No genuine liberty can exist, until the community shall have reached
that elevated condition of liberality and wisdom which will gladly
submit its most cherished sentiments to the analysis of unsparing logic,
and that without the least effort to punish, in any way, the daring
attempt to undermine its faith. The champions of truth will be
strengthened by the encounter with error; weak and false arguments,
which really injure truth, will give way, and the solid foundations of
impregnable logic will be substituted in their place. It is impossible
to overestimate the service done to a good cause, by exposing it
fearlessly to the worst attacks of its enemies. 'The fatal tendency of
mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer
doubtful, is the cause of half their errors. A contemporary author has
well spoken of 'the deep slumber of a decided opinion.'' And another
author enthusiastically exclaims: 'All hail, therefore, to those who, by
attacking a truth, prevent that truth from slumbering. All hail to those
bold and fearless natures, the heretics and innovators of the day, who,
rousing men out of their lazy sleep, sound in their ears the tocsin and
the clarion, and force them to come forth that they may do battle for
their creed. Of all evils, torpor is the most deadly. Give us paradox,
give us error, give us what you will, so that you save us from
stagnation. It is the cold spirit of routine which is the nightshade of
our nature.
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