In the words of Prof. Max Müller (_The Science of Religion_, p. 11): "A comparison of all the religions of the world, in which none can claim a privileged position, will no doubt seem to many dangerous and reprehensible, because ignoring that peculiar reverence which everybody, down to the mere fetish worshiper, feels for his own religion, and for his own god. Let me say, then, at once, that I myself have shared these misgivings, but that I have tried to overcome them, because I would not and could not allow myself to surrender either what I hold to be the truth, or what I hold still dearer than truth, the right of testing truth. Nor do I regret it. I do not say that the _Science of Religion_ is all gain. No, it entails losses, and losses of many things which we hold dear. But this I will say, that, as far as my humble judgment goes, it does not entail the loss of anything that is essential to _true religion_, and that, if we strike the balance honestly, _the gain is immeasurably greater than the loss_." "All truth is safe, and nothing else is safe; and he who keeps back the truth, or withholds it from men, from motives of expediency, is either a coward or a criminal, or both." But little beyond the arrangement of this work is claimed as original. Ideas, phrases, and even whole paragraphs have been taken from the writings of others, and in most, if not in all cases, acknowledged; but with the thought in mind of the many hours of research this book may save the student in this particular line of study; with the consciousness of having done for others that which I would have been thankful to have found done for myself; and more than all, with the hope that it may in some way help to hasten the day when the mist of superstition shall be dispelled by the light of reason; with all its defects, it is most cheerfully committed to its fate by the author. BOSTON, MASS., _November, 1882_. CONTENTS. PART I. PAGE INTRODUCTION iii LIST OF AUTHORITIES, AND BOOKS QUOTED FROM xi CHAPTER I. THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN 1 CHAPTER II. THE DELUGE 19 CHAPTER III. THE TOWER OF BABEL 33 CHAPTER IV. THE TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH 36 CHAPTER V. JACOB'S VISION OF THE LADDER 42 CHAPTER VI. THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT 48 CHAPTER VII. RECEIVING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 58 CHAPTER VIII. SAMSON AND HIS EXPLOITS 62 CHAPTER IX. JONAH SWALLOWED BY A BIG FISH 77