The usual reply to such arguments and reasoning as the foregoing, is the hue and cry of infidel, atheist, etc.; but is it atheism to prefer the known to the unknown, and to consult experience and the evidence of our senses, in preference to dogmas drawn from books of unauthenticated legends, which are remarkable for nothing so much as the numerous libels they contain against the ruling power of the universe?** When the laws and institutions of a country become so corrupted by the usurpations of religion, and the political tyranny which it engenders, as are those of Great Britain,*** where the most grievous abuses in church and state are cherished and perpetuated to serve the ends of the aristocracy and the hierarchy, and where even the sciences are allowed to be seen only through the spectacles of superstition, are the men Atheists who seek a radical reform of them all? * The minds of the great mass of mankind may be compared to the glasses in a tavern, which bear about whatever may be put into them. If the tavern be in Turkey, the sensual potations of Mahommed's heaven will fly about; if at Rome, the sparkling froth of Catholicism: if in any one of the Protestant countries of Europe, your features will be distorted by the acetous draughts of Calvin. ** By one Act of Henry VIII., it was high treason to have the Bible in possession; by another it was permitted to noblemen and gentlemen; and next, to countesses, ladies, etc.; and lastly to grown people, but not to apprentices and children. It was wise to allow the reading of such a book to those alone who were interested in upholding it. Reason, philosophy and science will ultimately bring it into contempt. *** All the ecclesiastical, and most of the other laws of Great Britain, are in opposition to everything that is salutary to man, or protective of his natural rights. To the former class, every man of sound morality and virtue, ought to make a point of denying jurisdiction and obedience. All the laws and usages, without exception, that have relation to the intercourse of the sexes, are so unnatural, cruel and absurd, that they seem calculated to make them mutual snares for each other. If there be indeed any such thing as a _post mortem_ judgment seat, to try the wicked and unrighteous for their immoralities and crimes, priests will have much to answer for at that tribunal, on the score of the complicated chain of calamities which their trade hath entailed on their brother man; for they alone "Have dared to babble of a God of peace, Even while their hands were red with guiltless blood-- Murdering the while--uprooting every germ Of truth--exterminating--spoiling all-- Making the earth a slaughter-house."