Bigots of all denominations will laugh at the idea of such a
transfer being seriously considered. The orthodox Christian--confident
in the thousand of churches overshadowing all western lands, of the
enormous force engaged in the maintenance and propagation of the faith,
with the Pope and the Protestant hierarchy in alliance for this broad
purpose, with the countless clergy of all sects, and the fiery Salvation
Army bringing up the rear--will think that the earth itself is more
likely to crumble into ruin than the irresistible authority of Religion
to be driven back. They are all counting, however, without the progress
of enlightenment. The most absurd religions die hard; but when the
intellectual classes definitively reject them, they die, with throes of
terrible agony, may be, and, perhaps, like Samson in the Temple, but
they cannot permanently outlive a conviction that they are false in the
leading minds of the age. Just what has been said of Christianity may
be said of Mahomedanism and Brahminism. Little or no risk is run while
occult literature aims merely at putting a reasonable construction on
perverted tenets--in showing people that truth may lurk behind even the
strangest theologic fictions.
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