ne.
Let the future take care of itself, and when I am required to pass over
"on the other side," I am ready and willing to stand my chances with
you howling Christians.

We have in this country a religion which men have preached for about
eighteen hundred years, and men have grown wicked just in proportion as
their belief in that religion has grown strong; and just in proportion
as they have ceased to believe in it, men have become just, humane and
charitable. And if they believed in it tonight as they believed, for
instance, at the time of the immaculate Puritan fathers, I would not be
permitted to talk here in the city of New York. It is from the
coldness and infidelity of the churches that I get my right to preach;
and I thank them for it, and I say it to their credit.

As I have said, we have a religion. What is it? In the first place,
they say this vast universe was created by a God. I don't know, and
you don't know, whether it was or not. Also, if it had not been for
the first sin of Adam, they say there would never have been any Devil,
in this world, and if there had been no Devil, there would have been no
sin, and if no sin, no death. As for myself I am glad there is death
in the world, for that gives me a chance. Somebody has to die to give
me room, and when my turn comes I am willing to let some one else take
my place. But if there is a Being who gave me this life, I thank Him
from the bottom of my heart--because this life has been a joy and a
pleasure to me. Further, because of this first sin of Adam, they say,
all men are consigned to eternal perdition! But, in order to save man
from that frightful hell of the hereafter, Christ came to this world
and took upon himself flesh, and in order that we might know the road
to eternal salvation. He gave us a book called the bible, and wherever
that bible has been read men have immediately commenced throttling each
other; and wherever that bible has been circulated they have invented
inquisitions and instruments of torture, and commenced hating each
other with all their hearts. Then we are told that this bible is the
foundation of civilization, but I say it is the foundation of hell and
damnation!, and we never shall get rid of that dogma until we get rid
of the idea that the book is inspired. Now, what does the bible teach?
I am not going to ask this preacher or that preacher what the bible
teaches; but the question is, "Ought a man be sent to an etern