this foolish story was told; a theory which, speaking
for myself, I hesitate not to disbelieve, and to say,
is as fabulous and as false as God is true.*

But to show the imposition and falsehood of Isaiah,
we have only to attend to the sequel of this story,
which, though it is passed over in silence in the book
of Isaiah, is related in the 28th chapter of the second
Chronicles, and which is, that instead of these two
kings failing in their attempt against Ahaz, king of
Judah, as Isaiah had pretended to foretell in the name
of the Lord, they succeeded; Ahaz was defeated
and destroyed, a hundred and twenty thousand of
his people were slaughtered, Jerusalem was plundered,
and two hundred thousand women, and sons and
daughters, carried into captivity. Thus much for
this lying prophet and imposter, Isaiah, and the
book of falsehoods that bears his name.

* In the 14th verse of the 7th chapter, it is said that the child should be called Immanuel; but this name was not given to either of the children otherwise than as a character which the word signifies. That of the prophetess was called Maher-shalal-hash-baz, and that of Mary was called Jesus.

I challenge every minister of Christianity to refute Thomas Paine's exposure of this all too monstrous lie and the most dastardly piece of imposition ever perpetrated upon the human race! I make no restrictions to this challenge. It includes every gentleman of the cloth of every church professing the Christian doctrine.

Prove Thomas Paine false or cease your hypocrisy with its unholy gain!

CHAPTER XVI

THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO

THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE

Perhaps the birth of Christ as related by St. Matthew was not minute and conclusive enough as to the details of the sexual act and so we turn to the Gospel of St. Luke to supply this most interesting account.

As we have already reviewed cases of unfaithfulness, incest, polygamy, prostitution, rape, adultery, child by whoredom, and almost every phase of immorality known to man, it will not, I am sure, be inappropriate to continue with this version of the birth of Christ.

I quote The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 1, Verses 26-28.

26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

One difference already noted between the narrative of St. Matthew and St. Luke regarding Mary and the conception of her child, is that in St. Matthew it is the Holy Ghost who is responsible for her pregnant condition and in St. Luke the angel Gabriel is mentioned. And although here is a distinct contradiction between the two accounts, the designation of the character by different names responsible for the condition makes very little real difference. What we are concerned with is the fact that it was someone else than the man she had promised to wed.

We have read of angels "whispering" to a person, but we have never heard of an instance where "the angel came in unto her." And the word Angel is equally appropriate as that of the Holy Ghost.

The Gospel according to St. Luke, Chapter 1, Verse 29.

29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

Ah! We have the secret direct from the Bible.

Let me repeat the above full significance to you.

quotation to bring its "And when she saw.

him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be." I wonder what this he angel proposed to Mary that made her "cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be"? Is it possible that she was innocent of the relationship he proposed, or was she simply amazed at his daring and boldness? especially so, since she was already engaged to some one else and was mindful of her virginity. And what an altogether different story it would have been if God had sent a she angel to visit Mary! To my mind a woman is a nearer approach to an angel than a man could ever be.

No wonder the poor girl was troubled. She had a difficult problem on her hands. Although the Bible is not explicit in what this he angel said to Mary, we are not devoid of imagination; and so continue.

The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 1, Verse 30.

30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

From this verse we glean the manner of pursuit and what the angel was after. "Fear not"

is the pet phrase of the seducer. The angel's courting has not been in vain. Victory has been achieved. Similar action to that of Mary is taking place, at this very moment, throughout the world. Seduction, unfortunately, is still too commonly prevalent. Is it possible that the angel "doped" Mary as sometimes happens in cases of this kind and when she "awoke" she was unaware of what had transpired? For she says,

The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 1, Verse 34.

34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

You see Mary was aware of the fact that without a man's help she could not have a child. Where Mary received her sex education I do not know; perhaps from the story of Tamar and Judah? And so we continue with the unusual story of the intercourse of an angel with a maid. The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 1, Verse 31.

31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

Yes, the deed is done. The angel has satis