John philosophizes, and tells us that (verse 18) "no man hath seen God; the only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him." In verse 45 he is called the son of Joseph. The entrance of Christ into this world is the most stupid and ridiculous piece of nonsense that was ever written. If Christ is the son of God he can be no relation of David, and Joseph can certainly not be his father. Or if the Holy Ghost was the cause of Mary's condition before marriage, Joseph condoned the offense by living with her, and is the father by adoption and not by nature; and can by no means be a relation or descendant of David. Then again, if Joseph is the father, Jesus is not the son of God. In that case, he might be a relation of David, but no relation to God. Men of ordinary education no longer believe either in the Holy Ghost, the manner of Christ's coming, nor in his divinity. It is an absurd fabrication, an impossibility and contrary to nature. I repeat once more, that neither God, his spirit, nor his holy ghost, can perform anything that is in direct opposition to the laws of nature. The miracles that are attributed to Jesus Christ by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are invariably of a medical nature; embracing all kinds--lepers, palsy, fevers, dropsy, the blind, the dumb, the lame--hemorrhages of women, casting out devils, curing lunatics, healing every disease. The manner of curing is very peculiar--by touch, by rebuke, by word, by spit and touch. A sample or two will suffice: Mark vii, 32: "And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand on him." 33: "And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue." 34: "And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said unto him, Ephphatha, that is, be opened." 35: "And straightway his ears were opened, and the strings of his tongue were loosed, and he spake plain." Matt. xvii, 15, etc.: Christ rebukes the devil out of a lunatic. Chapter xx, 34: He touches the eyes of two blind men and they see. Luke viii, 43: "And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed by any." 44: "Came behind him, and touched the borders of his garment; and immediately, her issue of blood stanched." Chapter viii, 54 (woman dead): "And put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called saying, Maid, arise." 55: "And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway," etc. John ix, 1: "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man, which was blind from his birth." Verse 6: "When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay." Luke xiv, 2: He cures a man of dropsy, etc. That these cures were actually performed is not very probable, for the simple fact that the art of medicine was little known, and least known among the Jews.