out of book and creed. The burning
enthusiasm, the quenchless zeal of the early church have gone, never,
never to return. The ceremonies remain, but the ancient faith is
fading out of the human heart. The worn out arguments fail to
convince, and denunciations that once blanched the faces of a race,
excite in us only derision and disgust. As time rolls on, the miracles
grow mean and small, and the evidences our fathers thought conclusive
utterly fail to satisfy us. There is an "irrepressible conflict"
between religion and science, and they cannot peaceably occupy the same
brain nor the same world.

While utterly discarding all creeds, and denying the truth of all
religions, there is neither in my heart nor upon my lips a sneer for
the hopeful, loving and tender souls who believe that from all this
discord will result a perfect harmony; that every evil will in some
mysterious way become a good, and that above and over all there is a
being who, in some way, will reclaim and glorify everyone of the
children of men; but for those who heartlessly try to prove that
salvation is almost impossible; that damnation is almost certain; that
the highway of the universe leads to hell; who fill life with fear and
death with horror; who curse the cradle and mock the tomb, it is
impossible to entertain other than feelings of pity, contempt and scorn.

Reason, Observation and Experience--the Holy Trinity of Science--have
taught us that happiness is the only good; that the time to be happy is
now, and the way to be happy is to make others so. This is enough for
us. In this belief we are content to live and die. If by any
possibility the existence of a power superior to, and independent of,
nature shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to kneel.
Until then, let us stand erect.

Notwithstanding the fact that infidels in all ages have battled for the
rights of man, and have at all times been the fearless advocates of
liberty and justice, we are constantly charged by the Church with
tearing down without building again. The Church should by this time
know that it is utterly impossible to rob men of their opinions. The
history of religious persecutions fully establishes the fact that the
mind necessarily resists and defies every attempt to control it by
violence. The mind necessarily clings to old ideas until prepared for
the new. The moment we comprehend the truth, all erroneous ideas are
of necessity cast aside.