nts a
demonstration. It is exactly the same with the clergy. They have
many schools of theology, all despising each other. Probably no
two members of the same church exactly agree. They cannot demonstrate
their propositions, because between the premise and the logical
conclusion or demonstration, stands the tomb. A gravestone marks
the end of theology. In some cases, the physician can, by a post-
mortem examination, find what killed the patient, but there is no
theological post-mortem. It is impossible, by cutting a body open,
to find where the soul has gone; or whether baptism, or the lack
of it, had the slightest effect upon final destiny. The church,
knowing that there are no facts beyond the coffin, relies upon
opinions, assertions and theories. For this reason it is always
asking alms of distinguished people. Some President wishes to be
re-elected, and thereupon speaks about the Bible as "the corner-
stone of American Liberty." This sentence is a mouth large enough
to swallow any church, and from that time forward the religious
people will be citing that remark of the politician to substantiate
the inspiration of the Scriptures.

The man who accepts opinions because they have been entertained by
distinguished people, is a mental snob. When we blindly follow
authority we are serfs. When our reason is convinced we are freemen.
It is rare to find a fully rounded and complete man. A man may be
a great doctor and a poor mechanic, a successful politician and a
poor metaphysician, a poor painter and a good poet.

The rarest thing in the world is a logician--that is to say, a man
who knows the value of a fact. It is hard to find mental proportion.
Theories may be established by names, but facts cannot be demonstrated
in that way. Very small people are sometimes right, and very great
people are sometimes wrong. Ministers are sometimes right.

In all the philosophies of the world there are undoubtedly
contradictions and absurdities. The mind of man is imperfect and
perfect results are impossible. A mirror, in order to reflect a
perfect picture, a perfect copy, must itself be perfect. The mind
is a little piece of intellectual glass the surface of which is
not true, not perfect. In consequence of this, every image is more
or less distorted. The less we know, the more we imagine that we
can know; but the more we know, the smaller seems the sum of
knowledge. The less we know, the more we expect, the m