St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-13
LIBERTY is HIS RELIGION,
And He Declares the Good
Book an Enemy to
Liberty.
HIS SHAFTS OF SARCASM
Directed at the Ministers and
the Biblical En-
rOps.

There was a fair audience at the Met
ropoIitan theater last night to listen TO
Col Robert Il. lngersoli'S lecture On
"The Biblp.' The cClOneis art i'll the
use of the English language does not
deteriorate with his advance i'll years,
nor do his shafts of sarcasm grow less
sharp as age brings additional wrinkles
to his brow, and draws him nearer to
the day when he shall close his eyes i'll
that eternal sleep-the day Oh which to
him shall be made clear the mysteries
he has for years been trying to fathom,
or on which all shall become blank
throughout eternity.
In his lecture on "The Bible" Col.
IngerSoll goes over the entire book. from
the first book of Genesis to the close of
the New Testament, picking out the
weak spots, as matter of course, ap-
plying 10 them his darts of brilliant Wit
and sarcasm III 4 manner that at times
brings silently upon his head inverted
blessings from some of the orthodox
people in his audience. Then. again.
he turns his ready tongue to the higher
llOOltl anu VI
the human heart, appealing to their
reason and love, and wins his hearers
back again as easily as all intelligent.
tender mother would her nouting child.
Following is portion of his address:
Somebody ought to tell the truth
about the Bible. Ministers dare not:
they would be driven from their pulpits.
Editors dare not; they would lose sub
scribers. Politicians dare not: they
would be defeated. Teachers dare not;
they would lose their situations. So L
thought would do it myself.
ssLibarty Is MY Religion
at is the seed and soil of human
progress. They forget that the Bible
has been the enemy Of intellectual lib~
erty. intend to follow that little light
called reason as long as | live, and if
away eff in the astronomical infinite
there should be such thing as "A God,
his revelation to man is reason.
"They say the Bible is Inspired. How
is it possible for any man to know he
was inspired? have met few men
who claimed to be inspired, and every
one of them was crazy. At the time
that Moses claimed to have received the
revelations from the great Jehovah
mankind consisted of sayages. There
was no commerce, no means OF educa-
ton, none Of the civiliZing influences
that enlighten the MIND and direct the
heart. Every intelligent minister i'll
kI,in nit hn hi =
l don't say that every minister knows
it. only the Intelligent ones. Most of
the ministers do not know the history
of their own book.
sit is now admitted by all Intelligent
men that Moses did not write the books
attributed to him. About the only book
In the Bible whose authorship is not
disputed. even by ministers themselves,
is the book of Ezra. If the Bible was
nspired-written at the diCtation of an
infinite Belng-it should be absolutely
moral, and there should be nothing in
contradictory of science.
The intelligent Christians now admit
that the Bible was not inspired as to
science; that that was left for man to
find out for himself, as it would be good
mental exercise for him.
"The Bible makes maternity sin. 1t
was a sin to give birth to boy and
twice as great a sin TO give birth TO a
girl.
Thou shalt not have strange gods
before Me- The Christians tell us this
Referred to Wooden Gods.
~ don't believe it. Suppose woman
should say to her husband: Thou
shalt not have another wife before me,
for am Jealous Wife Could anybody
be persuaded that she alluded to female
statuary?
do any of you believe that the 6 cd
who sent two bears out Of the woods to
tear forty and two little children to
pieces is the same God vino sent Jesus
Christ OH earth to say: Suffer little
children to come unto MeE Now let
reasons little light burn.
81 hope that If there is a God off some
where in infinite space, he will write it
down-write it opposite my name, so
that He can put his hand OH it when the
day of Judgment co meS-Write that |
have defended him from the Scriptures.
"Ecclesastes is the most thoughtful
book in the Bible. II was written by
all agnostlc.
Jeremiah was the first mugwump.
mo human being knows what Daniel
was driving at
Can you get any good from Jonah
and his fish?
lis there anything in these inspired
| books that is of benefit TO man? Is
there in the sacred volume line that
- tO ,,,CpiH n cniantj In
| thought? Not one.
According to the Bible, how small
Jehovah was, compared with Abraham
Lincoln. lie made failure after failure
| in trying 10 civilize and convert the
| Jews, until He finally took on Il eSh and
came among them Himself. and then
| they murdered Him. After this He de-
serted the Jews and turned His atten-
| ton to the rest of mankind. The Jews
| are the most prosperous people on earth
! since Jehovah deserted them.
"1he administration Of Grover Cleve-
land, even in the light of the recent
election, is grand and glitterlng sue
cess compared with the
Administration of Jehovah.
':The New Testament is worse thar
the old.
| DUcS any UUuS uGIlCNC III iIIC ooSOH-
sion of Christ? Where was He oina
when the people saw Him go up:
Where was He going? The people ther
knew nothing about astronomy, and the
story sounded very well. The neares
fixed star is Ihous 4nds of trillions Of
miles away, and it would have taker
Him hundreds of years to reach it
travelling as fast as light does. He
would have frozen to death as soon a:
BE got up few thousand feet.
II am not attacking the character OF
Christ. but l am simply discussing
what the Bible says of Him.
Love your enemies Why shoulc
God expect me to love my enemies
when He is going to damn His? l be-
Ileve in treating enemies justly and in /
manly way, but do not believe in The
SWIVEL that you love them; you do not
you can not. Does God love the devil.
There is all enemy for Him.
Don't you know that it is thousand
times better TO love Your wife than it i:
to love God? He can get along without
your love. 1t is thousand times better
81 IL, e; \