is a libel upon all the men who have worked for wife and
child; it is a libel upon all the wives who have suffered and labored,
wept and worked for children; it is a libel upon all the men who have
died for their country; it is a libel upon all who have fought for
human liberty; it is a libel upon the human race. Leave out the
history of the church, and there is nothing in this world to prove the
depravity of man left.

Everybody that comes is against God. Every soul, they think, is like
the wrecked Irishman. He was wrecked in the sea and drifted to an
unknown island, and as he climbed up the shore he saw a man, and said
to him, "Have you a government here?" The man said, "We have."
"Well," said he, "I am agin it!" The church teaches us that that is
the attitude of every soul in the universe of God. Ought a god to take
any credit to himself for making depraved people? A god that cannot
make a soul that is not totally depraved, I respectfully suggest,
should retire from the business. And if a god has made us, knowing
that we would be totally depraved, why should we go to the same being
for repairs?

What is the next? "That all men are so alienated from God that there
is no salvation from the guilt and power of his sin except through
God's redeeming grace."

Reformation is not enough. If the man who steals becomes perfectly
honest, that is not enough; if the man who hates his fellow-man changes
and loves his fellowman, that is not enough; he must go through the
mysterious thing called the second birth; he must be born again. That
is not enough unless he has faith; he must believe something that he
does not understand. Reformation is not enough; there must be what they
call conversion. I deny it. According to the church, nothing so
excites the wrath of God--nothing so corrugates the brows of Jehovah
with revenge--as a man relying on his own good works. He must admit
that he ought to be damned, and that of the two he prefers it, before
God will consent to save him. I saw a man the other day, and he said
to me, "I am a Unitarian Universalist; that is what I am." Said I,
"What do you mean by that?" "Well," said he, "here is what I mean:
the Unitarian thinks he is too good to be damned, and the Universalist
thinks God is too good to damn him, and I believe them both."

What is the next thing in this great creed?

"We believe that the scriptures of the old and new testaments are the
records of God's revel