ose virtues are not distinctively Christian.
They are claimed by Mohammedans and Buddhists, by Infidels and
Atheists--and practiced by some of all classes. Christianity
consists of the miraculous, the marvelous, and the impossible.

The one thing that I most seriously object to in Christianity is
the doctrine of eternal punishment. That doctrine subverts every
idea of justice. It teaches the infinite absurdity that a finite
offence can be justly visited by eternal punishment. Another
serious objection I have is, that Christianity endeavors to destroy
intellectual liberty. Nothing is better calculated to retard
civilization than to subvert the idea of justice. Nothing is better
calculated to retain barbarism than to deny to every human being
the right to think. Justice and Liberty are the two wings that
bear man forward. The church, for a thousand years, did all within
its power to prevent the expression of honest thought; and when
the church had power, there was in this world no civilization. We
have advanced just in the proportion that Christianity has lost
power. Those nations in which the church is still powerful are
still almost savage--Portugal, Spain, and many others I might name.
Probably no country is more completely under the control of the
religious idea than Russia. The Czar is the direct representative
of God. He is the head of the church, as well as of the state.
In Russia every mouth is a bastille and every tongue a convict.
This Russian pope, this representative of God, has on earth his
hell (Siberia), and he imitates the orthodox God to the extent of
his health and strength.

Everywhere man advances as the church loses power. In my judgment,
Ireland can never succeed until it ceases to be Catholic; and there
can be no successful uprising while the confessional exists. At
one time in New England the church had complete power. There was
then no religious liberty. And so we might make a tour of the
world, and find that superstition always has been, is, and forever
will be, inconsistent with human advancement.

_Question_. Do not the evidences of design in the universe prove
a Creator?

_Answer_. If there were any evidences of design in the universe,
certainly they would tend to prove a designer, but they would not
prove a Creator. Design does not prove creation. A man makes a
machine. That does not prove that he made the material out of
which the machine is constructed. You find