114 THE LIGHT OF DAT 



pray with, the old faith, but we can fight intemper- 

 ance with more than the old zeal. We cannot love 

 God as our fathers did, hut we can love our neigh- 

 bor much more. The spirit of charity and helpful- 

 ness has increased in the world as the old beliefs 

 have declined. The skeptics and disbelievers could 

 never slaughter each other as the Christians have. 

 Science substitutes a rational basis for right conduct 

 in place of the artificial basis of the church. The 

 anger of the gods no longer threatens us ; the dis- 

 pleasure of the church is no longer a dread ; but we 

 know that virtue alone brings satisfaction. We 

 cannot read the Bible with the old eyes, but we 

 read nature with new eyes. 



Probably religion has long ceased to play any im- 

 portant part in the great movements of the world. 

 A religious war is no longer possible. In our two 

 great wars and in the founding of this republic, reli- 

 gious belief was not concerned at all. The skeptics 

 were just as ardent and just as brave and patriotic 

 as the believers. The author of the Declaration of 

 Independence was a skeptic. The policy of England, 

 France, Germany, Russia, is it in any way inspired 

 by the Christian religion ? Never were so much 

 courage and hope and benevolence and virtue in 

 the world as to-day, and never before were the ties 

 of the old faiths so weak. 



