Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - LatestIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - Latest
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
can substantiate this absurd story--a story without a word of truth in
it. And let me ask, who dies in the most fear, the man who, like the
saint, exclaims: "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" or
Voltaire, who peacefully and quietly bade his servant farewell? The
question is not who died right, but who lived right. I look upon death
as the most unimportant moment of life, and believe that not half the
responsibility is attached to dying that is to living properly. This
Rev. Mr. Kalloch is a baptist. He has a right to be a baptist. The
first baptist, though was a heretic; but it is among the wonders that
when a heretic gets fifteen or twenty to join him he suddenly begins to
be orthodox. Roger Williams was a baptist, but how he, or anyone not
destitute of good sense, could be one, passes my comprehension. Let me
illustrate:
Suppose it was the Day of Judgment tonight and we were all assembled,
as the ghosts say we will be, to be judged, and God should ask a man:
"Have you been a good man?"
"Yes."
"Have you loved your wife and children?"
"Yes."
"Have you taken good care of them and made them happy?"
"Yes."
"Have you tried to do right by your neighbors?"
"Yes."
"Paid all your debts?"
"Yes."
And then cap the climax by asking:
"Were you ever baptized?"
Could a solitary being hear that question without laughing? I think
not. I once happened to be in the company of six or seven baptist
elders (I never have been able to understand since how I got into such
bad company), and they wanted to know what I thought of baptism. I
answered that I had not given the matter any attention, in fact I had
no special opinion upon the subject. But they pressed me and finally I
told them that I thought, with soap baptism was a good thing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account