Page:Heroines of freethought (IA cu31924031228699).pdf/301

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FRANCES POWER COBBE.
293

these are visions of the night. The universe has indeed a sun of light and heat, but it has no sun with rays of darkness and frost.”

“Let us do justice to humanity. The removal of all fear for the future destiny of our fellow-creatures is the removal of a nightmare. It was not only while the thunder-cloud hung over our own heads that it darkened our sky. Some natures are so hopeful and loving that they never know fear of hell for themselves. But it is when the lurid gloom has rolled utterly away from our horizon that we know how it blackened the Universe; and then only can we see the true splendor of the sun, throned, not in ‘clouds and darkness,’ but in a heaven of unshadowed light.”

“Morality may exist in an Atheist without any religion, and in a Theist with a religion quite unspiritual.”

“Were the boasted logic of Calvin really carried out to its practical consequences, his disciples could recognize no law; for to the Elect, obedience is involun-