The supernatural phenomena recited in the Bible in the books of Moses--what descended from heaven, clouds, pillars, earthquakes, thunder, lightning, rain, deluge, fire, etc., on and about Mount Sinai--and that God performed these wonders to oblige Moses, because he exercised his influence in prayer upon Jehova--form the greatest piece of nonsense that ever was written. Clouds belong to the earth, are composed of earthly elements, are taken from the surface of the earth by a natural process and return to the earth by a natural process. Neither God nor man can influence them. The same may be said of all other phenomena. Water cannot be composed from any other elements than oxygen and hydrogen, and the silly theological twaddle cannot change it. What we ought to know is, at least something of the natural. The more we know of the natural the less we believe of the supernatural--in fact, the latter has largely disappeared. In time, let us hope, these childish delusions will be regarded as some of the remnants of the past and infantile ages of humanity. In all ages and at all times, men of great merit have been admired and honored by mankind. But the mythology and theology that enshrouds ancient heroes, the deification, the supernaturalism, the sanctity, the holiness, and the delusions that accompany and surround their actions, are entirely superfluous. We have outgrown these fables. And truly, these imaginary attributions, these visionary productions, have outlived their usefulness. Whether it be Moses, David, Alexander, Hannibal, Cæsar, Charlemagne, Cromwell, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, or Washington, they were men, nothing but men, and their actions, as also the great good resulting from their actions, that benefited humanity, were natural, not influenced in any way or shape by the smallest particle of supernaturalism. Josephus speaking of Moses says: "He was one that exceeded all men that ever were in understanding, and made the best use of what understanding suggested to him. He had a very grateful way of speaking and addressing himself to the multitude. As to his other qualifications, he had such a full command of his passions, as if he hardly had any such in his soul, and only knew them by their names, as rather perceiving them in other men than himself. He was also such a general of an army as was seldom seen, as well as such a prophet as was never known, and this to such a degree that whatsoever he pronounced, you would think you heard the voice of God himself" (B. iv, ch. viii, 49). The following verse in the Bible is undoubtedly true: "And there was not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." Moses deserves all the credit for molding the Chaldean God into shape, for creating Jehova, and for inventing prophets and the Jewish oracles.