A Few Words About the Devil, and Other Biographical Sketches and EssaysBradlaugh, Charles
Religion
A Few Words About the Devil, and Other Biographical Sketches and Essays
Bradlaugh, Charles
Free thought
According to the New Testament, Abraham is now in Paradise, but Abraham
in heaven is scarcely an improvement upon Abraham on-earth. When he
was entreated by an unfortunate in hell for a drop of water to cool his
tongue, father Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in thy life-time
thou receivedst thy good things, and now thou art tormented," as if the
reminiscence of past good would alleviate present and future continuity
of evil.
NEW LIFE OF MOSES.
The "Life of Abraham" was presented to our readers, because, as the
nominal founder of the Jewish race, his position entitled him to that
honor. The "Life of David," because, as one of the worst men and worst
kings ever known, his history might afford matter for reflection to
admirers of monarchical institutions and matter for comment to the
advocates of a republican form of government. The "Life of Jacob" served
to show how basely mean and contemptibly deceitful a man might become,
and yet enjoy God's love. Having given thus a brief outline of the
career of the patriarch, the king, and the knave, the life of a priest
naturally presents itself as the most fitting to complement the present
quadrifid series.
Moses, the great grandson of Levi, was born in Egypt, not far distant
from the banks of the Nile, a river world-famous for its inundations,
made familiar to ordinary readers by the travelers who have journeyed to
discover its source, and held in bad repute by strangers, especially on
account of the carnivorous Saurians who infest its waters. The mother
and father of our hero were both of the tribe of Levi, and were named
Jochebed and Amram. The infant Moses was, at the age of three months,
placed in an ark of bulrushes by the river's brink. This was done in
order to avoid the decree of extermination propounded by the reigning
Pharaoh against the male Jewish children. The daughter of Pharaoh,
coming down to the river to bathe, found the child and took compassion
upon him, adopting him as her son. Of the early life of Moses we have
but scanty record. We are told in the New Testament that he was learned
in the wisdom of the Egyptians,* and that, "when he was come to years
he refused by faith** to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."
Perhaps the record from which the New Testament writers quoted has been
lost; it is certain that the present version of the Old Testament does
not contain those statements. The record which is lost _may_ have been
God's original revelation to man, and of which our bible _may_ be
an incomplete version. I am little grieved by the supposition that a
revelation may have been lost, being, for my own part, more inclined to
think that no revelation has ever been made. Josephus says that, when
quite a baby, Moses trod contemptuously on the crown of Egypt. The
Egyptian monuments and Exodus are both silent on this point. Josephus
also tells us that Moses led the Egyptians in war against the
Ethiopians, and married Tharbis, the daughter of the Ethiopian monarch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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