To show what baneful influence the doctrines of the Bible have had upon men eminent for their wisdom, justice, and humanity, the following authentic account will fully prove:—In the year 1664, two old women were hanged upon a charge of witchcraft, having been tried by a Jury before three learned Judges, at the head of whom was Sir Matthew Hale, who passed the dreadful sentence of the law, as it then stood, which was put into execution in about two weeks afterwards. A more upright, honest, wise, and humane Judge never sat in a court of justice; and yet, behold! he condemned and caused two poor, ignorant, and defenceless old women to be hanged for a crime they neither did nor could commit The remarks made to the Jury, by Sir Matthew, in substance were the following:—“Gentlemen of the Jury, you have nothing to do in inquiring whether the crime of witchcraft can be committed; the Bible has settled that subject,—but, whether the evidence you have heard is proof that the prisoners are guilty of the charges brought against them,”—which charges were, killing, their neighbors’ children by the agency and power of the Devil, and causing them to vomit pins and nails. Here, then, it is clear that it was the Word of God, and not Judge Hale, that brought about the death of those unfortunate women. Had Sir Matthew been an _Infidel_, the page of history had never been stained by the blood of two poor helpless beings. Let not Christians, then, say that persecution and intolerance are the abuses of Christianity. Its very essence is congenial with blood and torture in all their horrid forms. The moral precepts of the Gospel never have nor ever will so far neutralize the doctrines of the Bible, as to guarantee the human race in trusting power in the hands of the disciples of Jesus. They always will, according to the New Testament, prefer the man of orthodox faith, to men in common, however virtuous. Having shown the injustice and cruelty of drowning all the inhabitants of the earth,—on account of the wickedness of some who ought to have been made an example to society at large,—let us inquire, what end was obtained by so universal a destruction? Have the human race been more moral, and, on the whole, more virtuous, since the flood than before? If they have not, (and that they have not, the Bible itself fully proves,) it then follows, that no moral good resulted from their being destroyed; and instead of the Lord’s anger being softened down, it would rage in all its former fury. If the Lord really said to Noah, what the Bible records, “_that it repented him that he had made man on the earthy and it grieved him at his heart_” it is as much as to say,—“I can bear this distracted state of mind no longer; I will try you and your family, Noah, and ease myself of the disappointment I have endured from the wickedness of my creation; I will have a better race on the earth which I have made, or man shall cease to exist.”