his pristine innocence, and the cursing of his future generations-little innocent unborn babes! The redemption is not of the person who committed the act of theft, but of people who had no hand in the sin for which they are convicted. Then the redemption is effected by the blood of an innocent man, who is said to have suffered as a sacrificed redeemer. Here we have man created—an act in which he himself had no voice; a devil also created to tempt man to eat of a particular tree, and deliberately placed in the former's way, in order that he might fall. The Creator did all this! A Creator represented as omnipotent and omniscient, and omni-everything, until he is wanted to do something useful or beneficial to helpless mankind whom he has created, when he is nowhere to be found; a Creator who, if he created the devil, could have destroyed him, and so prevented him from doing further mischief. Again, the Creator must have known that man would fall if he placed that tree in front of him. Then why did he do it? It is useless to say that he did it to try man, for, if man was weak enough not to stand the trial, who made him so? However, the deity created all, so the legend goes, and then blamed Adam for the mischief that he himself had wrought with his own divine hands; and not only Adam, but all his future progeny unborn, are to take their share of blame and suffer punishment! And we are asked in all sober gravity and solemnity to believe all this. We are asked also to believe that future man was so steeped in the sin of his first parents that it required the blood of an innocent man to redeem him from a crime he never committed! The deity was to murder, or allow to be murdered, his own incarnate son as a sacrifice to himself! And how did the supposed sacrifice take place? Not in an honest and straightforward manner as a sacrifice, but in a back-door manner. A malefactor, hung by the Roman Government as a preacher of sedition, is held up as the sacrificed one! Wherein did his gibbeting differ from the gibbeting of the two thieves who are said to have suffered at the same time? There was no more evidence that he was a Messiah than that they were. If he was sacrificed, so were they.

Then, for those who cannot believe in the divine origin of all this literary rubbish, or in the divine character of the

THE ELECT AND CHOSEN ONES.

133

malefactor punished by the Roman Government for sedition, a Hell is specially created, where all these divine creations who dare to use their reasoning faculties are doomed to eternal torments. The few chosen and elect ones, whose weakness of mind and credulity permit them to be "drawn" and so predestined by the Creator, and credit the story the priests have prepared for them, are to enjoy the bliss of Paradise forever. Can we conceive a more unjust act than that of picking out from among the people of the world one particular people—not even a nation-as chosen ones, to the neglect of the remainder; or a more unwise one, as it turned out, for the choice did not reflect any credit upon the deity whose patronage was scornfully rejected? What had all the other nations of the world done that they should be left out of the scheme of salvation? And what was there to recommend these Hebrew tribes to such special attention by the deity; and did they have any special mark of their superiority over other nations by reason of this important "Revelation" that was made to them? Did they conquer the world, raise great men, or even raise themselves from their vagrant and servile condition into a nation? No; but the Romans-forgotten or neglected by the deity-not only conquered the world, but also the divinely-protected Jews themselves. Will the latter bear comparison with the former, with the Greeks, or even with the ancient Egyptians or Babylonians? Who have produced the greatest men-soldiers, statesmen, poets, sculptors, orators, etc., etc.—the chosen people or the forgotten ones? Did Athens or Judæa produce the greater intellect and art? The chosen ones had their city taken, and their Temple-the very residence of their God, and the ark which contained him-destroyed; during which, however, a priestly fraud that had been perpetrated for many centuries was detected, for when the conquering General went to look into the ark, behold, there was nothing in it, it was empty!

X.

THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE-DIVINE JEALOUSY-THE ARK AND MERCY SEAT-THE SACRILEGE OF THE 50,000— THE LOST SCRIPTURES HILKIAH'S FIND THE WITCH'S OPINION SOUGHT-THE DIVINE SCROLL DESTROYED BY FIRE-EZRA RE-WRITES THE BURNT PENTATEUCH FROM MEMORY-LATER ADDITIONS-THE SEPTUAGINT COPY-THE SAMARITAN COPY-THE MASSORAH-THE ORIGINALS ALL LOST.

THE current translations of the Bible in this country are known as the "Authorized," the "Douay" (the Catholic, first rendered into Latin, called the "Latin Vulgate,” and thence into English), and the "Revised " Versions. The A. V. of the time of James I. was so erroneously executed that a 66 revised" translation was called for a few years ago. Though more correct than its predecessor, this is still marred by many faulty readings; and some interpolations, admitted as suspicious by the revisers themselves, are suffered to remain. An instance of these interpolations will be found in the last chapter of the Mark gospel, from verse 9 to the end, which is admitted to be spurious.

And the language has been so manipulated as to render obscure, not only the planetary and phallic allusions, but also certain immoral legends, in which the Hebrew god Yahuh was not very reputably concerned, in order to induce the reader to believe that the Jews were monotheists-i.e., worshippers of one god only. That the Jews were worshippers of a plurality of gods (polytheists) is undoubted, and can be clearly demonstrated from the Pentateuch itself. The very first chapter of Genesis relates how the gods-Aleim, or Elohim, the plural of Al, El, or Eloh, a god-created, or, more correctly,

rearranged, all things from chaos; and we read of the fear of Yahuh lest man should "become as one of us, having power as gods." We find, also, numerous references to the worship of Baal, Ashtaroth, the Babylonian Astarte, Chemosh, etc.; and in Judges (xi. 24) we find Jephthah, before sacrificing his daughter, arguing with the Amorites that every nation is entitled to what its national god bestows upon it. This plurality of gods gave rise to the idea of jealousy among them. Given only one god, and there can be no jealousy; Yahuh being always represented as a jealous god. The absurdity of jealousy with a god represented as being omnipotent is, of course, obvious. would be impossible for the Agnostic, or any person having a knowledge of science, to conceive the infinite supreme power as jealous! But deities for worshipping purposes are generally anthropomorphous.

The sacred books attributed to Moses as the authorforming the "Pentateuch -are said to have been placed by that individual in an "ark," or box-lined with gold inside and out, by order of Yahuh--for convenience of carriage, we may suppose. Above the ark was the "Mercy Seat," surmounted on each side by two winged "cherubim" facing each other; and in the space between these, and above the Mercy Seat, Yahuh was supposed to reside, and appear in a cloud when necessary—but only to the priests, be it observed. This ark was placed with a great deal of pomp and ceremony in what was called a " Tabernacle," which was a kind of tent, consisting of ten curtains, the measurements and quality of which the priests made it appear that Yahuh was very particular about, and the account of which is made to occupy nearly a whole chapter in Exodus (xxvi.); within this was an altar with crescentic horns, candlesticks, lamps, a veil, and numerous arrangements for sacrifices. This ark was subsequently placed in the Temple of Solomon (1 Kings viii. 9), when, on being opened by the priests, to the astonishment of all, there was nothing in it but the two tables of stone which were said to have been placed there by Moses. The mystery surrounding the ark, and the awe and fear produced by it, was increased and intensified by the command that no one except the priests were to go near it, under pain of death; and the latter were only permitted to have access to it at certain times (Lev. xvi. 2). For the "sacrilege" of

looking into it 50,000 men of Beth Shemesh are said to have been slain. How long it took such a large body of men to pass by the ark and take a peep, we are not told.

The absurdity of shutting up in a box the sacred books which were the law unto the people, and by which their lives were to be regulated, is obvious. But the object of priestcraft has always been to be the sole dispensers of the so-called "Divine Will." If the people had been allowed to read what was in the ark, or was said to be, there would have been no mystery; and without a mystery the priests' stock-in-trade would be gone. "Ignorance and credulity are the fertile soils of the parasite priestcraft, and enlightenment is its antidote." The same system is carried out in the Christian Church as existed with the Jews and with all Pagan religions. The mysteries surrounding the "Sacraments are the modern representatives of the Hebrew and Pagan "mysteries "; each is known only to, and manipulated by, the priest. The people must be struck with awe, whether by means of the gorgeous ark, its Mercy Seat, cherubim, and hangings of the jealous Hebrew god and priest; by the oracular disclosures and astrological revelations of the Egyptian, Chaldæan, or Persian priests; or by the mysterious sacraments of the Christian priest, it matters The principle is the same.

not.

The idea of an "ark" was a very ancient one, being borrowed by the Hebrews from the Egyptians, who used arks for processional purposes, carrying one of their gods about in one. The ark of Osiris contained an upright figure; that of Isis had the dual phallic emblems upon it; they were generally surmounted by two winged figures, similar to the cherubim of the Pentateuch. The Trojans called their ark which contained their god the "Palladium," and it was believed that anyone looking into it would be struck dead.

What had become of the book of the law which was found to have disappeared from the sacred ark? About 350 years after its disappearance, Hilkiah the priest informed Shapshan the scribe that he had found it "in the house of the Lord"! (2 Kings xxii. 8). But we are told in Maccabees that he had hidden it in a cave!

So that we are seriously asked to believe that a scroll