I
There is a difference between religion and the amazing circumstructure
which, under the name of theology, the priesthoods have builded round
about it, which for centuries they made the world believe was the true
temple, and which, after incalculable mischiefs wrought, immeasurable
blood spilled in its extension and consolidation, is only now beginning
to crumble at the touch of reason. There is the same difference between
the laws and the law,—the naked statutes (bad enough, God knows) and
the incomputable additions made to them by lawyers. This immense body
of superingenious writings it is that we all are responsible to in
person and property. In it is unquestionable authority for setting
aside any statute that any legislative body ever passed or can pass. In
it are dictates of recognized validity for turning topsy-turvy every
principle of justice and reversing every decree of reason. There is
no fallacy so monstrous, no deduction so hideously unrelated to common
sense, as not to receive, somewhere in the myriad pages of this awful
compilation, a support that any judge in the land would be proud to
recognize with a decision if ably persuaded. I do not say that the
lawyers are altogether accountable for the existence of this mass of
disastrous rubbish, nor for its domination of the laws. They only
create and thrust it down our throats; we are guilty of contributory
negligence in not biting the spoon.