bject
has been to take the Bible text always as our basis, to include
no feature which is contradicted by it, and to introduce as many
comicalities and anachronisms as possible consistently with this rule.
We are therefore able to defy criticism. Bibliolators may vituperate us,
persecute us, or imprison us, but they cannot refute us.. We can safely
challenge them to prove that a single incident happened otherwise than
we have depicted it. We can candidly say to them--"The thing must have
happened in some way, as to which the Divine Word is silent; this is our
view,--What is yours?" And we humbly submit that our speculations are
as valid as our neighbors'. Nothing but the insanest bigotry in favor of
their own conjectures could lead them to quarrel with us for expounding
ours. If they can shame us with explicit disproofs from Holy Writ, let
them do so; but what right have they to set up their carnal imaginings
and uninspired theories as the ultimate criteria of truth?

Those who object to any employment of satire on "sacred" subjects should
not go beyond the Preface of this book. It is not for them, nor are they
for it; and they are warned in the hall of what they must expect in the
various chambers. But if they neglect the warning they should take the
responsibility. It will be simply indecent if they turn round afterwards
and assail us with unmerited abuse.

For the sake of those who proceed in a spirit of impartial candor and
honest inquiry, we beg to offer a little further explanation.

We honestly admit that our purpose is to discredit the Bible as
the infallible word of God. Believing as we do, with Voltaire, that
despotism can never be abolished without destroying the dogmas on which
it rests, and that the Bible is the grand source and sanction of them
all, we are profoundly anxious to expose its pretentions. The educated
classes already see through them, and the upper classes credit them
just as little, although they dare not openly profess a scepticism which
would imperil their privileges. But the multitude are still left to the
manipulation of priests, credulous victims of the Black Army everywhere
arrayed against freedom and progress. It is to liberate these from
thraldom that we labor, sacrifice and suffer. Without being indifferent
to what the world calls success, we acknowledge the sovereignty of
loftier aims. Compared with the advancement of Freethought everything
else is to us of trivial moment. It may