e Solomon, the
wisest of their writers, is also the most incredulous; he doubts even
the immortality of the soul, and concludes his works by saying that
there is nothing good but to enjoy in peace the fruits of one's labor,
and to live with those whom we love.

How superior are the authors who are called profane, such as Xenophon,
Plato, Cicero, the Emperor Antoninus, the Emperor Julian, Virgil, etc.,
to the books which we are told are inspired of God. I can truly say that
the fables of Aesop, for example, are certainly more ingenious and more
instructive than all these rough and poor parables which are related in
the Gospels.

But what shows us that this kind of books is not of Divine Inspiration,
is, that aside from the low order, coarseness of style, and the lack of
system in the narrations of the different facts, which are very badly
arranged, we do not see that the authors agree; they contradict each
other in several things; they had not even sufficient enlightenment or
natural talents to write a history.

Here are some examples of the contradictions which are found among them.
The Evangelist Matthew claims that Jesus Christ descended from king
David by his son Solomon through Joseph, reputed to be His father; and
Luke claims that He is descended from the same David by his son Nathan
through Joseph.

Matthew says, in speaking of Jesus, that, it being reported in Jerusalem
that a new king of the Jews was born, and that the wise men had come to
adore Him, the king Herod, fearing that this pretended new king would
rob him of his crown some day, caused the murder of all the new-born
children under two years, in all the neighborhood of Bethlehem, where he
had been told that this new king was born; and that Joseph and the
mother of Jesus, having been warned in a dream by an angel, of this
wicked intention, took flight immediately to Egypt, where they stayed
until the death of Herod, which happened many years afterward.

On the contrary, Luke asserts that Joseph and the mother of Jesus lived
peaceably during six weeks in the place where their child Jesus was
born; that He was circumcised according to the law of the Jews, eight
days after His birth; and when the time prescribed by the law for the
purification of His mother had arrived, she and Joseph, her husband,
carried Him to Jerusalem in order to present Him to God in His temple,
and to offer at the same time a sacrifice which was ordained by God's
law; after whi