tead of on the clergy. They
have found out that the clergy do not know; that their sources of
information are not reliable; that, like the politicians, many
ministers preach one way and talk another. The doctrine of eternal
pain has driven millions from the church. People with good hearts
cannot get consolation out of that cruel lie. The ministers
themselves are getting ashamed to call that doctrine "the tidings
of great joy." The American people are a serious people. They
want to know the truth. They fell that whatever the truth may be
they have the courage to hear it. The American people also have
a sense of humor. They like to see old absurdities punctured and
solemn stupidity held up to laughter. They are, on the average,
the most intelligent people on the earth. They can see the point.
Their wit is sharp, quick and logical. Nothing amuses them more
that to see the mask pulled from the face of sham. The average
American is generous, intelligent, level-headed, manly, and good-
natured.

_Question_. What, in your judgment, is the source of the greatest
trouble among men?

_Answer_. Superstition. That has caused more agony, more tears,
persecution and real misery than all other causes combined. The
other name for superstition is ignorance. When men learn that all
sin is a mistake, that all dishonesty is a blunder, that even
intelligent selfishness will protect the rights of others, there
will be vastly more happiness in this world. Shakespeare says that
"There is no darkness but ignorance." Sometime man will learn that
when he steals from another, he robs himself--that the way to be
happy is to make others so, and that it is far better to assist
his fellow-man than to fast, say prayers, count beads or build
temples to the Unknown. Some people tell us that selfishness is
the only sin, but selfishness grows in the soil of ignorance.
After all, education is the great lever, and the only one capable
of raising mankind. People ignorant of their own rights are ignorant
of the rights of others. Every tyrant is the slave of ignorance.

_Question_. How soon do you think we would have the millennium if
every person attended strictly to his own business?

_Answer_. Now, if every person were intelligent enough to know
his own business--to know just where his rights ended and the rights
of others commenced, and then had the wisdom and honesty to act
accordingly, we should have a very happy world. Mos