A Mere Society Form Of Atheism.

The House, Being Strong, Should Be Generous ... But The Constituents Have A Right To More Than Generosity.... The Law Gives Me My Seat. In The Name Of The Law I Ask For It. I Regret That My Personality Overshadows The Principles Involved In This Great Struggle; But I Would Ask Those Who Have Touched My Life, Not Knowing It, Who Have Found For Me Vices Which I Do Not Remember In The Memory Of My Life, I Would Ask Them Whether All Can Afford To Cast The First Stone ... Then That, As Best Judges, They Will Vacate Their Own Seats, Having Deprived My Constituents Of Their Right Here To Mine.

I Do Not Deny "god", Because That Word Conveys To Me No Idea, And I Cannot Deny That Which Presents To Me No Distinct Affirmation, And Of Which The Would-be Affirmer Has No Conception.

Is It Not Gain To Have Diminished The Faith That It Was The Duty Of The Wretched And The Miserable To Be Content With The Lot In Life Which Providence Had Awarded Them?

No Religion Is Suddenly Rejected By Any People; It Is Rather Gradually Outgrown. None Sees A Religion Die; Dead Religions Are Like Dead Languages And Obsolete Customs: The Decay Is Long And - Like The Glacier March - Is Perceptible Only To The Careful Watcher By Comparisons Extending Over Long Periods.

The Ameliorating March Of The Last Few Centuries Has Been Initiated By The Heretics Of Each Age, Though I Concede That The Men And Women Denounced And Persecuted As Infidels By The Pious Of One Century Are Frequently Claimed As Saints By The Pious Of A Later Generation.