Chapter II: 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.