CHAPTER IV.--The Almighty Power that governs the universe not the author of the Christian Religion--Destructive saying of Jesus--The power given to Peter; its disastrous results--Institution of the Sacrament--Intolerance and persecution of Sectarianism--Folly of religious teaching.
CHAPTER V.--Orthodox views of Christianity--Remarks on the bad effects of believing in the existence of the Devil, and in witchcraft, doctrines taught in the Bible--Trial and execution of two women for witchcraft in England, in 1664--Account of the witchcraft that prevailed in England and Scotland, in the days of Elizabeth--Anecdote of Cromwell's bargain with the Devil.
CHAPTER VI.--Continuation of remarks upon the supposed influence of Satanic agency--Dreadful effects of human credulity--Sketch of the life and tragical fate of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans--Temptation of Jesus.
CHAPTER VII.--God and the Devil--Probable origin of the belief in their existence--Mode of reasoning in ancient times by the ignorant--Theology--Christian Religion--Account of Witchcraft in Sweden, in 1670--Reflections.
CHAPTER VIII.--Comprehensive view of the mission of Christ to the Jewish nation--Plan of redemption--Willingness of the Jews to welcome the long expected Messiah--The violence and abuse they received from Jesus--Their condition not improved by his coming--Obscurity of his teaching--The Jews put him to death because they believed him an impostor--Judas, in betraying Jesus, was but the instrument to accomplish the plan of human redemption--Unfortunate condition of the Jews--Reflections upon their past and present treatment by Christians.
CHAPTER IX.--Object of Christ's coming into the world, uncertain and of doubtful utility--His obvious omission to convince the Jews that he was the Messiah, and his neglect to order his apostles to write a history of his life, show the Christian Religion deficient in the proof of its Divine origin--Jesus, according to the Gospels, was a moral reformer--Ignorance of his disciples of his Divine mission, as manifested by Peter, at the betrayal--The Resurrection of Jesus--Sudden departure afterward--Religious quarrels--Difficulty of defining Christianity-Reflections on the want of proof of Christ's Divine mission, and its insufficiency to reform the world--The Jesus of the New Testament an imaginary being.