feel as if I were on a ship not knowing the port from which
it sailed, not knowing the harbor to which it was going, not having
a speaking acquaintance with any of the officers, and I have made
up my mind to have as good a time with the other passengers as
possible under the circumstances. If this ship goes down in mid-
sea I have at least made something, and if it reaches a harbor of
perpetual delight I have lost nothing, and I have had a happy
voyage. And I think millions and millions are agreeing with me.

Now, understand, I am not finding fault with any of these religions
or with any of these ministers. These religions and these ministers
are the necessary and natural products of sufficient causes.
Mankind has traveled from barbarism to what we now call civilization,
by many paths, all of which under the circumstances, were absolutely
necessary; and while I think the individual does as he must, I
think the same of the church, of the corporation, and of the nation,
and not only of the nation, but of the whole human race. Consequently
I have no malice and no prejudices. I have likes and dislikes.
I do not blame a gourd for not being a cantaloupe, but I like
cantaloupes. So I do not blame the old hard-shell Presbyterian
for not being a philosopher, but I like philosophers. So to wind
it all up with regard to the tendency of modern thought, or as to
the outcome of what you call religion, my own belief is that what
is known as religion will disappear from the human mind. And by
"religion" I mean the supernatural. By "religion" I mean living
in this world for another, or living in this world to gratify some
supposed being, whom we never saw and about whom we know nothing,
and of whose existence we know nothing. In other words, religion
consists of the duties we are supposed to owe to the first great
cause, and of certain things necessary for us to do here to insure
happiness hereafter. These ideas, in my judgment, are destined to
perish, and men will become convinced that all their duties are
within their reach, and that obligations can exist only between
them and other sentient beings. Another idea, I think, will force
itself upon the mind, which is this: That he who lives the best
for this world lives the best for another if there be one. In
other words, humanity will take the place of what is called
"religion." Science will displace superstition, and to do justice
will be the ambition of man.

My cree