superhuman in nothing; all that His adorers have ascribed to Him being
mere amplification of human powers, human ideas, and human passions. The
Bible Deity 'has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he
hardeneth;' is 'jealous,' especially of other Gods; changeful,
vindictive, partial, cruel, unjust, 'angry with the wicked every day;'
and altogether a Being far from respectable, or worthy to be considered
infinite in wisdom, power, and goodness. Is it credible that a Being
supernaturally wise and good, proclaimed the murderous adulterer David,
a man after his own heart, and commanded the wholesale butchery of
Canaanites? Or that a God of boundless power, 'whose tender mercies are
over all his works,' decreed the extermination of entire nations for
being what he made them? Jehovah did all three. Confessedly a God of
Armies and Lord of Hosts; confessedly, too, a hardener of men's, hearts
that he might destroy them, he authorised acts at which human nature
shudders, and of which it is ashamed: yet to _reverence_ Him we are
commanded by the self-styled 'stewards of his mysteries,' on peril of
our 'immortal souls.' Verily, these pious anathematisers task our
credulity a little too much. In their zeal for the God of Israel, they
are apt to forget that only Himself can compass impossibilities, and
altogether lose sight of the fact that where, who, or what Jehovah is,
no man knoweth. Revelation (so-called) reveals nothing about 'the
creator of heaven and earth,' on which a cultivated intellect can repose
with satisfaction. Men naturally desire positive information concerning
the superhuman Deity, belief in whom is the _sine qua non_ of all
superstition. But the Bible furnishes no such information concerning
Jehovah. On the contrary, He is there pronounced 'past finding out,'
incomprehensible, and the like. 'Canst thou by searching find out God?
Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?' are questions put by an
'inspired writer,' who felt the cloudy and unsatisfactory nature of all
human conceit concerning Deity.