aws,--like an Azrael-Napoleon he advances
conscienceless, feeling nothing but an overpowering impulse, as of some
higher power which bids him strike and spare not." But, after all, the
main cause of progress is _agitation_, and though the agitation may be
"eminently disagreeable to many, even friends, who are brought within
its immediate action, it will be eminently beneficial in the end."

Yes, the hard-bound human mind, like the hardbound soil, has to be
ploughed up. Let it shriek as it will, the work must be done, or the
light and air will never penetrate, and an ocean of seeds will lie
barren on the surface.

Dr. Coit need not fear that ridicule will excite apprehensions about the
multiplication table. Ridicule has a fine scent for its proper prey.
It must detect the _ridiculous_ before it couches and springs. Truth,
honor, consistency, disinterestedness, are invulnerable. What ridicule
can kill deserves to die.

Mr. George Meredith writes of "that first-born of common-sense, the
vigilant Comic, which is the genius of thoughtful laughter." Folly is
the natural prey of this hunter, and Folly is found in the churches
as well as in the streets. Some men, however, are non-laughers by
birthright, and as men are apt to make a virtue of their deficiencies,
it is not surprising if, as Mr. Meredith observes, the "laughter-hater
soon learns to dignify this dislike as an objection in morality."

Persons who have read the _Freethinker_ from the first do not need to
be assured of the earnest spirit of its conductors. They fight no less
sternly for the iridescent jewels in their swords. But Dr. Coit appears
to object to fighting altogether. He seems to bid us rest content with
what we have won. That is, he bids us leave superstition, with all
its brood of lies and wrongs, in possession of the schools, the
universities, the churches, the hospitals, the workhouses, and every
other institution. He bids us leave it with its large grasp on
the private and public life of the community, and go on with our
constructive work in face of all this overwhelming frustration. No doubt
he means well, but we are not foolish enough to take his advice. We tell
Dr. Coit that he does not understand the obstructive power of theology,
and that he is thus unable to appreciate the work of the National
Secular Society.

But let us return to the point of ridicule, and the point of
"blasphemy." Dr. Coit found two "lessons for the day" in my _Philosophy