taken any pains to preserve the writings of his "apostles," It is well
known that the original manuscripts, if there were any, are nowhere to
be found. This is a grave matter. We have only supposed copies of
supposed original manuscripts. Who copied them? When were they copied?
How can we be sure that these copies are reliable? And why are there
thousands upon thousands of various readings in these, numerous
supposed copies? What means have we of deciding which version or
reading to accept? Is it possible that as the result of Jesus' advent
into our world, we have only a basketful of nameless and dateless
copies and documents? Is it conceivable, I ask, that a God would send
his Son to us, and then leave us to wander through a pile of dusty
manuscripts to find out why He sent His Son, and what He taught when
on earth?

The only answer the Christian church can give to this question is that
the original writings were purposely allowed to perish. When a
precious document containing the testament of Almighty God, and
inscribed for an eternal purpose by the Holy Ghost, disappears
altogether there is absolutely no other way of accounting for its
disappearance than by saying, as we have suggested, that its divine
author must have intentionally withdrawn it from circulation. "God
moves in a mysterious way" is the last resort of the believer. This is
the one argument which is left to theology to fight science with.
Unfortunately it is an argument which would prove every cult and "ism"
under the heavens true. The Mohammedan, the Mazdaian, and the Pagan
may also fall back upon faith. There is nothing which faith can not
cover up from the light. But if a faith which ignores evidence be not
a superstition, what then is superstition? I wonder if the Catholic
Church, which pretends to believe--and which derives quite an income
from the belief--that God has miraculously preserved the wood of the