading prose writers of America. If the Archdeacon will read a few of the sermons of The
- 235 But whatever the cause may be, the fact is that we, citizens of the Republic, feel that certain domestic brutalities are the children of monarchies and despotisms; that they were produced by superst.i.tion, ignorance, and savagery; and that they are not i
- 236 The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll.Vol. 7.by Robert G. Ingersoll.MY REVIEWERS REVIEWED.* This lecture was delivered by Col. Ingersoll in San Francisco Cal., June 27, 1877. It was a reply to various clergymen of that city, who had made violent attacks upon h
- 237 II.IF this "sacred" book teaches man to enslave his brother, it is not inspired. A G.o.d who would establish slavery is as cruel and heartless as any devil could be."Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of t
- 238 31. "And G.o.d saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day."--_Genesis i_.1. "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2. "And on the
- 239 I have given you a few of the pa.s.sages found in the Old Testament upon this subject, showing conclusively that the Bible teaches the existence of witches, wizards and those who have familiar spirits. In the New Testament there are pa.s.sages equally str
- 240 Allow me to give you another instance of affection related in the Scriptures. There was, it seems, a most excellent man by the name of Job. The Lord was walking up and down, and happening to meet Satan, said to him: "Are you acquainted with my servan
- 241 THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY OF G.o.d.X.THE Bible denounces religious liberty. After covering the world with blood, after having made it almost hollow with graves, Christians are beginning to say that men have a right to differ upon religious questions provided
- 242 Surely the good things in that book are not rendered more sacred from the fact that in the same volume are found the frightful pa.s.sages I have quoted. In my judgment the Bible should be read and studied precisely as we read and study any book whatever.
- 243 _Question_. What is your opinion of the Bible? Answer. "It is a splendid book. It makes the n.o.blest type of Catholics and the meanest bigots.Through this book men give their hearts for good to G.o.d, or for evil to the devil. The best argument for
- 244 _Answer._ "The truth of which simply is, that four thousand years ago polygamy existed among the Jews, as everywhere else on earth then, and even their prophets did not come to the idea of its being wrong. _But what is there to be indignant_ about in
- 245 Neither must we imagine that our civilization is the only one in the world. They had no locks and keys in j.a.pan until that country was visited by Christians, and they are now used only in those ports where Christians are allowed to enter. It has often b
- 246 I would not take from those suffering in this world the hope of happiness hereafter. My princ.i.p.al object has been to take away from them the fear of eternal pain hereafter. Still, it is impossible for me to explain the facts by which I am surrounded, i
- 247 He took in part the place of the newspaper. He was a messenger from the older parts of the country. Life was monotonous. The appearance of the traveler gave variety. As people grow wealthy they grow exclusive. As they become educated there is a tendency t
- 248 _Question_. The shorter catechism, Colonel, you may remember says "that man's chief end is to glorify G.o.d and enjoy him forever." What is your idea of the chief end of man?_Answer._ It has always seemed a little curious to me that joy sho
- 249 So in the great realm of religion, there can be no force. No one can be compelled to pray. No matter how you tie him down, or crush him down on his face or on his knees, it is above the power of the human race to put in that man, by force, the spirit of p
- 250 The argument was a strong one; the argument was brilliant, and was able; and I say now, with all my predilections for the church of my fathers, and for your church (because it is not a question of our differences, but it is a question whether the tree sha
- 251 _Second_. If you tell your thought at all, tell your honest thought. Do not be a parrot--do not be an instrumentality for an organization. Tell your own thought, honor bright, what you think.My next idea is, that the only possible good in the universe is
- 252 The next question is whether Christianity has deprived G.o.d of the pardoning power.The Methodist Church and every orthodox church teaches that this life is a period of probation; that there is no chance given for reformation after death; that G.o.d gives
- 253 I am glad that he believes in a free platform and a free press--that he, like Lucretia Mott, believes in "truth for authority, and not authority for truth." At the same time I do not see how the fact that I am not a scientist has the slightest b
- 254 For instance: A man is graduated from an orthodox university. In this university he has studied astronomy, and yet he believes that Joshua stopped the sun. He has studied geology, and yet he a.s.serts the truth of the Mosaic cosmogony. He has studied chem
- 255 NO one objects to the morality of Christianity.The industrious people of the world--those who have anything--are, as a rule, opposed to larceny; a very large majority of people object to being murdered, and so we have laws against larceny and murder. A la
- 256 So, too, Mr. Peters takes the ground that "we are indebted to Christianity for our chronology."According to Christianity this world has been peopled about six thousand years. Christian chronology gives the age of the first man, and then gives th
- 257 Now, if he knew that billions upon billions would refuse to take the remedy, and consequently would suffer eternal pain, why create them?There would have been much less misery in the world had he left them dust.What right has a G.o.d to make a failure? Wh
- 258 The Rev. Mr. Holloway is not satisfied with the "Christmas Sermon."For his benefit I repeat, in another form, what the "Christmas Sermon"contains: If orthodox Christianity teaches that this life is a period of probation, that we settle
- 259 I disagreed with these people, and favored the destruction of obscene literature not only, but that it be made a criminal offence to send it through the mails. As a matter of fact I drew up resolutions to that effect that were pa.s.sed. Afterward they wer
- 260 _Question_. Have you read an article in the _Western Watchman_, ent.i.tled "Suicide of Judge Normile"? If so, what is your opinion of it?_Answer._ I have read the article, and I think the spirit in which it is written is in exact accord with the
- 261 I DO not know whether self-killing is on the increase or not. If it is, then there must be, on the average, more trouble, more sorrow, more failure, and, consequently, more people are driven to despair. In civilized life there is a great struggle, great c
- 262 Some have denounced suicide as the worst of crimes--worse than the murder of another.The first question, then, is: Has a man under any circ.u.mstances the right to kill himself?A man is being slowly devoured by a cancer--his agony is intense--his sufferin
- 263 This certainly is a great change, and I congratulate myself on having forced the clergy to contradict themselves._Seventh_.--The clergy take the position that the atheist, the unbeliever, has no standard of morality--that he can have no real conception of
- 264 _Question_. Do you believe that such a law will prevent the frequency of suicides?_Answer._ By no means. After this, persons in New York who have made up their minds to commit suicide will see to it that they succeed._Question_. Have your opinions been in
- 265 _Answer._ I believe that all actions that tend to the well-being of sentient beings are virtuous and moral. I believe that real religion consists in doing good. I do not believe in phantoms. I believe in the uniformity of nature; that matter will forever
- 266 It is not true that "one of the unwritten mottoes of our business morals seem to say in the plainest phraseology possible: 'Successful wrong is right.'" Men in this country are not esteemed simply because they are rich; inquiries are m
- 267 _Question_. What do you think of the point that no one is able to judge of these things unless he is a Hebrew scholar?_Answer._ I do not think it is necessary to understand Hebrew to decide as to the probability of springs gus.h.i.+ng out of dead bones, o
- 268 _Question_. I see that one objection to your lectures urged by Judge Comegys on the grand jury is, that they tend to a breach of the peace--to riot and bloodshed._Answer._ Yes; Judge Comegys seems to be afraid that people who love their enemies will mob t
- 269 Doesn't it? Can any man tell what he is going to think to-morrow? You see, you hear, you taste, you feel, you smell--these are the avenues by which Nature approaches the brain, the consequence of this is thought, and you cannot by any possibility hel
- 270 "Where did you come from?"And he looks off kind of stiffly, with his head on one side and he says: "I came from the gallows. I was just hung.""What were you hung for?""Murdering my wife. She wasn't a Christian eithe
- 271 Without doubt, there are many people in the city of New York who cannot make a living. Compet.i.tion is too sharp; life is too complex; consequently the percentage of failures is large. In savage life there are few failures, but in civilized life there ar
- 272 Now, we are also told in the New Testament that Christ was tempted by the devil; that is, by a "personification of evil," and that this personification took him to the pinnacle of the temple and tried to induce him to jump off. Now, where did th
- 273 Now, how can you say that an orthodox Christian creed remains intact without crumbling when original sin, the fall of man, the atonement and the existence of the devil are all thrown aside?Of course if you mean by Christianity, acting like Christ, being g
- 274 The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll.Vol. 8.by Robert G. Ingersoll.INTERVIEWS THE BIBLE AND A FUTURE LIFE _Question_. Colonel, are your views of religion based upon the Bible?_Answer_. I regard the Bible, especially the Old Testament, the same as I do most ot
- 275 And if on the first of January next, we resume all right, and maintain resumption, I see no reason why the Republican party should not succeed in 1880. The Republican party came into power at the commencement of the Rebellion, and necessarily retained pow
- 276 _Answer_. Somebody asked Confucius about another world, and his reply was: "How should I know anything about another world when I know so little of this?" For my part, I know nothing of any other state of existence, either before or after this,
- 277 _Answer_. If the State is really for Grant, he will, and if it is not, he will not. Illinois is as little "owned" as any State in this Union. Illinois would naturally be for Grant, other things being equal, because he is regarded as a citizen of
- 278 _Answer_. Yes; the people have concluded that the lips of America shall be free. There never was free speech at the South, and there never will be until the people of that section admit that the Nation is superior to the State, and that all citizens have
- 279 _Question_. Do I understand you to imply that there will be a neutral policy, as it were, towards the South?_Answer_. No, I think that there will be nothing neutral about it. I think that the next administration will be one-sided--that is, it will be on t
- 280 My opinion of immortality is this: First.--I live, and that of itself is infinitely wonderful.Second.--There was a time when I was not, and after I was not, I was. Third.--Now that I am, I may be again; and it is no more wonderful that I may be again, if
- 281 _Answer_. Where does Mr. Buckner propose to colonize the white people, and what right has he to propose the colonization of six millions of people? Should we not have other bills to colonize the Germans, the Swedes, the Irish, and then, may be, another bi
- 282 _Answer_. I guess not; but I may pay Lansing something for advertising my lecture. I suppose Mr. Wilc.o.x (who controls the Opera House) did what he thought was right. I hear he is a good man. He probably got a little frightened and began to think about t
- 283 _Question_. Does he compare any other Infidels with Christians?_Answer_. Oh, yes; he compares Lord Bacon with Diderot. I have never claimed that Diderot was a saint. I have simply insisted that he was a great man; that he was grand enough to say that &quo
- 284 I am glad that he believes the Bible, glad that he has delivered lectures against what he calls Infidelity, and glad that he has been working for years with the missionaries and evangelists of the United States. He is a man of small brain, badly balanced.
- 285 _Question_. What have you to say to the charge that you are preaching the doctrine of despair and hopelessness, when they have the comforting a.s.surances of the Christian religion to offer?_Answer_. All I have to say is this: If the Christian religion is
- 286 _Question_. You do not seem to think that Arthur has a chance?_Answer_. No Vice-President was ever made President by the people.It is natural to resent the accident that gave the Vice-President the place. They regard the Vice-President as children do a st
- 287 _Answer_. My belief is that the Republicans will have to nominate some man who has not been conspicuous in any faction, and upon whom all can unite. As a consequence he must be a new man. The Democrats must do the same. They must nominate a new man. The o
- 288 _Question_. Do you wish to say anything as to the reasoning of Justice Harlan on the rights of colored people on railways, in inns and theatres?_Answer_. Yes, I do. That part of the opinion is especially strong. He shows conclusively that a common carrier
- 289 The church has changed; and instead of trying to prove that modern astronomy and geology are false, because they do not agree with Moses, it is now endeavoring to prove that the account by Moses is true, because it agrees with modern astronomy and geology
- 290 _Answer_. I do not believe in the bayonet plan. Mormonism must be done away with by the thousand influences of civilization, by education, by the elevation of the people. Of course, a gentleman would rather have one n.o.ble woman than a hundred females. I
- 291 The best religion, after all, is common sense; a religion for this world, one world at a time, a religion for to-day. We want a religion that will deal in questions in which we are interested.How are we to do away with crime? How are we to do away with pa
- 292 These proclamations have always appeared to me absurdly egotistical.Why should G.o.d treat us any better than he does the rest of his children? Why should he send pestilence and famine to China, and health and plenty to us? Why give us corn, and Egypt cho
- 293 --_The Times_, Kansas City, Missouri, February 23, 1884.REPLY TO KANSAS CITY CLERGY._Question_. Will you take any notice of Mr. Magrath's challenge?_Answer_. I do not think it worth while to discuss with Mr. Magrath.I do not say this in disparagement
- 294 I did not suppose that anybody was idiotic enough to want me arrested for blasphemy. It seems to me that an infinite Being can take care of himself without the aid of any agent of a Bible society. Perhaps it is wrong for me to be here while the Methodist
- 295 _Answer_. Religion and morality have nothing in common, and yet there is no religion except the practice of morality. But what you call religion is simply superst.i.tion. Religion as it is now taught teaches our duties toward G.o.d--our obligations to the
- 296 _Question_. Have you seen the published report that Dorsey claims to have paid you one hundred thousand dollars for your services in the Star Route Cases?_Answer_. I have seen the report, but Dorsey never said anything like that._Question_. Is there no tr
- 297 _Question_. A man in the Swaim Court Martial case was excluded as a witness because he was an Atheist. Do you think the law in the next decade will permit the affirmative oath?_Answer_. If belief affected your eyes, your ears, any of your senses, or your
- 298 _Question_. "Do you believe in eternal punishment, as set forth in the confession of faith?"_Answer_. (With some hesitation) "Yes, I do."_Question_. "Have you preached on that subject lately?"_Answer_. "No. I prepared a
- 299 _Question_. What books would you recommend for the perusal of a young man of limited time and culture with reference to helping him in the development of intellect and good character?_Answer_. The works of Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, Draper's "Intell
- 300 I account for revivalists like the Rev. Samuel Jones in the same way. There is in every community an ignorant cla.s.s--what you might call a literal cla.s.s--who believe in the real blood atonement; who believe in heaven and h.e.l.l, and harps and gridiro