to nobody; and they are signed by the same
person. All the addresses, all the pretended earmarks showing to whom
they are written and by whom they are written are simply
interpolations, and everybody who has studied the subject knows it.

It is further admitted that even these manuscripts have not been
properly translated, and they have a syndicate now making a new
translation; and I suppose that I cannot tell whether I really believe
the Testament or not until I see that new translation.

You must remember, also, one other thing. Christ never wrote a
solitary word of the New Testament--not one word. There is an account
that He once stooped and wrote something in the sand, but that has not
been preserved. He never told anybody to write a word. He never said:
"Matthew, remember this. Mark, don't forget to put that down. Luke,
be sure that in your gospel you have this. John, don't forget it."
Not one word. And it has always seemed to me that a Being coming from
another world, with a message of infinite importance to mankind, should
at least have verified that message by his own signature.

Why was nothing written? I will tell you. In my judgment they
expected the end of the world in a very few days. That generation was
not to pass away until the heavens should be rolled up as a scroll, and
until the earth should melt with fervent heat. That was their belief.
They believed that the world was to be destroyed, and that there was to
be another coming, and that the saints were then to govern the world.
And they even went so far among the Apostles, as we frequently do now
before election, as to divide out the offices in advance. This
Testament was not written for hundreds of years after the Apostles were
dust. These facts lived in the open mouth of credulity. They were in
the wastebaskets of forgetfulness. They depended upon the inaccuracy of
legend, and for centuries these doctrines and stories were blown about
by the inconstant winds. And finally, when reduced to writing, some
gentleman would write by the side of the passage his idea of it, and
the next copyist would put that in as a part of the text. And,
finally, when it was made, and the Church got in trouble, and wanted a
passage to help it out, one was interpolated to order. So that now it
is among the easiest things in the world to pick out at least one
hundred interpolations in the Testament. And I will pick some of them
out before I get through.