us so that they might "not come to this
place." That is the only instance, so far as we know, of souls across
the river having any sympathy. And I would rather be in hell, asking
for water, than in heaven denying that petition. Well, what is this
book inspired about? Where does the inspiration come from? Why was it
that so many animals were killed? It was simply to make atonement for
man--that is all. They killed something that had not committed a crime,
in order that the one who had committed the crime might be acquitted.
Based upon that idea is the atonement of the Christian religion. That
is the reason I attack this book--because it is the basis of another
infamy, viz: that one man can be good for another, or that one man can
sin for another. I deny it. You have got to be good for yourself; you
have got to sin for yourself. The trouble about the atonement is, that
it saves the wrong man. For instance, I kill some one. He is a good
man. He loves his wife and children and tries to make them happy; but
he is not a Christian, and he goes to hell. Just as soon as I am
convicted and cannot get a pardon I get religion, and I go to heaven.
The hand of mercy cannot reach down through the shadows of hell to my
victim.

There is no atonement for the saint--only for the sinner and the
criminal. The atonement saves the wrong man. I have said that I would
never make a lecture at all without attacking this doctrine. I did not
care what I started out on. I was always going to attack this
doctrine. And in my conclusion I want to draw you a few pictures of the
Christian heaven. But before I do that I want to say the rest I have
to say about Moses. I want you to understand that the Bible was never
printed until 1488. I want you to know that up to that time it was in
manuscript, in possession of those who could change it if they wished;
and they did change it, because no two ever agreed. Much of it was in
the waste basket of credulity, in the open mouth of tradition, and in
the dull ear of memory. I want you also to know that the Jews
themselves never agreed as to what books were inspired, and that there
were a lot of books written that were not incorporated in the Old
Testament. I want you to know that two or three years before Christ,
the Hebrew manuscript was translated into Greek, and that the original
from which the translation was made, has never been seen since. Some
Latin Bibles were found in Africa but no t