If I owe Smith ten dollars and God forgives me, that doesn’t pay Smith.

Ingersoll’s line underscores a practical, secular ethic: moral or spiritual absolution does not erase concrete obligations to other people. Even if a deity pardons wrongdoing, the harm or debt remains in the human world and must be repaired where it was incurred. The example of owing “Smith” money makes the point vivid and everyday, shifting morality from private feelings of repentance to public accountability and restitution. It also critiques any religious framework that treats forgiveness as a substitute for justice—suggesting that genuine morality requires making amends, not merely being forgiven. The aphorism fits Ingersoll’s broader freethought emphasis on human responsibility over supernatural bookkeeping.