and I know that some have really succeeded in deceiving themselves so
far as to believe that they could logically hold to it; but I declare
that they have never succeeded in convincing any unprejudiced mind,
and I defy any logician to prove that the conclusion of free will as
consistent with eternal causation, is less absurd than that two and
two make five.

Again, you preach that what a man sows, that also shall he reap. If
that is true, then no person can really give him anything; therefore
philanthropy is a delusion. Now, then, Mr. Liberal, you want to be
reasonable and drop the false position to which your inherited
prejudices have held you, and adopt my views, which are thoroughly
simple and entirely consistent and logical. Belief in God is the
product of superstition, and belief in free will is a self-delusion.
I know that you will appeal to intuition in this case, but that is
only a scapegoat for deluded and illogical minds to hide behind. You
see that my conclusion is not only simple and logical, but it is
really more beautiful than your complex affair, and you will see it
as such after you succeed in overcoming your inherited prejudices.
There is no God. The universe is governed by blind law; at least,
that is all we know about it. We are evolved from the lowest forms of
organic life. What about conscience? Well, that is a matter of
education. Of course we should follow it, because it is a safer guide
than our present judgment, since it represents the judgment of all
our ancestors. Utility is our only standard of right and wrong in
morals, and we follow utility because we are not free and are
therefore compelled to do so.

_Mr. Orthodox_--If you are through, Mr. Freethinker, I will now
continue. But I must consider myself your opponent as well as Mr.