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
- 101 The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll.Vol. 4.by Robert G. Ingersoll.WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC.I.FOR the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fas.h.i.+on of our garments, depend on where we were born
- 102 To use a Western phrase or saying, I found that Bishop Butler dug up more snakes than he killed--suggested more difficulties than he explained--more doubts than he dispelled.IV.AMONG such books my youth was pa.s.sed. All the seeds of Christianity--of supe
- 103 He did not rise above all the superst.i.tions of his day. While he hated Jehovah, he praised the G.o.d of Nature, the creator and preserver of all.In this he was wrong, because, as Watson said in his Reply to Paine, the G.o.d of Nature is as heartless, as
- 104 Haeckel began at the simplest cell, went from change to change--from form to form--followed the line of development, the path of life, until he reached the human race. It was all natural. There had been no interference from without.I read the works of the
- 105 I believe that with infinite arms Nature embraces the all--that there is no interference--no chance--that behind every event are the necessary and countless causes, and that beyond every event will be and must be the necessary and countless effects.Man mu
- 106 In all directions they seek for truth, and when found, accept it with joy--accept it in spite of preconceived opinions--in spite of prejudice and hatred.This is the course pursued by wise and honest men, and no other course is possible for them.In every d
- 107 The declaration that salvation is the reward for belief is inconsistent with mental freedom, and could have been made by no man who thought that evidence sustained the slightest relation to belief.Every sermon in which men have been told that they could s
- 108 Ministers ought to be free. They should be the heralds of the ever coming day, but they are the bats, the owls that inhabit ruins, that hate the light. They denounce honest men who express their thoughts, as blasphemers, and do what they can to close thei
- 109 CONCLUSION.LET us be honest. Let us preserve the veracity of our souls. Let education commence in the cradle--in the lap of the loving mother.This is the first school. The teacher, the mother, should be absolutely honest.The nursery should not be an asylu
- 110 So we in the United States believe that the authority to govern, the authority to make and execute laws, comes from the consent of the governed and not from any supernatural source. We do not believe that the king occupied his throne because of the will o
- 111 I would invoke the same power to preserve these homes, and to acquire these homes, that I would invoke for acquiring lands for building railways. Every State should fix the amount of land that could be owned by an individual, not liable to be taken from h
- 112 "There is no darkness but ignorance."Let us flood the world with intellectual light.A THANKSGIVING SERMON.MANY ages ago our fathers were living in dens and caves. Their bodies, their low foreheads, were covered with hair. They were eating berrie
- 113 It gave us the history of the world--of the stars, and the beginning of all things. It taught the geology of Moses--the astronomy of Joshua and Elijah. It taught the fall of man and the atonement--proved that a Jewish peasant was G.o.d--established the ex
- 114 What I say is that every honest teacher of the supernatural has been and is an unconscious enemy of the human race.What is the philosophy of the church--of those who believe in the supernatural?Back of all that is--back of all events--Christians put an in
- 115 but by a sailor. Magellan left Seville, Spain, August 10th, 1519, sailed west and kept sailing west, and the s.h.i.+p reached Seville, the port it left, on Sept. 7th, 1522.The world had been circ.u.mnavigated. The earth was known to be round.There had bee
- 116 Have we a true copy of the Bible that was in the temple at Jerusalem--the one sent to Vespasian?n.o.body knows.Have we a true copy of the Septuagint?n.o.body knows.What is the oldest ma.n.u.script of the Bible we have in Hebrew?The oldest ma.n.u.script we
- 117 Wealth is not a crime; poverty is not a virtue--although the virtuous have generally been poor. There is only one good, and that is human happiness; and he only is a wise man who makes himself and others happy.I have heard all my life about self-denial. T
- 118 We must teach this, and let our fellow-citizens know that we give them every right that we claim for ourselves. We must discuss these questions and have charity--and we will have it whenever we have the philosophy that all men are as they must be, and tha
- 119 The soil is poor.If the Bible is inspired, is it true?We are told by this inspired book of the gold and silver collected by King David for the temple--the temple afterward completed by the virtuous Solomon.According to the blessed Bible, David collected a
- 120 As both of these writers were inspired and as both received their information from G.o.d, they ought to agree.According to Matthew there was between David and Jesus twenty-seven generations, and he gives all the names.According to Luke there were between
- 121 Ministers ask: Is it possible for G.o.d to forgive man?And when I think of what has been suffered--of the centuries of agony and tears, I ask: Is it possible for man to forgive G.o.d?How do Christians prove the existence of their G.o.d? Is it possible to
- 122 The following pa.s.sages show that Christ was a devout Jew."Swear not, neither by heaven, for it is G.o.d's throne, nor by the earth for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem for it is his holy city.""Think not that I am come to de
- 123 That he attacked the religion of his time because it was cruel. That this excited the hatred of those in power, and that Christ was arrested, tried and crucified.For many centuries this great Peasant of Palestine has been wors.h.i.+ped as G.o.d.Millions a
- 124 That word is a coiled serpent in the mother's breast, that lifts its fanged head and hisses in her ear:--"Your child will be the fuel of eternal fire."That word blots from the firmament the star of hope and leaves the heavens black.That wor
- 125 Starting across the sea on Friday could have no possible effect upon the winds, or waves, or tides, any more than starting on any other day, and the only possible reason for thinking Friday unlucky is the a.s.sertion that it is so.So it is thought by many
- 126 IV.Now no man in whose brain the torch of reason b.u.ms, no man who investigates, who really thinks, who is capable of weighing evidence, believes in signs, in lucky or unlucky days, in lucky or unlucky numbers. He knows that Fridays and Thursdays are ali
- 127 To believe in signs and wonders, in amulets, charms and miracles, in G.o.ds and devils, in heavens and h.e.l.ls, makes the brain an insane ward, the world a madhouse, takes all certainty from the mind, makes experience a snare, destroys the kins.h.i.+p of
- 128 The biologists, through the fossil forms of life, established the antiquity of man and demonstrated the worthlessness of Holy Writ. Then came evolution, the survival of the fittest and natural selection.Thousands of mysteries were explained and science wr
- 129 When they become men and women they tell father's story of having seen the Devil to their children, and so the children and grandchildren not only believe, but think they know, that their father--their grandfather--actually saw a devil.An old woman s
- 130 Is it possible that personifications of evil would desire to enter the bodies of swine, and is it possible that it was necessary for them to have the consent of Christ before they could enter the swine? The question naturally arises: How did they enter in
- 131 We are also told that when the Devil had ended all the temptation he departed from him for a season. The date of his return is not given.In the same chapter we are told that a man in the synagogue had a "spirit of an unclean devil." This devil r
- 132 "And the Devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever."In the light of the pa.s.sages that I have read we can clearly see what the writers of the New T
- 133 If the Bible is true the Devil exists. There is no escape from this.If the Devil does not exist the Bible is not true. There is no escape from this.I admit that the Devil of the Bible is an impossible contradiction; an impossible being.This Devil is the e
- 134 Children thus taught--thus corrupted and deformed--become the enemies of investigation--of progress. They are no longer true to themselves.They have lost the veracity of the soul. In the language of Prof.Clifford, "they are the enemies of the human r
- 135 We should remember that the prosperity of the world depends upon the men who walk in the fresh furrows and through the rustling corn, upon those whose faces are radiant with the glare of furnaces, upon the delvers in dark mines, the workers in shops, upon
- 136 And it was declared at that time that anyone who believed either more or less on that subject than that book contained was a heretic and deserved to be exterminated from the face of the earth. This was authority until the discovery of America by Columbus.
- 137 For many centuries and by many peoples it was believed that this G.o.d demanded sacrifices; that he was pleased when parents shed the blood of their babes. Afterward it was supposed that he was satisfied with the blood of oxen, lambs and doves, and that i
- 138 Why, then, should we say that G.o.d is good?The dungeons against whose dripping walls the brave and generous have sighed their souls away, the scaffolds stained and glorified with n.o.ble blood, the hopeless slaves with scarred and bleeding backs, the wri
- 139 Can we affect the nature and qualities of substance by prayer? Can we hasten or delay the tides by wors.h.i.+p? Can we change winds by sacrifice?Will kneelings give us wealth? Can we cure disease by supplication? Can we add to our knowledge by ceremony? C
- 140 RELIGION can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. It is far better to be free, to leave the forts and barricades of fear, to stand erect and face the future with a smile. It is far better to give yourself sometimes to negligence, to drift wit
- 141 The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll.Vol. 5.by Robert G. Ingersoll.PREFACE.SEVERAL people, having read the sermons of Mr. Talmage in which he reviews some of my lectures, have advised me not to pay the slightest attention to the Brooklyn divine. They think th
- 142 _Question_. Mr. Talmage says that you insist that, according to the Bible, the universe was made out of nothing, and he denounces your statement as a gross misrepresentation. What have you stated upon that subject?_Answer_. What I said was substantially t
- 143 35 for a dove's foot. We must infer that the ark rested on the only land then above water, or near enough above water to strike the keel of Noah's boat. Mount Ararat is about seventeen thousand feet high; so I take it that the top of that mounta
- 144 50 science, is called a blasphemer. Whoever contradicts a priest, whoever has the impudence to use his own reason, whoever is brave enough to express his honest thought, is a blasphemer in the eyes of the religionist. When a missionary speaks slightingly
- 145 We are not told how Adam learned the language, or how he understood what G.o.d said. I can hardly believe that any man can be created with the know- ledge of a language. Education cannot be ready made and stuffed into a brain. Each person must learn a lan
- 146 I have no words with which to tell my loathing for a man who violates a n.o.ble woman's grave.76 _Question_. Do you think that the spirit in which Mr. Talmage reviews your lectures is in accordance with the teachings of Christianity?_Answer_. I think
- 147 88 ment. He is unworthy of my wors.h.i.+p. He com- mands only my detestation, my execration, and my pa.s.sionate hatred. The G.o.d who commanded the murder of children is an infamous fiend. The G.o.d who believed in polygamy, is worthy only of con- tempt.
- 148 101 face, and vainly looking through the open mouth for signs of land!In this story of Jonah, we are told that "the Lord "spake unto the fish." In what language? It must be remembered that this fish was only a few hours old. He had been pre
- 149 If you wish really to know the Bible estimation of woman, turn to the fourth and fifth verses of the twelfth chapter of Leviticus, in which a woman, for the crime of having borne a son, is unfit to touch a hallowed thing, or to come in the holy sanctuary
- 150 said anything about their parents,--that we know absolutely nothing of them? Is there any evidence that they showed any particular respect even for the mother of Christ?Mary Magdalen is, in many respects, the tenderest and most loving character in the New
- 151 less other influences, have resulted in the civilization of our time. If we want to find what the influence of the Bible has been, we must ascertain the condition of Europe when the Bible was considered as abso- lutely true, and when it wielded its greate
- 152 144 that no human being, not afflicted with delirium tremens, can understand the book of Revelation.I am not the only one engaged in the work of destruction. Every Protestant who expresses a doubt as to the genuineness of a pa.s.sage, is destroying the Bi
- 153 in heaven, than be in heaven with my parents in h.e.l.l.I think a thousand times more of my parents than I do of Christ. They knew me, they worked for me, they loved me, and I can imagine no heaven, no state of perfect bliss for me, in which they have no
- 154 Health. And what is better calculated to increase the happiness of mankind than to know that the doctrine of eternal pain is infinitely and absurdly false?164 Take theology from the world, and natural Love remains, Science is still here, Music will not be
- 155 Mr. Talmage describes a picture of the scourging of Christ, painted by Rubens, and he tells us that he was so appalled by this picture--by the sight of the naked back, swollen and bleeding--that he could not have lived had he continued to look; yet this s
- 156 I have infinite respect for the inventors, the thinkers, the discoverers, and above all, for the un- known millions who have, without the hope of fame, lived and labored for the ones they loved.FIFTH INTERVIEW, _Parson. You had belter join the church; it
- 157 I say nothing about people in this connection. The question is: Is the Bible a cruel book? not: Was Miss Nightingale a cruel woman? There have been thousands and thousands of loving, tender and char- itable Mohammedans. Mohammedan mothers love their child
- 158 3. That Christ is "all sympathetic," and ready to take the whole world to his heart.4. Heaven for believers and h.e.l.l for unbelievers._First_. I admit that the Bible says that G.o.d is good and holy. But this Bible also tells what G.o.d did, a
- 159 210 of science. They admit that four-footed birds did not exist in the days of Moses. In fact, the only way they can avoid the unscientific statements of the Bible, is to a.s.sert that the writers simply used the common language of their day, and used it,
- 160 planned the battle. G.o.d himself laid the snare. The whole programme was carried out. Joshua made believe that he was beaten, and fled, and then the soldiers in ambush rose out of their places, enter- ed the city, and set it on fire. Then came the slaugh
- 161 This is the description which the merciful, long-suffer- ing Jehovah gives of himself.So, he promises great prosperity to the Jews if 230 they will only obey his commandments, and says: "And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, "and w
- 162 241 The reason for this slaughter is thus given: "For "Moses had said: Consecrate yourselves to-day to "the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon " his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing "this day."Now, it
- 163 and in the book of Revelation: "All liars shall have "their part in the lake which burneth with fire and "brimstone;" yet in First Kings, twenty-second chapter, I find the following: "And the Lord said: "Who shall persuade Ah
- 164 It is unscientific to declare that dust was changed into lice.It is not scientific to say that G.o.d caused a thick darkness over the land of Egypt, and yet allowed it to be light in the houses of the Jews.It is not scientific to say that about seventy pe
- 165 264 _Question_. Mr. Talmage gives his reason for accepting the New Testament, and says: "You "can trace it right out. Jerome and Eusebius in the "first century, and Origen in the second century, "gave lists of the writers of the New Te
- 166 274 statements are false, and do not know that any of them are true._Question_. What do you think of the following state- ment by Mr. Talmage: "Oh, I have to tell you that no "man ever died for a lie cheerfully and triumphantly"?_Answer_. T
- 167 They were always predicting the downfall of Jeru- salem. They revelled in defeat and captivity. They loved to paint the horrors of famine and war. For the most part, they were envious, hateful, misan- thropic and unjust.There seems to have been a war betw
- 168 There are millions of people in Turkey who would peril their lives in defence of the Koran. A fact like this does not prove the truth of the Koran; it simply proves what Mohammedans think of that book, and what they are willing to do for its preservation.
- 169 309 he was a Catholic, the Protestants would as a body combine against him. Why? The churches have no confidence in each other. Why? Because they are acquainted with each other.As a matter of fact, the infidel has a thousand times more reason to vote agai
- 170 In the days of slavery, negroes used to buy dried roots of other negroes, and put these roots in their pockets, so that a whipping would not give them pain. Kings have bought diamonds to give them luck. Crosses and scapularies are still worn for the purpo
- 171 332 and enslaved. Hundreds and thousands of Germans, unable to find liberty at home, are coming to the United States.I admit that England is a Christian country. Any doubts upon this point can be dispelled by reading her history--her career in India, what
- 172 not be relied upon, and yet, the authenticity of every book in the New Testament was established by Cath- olic testimony. Some few miracles were performed in Scotland, and in fact in England and the United States, but they were so small that they are hard
- 173 _Fifth_. Religious persecution._Sixth_. The divine right of kings--an idea that rests upon the inequality of human rights, and insists that people should be governed without their con- sent; that the right of one man to govern another comes from G.o.d, an
- 174 _Question_. Was that before the sun was made?_Answer_. Yes; a "good-while" before._Question_. How did vegetation grow without sun- light?_Answer_. My own opinion is, that it was either "nourished by the glare of volcanoes in the moon or &qu
- 175 _Question_. What punishment did G.o.d inflict upon Adam and Eve for the sin of having eaten the for- bidden fruit?_Answer_. He p.r.o.nounced a curse upon the woman, saying that in sorrow she should bring forth children, and that her husband should rule ov
- 176 _Question_. Why, then, did he make them?_Answer_. He made them for his own glory, and no man should disgrace his parents by denying it._Question_. Were the people after the flood just as bad as they were before?375 _Answer_. About the same._Question_. Did
- 177 _Answer_. Yes; he offered to sacrifice his son, to show his confidence in Jehovah._Question_. What became of Abraham and his people?_Answer_. G.o.d took such care of them, that in about two hundred and fifteen years they were all slaves in the land of Egy
- 178 _Answer_. Yes, it is very wonderful; but the Jews, who must have seen bread rained from heaven; who saw water gush from the rocks and follow them up hill and down; who noticed that their clothes did not wear out, and did not even get s.h.i.+ny at the knee
- 179 Each one lost his life many times, and was just as ready for the next conflict. My own opinion is, that G.o.d kept them alive by raising them from the dead after each battle, for the purpose of punis.h.i.+ng the Jews. G.o.d used his enemies as instruments
- 180 _Question_. If he could have saved his life and did not, was he not guilty of suicide?_Answer_. No one can understand these questions who has not read the prophecies of Daniel, and has not a clear conception of what is meant by "the full- "ness
- 181 _Question_. Do you admit that Matthew says nothing on the subject?_Answer_. Yes, I suppose I must._Question_. Is not that pa.s.sage in Mark generally admitted to be an interpolation?_Answer_. Some biblical scholars say that it is._Question_. Is that porti
- 182 _Question_. How does it happen that the two gene- alogies given do not agree?_Answer_. Perhaps they were written by different persons._Question_. Were both these persons inspired by the same G.o.d?412 _Answer_. Of course._Question_. Why were the miracles
- 183 _Answer_. Certainly not._Question_. Has the honesty of his belief anything to do with his future condition?_Answer_. Nothing whatever., _Question_. Suppose that he tried to believe, that he hated to disagree with his friends, and with his parents, but tha
- 184 _Question_. Was the Catholic Church infallible then?_Answer_. It was then, but it is not now._Question_. If the Catholic Church at that time had thrown out the book of Revelation, would it now be our duty to believe that book to have been inspired?_Answer
- 185 _Answer_. Only human testimony._Question_. Do all men give the same force to the same evidence?_Answer_. By no means._Question_. Have all honest men who have exam- ined the Bible believed it to be inspired?_Answer_. Of course they have. Infidels are not h
- 186 430 increase in stature, but the intellectual part must have been infinite all the time._Question_. Do you think that Luke was mistaken?_Answer_. No; I believe what Luke said. If it appears untrue, or impossible, then I know that it is figurative or symbo
- 187 _Answer_. Of course, when you read the Bible, im- pressions are made upon your mind._Question_. Can I control these impressions?_Answer_. I do not think you can, as long as you remain in a sinful state._Question_. How am I to get out of this sinful state?
- 188 439 private judgment only in the examination and rejec- tion of other books than the Bible._Question_. Is he a Catholic?_Answer_. I cannot answer blasphemy! Let me tell you that G.o.d will "laugh at your calamity, and "will mock when your fear c
- 189 To the Editor of the N Y. Observer: Sir: Last June in San Francisco, I offered a thousand dollars in gold--not as a wager, but as a gift--to any one who would substantiate the absurd story that Thomas Paine died in agony and fear, frightened by the clanki
- 190 In what way was his death cowardly? You must answer these questions, and give your proof, or all honest men will hold you in abhorrence. You have made these charges. The man against whom you Vindication of thomas paine.455 make them is dead. He cannot ans
- 191 A. C. Hankinson.463 A few days ago I received the following letter: Albany, New York, Sept. 27, 1877.Dear Sir: It is over twenty years ago that pro- fessionally I made the acquaintance of John Hogeboom, a Justice of the Peace of the county of Rensselaer,
- 192 _Did Thomas Paine live the life of a drunken beast, and did he die a drunken, cowardly and beastly death?_ Upon you rests the burden of substantiating these infamous charges.471 You have, I suppose, produced the best evidence in your possession, and that
- 193 After all, drinking is not as bad as lying. An honest drunkard is better than a calumniator of the dead. "A remnant of old mortality, drunk, bloated and half asleep" is better than a perfectly sober defender of human slavery.To become drunk is a
- 194 take care of both, by nouris.h.i.+ng the first with tem- perance and the latter with abundance.""He lives immured within the Bastile of a word."How perfectly that sentence describes you! The Bastile in which you are immured is the word &quo
- 195 TOM PAINE AGAIN.In the Observer of September 27th, in response to numerous calls from different parts of the country for information, and in fulfillment of a promise, we presented a ma.s.s of testimony, chiefly from persons with whom we had been personall
- 196 504 stated that he had that disease before, and at this time felt a great degree of vertigo, and was unable to help himself as he had hitherto done, on account of an intense pain above the eyes. On inquiry of the attendants I was told that three or four d
- 197 To-day the following from the New York _World_ was received, showing that I was right in my conjecture: Tom Paine's Death-Bed._To the Editor of the World_: Sir: I see by your paper that Bob Ingersoll dis- credits Mary Hinsdale's story of the sce
- 198 The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll.Vol. 6.by Robert G. Ingersoll.THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION; INGERSOLL'S OPENING PAPER [Ingersoll-Black]By Robert G. Ingersoll In the presence of eternity the mountains are as transient as the clouds.A PROFOUND change has ta
- 199 But worse errors are imputed to G.o.d as moral ruler of the world than those charged against him as creator. He made man badly, but governed him worse; if the Jehovah of the Old Testament was not merely an imaginary being, then, according to Mr. Ingersoll
- 200 _The gospel of Christ does not satisfy the hunger of the heart_.That depends upon what kind of a heart it is. If it hungers after righteousness, it will surely be filled. It is probable, also, that if it hungers for the filthy food of a G.o.dless philosop