Excerpt from Morality Without God: Including Letter to Right Rev. Bishop Anderson; A Lecture Delivered Before the Independent Religious Society, Orchestra Hall, Michigan Ave; And Adams, Chicago, Sunday at 11 A. M When a great cause, or a cause that has been great once, declines a public opportunity to advance its interests, to justify its claims, to convince - to convert, it is a pretty sure sign that its fires are burning low, and that it has fallen into the sere and yellow leaf. Christianity, once an agressive and virile movement, now resorts to apologetics, compromise and concession to prolong her life. She seeks shelter against the spirit of the age. She is cultivating the art of silence. Yes, Christianity is seeking a lower level. It attacks wooden idols seven thousand miles away, but at home, -in the presence of intellectual inquiry, it is paralyzed. Of course it could be said that if we wished to hear the bishop's gospel we could have gone to his church. Yes, we could. But so could he have come to us. Furthermore, the bishop does not say to the Hindoo, or to the Japanese, If you want my religion, come and get it. He sends it to them, and he even asks for iron-clads to compel the Japanese and the Chinese to hear his gospel. Yet at home he will not step around the corner to deliver his message to us. The invitation to the bishop is a standing one; it will never be withdrawn. The same invitation is extended herewith, this morning, to any clergyman or layman who is willing to come and deliver his message to us and to hear ours - ou one condition, however - that the clergyman or the layman who accepts our invitation shall come as the representative of his denomination or church - he must come with his credentials - he must be commissioned by his church to speak for the church. And whenever any denomination in this city or country shall send a delegate to address us, he will be received with the greatest cordiality, and his message shall be listened to in a spirit of fairness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.