s but one worship, and that
is justice.

You need not fear the anger of a God whom you cannot injure. Rather
fear to injure your fellow-men. Do not be afraid of a crime you cannot
commit. Rather be afraid of the one that you may commit.

There was a Jewish gentleman went into a restaurant to get his dinner,
and the devil of temptation whispered in his ear: "Eat some bacon."

He knew if there was anything in the universe calculated to excite the
wrath of the Infinite Being, who made every shining star, it was to see
a gentleman eating bacon. He knew it, and He knew the Infinite Being
was looking, and that he was the Infinite Eaves-dropper of the
universe. But his appetite got the better of his conscience, as it
often has with us all, and he ate that bacon. He knew it was wrong.
When he went into that restaurant the weather was delightful, the sky
was as blue as June, and when he came out the sky was covered with
angry clouds, the lightning leaping from one to the other, and the
earth shaking beneath the voice of the thunder. He went back into that
restaurant with a face as white as milk, and he said to one of the
keepers:

"My God, did you ever hear such a fuss about a little piece of bacon?"

As long as we harbor such opinions of Infinity; as long as we imagine
the heavens to be filled with such tyranny, so long the sons of men
will be cringing, intellectual cowards. Let us think, and let us
honestly express our thought.

Do not imagine for a moment that I think people who disagree with me
are bad people. I admit, and I cheerfully admit, that a very large
proportion of mankind and a very large majority, a vast number, are
reasonably honest. I believe that most Christians believe what they
teach; that most ministers are endeavoring to make this world better. I
do not pretend to be better than they are. It is an intellectual
question. It is a question, first, of intellectual liberty, and after
that, a question to be settled at the bar of human reason. I do not
pretend to be better than the are. Probably I am a good deal worse
than many of them, but that is not the question. The question is "Bad
as I am, have I a right to think?" And I think I have, for two reasons.

First, I can't help it. And secondly, I like it. The whole question
is right at a point. If I have not a right to express my thoughts, who
has?

"Oh," they say, "we will allow you, we will not burn you."

"All right; why won't you b