Dedication : TO EVA A. INGERSOLL, MY WIFE, A WOMAN WITHOUT SUPERSTITION, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED
Title Page : Dresden Edition THE WORKS OF ROBERT G. INGERSOLL "THE DESTROYER OF WEEDS, THISTLES AND THORNS IS A BENEFACTOR, WHETHER HE SOWETH GRAIN OR NOT." IN TWELVE VOLUMES VOLUME I. LECTURES NEW YORK THE DRESDEN PUBLISHING CO., C. P. FARRELL [1901] Copyright, 1900 by C. P. Farrell Copyright, 1901 by...
About Farming In Illinois : ABOUT FARMING IN ILLINOIS (1877) TO PLOW IS TO PRAY--TO PLANT IS TO PROPHESY, AND THE HARVEST ANSWERS AND FULFILLS. I am not an old and experienced farmer, nor a tiller of the soil, nor one of the hard-handed sons of labor. I imagine, however, that I know something about cultivating the soil...
What Must We Do To Be Saved : WHAT MUST WE DO TO BE SAVED? (1880) PREFACE If what is known as the Christian Religion is true, nothing can be more wonderful than the fact that Matthew, Mark and Luke say nothing about "salvation by faith;" that they do not even hint at the doctrine of the atonement, and are as silent as empty...
Thomas Paine : THOMAS PAINE (1870) WITH HIS NAME LEFT OUT, THE HISTORY OF LIBERTY CANNOT BE WRITTEN. To speak the praises of the brave and thoughtful dead, is to me a labor of gratitude and love. Through all the centuries gone, the mind of man has been beleaguered by the mailed hosts of superstition. Slowly...
The Ghosts : THE GHOSTS (1877) Let them cover their Eyeless Sockets with their Fleshless Hands and fade forever from the imagination of Men. There are three theories by which men account for all phenomena, for everything that happens: First, the Supernatural; Second, the Supernatural and Natural; Third...
Humboldt : HUMBOLDT (1869) The Universe is Governed by Law. Great men seem to be part of the infinite, brother of the mountains and the seas. Humboldt was one of these. He was one of those serene men, in some respects like our own Franklin, whose names have all the lustre of a star. He was one of the few...
The Liberty Of Man, Woman And Child : THE LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD (1877) LIBERTY SUSTAINS THE SAME RELATION TO MIND THAT SPACE DOES TO MATTER There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of intelligence. The history of man is simply the history of slavery, of injustice and brutality, together with the means by which...
Individuality : INDIVIDUALITY (1873) "HIS SOUL WAS LIKE A STAR AND DWELT APART" On every hand are the enemies of individuality and mental freedom. Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb. Our first questions are answered by ignorance, and our last by superstition. We are pushed and dragged by...
Heretics And Heresies : HERETICS AND HERESIES (1874) LIBERTY, A WORD WITHOUT WHICH ALL WORDS ARE VAIN. WHOEVER has an opinion of his own, and honestly expresses it, will be guilty of heresy. Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrine of the weak. This word was born...
The Gods : THE GODS (1872) An honest God is the Noblest Work of Man. Each nation has created a god, and the god has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved, and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. Each god was intensely patriotic, and detested all nations...
