OLD TESTAMENT

PREFACE.—Free Discussion; the right to use it in examining the Scriptures; its certainty in destroying error and establishing truth—Extract from Dr. Blair’s sermon on Candor—Motives of the author in laying his work before the public.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.—Object of the book—Intolerance and persecution of Christian sects—Their abuse of Infidels and calumnious treatment of Thomas Paine—His name and services appreciated by Liberals—Pernicious influence of the Bible upon morals—Knowledge of the laws of our existence the only sure guide to wisdom, happiness, and virtue.

GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE.—Character and situation of the Jews—Their treatment by Jehovah—Why were they chosen, and did they answer the end of their choice?—Probable reasoning of the Jewish God—Account of his visit to Abram and Sarah, and their reception and treatment of him—The consequences to the Jews of considering themselves the chosen people—The five books said to have been written by Moses—Treatment of Hagar and her child—Jehovah and the Jews.

CHAPTER I.—From the Creation to the Deluge.

CHAPTER II.—A Review of the Deluge and the confusion of Tongues at the Tower of Babel.

CHAPTER III.—From the Confusion of Tongues to the Birth of Moses.

CHAPTER IV.—From the Birth of Moses to the Death of Joshua.

CHAPTER V.—From the Death of Joshua to the Reign of Saul.

CHAPTER VI.—The Reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon.

CHAPTER VII.—The Reign of Jeroboam, and the separation of Israel from Judah.

CHAPTER VIII.—On Divine Inspiration.

NEW TESTAMENT

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.—Jehovah’s dealings with the Jews—His failure to make them a pattern to the rest of the human family—The coming of Christ—The manner of his introduction—his associates; language; and conduct—Miracles—The Jews had sufficient reason, for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.

CHAPTER I.—Jesus the pretended Saviour of the world, not sent from God—Moses wrote the most minute things Connected with die system established by himself, but Jesus left no writings whatever-—Vagueness and want of authenticity of the writings of the Evangelists—General ignorance among Christians of what is the true Gospel—No proof of the heavenly origin of Jesus—His baptism by John—His temptation by the Devil—Its absurdity—Abusive language of Jesus to the Jews—His unfitness for his mission, and failure to prove himself sent from God.

CHAPTER II.—Casting out Devils—The case of Mary Magdalene—The doctrine of demoniacal possession, a heathen dogma—Miracles of Jesus no proof of his Divine origin—Evidence from the New Testament that no miracles ever took place—Inconsistent conduct and abusive language of Jesus—The miracle at his baptism—Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus from the clouds—Folly of miracles and their injurious consequence.

CHAPTER III.—Peter—Disingenuous mode adopted by Jesus to prove his Messiahship—The introduction of his mission to the Jews—His obscure doctrines, and disrespectful Language—Survey of his teaching, and mode of life—Inutility of his object—His betrayal—Judas Iscariot.

CHAPTER IV.—The Almighty Power that governs the universe not the author of the Christian Religion—Destructive saying of Jesus—The power given to Peter; its disastrous results—Institution of the Sacrament—Intolerance and persecution of Sectarianism—Folly of religious teaching.

CHAPTER V.—Orthodox views of Christianity—Remarks on the bad effects of believing in the existence of the Devil, and in witchcraft, doctrines taught in the Bible—Trial and execution of two women for witchcraft in England, in 1664—Account of the witchcraft that prevailed in England and Scotland, in the days of Elizabeth—Anecdote of Cromwell’s bargain with the Devil.

CHAPTER VI.—Continuation of remarks upon the supposed influence of Satanic agency—Dreadful effects of human credulity—Sketch of the life and tragical fate of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans—Temptation of Jesus.

CHAPTER VII.—God and the Devil—Probable origin of the belief in their existence—Mode of reasoning in ancient times by the ignorant—Theology—Christian Religion—Account of Witchcraft in Sweden, in 1670—Reflections.

CHAPTER VIII.—Comprehensive view of the mission of Christ to the Jewish nation—Plan of redemption—Willingness of the Jews to welcome the long expected Messiah—The violence and abuse they received from Jesus—Their condition not improved by his coming—Obscurity of his teaching—The Jews put him to death because they believed him an impostor—Judas, in betraying Jesus, was but the instrument to accomplish the plan of human redemption—Unfortunate condition of the Jews—Reflections upon their past and present treatment by Christians.

CHAPTER IX.—Object of Christ’s coming into the world, uncertain and of doubtful utility—His obvious omission to convince the Jews that he was the Messiah, and his neglect to order his apostles to write a history of his life, show the Christian Religion deficient in the proof of its Divine origin—Jesus, according to the Gospels, was a moral reformer—Ignorance of his disciples of his Divine mission, as manifested by Peter, at the betrayal—The Resurrection of Jesus—Sudden departure afterward—Religious quarrels—Difficulty of defining Christianity-Reflections on the want of proof of Christ’s Divine mission, and its insufficiency to reform the world—The Jesus of the New Testament an imaginary being.

CONCLUSION.—Remarks on the Morality of Nature—Pernicious effect of religious faith—Its failure to moralize the world—Its intolerance and persecution—Infidel morality founded in reason and the laws that govern human beings—Its superiority over faith in promoting good works, inducing correct conduct, and insuring human happiness and improvement.