INGERSOLLIA

By Robert G. Ingersoll

GEMS OF THOUGHT FROM THE LECTURES, SPEECHES, AND CONVERSATIONS OF COL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL, REPRESENTATIVE OF HIS OPINIONS AND BELIEFS

Edited By Elmo

1882.


CONTENTS


[ INGERSOLLIA ]

[ INTRODUCTION ]

[ THE ROMANCE OF FARM LIFE ]

[ 1. Ingersoll as a Farmer ]

[ 2. The Happy Life of the Farm ]

[ 3. The Ambitious Farmer's Boy ]

[ 4. Never Be Afraid of Work! ]

[ 5. Happiness the Object of Life ]

[ 6. The Sunset of the Farmer's Life ]

[ 7. Farmers, Protect Yourselves! ]

[ 8. Roast the Beef, Not the Cook. ]

[ 9. Cultivated Farmers. ]

[ 10. The Wages of Slovenly Farming. ]

[ 11. The Farmer's Happy Winter ]

[ 12. The Almighty Dollar ]

[ 13. The Farmer in Debt ]

[ 14. Own Your Own Home ]

[ 15. What to do with the Idlers ]

[ 16. Farm-Life Lonely ]

[ 17. The Best Farming States ]

[ 18. The Laborers, the Kings and Queens ]

[ HOME AND CHILDREN ]

[ 19. The Family the Only Heaven in this World ]

[ 20. The Far-Seeing Eyes of Children. ]

[ 21. Love and Freedom in a Cabin ]

[ 22. The Turnpike Road of Happiness ]

[ 23. Love Paying Ten Per Cent ]

[ 24. A Word to the Cross-Grained ]

[ 25. Oh! Daughters and Wives be Beautiful ]

[ 26. A Wholesome Word to the Stingy ]

[ 27. The Boss of the Family ]

[ 28. Be Honor Bright! ]

[ 29. The Opera at the Table ]

[ 30. A Child's laugh sweeter than Apollo's lyre ]

[ 31. Don't Wake the Children ]

[ 32. How to Deal with Children ]

[ 33. Give a Child a Chance ]

[ 34. The Greatest Liars in Michigan ]

[ 35. Forgive the Children! ]

[ 36. A Solemn Satire on Whipping Children ]

[ 37. The Whips and Gods are Gone! ]

[ INDIVIDUALITY ]

[ 38. Absolute Independence of the Individual ]

[ 39. Saved by Disobedience ]

[ 40. Intellectual Tyranny ]

[ 41. Say What You Think ]

[ 42. I Want to Put Out the Fires of Hell ]

[ 43. The Puritans ]

[ 44. A Star in the Sky of Despair ]

[ 45. Do not Shock the Heathen! ]

[ 46. I will Settle with God Myself ]

[ 47. I Claim my Right to Guess ]

[ 48. The Brain a Castle ]

[ 49. I am Something ]

[ 50. Every Man a Bight to Think ]

[ 51. Too Early to Write a Creed ]

[ 52. Every Mind True to Itself ]

[ PROGRESS ]

[ 53. The Torch of Progress. ]

[ 54. Gold makes a Barren Landscape ]

[ 55. A Grand Achievement ]

[ 56. The Divorce of Church and State ]

[ 57. Professors ]

[ 58. Developement ]

[ 59. Poet's Dream ]

[ 60. The Temple of the Future ]

[ 61. The final Goal ]

[ 62. The Eighteenth Century ]

[ POLITICAL QUESTIONS ]

[ 63. Liberty—Fraternity—Equality! ]

[ 64. Liberty! ]

[ 65. Ingersoll Not a Politician ]

[ 66. Civilization ]

[ 67. Cornell University ]

[ 68. Church and School Divorced ]

[ 69. Laws That Want Repealing ]

[ 70. Government Secular ]

[ 71. 1876! (1776?) ]

[ 72. Candidates Made Hypocrites ]

[ 73. The Church and the Throne ]

[ 74. The Old Idea ]

[ 75. Liberty for Politicians ]

[ 76. Tax all Church Property ]

[ 77. The Source of Power ]

[ 78. The Best Blood of the Old Word come to the New ]

[ 79. No State Church ]

[ 80. The Enthusiasts of 1776 ]

[ 81. The Church Must Have no Sword ]

[ 82. We are All of Us Kings! I want the power where some one can use ]

[ 83. Honesty Tells! ]

[ 84. Working for Others. ]

[ 85. State Sovereignty ]

[ 86. The King of America ]

[ 87. Years Without Seeing a Dollar! ]

[ 88. The Wail of Dead Nations ]

[ 89. What the Republican Party Did ]

[ 90. Doings of Democrats ]

[ 91. Photograph of a Democrat. ]

[ 92. I am a Republican, I Tell You! ]

[ 93. Recollect! ]

[ 94. Give Every Man a Chance ]

[ 95. Who Shall Rule the Country? ]

[ 96. The Declaration of Independence ]

[ 97. The World Grows Brighter. ]

[ 98. The Column of July ]

[ 99. A Nation of Rascals ]

[ 100. We are a Great People ]

[ 101. Mule Equality ]

[ 102. Room for Every Wing. ]

[ 103. The Republican Platform. ]

[ 104. Our Government the best on Earth ]

[ 105. Will the Second Century of America be as good as the First? ]

[ SCIENCE ]

[ 106. The Glory of Science. ]

[ 107. The Tables Turned ]

[ 108. Science Better than a Creed ]

[ 109. The Religion of Science ]

[ 110. Science not Sectarian ]

[ 111. The Epitaph of all Religions ]

[ 112. The Real Priest ]

[ 113. Science is Power ]

[ 114. Science Supreme ]

[ 115. Science Opening the Gates of Thought ]

[ 116. Stars and Grains of Sand ]

[ 117. The Trinity of Science ]

[ 118. The Old and the New Old ideas perished in the retort of the ]

[ 119. The Triumphs of Science ]

[ 120. What Science Found! ]

[ 121. Science the only Lever ]

[ SLAVERY ]

[ 122. The Colonel Short of Words!!! ]

[ 123. Slavery in the Name of Religion ]

[ 124. The Patrons of Slavery ]

[ 125. A Colored Man in Congress ]

[ 126. The Zig-zag Strip ]

[ 127. Black People have Suffered Enough ]

[ 128. The History of Civilization ]

[ 129. Does God Uphold Slavery? ]

[ 130. Solemn Defiance ]

[ THE WAR ]

[ 131. The Soldiers of the Republic ]

[ 132. Honor to the Brave! ]

[ 133. What Were We Fighting For? ]

[ 134. The Revolution Consummated ]

[ 135. Fighting Done!—Work Begun! ]

[ 136. Manhood worth more than Gold ]

[ 137. Grander than Greek or Roman. ]

[ 138. Let us Drink to the Living and the Dead ]

[ 139. Will the Wounds of the War be Healed? ]

[ 140. Saviours of the Nation ]

[ 141. General Grant ]

[ MONEY THAT IS MONEY ]

[ 142. Paper is not Money ]

[ 143. The Debt will be paid ]

[ 144. 1873 to 1879! ]

[ 145. A Voter because a Man ]

[ 146. Keep the Flag in Heaven! ]

[ 147. Prosperity and Resumption hand in hand ]

[ 148. Every Poor Man should Stand by the Government ]

[ 149. We Will Settle Pair! ]

[ 150. A Government with a Long Arm ]

[ 151. No Repudiation ]

[ 152. The Great Crash! ]

[ 153. Promises Don't Pay ]

[ 154. Solid and Bright! ]

[ 155. The South and the Tariff ]

[ 156. I am for Protection ]

[ 157. The Old Woman of Tewksbury ]

[ 158. American Muscle, Coined into Gold ]

[ 159. Inflation ]

[ 160. Resources of Illinois. ]

[ 161. Money! ]

[ 162. Money by Work ]

[ 163. Meat Twice a Year ]

[ 164. America a Glorious Land ]

[ 165. How to Spend a Dollar ]

[ 166. Honesty is Best always and Everywhere ]

[ 167. A Fountain of Greenbacks ]

[ 168. What the Greenback says! ]

[ 169. Honest Methods ]

[ 170. Silver demonetized by Fraud! ]

[ RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS ]

[ 171. The Crime of Crimes! ]

[ 172. Faith—A Mixture of Insanity and Ignorance ]

[ 173. What the Saints Could Cure! ]

[ 174. The Sleep of Persecutors ]

[ 175. Crime Rampant and God Silent! ]

[ 176. How Criminals Die Serenely! ]

[ 177. The first Corpse and the first Cathedral ]

[ 178. The Sixteenth Century ]

[ 179. An Orthodox Gentleman ]

[ 180. A Bold Assertion ]

[ 181. History a Bloody Farce! ]

[ 182. Weak ones Suffering—Heaven deaf ]

[ 183. Heaven has no Ear, no Hand ]

[ 184. Religion is Tyrannical ]

[ 185. Religion and Facts ]

[ 186. Religion not the End of Life ]

[ 187. Creeds ]

[ 188. The Worst Religion in the World ]

[ 189. Religion Demanding Miracles ]

[ 190. We Want One Fact ]

[ 191. The Design Argument ]

[ 192. Down, Forever Down ]

[ 193. The Back ]

[ 194. An Awful Admission ]

[ CHURCHES AND PRIESTS ]

[ 195. The Church Forbids Investigation ]

[ 196. The Church Charges Falsely ]

[ 197. The Church in the "Dark Ages" ]

[ 198. The Few Say, "Think!" ]

[ 199. The Church and the Tree of Knowledge ]

[ 200. The Church Cries, "Believe!" ]

[ 201. The Heretics Cried, "Halt!" ]

[ 202. The World not so Awful Flat ]

[ 203. From Whence Come Wars? ]

[ 204. Another Day of Divine Work ]

[ 205. The Donkey and the Lion ]

[ 206. The Orthodox Christian ]

[ 207. Alms-Dish and Sword ]

[ 208. The Church the Great Robber ]

[ 209. The Church Impotent ]

[ 210. Toleration ]

[ 211. Shakespeare's Plays v. Sermons ]

[ 212. Why Should the Church be Merciful? ]

[ 213. The Church and the Infidel. ]

[ 214. Back to Chaos ]

[ 215. Infinite Impudence of the Church ]

[ 216. Wanted!—A New Method ]

[ 217. The Kirk of Scotland ]

[ 218. The Church Looks Back ]

[ 219. Diogenes ]

[ 220. The Church and War ]

[ 221. The Call to Preach ]

[ 222. Burning Servetus ]

[ 223. Freedom for the Clergy ]

[ 224. The Pulpit Weakening ]

[ 225. Origin of the Priesthood ]

[ 226. The Clergy on Heaven ]

[ 227. The Parson, the Crane and the Fish ]

[ 228. Banish Me from Eden—But! ]

[ 229. The Pulpit's Cry of Fear ]

[ 230. Restive Clergymen ]

[ 231. The Parson Factory at Andover ]

[ 232. A Charge to Presbyteries ]

[ THE BIBLE ]

[ 233. Nature the True Bible ]

[ 234. Inspiration ]

[ 335. The 109th Psalm! ]

[ 236. I Don't Believe the Bible ]

[ 237. The Bible the Real Persecutor ]

[ 238. Immoralities of the Bible ]

[ 239. The Bible Stands in the Way ]

[ 240. The Bible False ]

[ 241. The Man I Love ]

[ 242. Whale, Jonah and All ]

[ 243. Damned for Laughing at Samson ]

[ 244. The Man, Not the Book, Inspired ]

[ 245. The Bible a Chain ]

[ 246. Absurd and Foolish Fables ]

[ 247. The Bible the Work of Man ]

[ 248. Something to Admire, not Laugh at ]

[ 249. An Intellectual Deformity ]

[ 250. The Bible a Poor Product ]

[ 251. The Bible the Battle Ground of Sects ]

[ 252. The Bible Childish ]

[ 253. Where Moses got the Pentateuch ]

[ 254. God's Letter to His Children ]

[ 255. Examination a Crime ]

[ 256. Read the Bible—and Then! ]

[ 257. An Infallible Book Makes Slaves ]

[ 258. Can a Sane Man Believe in Inspiration? ]

[ 259. An Inspiration Test ]

[ 260. The Real Bible ]

[ 261. The Bad Passages in the Bible not Inspired ]

[ 262. Too much Pictorial ]

[ 263. One Plow worth a Million Sermons ]

[ INFIDELS ]

[ 264. The Infidels of 1776 ]

[ 265. The Legitimate Influence of Religion ]

[ 266. Infidels the Flowers of the World ]

[ 267. The Noblest Sons of, Earth ]

[ 268. How Ingersoll became an Infidel ]

[ 269. Why Should Infidels Die in Fear? ]

[ 270. Infidelity is Liberty ]

[ 271. The World in Debt to Infidels ]

[ 272. Infidels the Pioneers of Progress ]

[ 273. Infidels the Great Discoverers ]

[ 274. The Altar of Reason ]

[ GODS AND DEVILS ]

[ 275. Every Nation has Created a God ]

[ 276. Gods with Back-Hair ]

[ 277. Creation the Decomposition of the Infinite ]

[ 278. The Gods Are as the People Are ]

[ 279. Gods Shouldn't Make Mistakes ]

[ 280. Miracles ]

[ 281. Plenty of Gods on Hand ]

[ 282. The Devil Difficulty ]

[ 283. Was the Devil an Idiot? ]

[ 284. Industrious Deities ]

[ 285. God in Idleness ]

[ 286. Fancy a Devil Drowning a World ]

[ 287. Some Gods Very Particular About Little Things ]

[ 288 The Gods of To-day the Scorn of To-morrow ]

[ 289. No Evidence of a God in Nature ]

[ 290. Great Variety in Gods ]

[ 291. God Grows Smaller ]

[ 292. Give the Devil His Due ]

[ 293. Casting out Devils ]

[ 294. On the Horns of a Dilemma ]

[ 295. The Devil and the Swine ]

[ 296. How can I assist God? ]

[ 297. Can God be Improved? ]

[ 298. That Dreadful Apple! ]

[ 299. The Devils better than the Gods ]

[ 300. Is it Possible? ]

[ 301. It is Impossible! ]

[ HEAVEN AND HELL ]

[ 302. Hope of a Future Life ]

[ 303. I am Immortal ]

[ 304. What if Death Does End All? ]

[ 305. The Old World Ignorant of Destiny ]

[ 306. Where the Doctrine of Hell was born ]

[ 307. The Grand Companionships of Hell ]

[ 308. Horror of Horrors! ]

[ 309. The Drama of Damnation ]

[ 310. Annihilation rather than be a God ]

[ 311. "All that have Red Hair shall be Damned." ]

[ 312. The Conscience of a Hyena ]

[ 313. I Leave the Dead ]

[ 314. Calvin in Hell! ]

[ GOVERNING GREAT MEN ]

[ 315. Jesus Christ ]

[ 316. The Emperor Constantine. ]

[ 317. Did Franklin and Jefferson Die in Fear? ]

[ 318. Angels at Constantino's Dying Bed! ]

[ 319. Diderot ]

[ 320. Benedict Spinoza ]

[ 321. Thomas Paine ]

[ 322. The Greatest of all Political Writers ]

[ 323. The Writings of Paine ]

[ 324. The Last Words of Paine. ]

[ 325. Paine Believed in God ]

[ 326. The Intellectual Hera ]

[ 327. Paine, Franklin, Jefferson ]

[ 328. David Hume ]

[ 329. Voltaire ]

[ 330. John Calvin ]

[ 331. Calvin's Five Fetters ]

[ 332. Humboldt ]

[ 333. Humbolt's Travels ]

[ 334. Humboldt's Illustrious Companions ]

[ 335. Humboldt the Apostle of Science ]

[ 336. Ingersoll Muses by Napoleon's Tomb ]

[ 337. Eulogy on J. G. Blaine ]

[ 338. A Model Leader ]

[ 339. Abraham Lincoln ]

[ 340. Swedenborg ]

[ 341. Jeremy Bentham ]

[ 342. Charles Fourier ]

[ 343. Auguste Comte ]

[ 344. Herbert Spencer ]

[ 345. Robert Collyer ]

[ 346. John Milton ]

[ 347. Ernst Haeckel ]

[ 348. Professor Swing, a Dove amongst Vultures ]

[ 349. Queen Victoria and George Eliot ]

[ 350. Bough on Rabbi Bien ]

[ 351. General Garfield ]

[ 352. "Wealthy in Integrity; In Brain a Millionaire." ]

[ 353. Garfield a Certificate of the Splendor of the American Constitution ]

[ 354. Dr. W. Hiram Thomas ]

[ MISCELLANEOUS ]

[ 355. Heresy and Orthodoxy ]

[ 356. The Aristocracy that will Survive. ]

[ 357. Truth will Bear the Test ]

[ 358. Paring Nails ]

[ 359. There may be a God ]

[ 360. The People are Beginning to Think ]

[ 361. Unchained Thought ]

[ 362. Man the Victor of the Future ]

[ 363. The Sacred Sabbath ]

[ 364. Make the Sabbath Merry ]

[ 365. Away to the Hills and the Sea ]

[ 366. Melancholy Sundays ]

[ 367. Moses took Egyptian Law for his Model ]

[ 368. A False Standard of Success ]

[ 369. Toilers and Idlers ]

[ 370. The Sad Wilderness History ]

[ 371. Law Much Older than Sinai ]

[ 372. Who is the Blasphemer? ]

[ 373. Standing Tip for God ]

[ 374. Matter and Force ]

[ 375. Haeckel before Moses! ]

[ 376. How was it Done? ]

[ 377. General Joshua ]

[ 378. Early Rising is Barbaric! ]

[ 379. Sleep is Medicine! ]

[ 380. Never Rise at Four O'Clock ]

[ 381. The Hermit is Mad ]

[ 382. Duke Orang-Outang ]

[ 383. Self-Made Men ]

[ 384. The One Window in the Ark ]

[ 385. No Ante-Diluvian Camp-Meetings! ]

[ 386. Hard Work in the Ark ]

[ 387. What did Moses know about the Sun? ]

[ 388. Something for Nothing ]

[ 389. Polygamy ]

[ 390. The Colonel in the Kitchen—How to Cook a Beefsteak ]

[ 391. Fresh Air ]

[ 392. Cooking a Fine Art ]

[ 393. Scathing Impeachment of Intemperance ]

[ 394. Liberty Defined ]

[ 395. Free, Honest Thought ]

[ 396. Ingersoll Prefers Shoemakers to Princes ]

[ 397. Sham Dignity ]

[ 398. A Good Time Coming! ]

[ 399. Who is the True Nobleman? ]

[ 400. Wanted!—More Manliness ]

[ 401. Education of Nature ]

[ 402. The Worker Wearing the Purple ]

[ 403. Flowers ]

[ 404. Be Happy—Here and Now! ]

[ 405. The School House a Fort ]

[ 406. We are Getting Free ]

[ 407. The Solid Rock ]

[ INGERSOLL'S FIVE GOSPELS ]

[ 408. The Gospel of Cheerfulness ]

[ 409. The Gospel of Liberty ]

[ 410. The Gospel of 'Good Living ]

[ 411. The Gospel of Intelligence ]

[ 412. The Gospel of Justice ]

[ GEMS FROM THE CONTROVERSIAL GASKET ]

[ 413. The Origin of the Controversy ]

[ 414. What is Christianity? ]

[ 415. Summary of Evangelical Belief ]

[ 416. A Profound Change in the World of Thought ]

[ 417. The Believer in the Inspiration of the Bible has too Much to Believe ]

[ 418. A Frank Admission ]

[ 419. The Bible Should be Better than any other Book ]

[ 420. A Serious Charge ]

[ 421. If the Bible is Not Verbally Inspired, What Then? ]

[ 422. A Hindu Example ]

[ 423. A Test Fairly Applied ]

[ 424. Suppose! ]

[ 425. Proofs of Civilization ]

[ 426. A Persian Gospel ]

[ 427. Man the Author of all Books ]

[ 428. God and Brahma ]

[ 429. Matthew, Mark, and Luke ]

[ 430. Christianity Takes no Step in Advance ]

[ 431. Christianity a Mixture of Good and Evil ]

[ 432. Jehovah, Epictetus and Cicero ]

[ 433. The Atonement ]

[ 434. Sin as a Debt ]

[ 435. The Logic of the Coffin ]

[ 436. Judas Iscariot ]

[ 437. The Standard of Right ]

[ 438. What is Conscience? ]

[ 439. No Right to Think! ]

[ 440. The Liberty of the Bible ]

[ 441. Slavery in Heaven ]

[ 442. Jehovah Breaking His Own Laws ]

[ 443. Who Designed the Designer? ]

[ 444. What we Know of the Infinite ]

[ 445. The Universe Self-Existent ]

[ 446. Jehovah's Promise Broken ]

[ 447. Character Bather than Creed ]

[ 448. Mohammed the Prophet of God ]

[ 449. Wanted!—A Little More Legislation ]

[ 450. Is all that Succeeds Inspired? ]

[ 451. The Morality in Christianity ]

[ 452. Miracle Mongers ]

[ 453. The Honor Due to Christ ]

[ 454. Christianity has no Monopoly in Morals ]

[ 455. Old Age in Superstition's Lap ]

[ 456. Ararat in Chicago ]

[ 457. How Gods and Devils are Made ]

[ 458. The Romance of Figures ]

[ 459. God and Zeno ]

[ 460. Why was Christ so Silent? ]

[ 461. The Philosophy of Action ]

[ 462. Infinite Punishment for Finite Crimes. ]

[ 463. Whence Came the Gospels? ]

[ 464. Mr. Black's Admission ]

[ 465. The Stars Upon the Door of France ]

[ A KIND WORD FOR JOHN CHINAMAN ]

[ 466. The Select Committee Afraid ]

[ 467. The Gods of the Joss-House and Patmos ]

[ 468. A Little Too Late ]

[ 469. Christianity has a Fair Show in San Francisco ]

[ 470. An Arrow from the Quiver of Satire ]

[ 471. We Have no Religious System ]

[ 472. Congress Nothing to Do with Religion ]

[ 473. Concessions of the Illustrious Four! ]

[ 474. Do not Trample on John Chinaman ]

[ 475. Be Honest with the Chinese ]

[ 476. An Honest Merchant the Best Missionary ]

[ 477. Good Words from Confucius ]

[ 478. The Ancient Chinese ]

[ 479. The Chinese and Civil Service Reform ]

[ 480. Invading China in the Name of Opium and Christ ]

[ 481. Don't be Dishonest in the Name of God ]

[ CONCERNING CREEDS AND THE TYRANNY OF SECTS ]

[ 482. Diversity of Opinion Abolished by Henry VIII ]

[ 483. Spencer and Darwin Damned ]

[ 484. The Dead do Not Persecute ]

[ 485. The Atheist a Legal Outcast in Illinois ]

[ 486. How the Owls Hoot ]

[ 487. The Fate of Theological Students ]

[ 488. Trials for Heresy ]

[ 489. Presbyterianism Softening ]

[ 490. The Methodist "Hoist with his own Petard." ]

[ 491. The Precious Doctrine of Total Depravity ]

[ 492. Guilty of Heresy ]

[ 493. Dishonest Teachers. ]

[ 494. Self-Reliance a Deadly Sin! ]

[ 495. A Hundred and Fifty Years Ago ]

[ 496. The Despotism of Faith ]

[ 497. Believe, or Beware ]

[ 498. Calvin's Petrified Heart ]

[ 499. Logic Unconfined. ]

[ 500. Politeness at Athens! ]

[ 501. The Tail of a Lion ]

[ 502. While the Preachers Talked the People Slept ]

[ 503. Christianity no Friend to Progress ]

[ 504. Where is the New Eden? ]

[ 505. The Real Eden is Beyond ]

[ 506. Party Names Belittle Men ]

[ A FEW PLAIN QUESTIONS ]

[ 507. Where Did the Serpent Come From? ]

[ 508. Must We Believe Fables to be Good and True? Must we, in order to be ]

[ 509. Why Did Not God Kill the Serpent? ]

[ 510. Questions About the Ark ]

[ 511. Was Language Confounded at Babel. ]

[ 512. Would God Kill a Man for Making Ointment? ]

[ 513. How Did Water run up Hill? ]

[ 514. Would a Real God Uphold Slavery? ]

[ 515. Will There Be an Eternal Auto da Fe? ]

[ 516. Why Hate an Atheist? ]

[ ORIENT PEARLS AS RANDOM STRUNG ]

[ INGERSOLL'S ORATION AT HIS BROTHER'S GRAVE ]

[ INGERSOLL'S DREAM OF THE WAR ]

[ EPIGRAMS. ]

[ DEFINITIONS. ]

[ BELIEFS. ]