t his labors at the wheel, the daughters of Danaus ceased
from their hopeless task, Tantalus forgot his thirst, even Pluto
smiled, and, for the first time in the history of hell, the eyes of the
Furies were wet with tears. As it was with the lyre of Orpheus, so it
is to-day with the great harmonies of Science, which are rescuing from
the prisons of superstition the torn and bleeding heart of man.

INGERSOLL'S LECTURE ON INDIVIDUALITY, AN ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.

"His soul was like a star and dwelt apart."

On every hand are the enemies of individuality, and mental freedom.
Custom meets us at the cradle,--and leaves us only at the tomb. Our
first questions are answered by ignorance, and our last by
superstition. We are pushed and dragged by countless hands along the
beaten track, and our entire training can be summed up in the word
"suppression." Our desire to have a thing or to do a thing is
considered as conclusive evidence that we ought to do it. At every
turn we run not to have it, and ought not against a cherubim and a
flaming sword, guarding some entrance to the Eden of our desire. We are
allowed to investigate all subjects in which we feel no particular
interest, and to express the opinions of the majority with the utmost
freedom. We are taught that liberty of speech should never be carried
to the extent of contradicting the dead witnesses of a popular
superstition. Society offers continual rewards for self-betrayal, and
they are nearly all earned and claimed, and some are paid.

We have all read accounts of Christian gentlemen remarking when about
to be hanged, how much better it would have been for them if they had
only followed a mother's advice! But, after all, how fortunate it is
for the world that the maternal advice has not been followed! How
lucky it is for us all that it is somewhat unnatural for a human being
to obey! Universal obedience is universal stagnation; disobedience is
one of the conditions of progress. Select any age of the world and tell
me what would have been the effect of implicit obedience. Suppose the
church had had absolute control of the human mind at any time, would
not the word liberty and progress have been blotted from the human
speech? In defiance of advice, the world has advanced.

Suppose the astronomers had controlled the science of astronomy;
suppose the doctors had controlled the science of medicine; suppose
kings had been left to fix the form of gover