I answered, “I do know Jesus, but I prefer to trust the Infinite God, my Heavenly Father, as my Redeemer and Saviour. I want no one, not even an angel from heaven to come between me and God. If my father, God over all, cannot, or will not save me, who else can? As to the blood. Blood of any kind is offensive to me. I shudder at the sight of it. And the idea of washing or cleansing anything with it is so contrary to my reason, and repugnant to my feelings, that I cannot think of it without repulsion.” “But, it was shed as an atonement for us,” he suggested. “Take it in that light,” I replied, “It is assumed that God, the Creator and Preserver of men, is a pitiless tyrant; that his wrath must be appeased, or bought off by sacrifice. At first the fruits of the field were given to Him, then the blood of animals. Then the notion grew until the blood of something higher than that of a common animal was deemed necessary, the blood of men, and then the blood of a god. How was it to be got? It must come from heaven, of course, and finally resulted in the notion of an incarnation of God in a woman, a horrible thought to me. The whole idea is heathenish, brutal and debasing. Everything of this kind, whether in the Bible, or elsewhere, is of man’s own invention, degrading the Infinite God to a creature like to their own depraved natures. Take the better thoughts of the Bible, and God is a spiritual being, delighting in spiritual worship, and caring only for the intents and purity of the heart, but this was not satisfactory to mankind. It was too pure and simple to suit their coarse, corrupt natures, but they must put in a lot of mysterious rubbish of their own, to suit a god of their own devising, and with tastes like theirs. It was more pleasant for the ancient Hebrews to atone with hecatombs of burnt offerings for their transgressions, than to practice purity and justice. It is far easier for people, at the present time, to accept the creeds, perform the sensuous, pleasant ceremonies of the church, and believe their salvation, however sinful they continue to be, will be obtained in some vicarious way, than to save themselves by living pure and upright lives. “Men are never satisfied, unless they reach the extreme, always delighting in the mysterious.