Never had astronomy, never had geology, never had phrenology, never had anthropology, one smile from the organized theological guardians of the ancient falsehood called orthodoxy. Neither had political liberty any better treatment than mental liberty. Neither the white man, the red man, nor the black man found friendship or protection until very recently in any orthodox church, for the church was invariably the ally of the despot. Witness all European history, witness the history of Mexico and South America,--witness the history of the United States,--witness the present condition of Europe, groaning under the mountain load of taxation to pay war debts, to sustain the cannon foundries, forts, ships, barracks, and, in a word, the _armament of hell_, for it is but a grand, prearranged plan for further homicide and devastation; and all--all, alas! established and sustained by a government inspired by the church, which falsely claims to represent the principles of Christ in its terribly apostate career! With a loathing and horror that words cannot express I turn from this scene--in which, though latent at this moment, there lie all the horrors of the Roman amphitheatre, and wars of the legions of Scipio, Marius, Tiberius, Caesar, Nero, Severus, Decius, Valerianus, of Alaric, Attila, and Genghis Khan--to the dawn of liberty, peace, and enlightenment on the American continent, where, though old forms and institutions may survive, their interior nature or life is changed,--where the apostate church is slowly relinquishing its apostacy and growing into harmony with modern liberty and progress. The time is coming, I trust, when Christian churches in the United States shall return to follow the sublime examples of the founders of Christianity; shall practise and diffuse that spirit of love in which is all freedom, all toleration and co-operation; shall welcome science and philosophy, and become the centre of all cooperative efforts for human amelioration. The ameliorations of the last hundred years are so great that we may well anticipate still greater changes in the coming century; for, as Whittier says: "Still the new transcends the old, In signs and tokens manifold."