e garments given to
her by blind fortune and by chance. George Elliot, robed in garments
of glory, woven in the loom of her own genius. Which does the world
pay respect to? I tell you we are advancing! The pulpit does not do
all the thinking; the pews do it; nearly all of it. The world is
advancing, and we question the authority of those men who simply say
"it is so." Down upon your knees and admit it! When I think of how
much this world has suffered, I am amazed. When I think of how long
our fathers were slaves, I am amazed. Why, just think of it! This
world has only been fit for a gentleman to live in fifty years. No, it
has not. It was not until the year 1808 that Great Britain abolished
the slave trade. Up to that time her judge, sitting upon the bench in
the name of justice; her priests, occupying the pulpit in the name of
universal love, owned stock in slave ships and luxuriated in the
profits of piracy and murder. It was not until the year 1808 that the
United States abolished the slave trade between this and other
countries, but preserved it as between the States. It was not until
the 28th day of August, 1833, that Great Britain abolished human
slavery in her colonies; and it was not until the 1st day of January,
1863, that Abraham Lincoln wiped from our flag the stigma of disgrace.
Abraham Lincoln--in my judgment, the grandest man ever president of the
United States, and upon whose monument these words could truthfully be
written: "Here lies the only man in the history of the world who,
having been clothed with almost absolute power, never abused it except
on the side of mercy."

Think, I say, how long we clung to the institution of human slavery;
how long lashes upon the naked back were the legal tender for labor
performed! Think of it! when the pulpit of this country deliberately
and willfully changed the Cross of Christ into the whipping-post.
Think of it! And tell me then if I am right when I say this world has
only been fit for a gentleman to live in fifty years. I hate with
every drop of my blood every form of tyranny. I hate every form of
slavery. I hate dictation--I want something like liberty; and what do
I mean by that? The right to do anything that does not interfere with
the happiness of another, physically. Liberty of thought includes the
right to think right and the right to think wrong. Why? Because that
is the means by which we arrive at truth; for if we knew the truth
befo