laughs. This reminds me of an incident.
A man told a most wonderful story. Everybody present expressed
surprise and astonishment, except one man. He said nothing; he
did not even change countenance. One who noticed that the story
had no effect on this man, said to him: "You do not seem to be
astonished in the least at this marvelous tale." The man replied,
"No; I am a liar myself."

You see, I am not trying to answer individual ministers. I am
attacking the whole body of superstition. I am trying to kill the
entire dog, and I do not feel like wasting any time killing fleas
on that dog. When the dog dies, the fleas will be out of provisions,
and in that way we shall answer them all at once.

So, I do not bother myself answering religious newspapers. In the
first place, they are not worth answering; and in the second place,
to answer would only produce a new crop of falsehoods. You know,
the editor of a religious newspaper, as a rule, is one who has
failed in the pulpit; and you can imagine the brains necessary to
edit a religious weekly from this fact. I have known some good
religious editors. By some I mean one. I do not say that there
are not others, but I do say I do not know them. I might add,
here, that the one I did know is dead.

Since I have been in this city there have been some "replies" to
me. They have been almost idiotic. A Catholic priest asked me
how I had the impudence to differ with Newton. Newton, he says,
believed in a God; and I ask this Catholic priest how he has the
impudence to differ with Newton. Newton was a Protestant. This
simply shows the absurdity of using men's names for arguments.
This same priest proves the existence of God by a pagan orator.
Is it possible that God's last witness died with Cicero? If it is
necessary to believe in a God now, the witnesses ought to be on
hand now.

Another man, pretending to answer me, quotes Le Conte, a geologist;
and according to this geologist we are "getting very near to the
splendors of the great white throne." Where is the great white
throne? Can any one, by studying geology, find the locality of
the great white throne? To what stratum does it belong? In what
geologic period was the great white throne formed? What on earth
has geology to do with the throne of God?

The truth is, there can be no reply to the argument that man should
be governed by his reason; that he should depend upon observation
and experience; that