The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 03 (of 12): Dresden Edition—LecturesIngersoll, Robert Green
General
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 03 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Lectures
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
The Emperor Constantine, who lifted Christianity into power, murdered
his wife Fausta, and his eldest son Crispus, the same year that he
convened the Council of Nice to decide whether Jesus Christ was a man or
the Son of God. The council decided that Christ was consubstantial
with the Father. This was in the year 325. We are thus indebted to a
wife-murderer for settling the vexed question of the divinity of the
Savior. Theodosius called a council at Constantinople in 381, and
this council decided that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father.
Theodosius, the younger, assembled another council at Ephesus to
ascertain who the Virgin Mary really was, and it was solemnly decided in
the year 431 that she was the Mother of God. In 451 it was decided by a
council held at Chalcedon, called together by the Emperor Marcian, that
Christ had two natures--the human and divine. In 680, in another general
council, held at Constantinople, convened by order of Pognatius, it
was also decided that Christ had two wills, and in the year 1274 it was
decided at the Council of Lyons, that the Holy Ghost proceeded not only
from the Father, but from the Son as well. Had it not been for these
councils, we might have been without a Trinity even unto this day. When
we take into consideration the fact that a belief in the Trinity is
absolutely essential to salvation, how unfortunate it was for the world
that this doctrine was not established until the year 1274. Think of
the millions that dropped into hell while these questions were being
discussed.
This, however, is a digression. Let us go back to Constantine. This
Emperor, stained with every crime, is supposed to have died like a
Christian. We hear nothing of fiends leering at him in the shadows of
death. He does not see the forms of his murdered wife and son covered
with the blood he shed. From his white and shrivelled lips issued no
shrieks of terror. He does not cover his glazed eyes with thin and
trembling hands to shut out the visions of hell. His chamber is filled
with the rustle of wings--of wings waiting to bear his soul to the
thrilling realms of joy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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