he ghosts, and nothing less than the blood of
the offender could appease the invisible phantom or the visible tyrant.
Kneeling was the proper position to be assumed by the multitude.
The prostrate were the good. Those who stood erect were infidels and
traitors. In the name and by the authority of the ghosts, man was
enslaved, crushed, and plundered. The many toiled wearily in the storm
and sun that the few favorites of the ghosts might live in idleness.
The many lived in huts, and caves, and dens, that the few might dwell in
palaces. The many covered themselves with rags, that the few might
robe themselves in purple and in gold. The many crept, and cringed, and
crawled, that the few might tread upon their flesh with iron feet.

From the ghosts men received, not only authority, but information of
every kind. They told us the form of this earth. They informed us that
eclipses were caused by the sins of man; that the universe was made
in six days; that astronomy, and geology were devices of wicked men,
instigated by wicked ghosts; that gazing at the sky with a telescope
was a dangerous thing; that digging into the earth was sinful curiosity;
that trying to be wise above what they had written was born of a
rebellious and irreverent spirit.

They told us there was no virtue like belief, and no crime like doubt;
that investigation was pure impudence, and the punishment therefor,
eternal torment. They not only told us all about this world, but about
two others; and if their statements about the other worlds are as true
as about this, no one can estimate the value of their information.

For countless ages the world was governed by ghosts, and they spared no
pains to change the eagle of the human intellect into a bat of darkness.
To accomplish this infamous purpose; to drive the love of truth from the
human heart; to prevent the advancement of mankind; to shut out from
the world every ray of intellectual light; to pollute every mind with
superstition, the power of kings, the cunning and cruelty of priests,
and the wealth of nations were exhausted.

During these years of persecution, ignorance, superstition and slavery,
nearly all the people, the kings, lawyers, doctors, the learned and the
unlearned, believed in that frightful production of ignorance, fear, and
faith, called witchcraft. They believed that man was the sport and prey
of devils. They really thought that the very air was thick with these
enemies of man. With few