individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus
Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if
the way to God was not open to every man alike.

Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call
revelation, or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God
was given by God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that
their Word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that
their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven.
Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own
part, I disbelieve them all.

As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I
proceed further into the subject, offer some observations on the word
'revelation.' Revelation when applied to religion, means something
communicated immediately from God to man.

No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a
communication if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case,
that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not
revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only.
When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to
a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those
persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to
every other, and, consequently, they are not obliged to believe it.

It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a
revelation that comes to us at second hand, either verbally or in
writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first
communication. After this, it is only an account of something which