The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-11-27
The Future Abode of the Wicked,
Philosophically Considered by Colonel
IngersOll.
THAT'S the Doctrine of the Orthodox
Churches, ana L Say Damn
such q Doctrine
cincinnati Commercial

announcement that Colonel Robert Ingersoll
would deliver a new lecture upon the rather
startling, but at the same time delightful,
subject of Hell"
Colonel Ingersoll commenced his lecture
by saying:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-In the republic of
the mind oneis a majority. In that republic
all are sovereigns and all are equals. You can
not be governed there even by brute ma
jority. In that republic every brow wears
crown. and every form is robed In the impe-
rial purple. In that republic only those are
citizens who Investigate for themselves. In
that republic those only who appeal to brute
force are traitors; those only who endeaVor To
suppress thought are bad citizens.
The church regards that republic with
sneer. From the teeth of hatred she draws
back the lips of scorn, and insists that even IN
this the nineteenth century man has no right
to think for himself, insists that even in this
age we should be governor by the ignorant
myths OF the dead and buried past, ana INSISTS
that the world can be made better by teaching
what is false; that a lie is most excellent
thing that we should govern mank ind through
fears, and that the mistakes of thousands OF
years ago should tie still considered not ouly
truths, but truths necessary 10 believe. Now
shall ask you ali to-night-and that's the only
way to find out-are the members OF orthodox
churches any better tnan other people? Let US
be fair about this thing; are they as class
a ehurch trial anu see how they disagree as TO
their testimony. Are they as class better
bred; do they tIeat their wives and children
any better than other people; Is their 1nanclaI
standing in the community any better? Is
there a bank in Cincinnati that will loan a
solitary dollar on a church ceItihcate as col.
lateral security? Laughter.l Is there man
among You who taxes a Presbyterian deacon
to the bank with you for fear If you don't the
favor you ask Will be re used? DO we md the
most charity in the pulpit the greatest and
best hearts? Let US be honest in asking these
questions, for these orthodox members cam, hani
and US that they are going TO
the realms of eternal bliss, while We
are to be eternalIy damned. A difference bear
such imDOrtant
ought to be visible to the naked eye In this.
lApplause. They insist hat II we take away
their book there Is no Immortality left in this
world. Is II possible that human nature Is so
low, so mean, so corrupt that without certain
book we will all rush crime and horror? Is
1t? IL books existed before man l might ad-
NIT that they are better than man, but that Is
not the fact. Every book In this world was
written by man, and every religion has . cen
the work of man. Man Ii better than all the
books, and the inspiration that we see every
day in every good and heroic act Is better than
all the inspiration of all the books But they
say to us, -"Do not disturb this book, because
upon IL we rest all our hope of a life TO come
j deny it. Before the book called the Bible
was written million and millions OF people In
other countries longed for immortality; mill
mons ana mtil0ns Oh people 10 i IN tb
the doctrine Of Immortality does not rest upon
the inspiration of any book. However little
hope might have for another world, would
hate to have 1t to rest upon that book or any
other. The doctrine of immortality was born
of human affection, and II VIII continue as
plause Just as long we love we Will hope
to live hereafter. And yet priests and
taken advantage of this splendid
longing for another life TO enslaye
the human soul Iappausel. and 10 make peo-
II 1 am immortal, IL is fact in nature, and no
book can change n, IL am to experience an
other life, l shall not be indebted for IL to any
creed, nor 10 any priest, nor to any form of re-
ligion. / shall be in tebted To myself, for II
there Is another world, the better do here the
better start I SHAH I'm the other. APP.
plause.l Now, man, coming up as / believe,
from the low.r antmals-ior that's the only
way you can account Tor this doctrine OF hell
and buZZards and other unclean things that
have been crammed into the orthodox religion
received his religion from his barbarous an
cestors; he r, cefved his orthodoxy from saw
ages. The baI Irians b. holding the appalling
phenomena of nature thought that all good
produced by some being, and by good
they meant anything that tended to their
happiness. 30 they gave TO this imaginary
being a local habi alton and name. Then
they saw many things that dlspleased them,
and experienced many Thu gS that gave them
pain and discomfort, SO they created ano her
being TO attribute all their trials and calaml
ties to-anoth- being not quite so stout as
God, but making up in shrewdness what he
lacked in strength, having fends and ali sorts
thousands and thousands of years man has
been upon his knees trying To escape one
They have been taught to believe that
If they do not believe in the God OF the Bible
they will be turned over to the devil, C. suffer
untold agOnies I'm he'll, not Tor thousands, mil
lions, billions of years, but as long as that God
rules In heaven. We have Inherited some oil
these hellish ideas of ignorance, Ideas OF bar
barIsm, but we ought ~ be grand enough In
this country to think. We have been praying
for thousands and thousands OF years 10 God
to help mankind. They have been destroyed
by pestilence and by war, and their homes
have been swept away by the angry flood and
the blazing lava of the dread volcano, aud
have prayed and offered up sacrifice for mercy
but God ad never interfered In single IN
stance. We must now rely upon our own brain
and courage, upon ourselves. II there were
only one Instance in the worlo s history where
God helped mankind, with all my heart
would worship such God. But for hundreds
ana thousands of years men have enslaved
each other, aud yet no God has interfered. The
naked back of labor has been lacerated ioi
thousands and thousands OF years, and yet ne
God has ever interfered, far as know. Men
have tried tn advance new thoughts, and hei
men have taken them and burned them al
the stake; the martyr has been taken from
the cell of the tnquIsii ion and burned 10 dust
and there has been no sweet pity In the heav'
ems; none, noue, whste er.
The time has come when man must depend
upon himself. We are told this God loves US
all that His love and kindness spread over a
His works, and That In another world de VIII
make us happy. What right have you o say
that an Infinite Beng viii treat His creatures
better else here than He does here? Is there
a necessity for another world simply TO rectiy
the mistakes in this world? lAppiausel
want to touch your hearts To- ,l, k wan
famous doctrine Of a he'll; SD that you VIII
nate IL as do And ] want you to under
stand that 1 have Othing p irticular against
the Minister. Some of them are excellent
people, ano their opposition does not amount
to enough tocreate m alice lApplause.l They
teach US that there is God who made
us all, and who intended hat We should all bt
good, but that our ancestors committed .
crime That Is, that we sinued through a rep
resentative. Now, II that man was our repre-
sentative va aId D. OF YOte ior hin. was mol
present at ihe convention tnst nomlualee
him. anu would not have voted Tor him any
how r aus hter and app ause We were al
that time unborn, AID knew nothing abou
the transaction. But IL SEEMS that through
the sins OF that man we all de
serve eternal he Ia very 1ne COMPILING NJ
is that To the mechanism OF SOD
Everybody deserves D. b eler ally damned
Is that the best your God can dor Is that th'
best man He can m AXE, that must be damned
as he comes from His plastic hand aud cast IN
10 fire eyerlasting7 Doe IL show any wisdom
making human beings In order to damn them
Does IL show any goodness 10 maze any fue
for hell? But we are "a 10 be damned Tor sln'
ming against an Inini.e Being.
Now, 1 can not C ncetve OF nnlte SIN re