The Bible is at war with man’s reasoning powers; and, like a land pirate, has held up false lights, which instead of conducting man to the haven of happiness and safety, has caused him to make shipwreck on the rocks and shoals of religious dogmas. Man is lost in no other sense than that, the loss of his reason. To recover that, and bring it into full exercise, is all the Saviour he needs. His moral path is as clear as light. God, or Nature, has made it a law of man’s existence that he must love happiness, ease, and enjoyment; and also, that he must hate pain and trouble in every stage and form. This law is forced upon him independent of his choice. It is ever present to his senses, till he ceases to exist, or to be rational. This is man’s stock of moral material furnished by God, or Nature. How clear, then, is his duty! He has but to follow out this law, by the aid of his reasoning, judging, and comparing powers. It will never lead him wrong. He requires no Bible, no Saviour; he is never lost; he has no incomprehensible doctrines to support or defend. Unlike the sectarian, he feels no disposition to persecute others who differ from him in matters of faith; he has no angry God to propel him on to fight for his glory; he can balance up every night his moral account of the day; and if he has followed out the law of his nature, by augmenting his own, and also the happiness of his fellow beings, and lightened the load of human ills around him, he in truth is the good man, be his faith little or much. That the following work may forward moral improvement, and encourage moderation and universal good will among the human family, is the sincere wish of
THE AUTHOR
[DETAILED CONTENTS]
OLD TESTAMENT
PREFACE.—Free Discussion; the right to use it in examining the Scriptures; its certainty in destroying error and establishing truth—Extract from Dr. Blair’s sermon on Candor—Motives of the author in laying his work before the public.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION.—Object of the book—Intolerance and persecution of Christian sects—Their abuse of Infidels and calumnious treatment of Thomas Paine—His name and services appreciated by Liberals—Pernicious influence of the Bible upon morals—Knowledge of the laws of our existence the only sure guide to wisdom, happiness, and virtue.
GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE.—Character and situation of the Jews—Their treatment by Jehovah—Why were they chosen, and did they answer the end of their choice?—Probable reasoning of the Jewish God—Account of his visit to Abram and Sarah, and their reception and treatment of him—The consequences to the Jews of considering themselves the chosen people—The five books said to have been written by Moses—Treatment of Hagar and her child—Jehovah and the Jews.
CHAPTER I.—From the Creation to the Deluge.
CHAPTER II.—A Review of the Deluge and the confusion of Tongues at the Tower of Babel.
CHAPTER III.—From the Confusion of Tongues to the Birth of Moses.