r himself anywhere, except by its permission and
according to its plans and specifications, fixing the rent and the
revenues for all future time.

The Premier of Spain to-day is disputing this prerogative of Rome, and the
graveyard has been thrown open. The pity, the marvel of it all is, that
the people generally do not seem to care, and call any statement of facts
"sensational" or "panicky."

I am told by some very good people that these references to Popery seem
irrelevant, and by others, that they mar the symmetry of my essay.

They are reminded that we are dealing with real and permanent values, and
with what man may do and ought to do for himself.

Lying squarely across this upward pathway of man, to be pursued by free
choice and personal effort, is the dogma of the Vicarious Atonement and
the forgiveness of sin, of which "His Holiness" claims to hold the
_exclusive agency_.

Through appeal to superstition and fear this preposterous and sacrilegious
claim to-day, as in all the past, paralyzes the will and discourages the
personal efforts of millions of men and women. Between that blind
credulity which makes personal effort unnecessary, and the miracle and
dogma which make it seem useless, the upward and onward march of man is
hindered or annulled, notwithstanding the fact that many men and women
lead noble lives who are yet communicants of the Church, both Catholic and
Protestant. True, they may, with little thinking, reason and reflection
from early education and "lip-service," give intellectual assent to these
dogmas. But the lives they lead and the personal effort put forth prove
them "better than their creeds." They say with the lips, "Christ has
forgiven us," or "Jesus will save us," and while they are _saying_ these
things they _go to work saving themselves_ by "leading the life" through
personal effort and experience.

In other words, they "save themselves" in spite of their creeds and
superstitions.

It is, therefore, with this exact "measure of values," that we are
dealing; and the necessity and value of these considerations are nowhere
so plain to-day, or so imperative, as just here, in the face of these
demoralizing dogmas and pretensions of men, who contradict all natural law
and steal unblushingly the prerogatives of God, as his "Vicegerent." The
marvel of it is that it excites neither surprise nor protest, but is
treated with a smile of good-natured complacency outside its circle of
dupes.