i republish in this little volume a few of my numerous articles that have appeared in the secularist, the liberal, the national reformer, and the freethinker, during the last five or six years. i have included nothing (i hope) of merely ephemeral interest. every article in this collection was at least written carefully, and with an eye to more than the exigencies of the moment. in disentombing them from the cemeteries of periodical literature, where so many of their companions lie buried, i trust i have not allowed parental love to outrun discretion.

i have not thought it necessary to indicate, in each case, the journal in which the reprinted articles were first published.

should anyone object to the freedom of my style, or the asperity of my criticism, i would ask him to remember that christianity still persecutes to the full extent of its power, and that a creed which answers argument with prosecution cannot expect tender treatment in return; and i would also ask him, in the words of ruskin, "to consider how much less harm is done in the world by ungraceful boldness than by untimely fear."

london, november 15th, 1882.