The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 12 (of 12): Dresden Edition—MiscellanyIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 12 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Miscellany
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
I am not denying anything. There is another ideal, and it is a beautiful
ideal. It is the greatest dream that ever entered the heart or brain of
man--the Dream of Immortality. It was born of human affection. It did
not come to us from heaven. It was born of the human heart. And when
he who loved, kissed the lips of her who was dead, there came into his
heart the dream: We may meet again.
And, let me tell you, that hope of immortality never came from any
religion. That hope of immortality has helped make religion. It has
been the great oak around which have climbed the poisonous vines of
superstition--that hope of immortality is the great oak.
And yet the moment a man expresses a doubt about the truth of Joshua or
Jonah or the other three fellows in a furnace, up hops some poor little
wretch and says, "Why, he doesn't want to live any more; he wants to
die and go down like a dog, and that is the end of him and his wife and
children." They really seem to think that the moment a man is what
they call an Infidel he has no affections, no heart, no feeling, no
hope--nothing--nothing. Just anxious to be annihilated! But, if the
orthodox creed be true, I make my choice to-night. I take hell. And if
it is between hell and annihilation, I take annihilation.
I will tell you why I take hell in making the first choice. We have
heard from both of those places--heaven and hell. According to the New
Testament there was a rich man in hell, and a poor man, Lazarus, in
heaven. And there was another gentleman by the name of Abraham. The rich
man in hell was in flames, and he called for water, and they told him
they couldn't give him any. No bridge! But they did not express the
slightest regret that they could not give him any water. Mr. Abraham was
not decent enough to say he would if he could; no, sir; nothing. It
did not make any difference to him. But this rich man in hell--in
torment--his heart was all right, for he remembered his brothers; and
he said to this Abraham, "If you cannot go, why, send a man to my five
brethren, so that they will not come to this place!" Good fellow, to
think of his five brothers when he was burning up. Good fellow. Best
fellow we ever heard from on the other side--in either world.
So, I say there is my place. And, incidentally, Abraham at that time
gave his judgment as to the value of miracles. He said, "Though one
should arise from the dead he wouldn't help your five brethren!" "There
are Moses and the prophets." No need of raising people from the dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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