The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 01 (of 12): Dresden Edition—LecturesIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 01 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Lectures
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
Of course you understand how that is done, and there is no need of
my explaining it. "Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the
substance." You see what a predicament that would leave the deity in if
you divided the substance.
"For one is the person of the Father, another of the Son, and another
of the Holy Ghost; but the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost is all one"--you know what I mean by Godhead. "In glory
equal, and in majesty coëternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son,
such is the Holy Ghost. The Father is uncreated, the Son uncreated,
the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son
incomprehensible, the Holy Ghost incomprehensible." And that is the
reason we know so much about the thing. "The Father is eternal, the Son
eternal, the Holy Ghost eternal, and yet there are not three eternals,
only one eternal, as also there are not three uncreated, nor three
incomprehensibles, only one uncreated, one incomprehensible."
"In like manner, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, the Holy
Ghost almighty. Yet there are not three almighties, only one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God, and yet not three
Gods; and so, likewise, the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy
Ghost is Lord, yet there are not three Lords, for as we are compelled by
the Christian truth to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and
Lord, so we are all forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are
three Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of no one; not created or
begotten. The Son is from the Father alone, not made, not created, but
begotten. The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, not made nor
begotten, but proceeding."
You know what proceeding is.
"So there is one Father, not three Fathers." Why should there be three
fathers, and only one Son? "One Son, and not three Sons; one Holy Ghost,
not three Holy Ghosts; and in this Trinity there is nothing before or
afterward, nothing greater or less, but the whole three persons are
coëternal with one another and coëqual, so that in all things the unity
is to be worshiped in Trinity, and the Trinity is to be worshiped
in unity. Those who will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also
believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the right
of this thing is this: That we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, is both God and man. He is God of the substance
of his Father begotten before the world was."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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