Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the direction of national disaster. We are measurably nearer to the abyss. It is therefore most opportune to call attention to the nature of the proposed change; to unma sk the insidious- ness of the attack, and to establish, on a firm basis, the reasonableness of the defence. I do not appeal to the passions, to the sympathies, to the sentiments of my fellow-countrymen. I would rather ask them calmly to consider the nature of things, to reason and wrestle with the mysteries of life, and, above all, to have the courage of their convictions. When reason has done its work, and the truth is clearly discerned, then let the nobler passions, the tenderest sympathies, and the loftiest sentiments, bring power irresistible to the will, lest right judgment suffer shipwreck and our country be involved in ruin. Some will not follow me in what I have to say. I ask them to be patient and to read with attention. I am attacking no man personally, and no man's creed. It is the natural dignity of man, the foundation of all religion, indeedthe coherence of all reasoning, which is attacked and threatened with destruction. But it will be said there is no grave question of this nature involved; it is merely proposed to bring in a Bill to allow members of Parliament to affirm. It is a message of peace, an act of universal toleration. All these arguments about the nature of man and the knowledge of God are beside the mark. It is merely a matter of political expediency, the timely application of the principle of perfect religious equality to which we have long ago committed ourselves. This is exactly what I am going to investigate. I say it is a departure from the principle of religious equality. If it is not, by all means let the Bill pass. If it is, let us stay our hands until we fully understand what...