waves, the winds, the flames, and the lightnings of heaven do his
bidding and minister to his wants. They found that the ghosts
knew nothing of benefit to man; that they were utterly ignorant
of geology--of astronomy--of geography;--that they knew nothing of
history;--that they were poor doctors and worse surgeons;--that they
knew nothing of law and less of justice; that they were without brains,
and utterly destitute of hearts; that they knew nothing of the rights
of men; that they were despisers of women, the haters of progress, the
enemies of science, and the destroyers of liberty.

The condition of the world during the Dark Ages shows exactly the result
of enslaving the bodies and souls of men. In those days there was no
freedom. Labor was despised, and a laborer was considered but little
above a beast. Ignorance, like a vast cowl, covered the brain of the
world, and superstition ran riot with the imagination of man. The air
was filled with angels, with demons and monsters. Credulity sat upon
the throne of the soul, and Reason was an exiled king. A man to be
distinguished must be a soldier or a monk. War and theology, that is
to say, murder and hypocrisy, were the principal employments of man.
Industry was a slave, theft was commerce; murder was war, hypocrisy was
religion.

Every christian country maintained that it was no robbery to take the
property of Mohammedans by force, and no murder to kill the owners. Lord
Bacon was the first man of note who maintained that a christian country
was bound to keep its plighted faith with an infidel nation. Reading and
writing were considered dangerous arts. Every layman who could read and
write was suspected of being a heretic. All thought was discouraged.
They forged chains of superstition for the minds, and manacles of iron
for the bodies of men. The earth was ruled by the cowl and sword,--by
the mitre and scepter,--by the altar and throne,--by Fear and Force,--by
Ignorance and Faith,--by ghouls and ghosts.

In the fifteenth century the following law was in force in England:

"That whosoever reads the scriptures in the mother tongue, shall forfeit
land, cattle, life, and goods from their heirs forever, and so be
condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and most arrant
traitors to the land."

During the first year this law was in force thirty-nine were hanged for
its violation and their bodies burned.

In the sixteenth century men were burned because they f