Let us bring this horrid scene nearer to our eyes:—thousands and tens of thousands of children from six years old and up to the age of maturity, of both sexes, imploring for mercy, cut off in the midst of enjoyment, for crimes over which they had no control, and which their tender age precluded them from committing: yet to them the door of mercy was forever closed. A raging Almighty God commanding Noah to proceed, that his vengeance might be satisfied! Only look at such a picture, so faintly drawn; for if the deluge did really take place, this portrait bears but a small resemblance to a scene too dreadful for the contemplation of man, and, Oh! heavens! too unjust and cruel to ascribe to a God. To drown the whole of the human race by a flood, is one of the most dreadful visitations of vengeance that cruelty could execute. In it, we discover nothing to defend. The mind shrinks back with horror at the bare recital. It is one among hundreds of such acts recorded as being performed by the Lord. Turn to what part of the history you will, where the Jewish God is about to do something, or to interfere in any way in human affairs, the conduct ascribed to him, either in punishment or granting favor, you will find to be always contrary to justice and reason. If justice be the theme, it will end in cruelty. If to show favor, it will be sure to be ill directed and allied to favoritism. Among men, justice is the foundation of correct moral principles. On the contrary, the Bible God acts as if influenced by fury and almighty rage; soon, very soon, angry; very hard to please; punishing and destroying his creatures, as if pain were a good instead of an evil, and man died without a groan. It is not possible to calculate the amount of evil that has taken place on the earth, in consequence of Christians taking for their example the conduct of their God. Let us mark the difference between any misfortune that may befall the human race in the course of events, and the same evil inflicted by the Lord. In the former case, man will sympathize with his unfortunate fellow man; in the latter, however, it _appears_ cruel and unjust. “It is just, yes, and also merciful,” says the Christian, “for God to destroy the innocent descend-, ants of his enemies, because he has a right to do whatever he pleases with his own.”