Whatever was the primitive condition of the Jews it was lost to them; for the story of their abode in Egypt for more than four hundred years, and their strange exodus has not a shade of history to sustain it; and that, together with many of their traditions under Judges, belong to legend and not to history. -from "Chapter IV: Concerning the Exodus" This curious 1886 volume casts a skeptical eye on the "high claims of the Hebrew records," questioning the veracity of much of what Jewish people consider historical fact. From the story of Genesis and the Garden of Eden to Noah and the Great Flood, about which the author expresses considerable doubt, to the "unaccountable victory" of King David and "contradictory account" of Asa's reign, Howes compares and contrasts secular history with the tales of Jewish antiquity, measuring them also against his own unexplained theology and finding them wanting. Quaint and peculiar, this is a singular work of religious criticism.