Blomfield
replies that "the principles of the New Testament sapped the foundations
of that system." But let us deal with one question at a time. Let the
reverend gentleman indicate the text which I say does not exist. As for
the "generous spirit" of the Old Testament laws about slavery, am I to
find it in the texts allowing the Jews to buy and sell the heathen,
to enslave their own countrymen, to appropriate their children born in
slavery, and to beat them to death providing they did not expire within
forty-eight hours?

My point is not that the Jews held slaves. That was common in ancient
times. I merely take objection to the doctrine that God laid down the
slavery laws of the Old Testament.

With regard to Jesus Christ, I am not aware that I have spoken of him
as a "trickster." Kenan, however, whom Mr. Blomfield appears to admire,
suggests that the raising of Lazarus was a performance arranged between
him and Jesus. This is a line of criticism I have never attempted. I do
not regard the New Testament miracles as actual occurrences, but as the
products of Christian imagination.

Mr. Blomfield is angry with me for saying that the books of the Bible
are mostly anonymous, yet he declares that "their anonymity is little
against them." I leave Mr. Blomfield to settle the point of fact with
Christian writers like Canon Driver and Professor Bruce. With respect to
the New Testament, I am told that my statement is "palpably incorrect."
But what are the facts? With the exception of four of Paul's epistles,
and perhaps the first of Peter, the whole of the New Testament books are
anonymous, in the sense that they were not written--as we have them--by
the men whose names they bear, and that no one knows who _did_ write
them. This is practically admitted by Christian scholars, and I am ready
to maintain it in discussion with Mr. Blomfield.

Mr. Blomfield talks very freely, in conclusion, about the "fruits"
of Christianity and Secularism. He even condescends to personal
comparisons, which I warn him are dangerous. He compares Spurgeon with
Bradlaugh. Well, the one swam with the stream, and the other against it;
the one lived in the world's smile, the other in the world's frown;
the one enjoyed every comfort and many luxuries, the other was poor,
worried, and harassed into his grave. Spurgeon was no doubt a good man,
but Bradlaugh was the more heroic figure.

Jesus Christ said some good things. Among them was the injunction not