The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-05-17
IxeERsoLI ON BLAsPHEMY.
.s from His startling Budget
SA Opened at Boston.

81 take the ground, SAID BOD niger
ii N a very large audience in the Bos-
60 theatre, few evenings ago, "that
49, &c TOO sacred to be discussed is too
w. ,-nrd ia be believed. Credulity is a
1 Inc only where investigation is a
me and investigation is crime only
hars iu,postors begin. That is all. 1
VIZ This occasion to again say that on
t ~ enbiect of theology know nothing
t aN IN the great question of whence and
AZ ASoTe I know Just as little as any
wnrJinaI or any pope who ever lived,
,5 inst as much as all of them put to-
al AntbeT Now, most religionists have
Soi;eved that there was something in the
ITn thev do not know exactly where,
M somewhere, a God who was wonder
t 8JT ouick-tempered, flying into pas
l;on before one had time to explain; ;
at Tho was always watching for an OPP
"artnnity to catch one of his children
On the hip.
II ralllv imagine that all the religions
:, this world have been substantially
b IN by believers, and that all who
lave contributed to the support of those
-r,eaIieions-that is the paying members
have been substan tally honest. Take
+be idea. first, that there is a God who
can he flattered; who, with few words,
can be made perfectly happy, and who.
with one or two words, can be turned
into a spasm of rage. Do you know
+bat any man who depends for happi-
,,ess on me is to that extent my slave,
and if there is any god who de-
lends for happiness on man he is even
Peneatb man. There is some mistake
in that logic. If one believes in that
Cod of course he will believe in the
crime known as blasphemy. Now, if
there is a God who is sacred, then he
makes known his will to some people
and of course the people he selects are
sacred. You must not touch them.
Won know how it is. God selects
ministers. He used to do it. He does
so stlll. He surprises us sometimes
with the choice he makes"
Colonel Ingersoll continued to discuss
tbe origin and nature of blasphemy in
vein Of broad ridicule for about two
hours. Here are some of his points:
II is blasphemy to be manly, frank,
brave and generous. 1t is blasphemy in
New York to say that Mohammed was
prophet and it is blasphemy to say in
Constantinople that Mohammed was
not prophet.
There is in the Testament a sin against
the Holy Ghost which will not be for
given in this world or in the world to
come, and they have not told us what
that sin is. That is kept absolutely
secret. Is there any tyranny more
absolutely devilish than that hundreds
and thousands of men and women in
the United States and in the world
should be suffering in insane asylums,
crazed by the idea that they have COM
mitted the objectionable sin? That is
the sin against the Holy Ghost.
am not fighting Presbyterians, but
friends I have in the world are Presby-
terians. l do not hate man because
he has the rheumatism. | fight the di-
sease, and not the man.
A Presbyterian boy may feel divine
thrill as he passes sentence of eternal
grief upon the mother whom bore him.
That is the last Presbyterian joy. l
say tonight, if the Presbyterian creed
is true, God is insane.
| have violated the laws of Massachu-
sets tonight. l have violated the laws
of every State in which | have spoken
But those laws are wild beasts asleep.
The church has some influence after
all. I notice in the paper that Mr.
Ryan refused to fight Mr.. Sullivan dur
ing Lent.
What is worship? To do justice, to
defend the right, to be strength for the
weak. to be shielder for the defense
less, to keep peace between neighbor
and nations, to labor-all these are
worship.
Bodies are scarce, not books and rit-
uals. Human happiness is sacred, and |
whoever clouds the sunshine of heart |
is blasphemer.
Iu that vast cemetery of the past he
inferred the religions of men, and |
there, too, are nearly all their gods. !
One by one the myths have faded from
the clouds; one by one the phantom
ghosts have disappeared. Facts, reali-
ties have taken their places. The God |
has fed. but the man is here. /
The religion of one age becomes the
scorn of the next; the gods of one
period are the bywords of the following.
Our religion is doomed like the rest.
These four-justice, love, charity and
liberty changeless, deathless-these are
the only gods. In their temples l will |
Worship; at their shrine 1 will bow |
down. Boston Record |
/