“Infidelity has no infallible pope. It relies only on infallible fact. It has no priest except the interpreter of nature. The universe is its church. Its bible is everything that is true. It implores every man to verify every word for himself, and it implores him to say if he does not believe it, that he does not.
“Infidelity does not fear contradiction. It is not afraid of being laughed at. It invites the scrutiny of all doubters, of all unbelievers. It does not rely upon awe, but upon reason. It says to the whole world: It is dangerous not to think. It is dangerous not to be honest. It is dangerous not to investigate. It is dangerous not to follow where reason leads.
“Infidelity requires every man to judge for himself. Infidelity preserves the manhood of man.” (Ingersoll’s “Interviews,” p. 165.)
Por.—Why, man, what’s the matter? Don’t tear your hair.
Sir Hugh.—I have been beaten in a discussion, overwhelmed and humiliated.
Por.—Why didn’t you call your adversary a fool?
Sir Hugh.—My God! I forgot it!
The Objects of Orthodoxy and Liberalism.
Liberalism, like all reform movements, is poorly understood by all the masses. The more ignorant of the clergy know nothing of its real objects, and the few who do understand it dare not tell the truth, therefore we can not refer to its real objects too often. In this article we propose to place side by side the principle objects of Orthodoxy and Liberalism without comment so that our readers will be able to study them in contrast and see which is the more reasonable.