ed a million times--straw in which there has
not been a grain of wheat for hundreds of years. No wonder that
they have nervous prostration. No wonder that they need vacations,
and no wonder that their congregations enjoy the vacations as keenly
as the ministers themselves. Better deliver a real good address
fifty-two times than fifty-two poor ones--just for the sake of
variety.

_Question_. Dr. Banks says that the tendency at present is not
toward Agnosticism, but toward Christianity. What is your opinion?

_Answer_. When I was a boy "Infidels" were very rare. A man who
denied the inspiration of the Bible was regarded as a monster.
Now there are in this country millions who regard the Bible as the
work of ignorant and superstitious men. A few years ago the Bible
was the standard. All scientific theories were tested by the Bible.
Now science is the standard and the Bible is tested by that.

Dr. Banks did not mention the names of the great scientists who
are or were Christians, but he probably thought of Laplace, Humboldt,
Haeckel, Huxley, Spencer, Tyndall, Darwin, Helmholtz and Draper.
When he spoke of Christian statesmen he likely thought of Jefferson,
Franklin, Washington, Paine and Lincoln--or he may have thought of
Pierce, Fillmore and Buchanan.

But, after all, there is no argument in names. A man is not
necessarily great because he holds office or wears a crown or talks
in a pulpit. Facts, reasons, are better than names. But it seems
to me that nothing can be plainer than that the church is losing
ground--that the people are discarding the creeds and that superstition
has passed the zenith of its power.

_Question_. Dr. Banks says that Christ did not mention the Western
Hemisphere because God does nothing for men that they can do for
themselves. What have you to say?

_Answer_. Christ said nothing about the Western Hemisphere because
he did not know that it existed. He did not know the shape of the
earth. He was not a scientist--never even hinted at any science--
never told anybody to investigate--to think. His idea was that
this life should be spent in preparing for the next. For all the
evils of this life, and the next, faith was his remedy.

I see from the report in the paper that Dr. Banks, after making
the remarks about me preached a sermon on "Herod the Villain in
the Drama of Christ." Who made Herod? Dr. Banks will answer that
God made him. Did God know what Herod would do? Ye