There is not one real, true, live word in the Christian vocabulary of
salvation. Eden, the stage on which was performed the tragedy of original
sin, is a dead word; devil, the name of the scaly gentleman who took the
leading part in this tragedy is a dead word; hell, the abode of all those
who descended from the original sinners, is a dead word; Christ, the title
of the man who offered to ransom the human race and save men and women
from hell, is a dead word; atonement, the word that stands for the
expiation to be made by Christ, is a dead word. These words that the
Christian church uses in its exhortations to mankind have no heart of
truth in them. They stand for no facts; they represent no realities. Take
away these dead words from the Christian preacher, and you take away his
powder, shot and wads. Let the Christian be held to facts and obliged to
tell the truth, and his lips would be dumb. There never was such a place
as the Garden of Eden; never such an individual as the devil. There is no
such place as hell. There never was a Christ, and no atonement made, for
there was no necessity of any being made. If there was no such thing as
faith, Christianity could not make a convert on the earth. If ministers
were obliged to furnish the proof of their statements, there would be no
preaching.