which they were born,
with the doors all bolted and the windows fastened down. Not a ray of
light is permitted to enter there, because a new thought might explode
their delusions and disturb their repose. For these there is little
hope.

But I knew there were yet thousands--I had met and talked with many of
them--who, as I was for years, were wandering in the deserts, hungering
for the bread of life, looking for a fellowship where they might have
freedom of thought and conscience, and yet join with others of like
minds in the free worship of Nature's one great God.

I would address myself to these. I was so long one of them, I thought
my experience might be of benefit. It would aid me in helping them. I
would tell my story of bondage, of deliverance, of wandering in the
deserts of doubt, of the dawning light, of the full blaze of the sun of
liberty, of freedom and fellowship in the worship of God and the
service of mankind.

I have now spent five years in this service, the happiest and best
years of my life. They have been crowned with some degree of success.
I am not yet old. I hope to be able to devote at least a score of
years yet to this happy service. Having escaped from Bondage to
Liberty myself, my only ambition now is to carry the message of
deliverance to others, until they shall likewise find freedom in The
Fatherhood of God, The Brotherhood of Man, The Leadership of Jesus,
Salvation by Character instead of Creed, and the hope of the Progress
of Mankind Onward and Upward Forever. My only regret is that I did not
discover this way of light and liberty long before, so that I might
have had more years to devote to this happy service.

AN AFTERWORD

Dear reader, my story is finished. I have had but one motive in
writing it: A hope that I may in some way help others who are still in
the meshes of ecclesiastical bondage, or disturbing doubts, to find the
way of light and liberty in a rational religious faith. To what extent
I have succeeded or failed, only the future and my readers can
determine. If you have derived any benefit from it; if I have been
able to cast any ray of light along your pathway; if it has helped you
to solve any problem that has perplexed you, I am fully repaid for the
labor of writing it. I have not said nearly all that is in my heart,
nor all I would like to say, but all the compass of this work would
permit. But if I have stirred up in the mind of the reader a desire to