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man and faithful subject." Confucius, who lived some 550 years B.C., uttered the words: "Love your neighbour as yourself; do not to another what you would not want done to yourself; thou hast need of this law alone; it is the foundation and principle of all the rest "; and "Acknowledge thy benefits by return of other benefits, but never avenge injuries."

In the Indian Epic Poem, "The Mahabharata," written in the sixth century B.C., we find: "This is the sum of all true righteousness-Treat others as thou wouldst thyself be treated. Do nothing to thy neighbours which hereafter thou wouldst not have thy neighbour do to thee. In causing pleasure, or in giving pain, in doing good or injury to others, in wanting or refusing a request, a man obtains a proper rule of action by looking on his neighbour as himself.” Again : “To injure none by thought, word, or deed, to give to others and be kind to all—this is the constant duty of the good. High-minded men delight in doing good, without a thought of their own interest; when they confer a benefit on others, they reckon not on favours in return.” What could be more beautiful than the ethical principles enunciated by these people called Pagans? Compare them with the immoral and ridiculous teachings of the Christian Messiah. Take the story of the unjust steward in Luke (xvi.), whom the Messiah "commended"; his advice to 66 resist not evil "; his advice to offer the other cheek when smitten an insult to the dignity of humanity; his advice to hand over a second coat when robbed of the first-a direct incentive to steal; his advice to "turn not away" from borrowers (Matt. v. 38-44); his teaching of improvidence by the precept that no thought is to be taken for the morrow as to food or clothing-an injunction which is at variance with all economic wisdom; his advice to "labour not for the meat which perisheth" (John xi. 27)—a direct incentive to idleness; his cursing of the fig-tree for not producing fruit out of season, which can only be described as a display of childish folly and petulance; and his taking part in encouraging the ignorant and cruel method of treating disease as the work of demons, and pretending to drive "unclean spirits" out of the poor lunatic who spent his life among the tombs, and whom no man could bind with chains. We are expected to believe that the devils asked

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to be sent into a herd of swine, after which they ran violently down the hill into the sea and were drowned. No mention is made of any recompense having been made to the owner of the herd (numbering about 2,000), and, as Jesus preached the blessedness of poverty, and may be assumed to have been in a chronically impecunious state, we may conclude that none was made. Another example of injustice is exemplified in the statement, "Whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath."

The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus echoes the teaching of Krishna in the Hindu poem of the BhagavatGita. The doctrine of the water that removes thirst for ever has its parallel in Hindu mythology, and Philo had already taught it as follows: "The Word (Logos) is the fountain of life......It is of the greatest consequence to every person to strive without remission to approach the divine Word of God above, who is the fountain of all wisdom, that, by drinking largely of that sacred spring, instead of death, he may be rewarded with everlasting life." Many other passages in the Fourth Gospel show dependence on the non-Christian works of the philosopher Philo, who wrote about half a century before the books which form the N. T. made their appearance. The so-called "Lord's Prayer" was learned by the Messiah as the "Kadish" from the Talmud; there was nothing original in his version of it; and there were no sound ethical principles in it. The only part which has the least pretension to this is (literally) forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors '—a pleading request, upon the strength of a false assertion about themselves which Christians do not carry out, and have not the least intention of carrying out; and a principle which is impossible, for, were it carried out, it would take away all inducement to work, and would result in robbery, spoliation, and, in fact, chaos. Christian children are taught that their father is in a heaven somewhere up in the clouds, and to pray for their daily bread from him, when he is all the while probably at work earning the money to pay for their meals, which would never come from heaven if they prayed to all eternity; they are also taught that he who, their Bible tells them, "tempteth no man "will "lead them not into temptation!" (Jas. i. 13).

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The "Kadish," from which the Christian Messiah conceived his "Lord's Prayer," was of Babylonian origin, copied and improved upon by Ezra. It formed part of an incantation of Merodach the Chaldæan " Creator," and was found as a clay tablet in 1882, among the ruins of the ancient city of Sippura, which is now in the British Museum. It is as follows:

"By the incantation of Merodach, King of the host of heaven and earth,

May the abundance of the world descend into thy
midst,

May thy command be accomplished in time to come,
O Ezeda,* glorious seat, the beloved of Anu and
Ishtar art thou,

Mayst thou shine like heaven; mayst thou be glorious
like the earth;

Mayst thou shine like the midst of heaven; mayst [the evil spirit] dwell outside of thee.”

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"Our father who art in heaven, be gracious to us, O Lord our God;

Hallowed be thy name, and let the remembrance of
thee be glorified in heaven above, and upon earth
here below.

Let thy kingdom reign over us, now and for ever.
The holy men of old said, remit and forgive unto all
men whatsoever they have done against me;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
the evil thing;

For thine is the kingdom, and thou shalt reign in glory,
for ever and for evermore.'

One the oldest of the four Gospels (Mark) does not contain the prayer.

Then, again, with regard to the prediction attributed to the Messiah, this has never yet been fulfilled; and, if it really emanated from him, it condemns him, not only to its non-fulfilment, but to threats- very ungodlike and contrary to all his other reputed teaching-to vengeance, injustice, and cruelty. His vengeance was to be wreaked upon all

* The chief temple to the moon at Birs Nimroud.

THE UNFULFILLED PREDICTION.

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who had not known him, or could not believe in him! No flesh was to be saved, and there was to be great tribulation such as the world had never seen before, including the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars (which nearly always was made to accompany the death of great heroes, messiahs, etc.). They were to “watch and pray" that their flight was not "in the winter " nor "on the Sabbath." And all these things were to occur unless "those days were shortened"! However, these simple and credulous people waited and "watched and prayed" in vain for the promised coming of the false prophet, and they might have worn their knees through if they could have only lived long enough to have gone on praying; for eighteen centuries have passed, and the promise still remains unfulfilled, and in all human probability is likely to remain so. This prediction was no doubt the invention of the Essenes. That the Reformer may have led his followers to believe that he would return after death is possible, but that he taught the foolish things above reproduced is highly improbable. The prediction, however, has given birth to a class of knavish humbugs in these days, who live on the credulity of the public by foretelling the end of the world. As the dates fall in and are found to be false, sermons are preached and the error is smoothed over by plausible excuses, fresh books are published, and fresh dates arranged. One of the chief of these fraudulent prophets was a Scotch preacher named Cumming, who declared that the end of the world would take place in fifteen years from a certain date, but he very shortly after took a thirty years' lease of his house. Another, named Baxter, has been engaged for some time in foretelling the end of the world, shifting his dates as they fall in, as the previous one did. He has now fixed 1908 as the terminal year of the world's existence. But he has lately renewed a lease-which would have lasted him till the end of the world, according to his own reckoning--for a further term of eighty years! Yet there are still to be found people as credulous as the Jessæan disciples watching and praying in vain for the expected apparition which has not happened "on the Sabbath or on any other day of the week. Why they should pray that the vengeance of the "loving" and "beneficent" incarnation of the "Creator" should not be on the Jewish Sabbath is not very

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clear, for surely the "tribulations" and wholesale cruelty would be as bad to bear on a Friday or a Sunday as on a Saturday.

We are also told that "I the Lord change not," and that "the Lord does according to his will, and none can stay his hand." Then, what is the use of praying to this firmlyresolved deity that he will arrange his coming to suit the convenience of a handful of praying people? The simple fact of this mention of a Sabbath shows that the prophecy was intended by the writer and embellisher of it for the Jews, the only people who attached sanctity to the seventh day; and that, whoever the author was, he believed, or pretended to believe in order to intimidate the Jews into submission to the new religion, that the end of the world would occur during their lifetime, and before the Sabbath was entirely blotted out by their conversion.

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