interests_ of my species. I will laugh at folly, scorn
hypocrisy, expose falsehood, and bathe my sword in the heart's blood of
imposture. But I will not descend to personalities. I do not war with
_persons_, but with _principles_.

My object is to destroy the Christian superstition and prepare the
way for a more rational and humane condition of society. I shall adapt
myself, as well as I can, to the shifting conditions of the struggle. My
aim is to _succeed_. My policy, therefore, will never be determined by a
personal preference. I shall follow the path that promises victory.
But I do not, and will not, dictate to others. Within the scope of
our principles there is room for many policies. Let each do his best,
according to his light and opportunity. Let Dr. Coit, too, go his way as
I go mine. We travel by different routes, but perhaps we shall meet at
the goal.

OUR FATHER.

God's in his heaven,
All's right with the world.
--R. Browning, Pippa Passes.

The Apostles' Creed, with which the Apostles never had anything to do,
begins with the words "I believe in God the Father Almighty." The last
word, "Almighty," is an adjective which we owe to the metaphysical genius
of Christian theologians; and the first words, "I believe," are the
customary shibboleth of the priests of every religion. For the rest,
this extract from the Creed is taken from the Lord's Prayer, which
itself is a brief selection from common Jewish prayers before the days
of Jesus. According to the evangelists--whoever _they_ were--Jesus
taught his disciples to pray to "Our Father which art in Heaven for
a number of things which no one ever obtained by that process.
Nevertheless the petition is offered up, generation after generation, by
millions of Christians, whose hands are first folded in the gesture of
prayer on their mothers' knees, and whose lips are taught at the same
time a form of words that clings to them for life.

"Our Father!" The words are pretty and touching. When the child hears
them he thinks of some one like his own father, but immensely bigger and
more powerful; and as the child is taught that all the necessaries and
comforts of life he enjoys, at the expense of his parents' labor and
loving care, are really gifts from the Father behind the scenes, it is
no wonder that this mysterious being becomes the object of gratitude and
affection.

_Which art in Heaven!_ Up there in the region of dreams, beyond the
sai