it be
false, it is equally important it should be freely made known, inasmuch
as it would contribute to 'the clearer perception and livelier
impression of truth produced by its collision with error.' Besides, no
man can certainly know that any opinion is true, so long as anything
which can be said against it is not permitted to be presented and freely
discussed. Liberty is the indispensable atmosphere of truth. Without it,
truth will as surely languish and die, as animals or plants will perish
without air. All great improvements have been accomplished only through
the conflicts of adverse opinion. Progress is change, and if all
discussion is prohibited, change and improvement are impossible.

It is interesting also to see the unlimited scope allowed to this bold
doctrine, and the fearlessness with which it is applied to subjects
usually deemed sacred and forbidden to all question or controversy. The
existence of a God, the certainty of a future state, the truth of
Christianity--all these are the proper subjects of free discussion and
untrammelled opinion, quite as much as any other questions, however
unimportant or indifferent. It becomes the devoutest Christian to hear
discussions on these transcendent subjects without the least ill will or
intolerance toward the adversary who may thus endeavor to shake his
faith in those sublime truths which he holds indisputable and more
sacred than all others. It is doing the highest possible service to the
doctrines to attack them; for if they be sound and true, they will
certainly survive, and be all the more glorious for having passed safely
through the ordeal. Christianity itself was more vital and effective in
its earlier stages, when fighting its way into existence against all
sorts of persecutions, than it has ever been since in the palmiest days
of its power. When its doctrines are no longer questioned, it will cease
to be a living spirit controlling the hearts of men. It will be a cold
and formal thing, resting on the general acquiescence, but no longer
exhibiting its all-conquering power in the active effort to overthrow
opposing creeds.

No genuine liberty can exist, until the community shall have reached
that elevated condition of liberality and wisdom which will gladly
submit its most cherished sentiments to the analysis of unsparing logic,
and that without the least effort to punish, in any way, the daring
attempt to undermine its faith. The champions of truth will be