A powerful propaganda of enlightenment under the
conditions of free speech is for us of the first and the last
importance. When I wrote this piece it was my chief aim to
enlarge the bounds of free thought. I have later made the
same attempt in matters of religion and morals. When my
opponents seek to sum up my character in a few words, they
are apt to say: 'He attacks the throne and the altar.' It
seems to me that I have served the freedom of the spirit,
and in the interests of that cause I now beg leave to reply.
(1) _Concerning the attack on Christianity._ It may be worth
while in a country with a state church to recall now and
then the meaning of Christianity. It is not an institution,
still less a book, and least of all it is a house or a seminary.
It is the godly life according to the precepts and example of
Jesus. There may be men who think they are attacking
Christianity when they investigate the historical origin or
the morality of some dogma; I do not think so. Honest
investigation can result only in growth. Christianity, with
or without its whole apparatus of dogma, will endure in its
essence for thousands of years after us; there will always
be spiritually-minded people who will be ennobled by it, and
some made great.
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