Can we believe that the gods of Egypt worked miracles? Did they change water into blood, and sticks into serpents? In Exodus there is not one original thought or line of value. We know, if we know anything, that this book was written by savages--savages who believed in slavery, polygamy and wars of extermination. We know that the story told is impossible, and that the miracles were never performed. This book admits that there are other gods besides Jehovah. In the 17th chapter is this verse: "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, for, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, he was above them." So, in this blessed book is taught the duty of human sacrifice--the sacrifice of babes. In the 22d chapter is this command: "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors: the first born of thy sons thou shalt give unto me." Has Exodus been a help or a hindrance to the human race? Take from Exodus the laws common to all nations, and is there anything of value left? Is there anything in Leviticus of importance? Is there a chapter worth reading? What interest have we in the clothes of priests, the curtains and candles of the tabernacle, the tongs and shovels of the altar or the hair-oil used by the Levites? Of what use the cruel code, the frightful punishments, the curses, the falsehoods and the miracles of this ignorant and infamous book? And what is there in the book of Numbers--with its sacrifices and water of jealousy, with its shew-bread and spoons, its kids and fine flour, its oil and candlesticks, its cucumbers, onions and manna--to assist and instruct mankind? What interest have we in the rebellion of Korah, the water of separation, the ashes of a red heifer, the brazen serpent, the water that followed the people uphill and down for forty years, and the inspired donkey of the prophet Balaam? Have these absurdities and cruelties--these childish, savage superstitions--helped to civilize the world? Is there anything in Joshua--with its wars, its murders and massacres, its swords dripping with the blood of mothers and babes, its tortures, maimings and mutilations, its fraud and fury, its hatred and revenge--calculated to improve the world? Does not every chapter shock the heart of a good man? Is it a book to be read by children? The book of Joshua is as merciless as famine, as ferocious as the heart of a wild beast. It is a history--a justification--a sanctification of nearly every crime. The book of Judges is about the same, nothing but war and bloodshed; the horrible story of Jael and Sisera; of Gideon and his trumpets and pitchers; of Jephtha and his daughter, whom he murdered to please Jehovah. Here we find the story of Samson, in which a sun-god is changed to a Hebrew giant.