gentleman up to the very last. (Roars of laughter.) Nor did the
speaker feel particularly anxious to be shut up with all the bishops,
who of course are amongst the elect, and on their departure from this
vale of tears tempered by ten thousand a year, are duly supplied with
wings. Much more followed in the same strain upon the immorality of
the Bible heroes, their cruelty, and the cruelty of the God who
sanctioned it. Then followed a clever exposition of the
inconsistencies of the Old Testament history, the impossibility of
any reference to Jesus therein, and a really earnest protest against
the quibbling by which those who believed in the Bible as a
revelation sought to reconcile it with science. "Finally," said the
speaker, "I am sure we all of us will pass a vote of thanks to our
reverend friend for coming to see us, and we cordially invite him to
come again. If I might be allowed to offer a suggestion, it would be
that he should make himself acquainted with our case before he pays
us another visit, and not suppose that we are to be persuaded with
the rhetoric which may do very well for the young women of his
congregation, but won't go down here." This was fair and just, for
the eminent Christian was nothing but an ordinary minister, who, when
he was prepared for his profession, had never been allowed to see
what are the historical difficulties of Christianity, lest he should
be overcome by them. On the other hand, his sceptical opponents were
almost devoid of the faculty for appreciating the great remains of
antiquity, and would probably have considered the machinery of the
Prometheus Bound or of the Iliad a sufficient reason for a sneer.
That they should spend their time in picking the Bible to pieces when
there was so much positive work for them to do, seemed to me as
melancholy as if they had spent themselves upon theology. To waste a
Sunday morning in ridiculing such stories as that of Jonah was surely
as imbecile as to waste it in proving their verbal veracity.