Unfortunately,
a revision by general agreement would be the greatest of all
miracles, for two of the very first texts to go would be those
which refer to the "Church," an institution and an idea utterly
unfamiliar in the days of Christ. Since the object of the
insertion of these texts is perfectly clear, there can be
no doubt that they are forgeries, but as the whole system of the
Papacy rests upon one of them, they are likely to survive for a
long time to come. The text alluded to is made further
impossible because it is based upon the supposition that Christ
and His fishermen conversed together in Latin or Greek, even to
the extent of making puns in that language. Surely the want of
moral courage and intellectual honesty among Christians will seem
as strange to our descendants as it appears marvellous to us that
the great thinkers of old could have believed, or at least have
pretended to believe, in the fighting sexual deities of Mount
Olympus.
[7] The References are to Matthew, xxiii 35, and to Josephus,
Wars of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter 5.
Revision is, indeed, needed, and as I have already pleaded, a
change of emphasis is also needed, in order to get the grand
Christian conception back into the current of reason and
progress. The orthodox who, whether from humble faith or some
other cause, do not look deeply into such matters, can hardly
conceive the stumbling-blocks which are littered about before the
feet of their more critical brethren.
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