But what he dealt most fully with was the indiscriminate selection of what were very properly termed the "Lessons" from the Hebrew Bible.

It was, he said, far from edifying to hear some chapters read out from the lectern without comment; though fortunately the readers were as a rule so imperfectly trained that the most objectionable passages had their potentiality of mischief minimized.

He concluded his indictment by a reference to a sermon preached by the average clergyman of the Church of England.

This was, usually, he said, either a theological essay founded upon an obsolete system of theology, or a series of platitudes of morality delivered by an unpractical man.

The first was an insult to the intelligence of an average man; the second was an insult to the intelligence of an average schoolgirl.
His summing up of the whole case against the Church was as logical as it was trenchant.