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Exodus. But I will here give the "covenant," at least, one of the said ten commandments, a passing notice; for it is the key that unlocks the door to religious intolerance, and its spirit is that which has enkindled and fanned the flame of religious persecution in all ages; and because of these it should be execrated by all.

"Thou

SEC. 10. The commandment alluded to in my remarks, above, is the first of the said ten. It reads thus: shalt have no other gods before me." This is the language of a petty, jealous, and unfeeling, tyrant, addressed to subjects of which he had suspicions of their loyalty to him. The tone of this command is very unlike the language of one of the ancients of whom it was said, he, in spirit, truly represented the heavenly Father. His language to the wayward children of men was persuasive; he said unto those possessing most of the spirit of disloyalty, and was in actual open rebellion against his rule: Come, let us reason together." And the same spirit was manifested in the teachings of Jesus, of Nazareth; and the same tone of spirit has been manifested in every man, and woman, who has ever exemplified the spirit of the Father of universal spiritlife. Paternal persuasion is the spirit of God and harmony; autocratic dictation, like the commandment quoted, is the spirit of evil and discordance.

SEC. 11. The tone of this command admits of no "reasoning together" for the purpose of ascertaining, through the exercise of the rational faculties, and by the dispassionate emotions of the moral powers, whether the commandment was the transcript of, and uttered by, the true God, or by a false one. Its spirit justifies every self-conceited, self-consequential, narrow-minded, and ignorant bigot, who has influence enough to call to his aid sufficient physical force to enforce his opinions upon others, in thrusting his false God, or rather, his false notions of a God, before the community, and demand of the people that they recognize his God, and have no other before him. This was exactly Moses' position, and action. He conjured up, in his own mind, a God to

suit his purposes, then he thrust this false God before the Israelites for them to acknowledge, and accept, allowing no person to deny the divine character of his arbitrary God, nor to question, even, its claimed deific attributes. More will be said concerning this law in another place.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE LAW-THE FIRST TABLES OF STONE-THE WAY MOSES OBTAINED THEM-HE GETS ANGRY AND BREAKS THEM-THE GOLDEN CALF.

"And he (the Lord) gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of com muning with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." [Ex. XXXI: 18.

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"And the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: * they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and sacrificed thereunto: * * * And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of testimony were in his hand: * And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount."

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[Ex. XXXII: 7, 8, 15, 19.

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SECTION 1. I would here remark, that from the letter of the Pentateuch it cannot be ascertained who, if any, nor how many accomplices of Moses and Joshua, were on the mount, privately, with them, during the forty days that they were there engraving the ten commandments on the tables of stone, drafting statutes and commandments, and maturing their system of political and religious rule, generally. Nor, from the letter of the record, can it be ascertained who were Moses' and Joshua's secret informers, who circulated among the people, to them unknown, as spies, and then, clandestinely, ascended the mount to inform their employers of what was being done among the people in camp, keeping Moses and Joshua posted on all the people's acts, while they, themselves, were in secret conclave there in the mount, deliberating as to how they most effectually could circumvent the people, and in what manner they could rule

easiest for themselves, and make the people best subserve their schemes and selfish purposes.

SEC. 2. Notwithstanding that it cannot be clearly ascertained from the record, who were the spies and informers in the service of Moses and Joshua, nor how many persons they had thus employed, while, for the purposes aforesaid, they were secretly closeted together in the mountain, it is evident from the narration, and from the character of the men, also-political adventurers, and Machiavelian politicians, that they were-that they did have spies and clandestine runners in their service, as aforesaid, during that retirement. This implied allegation of duplicity on the part of Moses and Joshua, in their mountain conclave devotion, is but just to them; for, with honest men with honest purposes, and having in view a righteous object to attain, it requires no dark circle-sittings in which to receive special directions of duty from either God or angels; nor, .with honest and true men, pursuing a Godly line of conduct, does it require star-chambers in which to sit and concoct schemes of policy, and mature plans of operation by which to be guided in conduct with fellowmen. The great success of Moses and his accomplices over the people, was mainly through secret councils, and by prosecuting their devices in advance of a knowledge of their purposes and doings by the people; and they often had made themselves sure of the attainment of the object of their desires before the people's suspicions of their foul dealings were aroused.

SEC. 3. In view of what has been said, above, it would seem superfluous to say more, here, showing the way and manner in which Moses obtained the first tables of stone. Already, in the argument, I have stated that those tables, and their contents, were the conjoint work of Moses and Joshua, and, perhaps, the labor of one, or more accomplices added to theirs. Unquestionably, they were the work of a cabal, and here I drop the question.

SEC. 4. In speaking to the children of Israel, in Deut. IX: 17, and 18, Moses says: "And I took the two tables,

and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before you. And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger." This was addressed by Moses, not to those who had so provoked the Lord to anger, but to the descendants of those transgressors, and near forty years after the commission of the acts referred to, and, according to the record, after nearly, if not fully, every actor was dead. Passing over, for the present, the diabolical doctrine of Moses, here taught, that the children are bound by the acts of their parentsare morally responsible for the deeds of their ancestors-I will call attention to two palpable untruths, embraced in the extracts from the record, which stand at the head of this Chapter.

SEC. 5. The reader will bear in mind the fact, that is, fact, so far as Moses' auto-biography makes it so, that when ̧ Moses broke to pieces the first tables of stone he had but just come in sight of the camps of the Israelites-beneath the mount; and, that there is no evidence, in his record, that he yet had broken his fast of forty days and forty nights, above specified; and, that it was immediately at the end of this forty days fast, and, judging by the record, before having tasted bread, or having drank water, he entered upon, and underwent, another forty days and forty nights fast, in which "he neither eat bread, nor drank water, as at the first," making in all an unbroken fast of eighty days, at least during which time his mental powers were in intense activity. Let him who can believe the story, believe it; let all such hug it to their bosoms, and feast their undying spirits with this palpable untruth; but let those who control their reasoning faculties, to any extent, spurn this legendary tale.

SEC. 6. Again, the reader will likewise bear in mind, that it was just at the connecting moment of these two fasts that Moses was in the intensest paroxysm of rage

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