g anything
under heaven? Did He say one word about intellectual liberty? Did he
say one word about reason or about justice? Did He make the slightest
effort to improve them? All that He did in the world was to give them
one poor little miserable, barren command, "Thou shalt not eat of a
certain fruit." That's all that amounted to anything; and, when they
sinned, did this great God take them in the arms of His love and
endeavor to reform them? No; He simply put upon them a curse. When
they were expelled He said to the woman: "I will greatly multiply thy
sorrow. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Thy husband shall
rule over thee." God made every mother a criminal, and placed a
perpetual penalty of pain upon human love. Our God made wives
slaves--slaves of their husbands. Our God corrupted the marriage
relation and paralyzed the firesides of this world. That is what our
God did. And what did He say to poor Adam? "Cursed be the ground for
thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat
the herb of the field, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread." Did He say one word calculated to make him a better man? Did
He put in the horizon of the future one star of hope? Let us be
honest, and see what this God did, and we will judge of Him simply by
ordinary common sense.

After a while Cain murdered his brother, and he was detected by this
God. And what did this God say to him? Did He say one word of the
crime of shedding human blood? Not a word. Did He say one word
calculated to excite in the breast of Cain the slightest real sorrow
for his deed? Not the slightest. Did He tell him anything about where
Abel was? Nothing. Did He endeavor to make him a better man? Not a
bit. What had He ever taught him before on that subject? Nothing. And
so Cain went out to the other sons and daughters of Adam, according to
the bible, and they multiplied and increased until they covered the
earth. God gave them no code of laws. God never built them a
schoolhouse. God never sent a teacher. God never said a word to them
about a future state. God never held up before their gaze that
dazzling reward of heaven; never spoke about the lurid gulfs of hell;
kept divine punishment a perfect secret, and without having given them
the slightest opportunity, simply drowned the world. Splendid
administration! Cleveland will do