The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 02 (of 12): Dresden Edition—LecturesIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 02 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Lectures
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
Do away with human love and what are we? What would we be in another
world, and what would we be here? Can any one conceive of music without
human love? Of art, or joy? Human love builds every home. Human love is
the author of all beauty. Love paints every picture, and chisels every
statue. Love builds every fireside. What could heaven be without human
love? And yet that is what we are promised--a heaven with your wife
lost, your mother lost, some of your children gone. And you expect to be
made happy by falling in with some angel! Such a religion is infamous.
Christianity holds human love for naught; and yet Love is the only bow
on Life's dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines
upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the
mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher. It is the air
and light of every heart--builder of every home, kindler of every fire
on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the
world with melody--for music is the voice of love. Love is the magician,
the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right
royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that
wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine
swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are
gods.
And how are you to get to this heaven? On the efforts of another.
You are to be a perpetual heavenly pauper, and you will have to admit
through all eternity that you never would have been there if you had not
been frightened. "I am here," you will say, "I have these wings, I have
this musical instrument, because I was scared. I am here. The ones who
loved me are among the damned; the ones I loved are also there--but I am
here, that is enough."
What a glorious' world heaven must be! No reformation in that world--not
the slightest. If you die in Arkansas that is the end of you! Think of
telling a boy in the next world, who lived and died in Delaware, that he
had been fairly treated! Can anything be more infamous?
All on an equality--the rich and the poor, those with parents loving
them, those with every opportunity for education, on an equality with
the poor, the abject and the ignorant--and this little day called life,
this moment with a hope, a shadow and a tear, this little space between
your mother's arms and the grave, balances eternity.
God can do nothing for you when you get there. A Methodist preacher can
do more for the soul here than its creator can there. The soul goes to
heaven, where there is nothing but good society; no bad examples; and
they are all there, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and yet they can do
nothing for that poor unfortunate except to damn him. Is there any sense
in that?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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