Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-05-30
COL. INGERSOLL.
His Latest Attack Upon the Bible
From Ingersoll's Boston Lecture.

The crime of which l am guilty is
that dOn't believe the book called the
Bible was ever written by God. That
is a great crime, but that is all there is
about it; don't believe an Infinite
God wrote that book, and furthermore,
l don't believe it is true book; and if
it is true, it makes no difference
whether it is inspired or not. have
said honestly that do not think it is an
inspired book, and l have good rea-
thinking that it is not an inspired book
are these: First-It is full OF ignorance.
There are some good things in 1t, l ad-
NIT; 80 there are in most books. 1t Is,
say, full of ignorance, and then it is
cruel. 1t has no respect for the rights
of men; it has no respect for the rights
of women. You may be sure that q
woman never wrote the Bible. APP
plause. Read it from one end to the
other, and you will be convinced that
woman had nothing whatever to do
with it. In the eommen 'ement of the
world they were not w rth mention
ing. They were born, they lived,
labored, suffered and di y, and not in
one case in 10000 was th3 name of a
woman recorded. Their names were
not even worth recording. 1t is said
that hunter once took a lion to look
at picture representing a hunter cut
ting a lions throat. The hunter asked
the lion what he thought of the picture,
and the lion made the reply that he
did not believe lion ever painted the
picture. So / say to yoa when read
the Bible make up my mind that no
women ever wrote or had anything
whatever to do with it. 1t was writ
ten for the governed by those who
were governing; it was written for
purpose. In the next place it deals
with things utterly unworthy. just
imagine an Infinite God, having in
His control the thousands Of myriads,
billions, trillions, quadrillions wheel
ing solar systems, with all power In
His hands, and then tell me that God,
who has existed from all eternity; who
possesses with Himself infinite wis
dom, power, and knowledge; that God
would occupy His time turning sticks
into snakes in order to convince gen.
tleman by the name of PhOroah that
he ought to let the children Of Is
rael go free. Applause. Now let US
be honest. When I read that this In
finite Creator would allow and do such
things in order to convince the Egypt
ians that they ought to let His children
go free, l cannot help doubling. Now
just imagine God, the intinileGod, work
ing miracles so that clothes would not
wear out in forty years. Nobody IN
these days ever had their shoes half
soled. Just imagine the miracle OF the
renovation of old clothes for forty
years. When we read these things as
we read anything else, as we read the
history of the United States or of great
Britain, we instantly disagree. When
we find that God has laws attaching
the death penalty to over 200 OffeDses
which would not be called misdemean'
ors in any civilized country tonight
stoning girls and women to death
laws so cruel that If any King would
enact such laws to-day he would be
hurled from his throne and trampled
to death beneath the fl ct of honest
men-is it possible, l say, that they
would have us believe that God of
executed such laws.
This same God says: II your wife,
the one you love as you love your own
soul-should say to you, "Let US wor'
ship the sum- it is your duty to kill
her. Your eye shall not pity her, and
sitter you all the people, and she shall
be stoned until she dies. That woman
whom you love as you love your own
soul, il she had said, II am tired OF
this bloody Jehovah; let US worship
the sun, for it is the sun that covers
the earth with flowers; let US worship
the sum-" it is your duty to kill her.
If she says, "by the light of the beauti'
ful sun am enabled to look into your
face and into the beautiful face of my
babe, let US worship the sum-" it is your
duty to stone her until she dies at your
feet. And when you throw some hard
rock against her sweet, tender breast
this Jehovah is looking over the bat
Elements of heaven delighted. Now
let US read these things as we do other
things. If God tells me to murder my
wife because she wishes to worship the
sun, l will not do it, even If knew II
is God who commands me to do it. l
certainly would not until was obso'
lutely convinced, and then would like
to hear few reasons.