Only a little while ago, a British clergyman mur-

133

dered his wife. Only a little while ago, an American

Protestant clergyman whipped his boy to death be-

cause the boy refused to say a prayer.

The Rev. Mr. Crowley not only believed the Bible,

but was licensed to expound it. He had been

"called" to the ministry, and upon his head had

been laid the holy hands; and yet, he deliberately

starved orphans, and while looking upon their

sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, sung pious hymns

and quoted with great unction: "Suffer little chil-

"dren to come unto me."

As a matter of fact, in the last twenty years,

more money has been stolen by Christian cashiers,

Christian presidents, Christian directors, Christian

trustees and Christian statesmen, than by all other

convicts in all the penitentiaries in all the Christian

world.

The assassin of Henry the Fourth was a Bible reader

and a Bible believer. The instigators of the massacre

of St. Bartholomew were believers in your sacred

Scriptures. The men who invested their money in the

slave-trade believed themselves filled with the Holy

Ghost, and read with rapture the Psalms of David and

the Sermon on the Mount. The murderers of Scotch

Presbyterians were believers in Revelation, and the

134

Presbyterians, when they murdered others, were also

believers. Nearly every man who expiates a crime

upon the gallows is a believer in the Bible. For a

thousand years, the daggers of assassination and the

swords of war were blest by priests--by the believers

in the sacred Scriptures. The assassin of President

Garfield is a believer in the Bible, a hater of infidelity,

a believer in personal inspiration, and he expects in a

few weeks to join the winged and redeemed in

heaven.

If a man would follow, to-day, the teachings of the

Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would

follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be

insane.

The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 05 (of 12) Dresden Edition—Discussions · 第 31 / 68 题