e I don't know.
I say that at that time Matthew, Mark and Luke believed that He was the
son of Joseph and Mary. And why? They say He descended from the blood
of David, and in order to show that He was of the blood of David they
gave the genealogy of Joseph. And if Joseph was not his father, why
not give the genealogy of Pontius Pilate or Herod? Could they, by
giving the genealogy of Joseph, show that He was of the blood of David
if Joseph was in no way related to David; and yet that is the position
into which the Christian world is now driven. It says the son of
Joseph, and then interpolated the words "as was supposed." Why, then,
do they give a supposed genealogy. It will not do. And that is a
thing that cannot in any way, by any human testimony, be established;
and if it is important for us to know that He was the Son of God, I say
then that it devolves upon God to give us evidence. Let Him write it
across the face of the heavens, in every language of mankind. If it is
necessary for us to believe it, let it grow on every leaf next year.
No man should be damned for not believing unless the evidence is
overwhelming. And he ought not to be made to depend upon say-so. He
should have it directly for himself. A man says God told him so and
so, and he tells me, and I haven't anyone's word but that fellow's. He
may have been deceived. If God has a message for me He ought to tell
it to me, and not somebody that has been dead 4,000 or 5,000 years, and
in another language; God may have changed His mind on many things; He
has on slavery at least, and polygamy; and yet His church now wants to
go out here and destroy polygamy in Utah with a sword. Why don't they
send missionaries there with copies of the old testament? By reading
the lives of Abraham, and Isaac, and Lot, and a few other fellows that
ought to have been in the penitentiary, they can soften their hearts.

Now, there is another miracle I do not believe. I want to speak about
it as we would about any ordinary transaction in the world. In the
first place, I do not believe that any miracle was ever performed, and
if there was, you can't prove it. Why? Because it is altogether more
reasonable that the people lied about it than that it happened. And
why? Because, according to human experience, we know that people will
not always tell the truth, and we never saw a miracle, and we have got
to be governed by our experience, and if we go by our experience,