of the
infinite God? Supposing the blood got on the left toe?

Then we find in this book how God went to work to make the Egyptians
let the Israelites go. Suppose we wish to make a treaty with the
mikado of Japan, and Mr. Hayes sent a commissioner there; and suppose
he should employ Hermann, the wonderful German, to go along with him;
and when they came in the presence of the mikado Herman threw down an
umbrella, which changed into a turtle, and the commissioner said: "This
is my certificate." You would say the country is disgraced. You would
say the president of a republic like this disgraces himself with
jugglery. Yet we are told God sent Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, and
when they got there Moses threw down a stick which turned into a snake.
That God is a juggler--he is the infinite prestidigitator. Is that
possible? Was that really a snake, or was it the appearance of a
snake? If it was the appearance of a snake, it was a fraud. Then the
necromancers of Egypt were sent for, and they threw down sticks, which
turned into snakes, but those were not so large as Moses' snakes, which
swallowed them. I maintain that it is just as hard to make small
snakes as it is to make large ones; the only difference is that to make
large snakes either larger sticks or more practice is required.

Do you believe that God rained hail on innocent cattle, killing them in
the highways and in the field? Why should he inflict punishment on
cattle for something their owners had done? I could never have any
respect for a God that would so inflict pain upon a brute beast simply
on account of the crime of its owner. Is it possible that God worked
miracles to convince Pharaoh that slavery was wrong? Why did he not
tell Pharaoh that any nation founded on slavery could not stand? Why
did he not tell him, "Your government is founded on slavery, and it
will go down, and the sands of the desert will hide from the view of
man your temples, your altars, and your fanes?" Why did he not speak
about the infamy of slavery? Because he believed in the infamy of
slavery himself. Can we believe that God will allow a man to give his
wife the right of divorcement and make the mother of his children a
wanderer and a vagrant. There is not one word about woman in the Old
Testament except the word of shame and humiliation. The God of the
Bible does not think woman is as good as man. She never was worth
mentioning. It did not take the pains to reco