is the
most potent lure that could be offered to poor humanity.

How much of the so-called "universal instinct of belief" arises from
that pathetic human yearning for reunion with dear friends, sweet wives,
or pretty children "lost awhile"? It is human love and natural longing
for the dead darlings, whose wish is father to the thought of Heaven.
Before that passionate sentiment reason itself would almost stand
abashed: were reason antagonistic to the "larger hope"--which none can
prove.

Few of us can keep our emotions from overflowing the bounds of reason in
such a case. The poor, tearful desire lays a pale hand on reason's lips
and gazes wistfully into the mysterious abyss of the Great Silence.

So I say of that "larger hope," cherish it if you can, and if you feel
it necessary to your peace of mind. But do not mistake a hope for a
certainty. No priest, nor pope, nor prophet can tell you more about that
mystery than you know. It is a riddle, and your guess or mine may be as
near as that of a genius. We can only guess. We do not know.

Is it wise, then, to sell even a fraction of your liberty of thought or
deed for a paper promise which the Bank of Futurity may fail to honour?
Is it wise, is it needful, to abandon a single right, to abate one just
demand, to neglect one possibility of happiness here and now, in order
to fulfil the conditions laid down for the attainment of that promised
Heaven by a crowd of contradictory theologians who know no more about
God or about the future than we know ourselves?

Death has dropped a curtain of mystery between us and those we love. No
theologian knows, nor ever did know, what is hidden behind that veil.

Let us, then, do our duty here, try to be happy here, try to make others
happy here, and when the curtain lifts for us--we shall see.

CONCLUSION THE PARTING OF THE WAYS

I have been asked why I have "gone out of my way to attack religion,"
why I do not "confine myself to my own sphere and work for Socialism,
and what good I expect to do by pulling down without building up."

In reply I beg to say:

1. That I have not "gone out of my way" to attack religion. It was
because I found religion _in_ my way that I attacked it.

2. That I am working for Socialism when I attack a religion which is
hindering Socialism.

3. That we must pull down before we can build up, and that I hope to
do a little building, if only on the foundation.

B