The world has advanced. The Bible has remained the same. We must go back to the book--it cannot come to us--or we must leave it forever. In order to remain orthodox we must forget the discoveries, the inventions, the intellectual efforts of many centuries; we must go back until our knowledge--or rather our ignorance--will harmonize with the barbaric creeds. It is not pretended that all the creeds have not been naturally produced. It is admitted that under the same circumstances the same religions would again ensnare the human race. It is also admitted that under the same circumstances the same efforts would be made by the great and intellectual of every age to break the chains of superstition. There is no necessity of attacking people--we should combat error. We should hate hypocrisy, but not the hypocrite--larceny, but not the thief--superstition, but not its victim. We should do all within our power to inform, to educate, and to benefit our fellow-men. There is no elevating power in hatred. There is no reformation in punishment. The soul grows greater and grander in the air of kindness, in the sunlight of intelligence. We must rely upon the evidence of our senses, upon the conclusions of our reason. For many centuries the church has insisted that man is totally depraved, that he is naturally wicked, that all of his natural desires are contrary to the will of God. Only a few years ago it was solemnly asserted that our senses were originally honest, true and faithful, but having been debauched by original sin, were now cheats and liars; that they constantly deceived and misled the soul; that they were traps and snares; that no man could be safe who relied upon his senses, or upon his reason;--he must simply rely upon faith; in other words, that the only way for man to really see was to put out his eyes. There has been a rapid improvement in the intellectual world. The improvement has been slow in the realm of religion, for the reason that religion was hedged about, defended and barricaded by fear, by prejudice and by law. It was considered sacred. It was illegal to call its truth in question. Whoever disputed the priest became a criminal; whoever demanded a reason, or an explanation, became a blasphemer, a scoffer, a moral leper. The church defended its mistakes by every means within its power. But in spite of all this there has been advancement, and there are enough of the orthodox clergy left to make it possible for us to measure the distance that has been traveled by sensible people. The world is beginning to see that a minister should be a teacher, and that "he should not endeavor to inculcate a particular system of dogmas, but to prepare his hearers for exercising their own judgments." As a last resource, the orthodox tell the thoughtful that they are not "spiritual"--that they are "of the earth, earthy"--that they cannot perceive that which is spiritual. They insist that "God is a spirit, and must be worshiped in spirit."