



Produced by David Widger









THE WORKS OF ROBERT G. INGERSOLL

"THE CLERGY KNOW, THAT I KNOW, THAT THEY KNOW, THAT THEY DO NOT KNOW."

IN TWELVE VOLUMES, VOLUME II.

LECTURES

1900

THE DRESDEN EDITION


TO

MRS. SUE. M. FARRELL,

IN LAW MY SISTER,

AND IN FACT MY FRIEND,

THIS VOLUME,

AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT AND LOVE, IS DEDICATED.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

SOME MISTAKES OF MOSES.

(1879.)

Preface--I. He who endeavors to control the Mind by Force is a
Tyrant, and he who submits is a Slave--All I Ask--When a Religion
is Founded--Freedom for the Orthodox Clergy--Every Minister an
Attorney--Submission to the Orthodox and the Dead--Bounden Duty of
the Ministry--The Minister Factory at Andover--II. Free Schools--No
Sectarian Sciences--Religion and the Schools--Scientific
Hypocrites--III. The Politicians and the Churches--IV. Man and Woman the
Highest Possible Titles--Belief Dependent on Surroundings--Worship of
Ancestors--Blindness Necessary to Keeping the Narrow Path--The Bible the
Chain that Binds--A Bible of the Middle Ages and the Awe it Inspired--V.
The Pentateuch--Moses Not the Author--Belief out of which Grew
Religious Ceremonies--Egypt the Source of the Information of Moses--VI.
Monday--Nothing, in the Light of Raw Material--The Story of Creation
Begun--The Same Story, substantially, Found in the Records of Babylon,
Egypt, and India--Inspiration Unnecessary to the Truth--Usefulness of
Miracles to Fit Lies to Facts--Division of Darkness and Light--VII.
Tuesday--The Firmament and Some Biblical Notions about it--Laws of
Evaporation Unknown to the Inspired Writer--VIII. Wednesday--The Waters
Gathered into Seas--Fruit and Nothing to Eat it--Five Epochs in the
Organic History of the Earth--Balance between the Total Amounts of
Animal and Vegetable Life--Vegetation Prior to the Appearance of the
Sun--IX. Thursday--Sun and Moon Manufactured--Magnitude of the Solar
Orb--Dimensions of Some of the Planets--Moses' Guess at the Size of Sun
and Moon--Joshua's Control of the Heavenly Bodies--A Hypothesis Urged
by Ministers--The Theory of "Refraction"--Rev. Henry Morey--Astronomical
Knowledge of Chinese Savants--The Motion of the Earth Reversed by
Jehovah for the Reassurance of Ahaz--"Errors" Renounced by Button--X.
"He made the Stars Also"--Distance of the Nearest Star--XI.
Friday--Whales and Other Living Creatures Produced--XII.
Saturday--Reproduction Inaugurated--XIII. "Let Us Make Man"--Human
Beings Created in the Physical Image and Likeness of God--Inquiry as
to the Process Adopted--Development of Living Forms According to
Evolution--How Were Adam and Eve Created?--The Rib Story--Age of
Man Upon the Earth--A Statue Apparently Made before the World--XIV.
Sunday--Sacredness of the Sabbath Destroyed by the Theory of Vast
"Periods"--Reflections on the Sabbath--XV. The Necessity for a Good
Memory--The Two Accounts of the Creation in Genesis I and II--Order
of Creation in the First Account--Order of Creation in the Second
Account--Fastidiousness of Adam in the Choice of a Helpmeet--Dr.
Adam Clark's Commentary--Dr. Scott's Guess--Dr. Matthew Henry's
Admission--The Blonde and Brunette Problem--The Result of Unbelief and
the Reward of Faith--"Give Him a Harp"--XVI. The Garden--Location of
Eden--The Four Rivers--The Tree of Knowledge--Andover Appealed
To--XVII. The Fall--The Serpent--Dr. Adam Clark Gives a Zoological
Explanation--Dr. Henry Dissents--Whence This Serpent?--XVIII.
Dampness--A Race of Giants--Wickedness of Mankind--An Ark Constructed--A
Universal Flood Indicated--Animals Probably Admitted to the Ark--How Did
They Get There?--Problem of Food and Service--A Shoreless Sea Covered
with Innumerable Dead--Drs. Clark and Henry on the Situation--The Ark
Takes Ground--New Difficulties--Noah's Sacrifice--The Rainbow as a
Memorandum--Babylonian, Egyptian, and Indian Legends of a Flood--XIX.
Bacchus and Babel--Interest Attaching to Noah--Where Did Our First
Parents and the Serpent Acquire a Common Language?--Babel and the
Confusion of Tongues--XX. Faith in Filth--Immodesty of Biblical
Diction--XXI. The Hebrews--God's Promises to Abraham--The Sojourning
of Israel in Egypt--Marvelous Increase--Moses and Aaron--XXII.
The Plagues--Competitive Miracle Working--Defeat of the Local
Magicians--XXIII. The Flight Out of Egypt--Three Million People in a
Desert--Destruction of Pharaoh ana His Host--Manna--A Superfluity of
Quails--Rev. Alexander Cruden's Commentary--Hornets as Allies