31 chapters
7 hour read
Selected Chapters
31 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
For many years I have regarded the Pentateuch simply as a record of a barbarous people, in which are found a great number of the ceremonies of savagery, many absurd and unjust laws, and thousands of ideas inconsistent with known and demonstrated facts. To me it seemed almost a crime to teach that this record was written by inspired men; that slavery, polygamy, wars of conquest and extermination were right, and that there was a time when men could win the approbation of infinite Intelligence, Jus
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. SOME MISTAKES OF MOSES
I. SOME MISTAKES OF MOSES
HE WHO ENDEAVORS TO CONTROL THE MIND BY FORCE IS A TYRANT, AND HE WHO SUBMITS IS A SLAVE. I want to do what little I can to make my country truly free, to broaden the intellectual horizon of our people, to destroy the prejudices born of ignorance and fear, to do away with the blind worship of the ignoble past, with the idea that all the great and good are dead, that the living are totally depraved, that all pleasures are sins, that sighs and groans are alone pleasing to God, that thought is dang
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. FREE SCHOOLS
II. FREE SCHOOLS
It is also my desire to free the schools. When a professor in a college finds a fact, he should make it known, even if it is inconsistent with something Moses said. Public opinion must not compel the professor to hide a fact, and, "like the base Indian, throw the pearl away." With the single exception of Cornell, there is not a college in the United States where truth has ever been a welcome guest. The moment one of the teachers denies the inspiration of the bible, he is discharged. If he discov
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. THE POLITICIANS.
III. THE POLITICIANS.
I would like also to liberate the politician. At present, the successful office-seeker is a good deal like the centre of the earth; he weighs nothing himself, but draws everything else to him. There are so many societies, so many churches, so many isms, that it is almost impossible for an independent man to succeed in a political career. Candidates are forced to pretend that they are catholics with protest-ant proclivities, or christians with liberal tendencies, or temperance men who now and the
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. MAN AND WOMAN
IV. MAN AND WOMAN
Let us forget that we are Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, or Free-thinkers, and remember only that we are men and women. After all, man and woman are the highest possible titles. All other names belittle us, and show that we have, to a certain extent, given up our individuality, and have consented to wear the collar of authority—that we are followers. Throwing away these names, let us examine these questions not as partisans, but as human beings with hopes and fears in common. We
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. THE PENTATEUCH
V. THE PENTATEUCH
The first five books in our bible are known as the Pentateuch. For a long time it was supposed that Moses was the author, and among the ignorant the supposition still prevails. As a matter of fact, it seems to be well settled that Moses had nothing to do with these books, and that they were not written until he had been dust and ashes for hundreds of years. But, as all the churches still insist that he was the author, that he wrote even an account of his own death and burial, let us speak of him
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. MONDAY
VI. MONDAY
Moses commences his story by telling us that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. If this means anything, it means that God produced, caused to exist, called into being, the heaven and the earth. It will not do to say that he formed the heaven and the earth of previously existing matter. Moses conveys, and intended to convey the idea that the matter of which the heaven and the earth are composed, was created. It is impossible for me to conceive of something being created from n
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. TUESDAY
VII. TUESDAY
We are next informed by Moses that "God said Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters;" and that "God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament." What did the writer mean by the word firmament? Theologians now tell us that he meant an "expanse." This will not do. How could an expanse divide the waters from the waters, so that the waters above the expanse would n
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIII. WEDNESDAY
VIII. WEDNESDAY
We are next informed by the historian of Creation, that after God had finished making the firmament and had succeeded in dividing the waters by means of an "expanse," he proceeded "to gather the waters on the earth together in seas, so that the dry land might appear." Certainly the writer of this did not have any conception of the real form of the earth. He could not have known anything of the attraction of gravitation. He must have regarded the earth as flat and supposed that it required consid
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX. THURSDAY
IX. THURSDAY
After the world was covered with vegetation, it occurred to Moses that it was about time to make a sun and moon; and so we are told that on the fourth day God said, "Let there be light in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
X. "HE MADE THE STARS ALSO."
X. "HE MADE THE STARS ALSO."
Moses came very near forgetting about the stars, and only gave five words to all the hosts of heaven. Can it be possible that he knew anything about the stars beyond the mere fact that he saw them shining above him? Did he know that the nearest star, the one we ought to be the best acquainted with, is twenty-one billion of miles away, and that it is a sun shining by its own light? Did he know of the next, that is thirty-seven billion miles distant? Is it possible that he was acquainted with Siri
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XI. FRIDAY
XI. FRIDAY
We are then told that on the next day "God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales and every living creature which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind, and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the eart
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XII. SATURDAY
XII. SATURDAY
On this, the last day of creation, God said:—"Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and God saw that it was good." Now, is it true that the seas were filled with fish, the sky with fowls, and the earth covered with grass, and herbs, and fruit bearing tre
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIII. LET US MAKE MAN
XIII. LET US MAKE MAN
We are next informed by the author of the Pentateuch that God said "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," and that "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him—male and female created he them." If this account means anything, it means that man was created in the physical image and likeness of God. Moses while he speaks of man as having been made in the image of God, never speaks of God except as having the form of a man. He speaks of God as "walking in the g
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIV. SUNDAY
XIV. SUNDAY
"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." The great work had been accomplished, the world, the sun, and moon, and all the hosts of heaven were finished; the earth was clothed in green, the seas were filled with life, the cattle wandered by the brooks—insects with painted wings w
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XV. THE NECESSITY FOR A GOOD MEMORY
XV. THE NECESSITY FOR A GOOD MEMORY
It must not be forgotten that there are two accounts of the creation in Genesis. The first account stops with the third verse of the second chapter. The chapters have been improperly divided. In the original Hebrew the Pentateuch was neither divided into chapters nor verses. There was not even any system of punctuation. It was written wholly with consonants, without vowels, and without any marks, dots, or lines to indicate them. These accounts are materially different, and both cannot be true. L
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVI. THE GARDEN
XVI. THE GARDEN
In the first account we are told that God made man, male and female, and said to them "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it." In the second account only the man is made, and he is put in a garden "to dress it and to keep it." He is not told to subdue the earth, but to dress and keep a garden. In the first account man is given every herb bearing seed upon the face of the earth and the fruit of every tree for food, and in the second, he is given only the fruit of all th
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVII. THE FALL
XVII. THE FALL
We are told that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, that he had a conversation with Eve, in which he gave his opinion about the effect of eating certain fruit; that he assured her it was good to eat, that it was pleasant to the eye, that it would make her wise; that she was induced to take some; that she persuaded her husband to try it; that God found it out, that he then cursed the snake; condemning it to crawl and eat the dust; that he multiplied the sorrows of Eve, curse
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XVIII. DAMPNESS.
XVIII. DAMPNESS.
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they
48 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XIX. BACCHUS AND BABEL
XIX. BACCHUS AND BABEL
As soon as Noah had disembarked, he proceeded to plant a vineyard, and began to be a husbandman; and when the grapes were ripe he made wine and drank of it to excess; cursed his grandson, blessed Shem and Japheth, and after that lived for three hundred and fifty years. What he did during these three hundred and fifty years, we are not told. We never hear of him again. For three hundred and fifty years he lived among his sons, and daughters, and their descendants. He must have been a venerable ma
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XX. FAITH IN FILTH
XX. FAITH IN FILTH
No light whatever is shed upon what passed in the world after the confounding of language at Babel, until the birth of Abraham. But, before speaking of the history of the Jewish people, it may be proper for me to say that many things are recounted in Genesis, and other books attributed to Moses, of which I do not wish to speak. There are many pages of these books unfit to read, many stories not calculated, in my judgment, to improve the morals of mankind. I do not wish even to call the attention
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXI. THE HEBREWS
XXI. THE HEBREWS
After language had been confounded and the people scattered, there appeared in the land of Canaan a tribe of Hebrews ruled by a chief or sheik called Abraham. They had a few cattle, lived in tents, practiced polygamy, wandered from place to place, and were the only folks in the whole world to whom God paid the slightest attention. At this time there were hundreds of cities in India filled with temples and palaces; millions of Egyptians worshiped Isis and Osiris, and had covered their land with m
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXII. THE PLAGUES
XXII. THE PLAGUES
Three millions of people were in slavery. They were treated with the utmost rigor, and so fearful were their masters that they might, in time, increase in numbers sufficient to avenge themselves, that they took from the arms of mothers all the male children and destroyed them. If the account given is true, the Egyptians were the most cruel, heartless and infamous people of which history gives any record. God finally made up his mind to free the Hebrews; and for the accomplishment of this purpose
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIII. THE FLIGHT
XXIII. THE FLIGHT
Three millions of people, with their flocks and herds, with borrowed jewelry and raiment, with unleavened dough in kneading troughs bound in their clothes upon their shoulders, in one night commenced their journey for the land of promise. We are not told how they were informed of the precise time to start. With all the modern appliances, it would require months of time to inform three millions of people of any fact. In this vast assemblage there were six hundred thousand men of war, and with the
46 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIV. CONFESS AND AVOID
XXIV. CONFESS AND AVOID
The scientific christians now admit that the bible is not inspired in its astronomy, geology, botany, zoology, nor in any science. In other words, they admit that on these subjects, the bible cannot be depended upon. If all the statements in the scriptures were true, there would be no necessity for admitting that some of them are not inspired. A christian will not admit that a passage in the bible is uninspired, until he is satisfied that it is untrue. Orthodoxy itself has at last been compelled
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXV. "INSPIRED" SLAVERY
XXV. "INSPIRED" SLAVERY
Perhaps the bible was inspired upon the subject of human slavery. Is there, in the civilized world, today, a clergyman who believes in the divinity of slavery? Does the bible teach man to enslave his brother? If it does, is it not blasphemous to say that it is inspired of God? If you find the institution of slavery upheld in a book said to have been written by God, what would you expect to find in a book inspired by the devil? Would you expect to find that book in favor of liberty? Modern christ
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXVI. "INSPIRED" MARRIAGE
XXVI. "INSPIRED" MARRIAGE
Is there an orthodox clergyman in the world, who will now declare that he believes the institution of polygamy to be right? Is there one who will publicly declare that, in his judgment, that institution ever was right? Was there ever a time in the history of the world when it was right to treat woman simply as property? Do not attempt to answer these questions by saying, that the bible is an exceedingly good book, that we are indebted for our civilization to the sacred volume, and that without i
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXVII. "INSPIRED" WAR
XXVII. "INSPIRED" WAR
If the bible be true, God commanded his chosen people to destroy men simply for the crime of defending their native land. They were not allowed to spare trembling and white-haired age, nor dimpled babes clasped in the mothers' arms. They were ordered to kill women, and to pierce, with the sword of war, the unborn child. "Our heavenly Father" commanded the Hebrews to kill the men and women, the fathers, sons and brothers, but to preserve the girls alive. Why were not the maidens also killed? Why
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXVIII. "INSPIRED" RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
XXVIII. "INSPIRED" RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
According to the bible, God selected the Jewish people through whom to make known the great fact, that he was the only true and living God. For this purpose, he appeared on several occasions to Moses—came down to Sinai's top clothed in cloud and fire, and wrought a thousand miracles for the preservation and education of the Jewish people. In their presence he opened the waters of the sea. For them he caused bread to rain from heaven. To quench their thirst, water leaped from the dry and barren r
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XXIX. CONCLUSION
XXIX. CONCLUSION
If the Pentateuch is not inspired in its astronomy, geology, geography, history or philosophy, if it is not inspired concerning slavery, polygamy, war, law, religious or political liberty, or the rights of men, women and children, what is it inspired in, or about? The unity of God?—that was believed long before Moses was born. Special providence?—that has been the doctrine of ignorance in all ages. The rights of property?—theft was always a crime. The sacrifice of animals?—that was a custom thou
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TO
TO
Ebon C. ingersoll, BY HIS BROTHER Robert. Dec. 12, 1831. MAY 31, 1879. A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll, By his Brother Robert. THE RECORD OF A GENEROUS LIFE RUNS LIKE A VINE AROUND THE MEMORY OF OUR DEAD, AND EVERY SWEET, UNSELFISH ACT IS NOW A PERFUMED FLOWER. Dear Friends: I am going to do that which the dead oft promised he would do for me. The loved and loving brother, husband, father, friend, died where manhood's morning almost touches noon, and while the shadows still were falling toward th
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter