be called a consolation.
What I say is, that the writers of the New Testament knew no more
about the future state than I do, and no less. The horizon of life
has never been pierced. The veil between time and what is called
eternity, has never been raised, so far as I know; and I say of
the dead what all others must say if they say only what they know.
There is no particular consolation in a guess. Not knowing what
the future has in store for the human race, it is far better to
prophesy good than evil. It is better to hope that the night has
a dawn, that the sky has a star, than to build a heaven for the
few, and a hell for the many. It is better to leave your dead in
doubt than in fire--better that they should sleep in shadow than
in the lurid flames of perdition. And so I say, and always have
said, let us hope for the best. The minister asks: "What right
have you to hope? It is sacrilegious in you!" But, whether the
clergy like it or not, I shall always express my real opinion, and
shall always be glad to say to those who mourn: "There is in death,
as I believe, nothing worse than sleep. Hope for as much better
as you can. Under the seven-hued arch let the dead rest." Throw
away the Bible, and you throw away the fear of hell, but the hope
of another life remains, because the hope does not depend upon a
book--it depends upon the heart--upon human affection. The fear,
so far as this generation is concerned, is born of the book, and
that part of the book was born of savagery. Whatever of hope is
in the book is born, as I said before, of human affection, and the
higher our civilization the greater the affection. I had rather
rest my hope of something beyond the grave upon the human heart,
than upon what they call the Scriptures, because there I find
mingled with the hope of something good the threat of infinite
evil. Among the thistles, thorns and briers of the Bible is one
pale and sickly flower of hope. Among all its wild beasts and
fowls, only one bird flies heavenward. I prefer the hope without
the thorns, without the briers, thistles, hyenas, and serpents.

_Question_. Do you not know that it is claimed that immortality
was brought to light in the New Testament, that that, in fact, was
the principal mission of Christ?

_Answer_. I know that Christians claim that the doctrine of
immortality was first taught in the New Testament. They also claim
that the highest morality was found there. Both