mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them, and saith unto him 'All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall
down and worship me.'"

The Christians now claim that Jesus was God. If he was God, of course
the devil knew that fact, and yet, according to this account, the devil
took the omnipotent God and placed him upon a pinnacle of the temple,
and endeavored to induce him to dash himself against the earth. Failing
in that, he took the creator, owner and governor of the universe up into
an exceeding high mountain, and offered him this world--this grain of
sand--if he, the God of all the worlds, would fall down and worship him,
a poor devil, without even a tax title to one foot of dirt! Is it
possible the devil was such an idiot? Should any great credit be given
to this deity for not being caught with such chaff? Think of it! The
devil--the prince of sharpers--the king of cunning--the master of
finesse, trying to bribe God with a grain of sand that belonged to God!

Is there in ail the religious literature of the world any thing more
grossly absurd than this?

These devils, according to the bible, were various kinds--some could
speak and hear, others were deaf and dumb. All could not be cast out in
the same way. The deaf and dumb spirits were quite difficult to deal
with. St. Mark tells of a gentleman who brought his son to Christ. The
boy, it seems, was possessed of a dumb spirit, over which the disciples
had no control. "Jesus said unto the spirit: 'Thou dumb and deaf
spirit. I charge thee come out of him, and enter no more into him.'"
Whereupon, the deaf spirit having heard what was said, cried out (being
dumb) and immediately vacated the premises. The ease with which Christ
controlled this deaf and dumb spirit excited the wonder of his