better than that. And, after the
waters had gone away, then He gave them some commandments. I suppose
that He saw by that time that they needed guidance.

And here are the commandments:

1. You may eat all kinds of birds, beasts and fishes.

2. You must not eat blood; if you do, I will kill you.

3. Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.

Nothing more. No good advice; not a word about government; not a word
about the rights of man or woman, or children; not a word about any law
of nature; not a word about any science--nothing, not even arithmetic.

Nothing. And so He let them go on, and in a little while they came to
the same old state; and began building the Tower of Babel; and he went
there and confounded, as they said, their languages. Never said a word
to them; never told them how foolish it was to try and reach heaven
that way. And the next we find Him talking to Abraham, and with
Abraham He makes a contract. And how did He do it? "I will bless them
that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee." Fine contract for a
God. And thereupon He made certain promises to Abraham--promised to
give him the whole world, all the nations round about, and that his
seed should be as the sands of the sea. Never kept one of His
promises--not one. He made the same promises to Isaac, and broke every
one. Then He made them all over to Jacob, and broke every one; made
them again to Moses, and broke them all. Never said a word about
anybody behaving themselves--not a word. Finally, these people whom He
had taken under His special care became slaves in the land of Egypt.
How ashamed God must have been! Finally He made up His mind to rescue
them from that servitude, and He sent Moses and Aaron. He never said a
word to Moses or Aaron that Pharaoh was wrong. He never said a word to
them about how the women felt when their male children were taken and
destroyed. He simply sent Moses before Pharaoh with a cane in his hand
that he could turn into a serpent; and, when Pharaoh called in
magicians and they did the same, Pharaoh laughed. And then they made
frogs; and Pharaoh sent for his magicians, and they did the same, and
Pharaoh still laughed. And this God had infinite power, but Pharaoh
defeated Him at every point!

It puts me in mind of the story that great Fenian told when the great
excitement was about Ireland. An Irishman was telling about the
condition of Ireland. He said: "We have got