If its partisans are to win a definitive victory, they must cease to
show quarter to lies. The problem is stated plainly enough to leave no
room for hesitation. We can distinguish the truth from falsehood, and
see where confusion has been reproduced, and truth pressed into the
service of falsehood. Nothing more is wanted but to go forward boldly,
and reject once for all the weary compromises and elaborate adaptations
which have become a mere vexation to all honest men. The goal is clearly
in sight, though it may be distant; and we decline any longer to travel
in disguise by circuitous paths, or to apologize for being in the right.
Let us think freely and speak plainly, and we shall have the highest
satisfaction that man can enjoy--the consciousness that we have done
what little lies in ourselves to do for the maintenance of the truths on
which the moral improvement and the happiness of our race depend.
FOOTNOTES
[1] It is objected that geology is a science: yet that geology cannot
foretell the future changes of the earth's surface. Geology is not a
century old, and its periods are measured by millions of years.
Pages:
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323