The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine" Revelations
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Title: The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine" Revelations
Author: Kersey Graves
Lydia M. Graves
Release date: August 24, 2013 [eBook #43550]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43550
Credits: Produced by David Widger
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIBLE OF BIBLES; OR, TWENTY-SEVEN "DIVINE" REVELATIONS ***
THE BIBLE OF BIBLES;
OR,
TWENTY-SEVEN "DIVINE" REVELATIONS:
CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF TWENTY-SEVEN BIBLES, AND AN EXPOSITION OF
TWO THOUSAND BIBLICAL ERRORS IN SCIENCE, HISTORY, MORALS, RELIGION, AND
GENERAL EVENTS; ALSO A DELINEATION OF THE CHARACTERS OF THE PRINCIPAL
PERSONAGES OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, AND AN EXAMINATION OF THEIR
DOCTRINES.
By Kersey Graves,
Author Of "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors," "The Biography Of
Satan."
Fourth Edition.
Boston:
Colby & Rich, Publishers, No. 9 Montgomery Place.
1879.
By Lydia M. Graves,
Assistant Authoress.
NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS FOR THE THIRD EDITION.
1. On page 73 it is stated that no geologist or philosopher believes
in either a creation or a creator. It is admitted that some men, called
geologists, may believe so; but we hold that no man thoroughly versed in
geology and philosophy can thus believe.
2. On page 141, contradiction 146, it should be stated in the first part
that Ahaziah's reign began in his thirty-second year, instead of the
eleventh year of Joram. The second part should state that he began in
his forty-second year, instead of the twelfth year of Joram.
3. On page 143, contradiction 181, the anointment of Christ is spoken
of But the text refers to the feast of the passover.
4. On page 315 it is stated that the Unitarians believe in a hell. It
should be understood, however, that they believe in a hell merely as a
state or condition, and not as a place.
5. On page 364 it is stated that the weight of the tables of the law
was fifty times as much as Hilkiah could carry. This, of course, would
depend upon the quality and condition of the stone used and the manner
of engraving the law, if not, what is assumed, to constitute the law.
It is stated that some considered the Pentateuch the law. This, however,
was only in a general sense. They, of course, knew that the law as
described in Deuteronomy was the law proper, or special law.
6. The charge of falsehood against Christ, on page 403, is not intended
to imply that it is certain he designed telling a falsehood. But, as he
stated he would not go up to the feast at Jerusalem, and yet did go,
it shows that he either intended to deceive, or was ignorant of what
he would do in the future; and either defect would prove he was not an
omniscient God.
7. On page 414 it is stated that a Jew could not be a full Roman citizen
in the time of Paul, and that Tarsus was not at that time a Roman city.
But it may be stated also that authors differ on these points; and we
leave the matter for them or their critical readers to settle. Let it be
noted that it is not claimed that Paul, while professing to be first a
Roman citizen, and then a Pharisee, and then a disciple of Jesus Christ,
could not be all three at once; but it indicates his policy of changing.
THE PERSONALITY OF GOD.
As the denial of the personality of God, as set forth in Chapter, has
been warmly assailed by Orthodox professors since the work was issued,
and as that dogma constitutes one of the principal pillars of the
Orthodox faith, I propose to examine it a little further in the light of
reason and science. I will present other absurdities of the doctrine in
the form of questions.
1. If God is an organized personality, what should we assume to be his
form, size, shape, and color?
2. How large is his body?
3. Does it occupy more than one planet?
4. If not, how can he be present in other worlds?
5. What is his physical type--Malay, Mongolian, Anglo-Saxon, or African?
6. What is his complexion--white, black, or tawny?
7. What is the color of his eyes and hair?
8. What are the dimensions of his body and the length of his arms and
legs?
9. What is his position--lying, sitting, or standing?
10. How is his time occupied?
11. And as personality implies sex, and one sex not only implies the
other sex, but creates a necessity lor the other sex, we are driven to
ask, who is God's wife, and where is she?
12. Are they both on the same planet?
13. And have they ever been divorced? Or is he still a bachelor?
14. And as sex also implies offspring, we desire to ask, how many
children have they had?
15. And whether they are all boys?
16. And, as personality also implies parentage, this brings up the
question, who was God's father, grandfather, etc.
17. And as personality implies the susceptibility to anger, and the
Bible-God is often represented as getting angry, and anger has been
shown to be a species of insanity, would not this imply and prove that
heaven is ruled by an insane God--an omnipotent luuatic?
18. And would not this virtually make heaven a lunatic asylum, and
consequently a very unsuitable and disagreeable place to live in?
As all these and many other absurdities are involved in the assumption
of a personal God, it is difficult to see how any reasonable being can
swallow the doctrine.
MORE BIBLES.
As the notices of several bibles prepared for the first edition were
left out from fear of making the book too large, I have concluded to
insert a brief notice of some of them here.
1. _Dhammapada,_ or "Path of Virtue." This sacred book has constituted
the moral and religious guide of several hundred millions of Hindoos for
many centuries. It is probably the oldest record of the Budhistic
faith. It is assumed to be a collection from the _pitakas_, which
are principally compilations from the discourses of the incarnate god
Gautama, written out by his disciples. It was pronounced genuine and
canonical by a famous council which met in 246 B. C., under the reign of
King Asoka. Max Müller says, "Its moral code, taken by itself, is one of
the most perfect the world has ever known." Spence Ilardy, and' Johnson,
both speak highly of the work. It contains many wise, beautiful, and
lofty moral precepts, of which we will give a few specimens:--"Haste to
do good." "Give to those who ask." "Master thyself, and then thou canst
control and teach others." "Select for friend? the best of men." "Be
just, speak truly, act nobly," etc.
2. _Tripitika_. This book is divided into three parts hence its name,
which means "the three _pitikas_." Like the _Dhammanada_, it is a
history of some of the gods, and sets forth their lives and precepts. It
forbids the commission of sin, and enjoins the practice of the highest
virtues. "In no system," says Amherly, "is benevolence and charity
more emphatically inculcated." Chastity is recommended, and a life of
spotless virtue in every respect enjoined. The former work appears to be
made up principally by selections from this.
3. Other sacred books might be mentioned, such as "The Paradise of
Fo," "Confucius and his Disciple," "Catena of the Chinese Budhistic
Scriptures" "The Baghavat Gita," "The Sanhita," "Sudras" (appendages
to the Sunhita), "Divine Opherisms of Kanada," "The Uphanishads" (a
commentary on the Vedas), "Saddharma Pundosika" (another commentary),
"Worship and Psalmody of the Maharades," etc. Some of these works are
either other titles for those previously described, or are additions,
appendages, or commentaries. And thus it will be observed the world is
full of bibles and scriptures.
THE LEADING POSITIONS OF THIS WORK.
We maintain, 1st, That man's mental faculties are susceptible of
a threefold division and classification, as follows: First, the
intellectual department; second, the moral and religious department;
third, the animal department (which includes also the social).
2d, That all Bibles and religions are an outgrowth from some or all of
these faculties, and hence of natural origin.
3d, That all Bibles and religions which originated prior to the dawn of
civilization in the country which gave them birth (i.e., prior to the
reign of moral and physical science) are an emanation from the combined
action and co-operation of man's moral, religious, and _animal_ feelings
and propensities.
4th, That the Christian Bible contains (as shown in this work) several
thousand errors,--moral, religious, historical, and scientific.
5th, That this fact is easily accounted for by observing that it
originated at a period when the moral and religious feelings of the
nation which produced it co-operated with the _animal propensities_
instead of an _enlightened intellect_.
6th, That, although such a Bible and religion may have been adapted
to the minds which originated them, the _higher_ class of minds of
the present age demands a religion which shall call into exercise the
_intellect_, instead of the _animal_ propensities.
7th, That, as all the Bibles and religions of the past are more of an
emanation from the _animal propensities_ than the _intellect_, they
are consequently not suited to this age, and are for this reason being
rapidly abandoned.
8th, That true religion consists in the _true exercise_ of the moral and
religious faculties.
9th, As the Christian Bible is shown in this work to inculcate bad
morals, and to sanction, apparently, every species of crime prevalent in
society in the age in which it was written, the language of remonstrance
is frequently employed against placing such a book in the hands of the
heathen, or the children of Christian countries; and more especially
against making "the Bible the fountain of our laws and the supreme
rule of our conduct," and acknowledging allegiance to its God in the
Constitution of the United States, as recommended by the American
Christian Alliance. Such measures, this work shows by a thousand facts,
would be a deplorable check to the moral and intellectual progress of
the world.
10th, If any clergyman or Christian professor shall take any exceptions
to any position laid down in this work, the author will discuss the
matter with him in a friendly manner in the papers, or through the
post-office, or before a public audience.
Kersey Graves.
Richmond, Indiana
THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.
CHAPTER I.--THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
We live in the most important age in the history of the world. No age
preceding it was marked with such signal events. No other era in the
history of civilization has been characterized by such agitation of
human thought; such a universal tendency to investigation; such a
general awakening upon all important subjects of human inquiry; such
a determination to grow in knowledge, and cultivate the immortal
intellect, and mount to higher plains of development. The world of
mind is in commotion. All civilized nations are agitated from center
to circumference with the great questions of the age. And what does all
this prove? Why, that man is a progressive being; that the tendency of
the human mind is onward and upward; and that it will not always consent
to be bound down in ignorance and superstition. And, thanks to the
genius of the age, it is the prophecy of the glorious reformation and
regeneration of society,--an index of a happier era in the history of
the human race. Old institutions are crumbling, and tumbling to the
ground. The iron bands of creeds and dogmas, with which the people have
been so long bound down, are bursting asunder, and permitting them to
walk upright, and do their own thinking. In every department of science,
in every arena of human thought and every theater of human action,
we see a progressive spirit, we behold a disposition to lay aside the
traditions and superstitions of the past, and grasp the living facts
of the age. We everywhere see a disposition to abandon the defective
institutions, political and religious, which were gotten up in the
childhood of human experience, and supplant them with those better
adapted to the wants of the age. In a word, there is everywhere
manifested a disposition and determination to unshackle the human body,
and set free the human mind, and place it with its living aspirations
on the road to the temple of Truth. An evidence of the truth of these
statements the reader can gather by casting his eyes abroad, or by
reading the periodicals of the day. At this very time nearly all the
orthodox churches are in a state of commotion. The growing light and
intelligence of the age, penetrating their dark creeds and dogmas, are
producing a sort of moral effervescence. The question of "hell" is now
the agitating theme of the churches. Posterity will ridicule us, and
class us with the unenlightened heathen, for discussing a question
so far behind the times, and one so childish and so absurd in this
intelligent and enlightened age. To condescend to discuss such a
question now must be Well enough for scientific and intelligent
minds. And other important religious events mark the age. When the
Roman-Catholic Church, through its Ecumenical Council, dragged the Pope
from his lofty throne of usurped power, and robbed him of his attribute
of infallibility, it proclaimed the downfall of the Pope and the
_death-knell_ of the Church. Already thousands of his subjects refuse
longer to bow down and kiss the big toe of his sacred majesty. His
scepter has departed, his spiritual power is gone, his temporal power is
waning. And the same spirit of agitation is operating as a leaven in the
Protestant churches also. All the orthodox churches are declining and
growing weaker by their members falling off. The Methodist Church has
recently lost more than two hundred of its preachers; and the Baptist
Church, according to the statement of a recent number of "The Christian
Era," has lost twenty-two thousand of its members within a period of
five years. The agitation in the churches is driving thousands from
their ranks, while many who remain are becoming more liberal-minded.
The orthodox Quaker Church has, in many localities, "run clear off the
track."
It has abandoned its old time-honored peculiarities in dress and
language, once deemed by them sacred, and essential to true godliness.
The use of "thee" and "thou" is laid aside by many of its members; and
even leading members have given up the "shad-bellied coat," and the
round-crowned hat with a brim broad enough to "cover a multitude of
sins." They no longer wait for "the Holy Ghost" to move them to preach;
but, as a member once remarked, "they go it on their own hook, like the
Methodists, hit or miss." Music, once regarded by many of them as an
emanation from "an emissary of the Devil," is now admitted into many of
their churches. Thus it will be seen they are making some progress. The
_light without_ is benefiting them _more_ than "the light _within_." All
the orthodox systems committed a fatal error at the outset in assuming
that their religions were derived directly from God, and consequently
must be _perfect_ and _unalterable_, and a _finality_ in moral and
religious progress. Such an assumption will cause the downfall, sooner
or later, of any religious body which persists in propagating the error.
Religious institutions, like all other institutions, are subject to the
laws of growth and decay. Hence, if their doctrines and creeds are not
improved occasionally to make them conform to the growing light and
intelligence of the age and the principles of science, they will fall
behind the times, cease to answer the moral and religious wants of the
age, and become a stumbling-block in the path of progress. Common sense
would teach us that the doctrines preached by the churches two hundred
years ago must be as much out of place now as the wooden shoes and
bearskin coats worn by the early disciples would be _for us. Their
spiritual food_ is by no means adapted to _our moral and religious
wants_. We are under no more moral and religious obligation whatever
to preach the doctrines of original sin, the fall of man, endless
punishment, infant damnation, &c., because our religious forefathers
believed in these doctrines, than we are morally bound to eat beetles,
locusts, and grasshoppers, because our Jewish ancestors feasted on there
nasty vermin, as we learn by reading Lev. xi. Why is it that in modern
times there has arisen great complaint in all the orthodox churches
about the rapid inroads of infidelity into their ranks? It is simply
because, that while the people are beginning to assume the liberty to do
their own thinking, the churches refuse to recognize the great principle
of universal progress as applicable to their religion, which _would_
and _should_ keep their doctrines and precepts improved up to the times.
Instead of adopting this wise policy, they try to compel their members
to be content with the old stale _salt_ junk of bygone ages, in the
shape of dilapidated, outgrown creeds and dogmas; but it will not do. It
is as difficult to keep great minds tied down to unprogressive creeds as
it would be to keep grown-up boys and girls in baby-jumpers. Enlightened
nations are as capable of making their own religion as their own laws;
that is, of making its tenets conform to the natural outgrowth of their
religious feelings as they become more expanded and enlightened. And it
is a significant historical fact, that great minds in _all_ religious
nations have wholly or partially outgrown and abandoned the current
and popular religions of the country. It is only moral cowards, or
the ignorant and uninformed, who throw themselves into the lap of the
Church, and depend upon the priest to pilot them to heaven. Moses, Jesus
Christ, Mahomet, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Emanuel Swedenborg,
George Fox, Elias Hicks, and many other superior minds, strove hard
unconsciously to rise above the religion in which they were educated;
and all succeeded in making some improvement in its stereotyped
doctrines or practices. The implied assumption of the churches, that
their doctrines and precepts are too perfect to be improved and too
sacred to be investigated, and their Bible too holy to be criticised, is
contradicted both by history and science; and this false assumption
has already driven many of the best minds of the age from their ranks.
Theodore Parker declared that all the men of great intellects had left
the Church in his time, because, instead of improving their religion to
keep it up to the times they bolt their doors, and hang curtains over
their windows to keep out the light of the age. There could not be
one inch of progress made in any thing in a thousand years with the
principle of non-progression in religion adopted by the churches; for,
if it will apply to religion, it will apply with still greater force to
every thing else: and hence it would long ago have put a dead lock
upon all improvement, had it not been counteracted by outside
counter-influences. It is because a large portion, and the _most
enlightened portion_, of the community have assumed the liberty and
moral independence to _think_ and _act for themselves_, that society has
made _any_ progress either in science, morals, or religion. A religion
which sedulously opposes its _own improvement_ can do nothing essential
toward improving _any thing else_, unless _forced_ into it by outside
influences; and it can not feel a _proper degree of interest_ in those
improvements essential to the progress of society. On the contrary, it
must check the growth of every thing it touches with its palsied hands.
Here we can see the reason that no church in any age of the world has
inaugurated any great system of reform for the improvement of society,
but has _made war_ on nearly every reform set on foot by that class of
people which it has chosen to stigmatize as "infidels." Such a religion
will _decline and die_ in the exact ratio of the enlightenment and
progress of society.
THE COMING REVOLUTION.
That there is a general state of _unrest_ in the public mind, at the
present time, on the subject of religion, must be apparent to every
observing person. Theological questions, long since regarded as settled
for ever, are being overhauled and discussed with a freedom and general
interest far transcending that known or practically realized at any
previous period. This is premonitive of a _speedy_ religious revolution.
That it will come sooner or later is as _certain_ as that seed-sowing is
succeeded by harvest. Reforms no longer move with the snail's pace they
did a century ago. This is an age of steam and electricity; and every
thing has to move with velocity. We cherish no unkindly feelings toward
any church or people; but we must rejoice that the strongholds of
orthodoxy are being shaken, and error exposed, and that creeds are
loosening their iron grasp upon the immortal mind Old, long-cherished
dogmas, myths, and blinding superstitions are passing away, to make room
for something better.
Yes, the signs of the times indicate the _dawning_ of a brighter day
upon the world,--a day which shall be illuminated by the rays of reason
and science.
And, if this work shall contribute any thing toward _speeding_ the
dawning of that glorious era, we shall feel amply rewarded for the labor
and personal sacrifice required in its production.
REASON WILL SOON TRIUMPH.
The march of science and the rapid growth of the reasoning faculties
peculiar to this progressive age are daily revealing the errors of our
popular theology, and exposing their demoralizing effects in repressing
the growth and healthy action of the intellect, and perverting the
exercise of the moral faculties. And this progressive change and
improvement must be a source of great rejoicing to every true-hearted
philanthropist, and furnishes a strong incentive to labor with zeal in
this field of reform. It should be borne in mind, that all the dogmas
and doctrines of our current religious faith originated at a period
before the sun of science had risen above the moral horizon, and
anterior to the birth of moral science, and hence, like other
productions of that age, are heavily laden with error. But rejoice, O ye
_lovers of and laborers for_ truth and science! the dark clouds of our
gloomy theology are _rapidly_ receding before the sunlight of our modern
civilization, and will soon leave a clear and cloudless sky! And all
will rejoice in having learned and practically experienced the glorious
truth, that true religion is not incorporated in Bibles, or inscribed on
the pages of any book, and cannot be found therein, but is a natural and
spontaneous outgrowth of man's moral and religious nature, and is "the
_most beautiful flower of the soul_."
CHAPTER II.--APOLOGY AND EXPLANATION.
Although books are constantly issuing from the press, and the country
kept literally flooded with new publications, yet but few of them
meet the real wants of the age, and many of them are of no permanent
practical benefit to the world. Such a work as is comprised in "The
Bible of Bibles" is a _desideratum_. It has been long and loudly called
for. It is a moral necessity, and partially supplies one of the great
moral wants of the times. It is true, hundreds of works have been
published embracing criticisms on the Bible, and attempting to expose
some of its numerous errors, and portray some of its evil influences
upon those who accept it as a moral guide. Yet it is believed that the
present work embraces the first attempt to arrange together, or make out
any thing like a full list of, the numerous errors of "the Holy Book."
And yet it falls far short of accomplishing this end; for, although
more than two thousand errors are brought to notice, a critical research
would bring to light several thousand more. It will be observed by the
reader, that there has been a constant effort on the part of the author
to abridge, contract, and compress the contents of the volume into the
smallest compass possible to be attained compatible with perspicuity.
Every chapter, and almost every line, discloses this policy. In no
other way than by the adoption of such an expedient could two thousand
biblical errors have been brought to notice in a single volume. The
adoption of the most rigid rules of abbreviation and compression alone
could have accomplished it; and this policy has been carried out even in
making citations from the Bible. Such superfluous words and phrases
have been dropped as could be spared without impairing the sense or real
meaning of the text. And yet, with this unceasing effort to compress
and abridge the work, it falls so far short of portraying fully all
the errors and evils which a critical investigation shows to be the
legitimate outgrowth of our Bible religion, that the author contemplates
following it with another work, which may complete an exposition of nine
thousand errors now known to be comprised in "the Holy Book." The
title will probably be, "The Bible in the Light of History, Reason, and
Science." He intends also to rewrite and republish soon, and probably
enlarge, his "Biography of Satan," so as to make it entirely a new work.
I. JEHOVAH.
The author desires the reader to bear it specially in mind that his
criticisms on the erroneous conceptions and representations of God,
as found in the Christian Bible, appertains in all cases to that mere
imaginary being known as the Jewish Jehovah, and has no reference
whatever to the God of the universe, who must be presumed to be a very
different being. The God of Moses, who is represented as coming down
from heaven, and walking and talking, eating and sleeping, traveling on
foot (and barefoot, so as to make it necessary for Abraham to wash his
feet); and who is also represented as eating barley-cakes and veal with
Abraham (Gen. xviii.); wrestling all night with Jacob, and putting his
thigh out of place; trying to kill Moses in a hotel, but failing in the
attempt; and as getting vanquished in a battle with the Canaanites; and
also as frequently getting mad, cursing and swearing, &c.,--such was
the character of Jehovah, the God of the Jews,--a mere figment of the
imagination. Hence he is a just subject of criticism.
II. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.
Some of the representatives of the Christian faith, when the shocking
immoralities of the Old Testament are pointed out, attempt to evade
the responsibility by alleging that they do not live under the _old_
dispensation, but the _new_, thereby intimating that they are
not responsible for the errors of the former. But the following
considerations will show that such a defense is fallacious and entirely
untenable.
1. It takes both the Old and the New Testaments to constitute "the Holy
Bible" which they accept as a whole.
2. Both are bound together, and circulated by the million, as possessing
equal credibility and equal authority.
3. Both are quoted alike by clergymen and Christian writers.
4. The New Testament is inseparably connected with the Old.
5. The prophecies of the Old form the basis of the New.
6. Both are canonized together under the word "holy."
7. Nearly all the New-Testament writers, including Paul, indorse the
Old Testament, and take no exception to any of its errors or any of its
teachings. For these reasons, to accept one is to accept the other. Both
stand or fall together.
Note.--Christ modified some of Moses's error, but indorsed most of the
Old Testament errors.
CHAPTER III.--WHY THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN,
There are in this and other Christian countries more than one hundred
thousand clergymen who spend a portion of each recurring sabbath in
presenting the claims, and dilating upon the beauties and benefits (some
real and some imaginary), of the religion of the Christian Bible. They
claim that it is the religion for this age, and a religion that should
be adopted by the whole human race; but they present but one side of the
picture, and but one phase of the argument. A witness before a jury is
required to "tell the truth, and _the whole_ truth;" but the priesthood
dare not do this with respect to the errors and defects of their
religion. They would lose their congregations and their _salaries_ also.
But few clergymen possess the moral courage to turn state's evidence
against their pockets or their "bread and butter." It is a sad
reflection that they are hired, and required to _conceal_ whatever
errors may loom up before their moral vision in the investigation of the
principles of their religion, or the Bible on which it is founded. They
are placed in the position of an attorney who is sworn to be true to
his client at any sacrifice of truth and moral manhood. Whatever may
be their moral convictions with respect to the sinfulness or evil
consequences or demoralizing effects of continuing to preach the
_intellectually dwarfing and morally poisoning_ doctrines originated in,
and adapted only to, the dark and undeveloped ages of the past, when the
race was under the dominion of the animal and blind propensities, yet
_they must do it_. They must continue to preach these errors, to sustain
these evils, and maintain their false positions, or lose their salaries
and their popular standing in society. It is a very unfortunate position
to be placed in; but, self-interest being the ruling principle of the
age, we cannot reasonably expect the clergy will do any thing toward
enlightening the people on the errors and immoral influences of their
religious doctrines, or the substitution of a better system, until human
nature has advanced to a higher moral plane. On the contrary, we must
expect they will continue to blind the people, pervert the truth,
magnify every imaginable good quality of their religious system; while,
on the other hand, they will as sedulously attempt to hide every defect
which either they or others may discover in their Bible. This state of
things in the religious world imposes upon the moral reformer the solemn
necessity of employing the most effectual lever, and of adopting every
available moral means, to counteract this morally deleterious influence
of the clergy, and arrest the tide of evil which follows in their wake
as the legitimate fruits of a course of conduct dictated _by policy
instead of principle_.
II. THE MORAL TRUTHS OF THE BIBLE.
Some of our readers will doubtless be disposed to ask why we have not
occupied a larger portion of this work in exhibiting the beauties and
benefits of the religion and system of morals set forth in the Bible.
The answer to the question is fully anticipated in the preceding
remarks. It is simply because fifty thousand tongues and pens are almost
constantly employed in this work. They do it and overdo it. This renders
it a work of supererogation on our part; while, on the other hand, we
find the errors and evils of the Bible and its religion, which they
overlook or neglect to expose, so very numerous, that we can not exhibit
them in a single volume, unless we allow but a limited space to a
repetition of what is done by them every week. This is our reason for
appearing to pursue a one-sided policy.
III. WHY RESORT TO RIDICULE?
We hope we shall not be misunderstood or condemned by any reader for
appearing to indulge frequently in a spirit of levity in attempting to
expose the logical and moral absurdities of the Bible. We have assumed
this license more from an apprehended moral necessity than from a
natural disposition. Ridicule is now generally acknowledged by moralists
to be a most potent weapon for the demolition of error. Moral and
religions absurdities, according to Cicero, can be arrested and put down
much sooner by "holding them up to the light of ridicule, than by any
other means that can be employed." Let no one, then, oppose the use of
such means simply because it may disturb a sensitive feeling in his
own mind, derived from a false education. A critical investigation of
religious history discloses the important fact, that the conviction
established in the popular mind that it is wrong to indulge in a feeling
of levity when writing or discoursing on religious subjects is the work
of the clergy. Having discovered that many of the narrations of their
Bible, and likewise many of the tenets of their creeds, are really
ridiculous when examined in the light of science, reason, and sound
sense, in order to prevent these ridiculous features of their systems
from being exposed, they taught the people that ridicule is entirely
out of place in matters of religion, and that such feelings, or language
_expressive_ of such feelings, should be entirely suppressed. And it is
principally by the invention of this expedient, and the establishment
of this conviction in the public mind, that the clergy have succeeded in
keeping the ridiculous errors of their creeds concealed from age to age.
And to continue this policy longer is only to yield to their interests,
and prolong those evils still longer which have been perpetuated for
centuries by the adoption of this expedient. No other argument or
apology is necessary than this as a justification of the limited extent
to which the language of ridicule has been employed in this work. It is
an egregious error, which is the offspring of an erroneous education
and habit, to suppose that ridicule is more out of place on religious
subjects than on other subjects. O. S. Fowler has fully established this
as a scientific fact on phrenological grounds. We should be quite sorry
to wound the feelings of any sensitive mind by any language made use of
in this work, and hope this explanation, will prevent such results.
THE PRINCIPAL DESIGN OF THIS WORK.
As a critical examination of the Christian Bible discloses the fact
that it contains several thousand moral and scientific errors, and as
experience proves the tendency of such errors is to corrupt the moral
feelings and check the intellectual growth of all who read and believe
"the Hoty Book," we have, since arriving at this conviction, considered
it to be our duty not only to expose these errors, but also to
discourage the habitual reading of the Bible with any other view than
to learn its real character. And more especially do we earnestly advise
parents not to place the Bible in the hands of their children till
they arrive at an age when a more mature judgment can enable them to
discriminate between its truths and its errors. And we likewise entreat
all moralists and philanthropists, and all lovers of truth and virtue,
as they desire the moral growth and moral reformation of the world, to
exert their influence to stop the shipment of the Christian Bible
to foreign lands to be circulated among the uncultured and credulous
heathen. Here is disclosed one of our principal reasons for writing this
work. We wish to make it a voice of remonstrance against placing any of
those morally defective books called Bibles in the hands of the ignorant
and impressible heathen, or the children of Christian countries, until
their minds become sufficiently fortified by age and experience to
resist or withstand the demoralizing influence of their bad precepts and
bad examples as exposed in this work.
DON'T READ PERNICIOUS BOOKS.
The Quaker Church (of which the author was once a member) have a clause
in their discipline forbidding their members to read pernicious books,
which are defined by one of the founders of the Church (William Penn)
to be "such books and publications as contain language which appears to
sanction crime or wrong practices, or teach bad morals." And hundreds
of cases cited in this work prove that the Christian Bible may be ranked
with works of this character. If the advice of the Hindoo editor had
been complied with many years ago,--to "revise all Bibles, and leave
out their bad precepts and examples," and change their obscene
language,--the Christian Bible might now be a very useful and
instructive book. But we are willing to leave it to the conscience of
every honest reader, who places truth and morality above Bibles and
creeds, to decide, after reading this work, whether the Bible, with all
its ennobling precepts, does not contain too strong an admixture of bad
morality to make it a safe or suitable book to be relied on as a guide
in morals and religion. According to Archbishop Tillotson, Bibles shape
the morals and religion of the people in all religious countries,--they
are derived from the examples and precepts of these "Holy Books." If
this be true, we most solemnly and seriously put the question to every
Bible reader, What must be the effect upon the morals and religion of
Christian countries of such moral examples as Abraham, Moses, Noah,
Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, and nearly all the prophets, with their
long string of crimes, as shown in this work? Let us not be guilty of
the folly of suffering our inherited, stereotyped predilections, and
exalted veneration for "the Holy Book," to rule our moral sense, and
control our judgment in this matter, but muster the moral courage to
look at the thing in its true light. Let us be independent moralists and
philanthropists, rather than slaves to Bibles and creeds. "Every book,"
says a writer, "has a spirit which it breathes into the minds of its
readers;" and, if it contains bad morals or bad language, the habitual
reading of it will gradually reconcile the mind to those immoral
lessons, and finally cause them to be looked upon as God-given truths.
Such is the omnipotent force of habit. And we appeal to all Bible
readers to testify if this has not been their experience. All Christian
professors, when they first commenced reading the Bible, doubtless found
many things in it which shocked their moral sense, did violence to
their reasoning faculties, and mortified their love of decorum. But a
perseverance in reading it, through the force of habit and education,
has finally reconciled their minds to those immoral lessons, and blinded
the judgment, so that they are not now conscious of their real character
and deleterious influence upon the mind.
TWO THOUSAND BIBLE ERRORS.
One of the strongest and most solemn lessons of human experience, and
proofs of the blinding effect of a false religious education, may be
found in the fact that the two thousand Bible errors brought to notice
in this work have been overlooked from age to age by the great mass of
Bible readers. So absolutely and deplorably blinded have they been in
some cases, as to lead them to conclude, like Dr. Cheever of New York,
that "the Bible does not contain the _shadow of a shade_ of error from
Genesis to Revelation." Such a perversion and stultification of the
reasoning faculties was never excelled in any age or country. St.
Augustine furnishes another striking illustration of the total wreck of
mind and moral principle which an obstinate determination to accept the
Bible with all its errors is capable of effecting. Having found a great
many absurdities in the Bible which he could not reconcile with reason
and sense, and hence discovering he must either give up his Bible or his
reason, he chose the latter alternative, and declared in his "Book
of Sermons" (p. 33), "I believe things in the Bible because they are
absurd. I believe them because they are impossible" (as glaring an
absurdity as ever issued from human lips). Such a desperate expedient
to save his Bible and creed from going overboard shows that they had
demoralized his mind, and made a complete wreck of his reason. This is
the writer who declared he found and preached to a nation of people
who had but one eye, and that situated in their foreheads, and another
nation who had no heads, but eyes in their breasts. It seems a pity that
this single-eyed nation became extinct; for Christ declared, "If
thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Such an
embodiment of light might have done much to enlighten the world. And
this St. Augustine is the writer whom Eusebius pronounces "the great
moral light of the Christian Church." And St. Irenaeus furnishes
another deplorable example of the prostration or perversion of the
moral faculties by accepting the Bible as a standard for morals when he
_justified the crime of incest_ by pointing to the example of "righteous
Lot" and his daughters. The celebrated Albert Barnes was made a
victim of great mental suffering for many years by his laborious but
ineffectual attempts to reconcile the Bible with the dictates of reason.
Hear what he says about the matter. We will present the case in his own
language: "These difficulties (of reconciling the teachings of the Bible
to reason) are probably felt by every mind that ever reflects on
the subject; and they are unexplained, unmitigated, and unremoved. I
confess, for one, that I feel them, and feel them more sensibly and
powerfully the more I look at them, and the longer I live. I do not
understand them, and I make no advance toward understanding them. I do
not know that I have a ray of light upon this subject which I had not
when the subject first flashed across my soul. I have read what wise and
good men have written upon the subject; I have looked at their theories
and explanations; I have endeavored to weigh their arguments,--for my
whole soul pants for light and relief on these questions: but I get
neither; and, in the anguish and distress of my soul, I confess I get no
light whatever. I see not one ray to disclose to me the reason why sin
came into the world, why the earth is strewn with the dying and the
dead, and why man must suffer to all eternity. I have never seen a
particle of light thrown on these subjects that has given a moment's
ease to my tortured mind.... I trust that other men... have not the
anguish of spirit which I have. But I confess, when I look on a world of
sinners and sufferers, upon death-beds and graveyards, and upon a world
of woe filled with hosts to suffer for ever; and when I see my friends,
my parents, my family, my people, my fellow-citizens--when I look upon
a whole race--all involved in this sin and danger; and when I see the
great mass of them wholly unconcerned; and when I feel that God only
can save them, and yet he does not do it,--I am struck dumb. It is
all dark--dark--dark to my soul; and I cannot disguise it" (Practical
Sermons, p. 124). There, reader, you have the candid confession of an
honest-minded, orthodox, and one of the ablest and most talented writers
that ever wielded the pen in defense of the Christian faith. And if such
a talented and logical mind could find no reason, consistency, or moral
principle in the dogmas of orthodoxy, we may readily ask, Who can?
Thousands of other orthodox clergymen have doubtless been perplexed with
the same difficulties, but have not had the honesty to confess it. Those
who do not now perceive them can find the reason by putting their hands
on their own heads. They will find their intellects or logical brains
defective. Moral philosophers now find no difficulty in solving any of
those problems which so much perplexed the mind of Mr. Barnes. They
are all false and unfounded dogmas, except the prevalence of death and
disease in the world. And these casualties are now known to be amongst
the wisest and most useful dispensations of nature. (See chapter headed
Natural and Moral Evil.) And had Mr. Barnes ascended to the plane
of mental and moral science, instead of remaining down in the dark,
orthodox, theological cellar, trying to squeeze truth out of old, dead,
dried-up, dusty, theological dogmas, he would have readily found the
solution to all his problems, and would have rejoiced in thus emerging
into the glorious sunlight of truth.
BIBLES USEFUL IN THEIR PLACE.
We do not question but that Bibles served a useful purpose for those
nations and tribes by whom and for whom they were written; but as they
only represent the imperfect moral and religious conceptions of that
age, and have always been sacredly guarded from improvement, to make
them the rule of action for any subsequent age would be to stop all
moral and religious improvement. It is strikingly evident that society
can make no improvement while it follows a Bible which is interdicted
from improvement. It must remain stationary, with respect to religion
and morals, so far as it is tied to an unchangeable book. Bibles in this
way become masters of human thought, and shackles for the soul, and thus
inflict serious evils upon society by their tendency to stop all moral,
and religious progress. Three thousand or ten thousand years may elapse,
and no improvement can be made in the religion or morals of the people
while the Bible from which they emanate is prohibited from improvement.
Thus Bibles inflict a death-like torpor and stagnation upon the moral
and intellectual progress of society so far as their precepts are
lived up to; that is, so far as the assumption that there can be no
improvement in the teachings of the Bible is practically observed. It
is the source of a pleasing reflection, however, to know that most Bible
believers habitually violate their own principles by trampling this
assumption under foot. Otherwise we would have remained eternally in a
state of barbarism.
CHAPTER IV.--THE BEAUTIES AND BENEFITS OF BIBLES.
Thebe is displayed in all Bibles a devout recognition of moral
principles, and a strong manifestation of moral feeling. The disciples
of all Bibles manifest an ardent aspiration for something higher,
something nobler,--a mental struggle to reach a higher plane. This moral
aspiration is displayed in almost every chapter; and there are in all
Bibles veins of beautiful thought coursing through their pages. All
of them contain moral precepts which are in their nature elevating and
ennobling, and which, if practically recognized, would have done much to
improve the morals and enhance the happiness of their disciples; and all
Bibles are valuable as fragments of religious history, and as indicating
the state of religion and morals of the people who originated them.
Their numerous outbursts of religious feeling indicate the depth of
their devotion; while their many noble moral aphorisms indicate an
appreciation of, and a desire for, a higher moral life than they were
able to practice because of the strength of their animal feelings. This
is especially true of the Jews, and also of the early Christians. They
had a partial perception of a true moral life, and a desire at times to
practice it; but that desire was counteracted and held in check by their
still stronger animal natures and animal propensities.
A HIGHER PLANE OF DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN ATTAINED.
There can be no question, from the light derived from the twofold
avenues of science and history, but that the great principle of
universal progress, which is carrying every thing forward to a higher
plane and state of perfection, has elevated the most advanced nations of
the present age _beyond and above_ the religion and morals prevalent in
the world when the Jewish and Christian Bible was written, which makes
it very unsuitable for the _present_ advanced state of society.
An investigation of the science of anthropology discloses the very
significant and important fact, that the religious feelings of the
founders and early representatives of the Jewish and Christian religions
were under the control of their animal natures, which accounts for their
frequent use of obscene language, and their frequent indulgence in
the practice of every species of crime with the full sanction of the
principles of their religion. And they cherished the conviction that
those things had the divine sanction.
LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCE.
The moral and religions feelings of the early Jews and Christians
_co-operated_ with their _animal propensities_; and the _latter held
supreme sway_ over the former: while the moral and religions feelings
of the most advanced minds of the present day co-operate, not with the
_animal_, but with the _intellectual_. This makes a very important and
very marked difference, and makes the semi-animal religion of the past
very unsuitable for the present age. Please note this point, friendly
reader.
BIBLE WRITERS HONEST.
It may readily be conceded that the writers and compilers of all Bibles
were honest, and that all the errors which those Bibles embrace, and the
crimes which they sanction, were honestly believed to be right, and in
accordance with the will of God. For all sacred history teaches us, as
an important lesson of human nature, that no errors are too gross,
no crimes too enormous, no statements too false or absurd, no
contradictions too glaring, and no stories too preposterous or too
ridiculous, to receive the fullest indorsement of the most honest and
pious minds, and to be even cherished by them as _God-given_ or divinely
revealed _truths_, when such has been their teaching every day of their
lives, in connection with the habitual _suppression_ of the voice of
reason, and the inherited conviction of their truth deeply implanted in
the mind, derived from a thou sand preceding generations. A strong and
unyielding cord of religious conviction thus grows in the human mind,
which no reason, no philosophy, and no science can ever sever or even
shake. It becomes a moral canker, which no remedy can reach, or arrest
in its progress. It seems to grow into the very heartstrings. Such is
the strength of religious prejudice, such the weak side of human nature.
Three hundred millions of people believe in the Hindoo religion, one
hundred millions in the Chinese religion, two hundred millions in the
Mahomedan religion, and one hundred and fifty millions in the Christian
religion,--all for the same reasons, because their parents so believed,
and taught them, and their neighbors still believe it; and surrounding
influences have caused them to continue in their erroneous belief.
After the illuminating rays of the sun of science had to some extent
dispelled the religious errors of our early education, the case was so
plain, that we entered upon the work of trying to convince others, with
sanguine hopes of success. But experience has established the conviction
in our mind, that if every text of the Christian Bible were a falsehood,
and every line of their creeds an absurdity, there are many devout
admirers of the book who could never be made to see it, because they
are ruled by their _religious feelings_, and not by their _reasoning
faculties_; and hence they will live and die in their moral and
religious errors. But we rejoice in the omnipotent power of truth, which
will finally dispel all error from progressive minds.
GENERAL CLAIMS OF BIBLES.
More than twenty sacred books have been found in varions countries,
which, if not in all cases denominated Bibles, have at least been
venerated and used as such, and, properly speaking, are Bibles. Hence
we shall call them Bibles. The list in this chapter comprises nearly
all which recent research has brought to light. A brief synopsis of
the character and contents of each will be presented, so far as a
comparative view with the Christian Bible seems to make it requisite.
All of these Bibles possess some common characteristics:--
1. All of them were claimed to be inspired.
2. All were claimed to be an embodiment of wisdom and knowledge far
transcending the ordinary attainments of man.
3. All were penned by inspired men, who were shielded from the
possibility of erring while writing them.
4. Each Bible is a finality in religious knowledge.
5. Each one is an authority from which there is no appeal.
6. It is a sin to question or doubt the truth of any of them, or to
suggest the possibility of their containing errors.
7. Some of them were written by God, some by angels, and others by
inspired men.
8. Each one points out the only safe and certain road to heaven.
9. He who is a disbeliever in any one of these holy books is an infidel.
10. Each one is to effect the salvation of the whole human race.
CHAPTER V.--TWENTY-SEVEN BIBLES DESCRIBED.
THE HINDOO BIBLES.
I. THE VEDAS.
The Veda is considered to be the oldest sacred book of the Hindoos,
and is evidently the oldest Bible now extant. There is a vast amount
of evidence to prove that it was written long before the time of Moses,
which establishes the fact that it borrowed nothing from the Jews or
Jewish writings. They purport to be the inspired utterances of very
ancient and holy saints and prophets, known as Rishis, who received
them directly from the mouth of the great God Brahma about nine thousand
years ago, after they had existed in his mind from all eternity. These
"holy men," by their devout piety and unreserved devotion to the cause
of God and religion, it was believed, had attained to true holiness and
heavenly sanctity. The Vedas treat of the attributes of God, and his
dealings with the human race; his invisibility and spirituality; his
unchangeableness, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence; the
nature and binding force of his laws; the doctrine of future rewards
and punishments; frequent and wonderful display of divine power, called
miracles, &c. It contains, likewise, many noble, lofty, and beautiful
moral precepts. It also treats, to some extent, of astronomy, medicines,
and government. The May number of "The New-York Tribune" for 1838
contains a very interesting account of the recent translation of the
Vedas into the English language, from which we will make a few extracts:
"The whole of the Veda is now being published for the first time by
the East-India Company, by which the reader will learn that most of
the odious things which have been charged to it are false. They are
not found therein. They are Christian forgeries; such as the burning of
widows on the funeral pile of their husbands, the marriage of
children, the doctrine of caste, &c. None of these things are taught
or countenanced by the Vedas. The man who believes in the Vedas
approximates to a Christian." (Mark this statement, Christian reader!)
Mr. Greeley further says: "The highest authority for the religion of the
Brahmins is the Vedas. The most elaborate arguments have been framed
by its devout believers to establish its divine origin and absolute
authority. They constantly appeal to its authority, and, in controversy
with Mahomedan and Christian missionaries" (Mahomedans have
missionaries among them, observe), "they invariably fall back on the
Vedas,--referring to it with great confidence in support of any thing
they wish to establish as divine. There is no doctrine of Christianity
which has not been anticipated by the Vedas." What is that you say,
Mr. Greeley? "They have all the doctrines of Christianity!" Is that
possible? All the holy and inspired doctrines of Jesus Christ, the great
divine Lawgiver and Savior of the world, found in an old heathen
Bible, written more than two thousand years before a single line of
the doctrines of Christ was penned! Here is one of the most astounding
announcements ever made to the world. The reader, perhaps, will suppose
that Mr. Greeley was an infidel; but here, again, is something most
astonishing: Mr. Greeley was up to this time a sound member of a
Christian church, and withal a truthful writer. Such an announcement
ought to have startled the whole Christian world, and set them to
investigating the matter. But, like the disciples of all the heathen
religions, they are immovably fixed in the errors of their faith, and
turn a deaf ear to all criticism, and all honest inquiry relating to the
truth of its claims. Such is the tenacity of their inherited convictions
of being right, their assumption of infallibility, their aversion and
opposition to investigation, that, if every line of their Bible was a
falsehood, but few of them would find it out.
There are four works which come under the name of Vedas, known as the
Rig Veda, Yojur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda.
Each of these Bibles is constituted of various books, probably the work
of different writers. Each Veda is accompanied by psalms or hymns, known
as the "Sanhita," and also by a sort of prose treatise or commentary,
called the "Brahmana," which possesses a ritualistic or didactic
character,--all of which were believed to be inspired. "Never has the
theory of inspiration," says Mr. Amberly, "been pushed to such extremes
as in the case of the Vedas. They were believed by some to be the direct
creation of Brahma," while the hymns which accompany them were claimed
to be the inspired productions of holy men and prophets (Rishis).
The Vedas was the standard authority in all cases; and any doctrine,
opinion, or statement at variance with the Vedas was to be rejected as
false. "And as for a contradiction in the Holy Book," says Mr. Amberly,
"the thought was not to be entertained for a moment as possible." Such
a conclusion they ascribed to the reader's wrong interpretation of its
language. Such was the extreme veneration in which the book was held,
that every text, word, and even syllable, was counted. A Brahmin was not
allowed to marry till after he had devoted several years to studying the
Holy Book; And, to attain to complete holiness, the disciple must commit
the Rig Veda to memory, or read it through on his bended knees. The
Vedas represent God as being "one and indivisible," and "merciful to
sinners." And Brahmins and Budhists, when they pray for sinners or
for their enemies, manifest a spirit of kindness and forgiveness not
equalled by Christians.
The Budhists had many churches and many priests, who taught the people
to lead virtuous lives, and to avoid the commission of every species of
crime, including the use of intoxicating drinks. And in no other system
was ever benevolence and charity, and also chastity, more emphatically
enjoined, or more consistently practiced. The Vedas teach that every
good act has its reward, and every bad act its punishment. Its disciples
are taught that many saviors (Avators) have appeared on earth at
different periods to suffer and die for the people; the last of
which was Salavahana, cotemporary with Christ. God Sakia is of great
veneration amongst them, and prayers are often addressed to him. Many
tales are told of his goodness, self-denial, suffering, and sacrifice
for the people, which leads to the conclusion that he was a pure,
holy, and unselfish being. He gave utterance to many noble and morally
exalting precepts. His principal precepts were comprised in six
commandments:
1. "Not to kill any living creature." 2. "Not to steal." 3. "Not to
commit unchastity." 4. "Not to lie." 5. "Not to drink intoxicating
drinks." 6. "Not to lay up treasures upon earth." These are a few of his
leading precepts, and which he himself practiced. In the observance
of the last precept, he and his followers have excelled almost every
Christian on earth, as their Bible contains the same precept, but none
of them try to practice it. Hence the Hindoos are in this respect much
better Christians than the Christians themselves. Here it may be noted
that the Hindoos, like the disciples of the Christian faith, have had
various ecclesiastical councils to settle the canon of their Bible or
some controverted doctrinal questions. One of the most noted of these
councils was called under the reign of King Asoka in the year 246 B.C.
It was constituted of seven hundred "learned and accomplished priests."
But they could not stop the progress of infidelity, as they essayed to
do. It continued to increase till another council was called under the
reign of King Kanishka, and another revision of the sacred text took
place. But, as in Christian and Mahomedan countries, it tended rather
to unsettle than to settle the popular faith. Nothing can arrest the
intelligence and growth of progressive minds. Skepticism and
infidelity will continue to increase whenever the mind is unfettered by
priestcraft, till the last credal institution is swept from the face of
the earth, and ceases to curse the human family.
II. THE INSTITUTES OF MENU.
"The Code of Menu," or "Institutes of Menu," constitutes another sacred
book of the Hindoos. The Rev. Mr. Allen says of it: "It is a code of
religious and civil laws, and makes a part of the Hindoo Scriptures." It
is in many respects similar to the Vedas, and is almost equal to it
in age; and, like the Vedas, it is a standard of faith and a guide for
moral action. Hindoos call it _Menu Darma Shastra_, "the ordinances of
God." "As these ordinances, or divine laws," says Mr. Allen, "profess to
be of divine origin, kings have no authority to change them. Their duty
was to administer their governments according to their teachings." All
classes of people were required to live up to them. "In these respects,"
says Mr. Allen (p. 366), "they resemble the laws given by Moses, and
contained in the Old Testament." These Institutes treat on the subject
of creation, the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, and also
define many of the duties of life.
III. RAMAYANA.
With respect to age, the Ramayana is generally ranked next to the Code
of Menu, and is equally adored as a holy and inspired book, and "may be
classed," says Mr. Allen, "with the Hindoo Scriptures." It treats of the
war in Heaven, in which the dragon, or serpent-devil, was cast to the
earth. To put an end to his ravages here, the Savior and incarnate God
Chrishna was sent down. Christ, we are told, "came to destroy the devil
and his works." Col. Sherman tells us, in his "Recollections of an
Indian Official," that "the people (Hindoos) assured us this Bible
was written, if not by the hand of the Deity himself, at least by his
inspiration; and, if asked if any absurdity that may be pointed out in
the book be true, they reply with great _naivete_, 'Is it not written
in the Holy Book? and how could it be there, and not be true?'"--exactly
the same defense that is often set up for the Christian Bible by its
educationally warped admirers. It is believed the great Hindoo prophet,
Vyas, wrote much of this Bible, or "Inspired Poem," as some call it.
IV. THE MAHABARAT.
The origin of this sacred book is considered to be very nearly co-eval
with that of the Ramayana. It has an appendix, or epistle, called the
"_Bagkavat Gita_." which, on account of its high tone of spirituality,
has attracted much attention in Europe. The Hindoos believe the Mahabrat
is highly inspired, and that every event noticed in it was recorded
before it took place; thus making it in the highest degree prophetic.
"Its author, they claim," says Mr. Allen, "is no other than the
incarnate God Chrishna, of whose life it treats." That profound Oriental
scholar, Mr. Wilkins, thinks this and the other sacred books of India
are more than three thousand years old, as is evidenced by sculptures in
solid rocks.
V. THE PURANS, OR PORANAS.
Some Hindoo Holy Scriptures, when arranged together in one book, are
known as the _Barta Skastra_, of which the Poranas constitute a part.
The last-named work treats of the creation of the world, and its final
destruction and future renovation, the "great day of judgment," Divine
Providence, &c.; also the ordinances and rules for worship, &c.
VI. ANALOGIES OF THE BRAHMIN AND JEWISH RELIGION.
Brahminism and Judaism are each old forms of religion. Each was
superseded by a new and improved form of religion. Each has a story of
creation. Jehovah and Brahma both created the sun, moon, and stars (so
believed by millions).
1. The spirit of both moved upon the face of the waters.
2. The world is spoken in to existence by both Jehovah and Brahma.
3. The Hindoos had an Adimo and Iva, the Hebrews an Adam and Eve.
4. In each case every thing is to produce after its kind.
5. Man is in each case the last and crowning work of the whole creation.
6. Both stories set man as a ruler over subordinate creation.
7. Light in each case was spoken into existence.
8. Jehovah and Brahma each occupied six days in the work of creation.
9. There is a primitive paradise and state of moral purity in each
story.
10. A tree whose fruit produced immortality is noticed in each
cosmogony.
11. A serpent figures in each, and outwits Brahma and Jehovah.
12. Man in each partakes of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
13. The doctrine of the fall is found in each account. The means for
man's restoration is provided in each case.
14. Each sacred legend has a story of a war in heaven.
15. The soul is the breath of life, or breath of God, in each cosmogony.
16. Labor is imposed as a curse in each case.
17. A moral code of ten commandments is found in each system. Not to
kill is a command in each decalogue. Stealing is interdicted in each
decalogue. Adultery is condemned in each. Bearing false witness is
forbidden by each.
18. Both Brahmins and Jews lost their "Holy Law," or "Laws of God." One
had a Hilkiah, and the other a Bisheu, to find the law.
19. Each had an established order of priesthood. The priesthood was
hereditary in each case: a tribe or family furnished the priests in each
case.
20. Both claimed to be God's pet and holy, or peculiar, people; and both
styled other nations barbarians or aliens.
21. Both holy nations were forbidden to marry with others; and both were
too holy to eat with barbarians.
22. Each had a ceremonial law prescribing numerous rites. The church
ceremonies were performed by priests in each.
23. The priests were forbidden to eat meat in both cases.
24. Both Jews and Brahmins worshiped by bloody sacrifices. Both had
their favorite sacred animals. Animal sacrifices were by each to arrest
public calamities.
25. One interdicted beef, and the other pork, as food.
26. Both prescribed purification after touching dead bodies; and each
religion had a law of purification. Bathing was a mode of purification
in each religion.
27. Each has its "holy" places, times, days, cities, mountains, rivers,
&c. India, as well as Judea, was considered a holy land.
28. Each had its holy ground. Both drew off their shoes on entering
upon holy ground or holy places.
29. Both had their holy days, and the same in most cases.
30. Mount Mera was no less holy than Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb. Jordan
was a sacred river in one case, and Ganges in the other. Jerusalem was a
"holy" city with the Jews, and Benares with the Hindoos.
31. Holy fasts and feasts were a part of each religion. Both made u holy
feast at full moon.
32. Each had its holy fires.
33. Both had their holy mysteries kept sacredly guarded.
34. Each prepared and kept holy water for ceremonial purposes.
35. Both anointed themselves with "holy ointment."
36. Each claimed to have the only true and "holy faith."
37. "Holy temples" were familiar terms to each. Their temples were
constructed in a similar manner. Each had a "_sanctum sanctorum_," or
"holy of holies." Only the holy priest of both entered the interior
sanctum.
38. Both had their drink-offerings (called _turpin_ by the Hindoos).
39. Both sprinkled their door-posts with blood.
40. One had a scape-goat, and the other a scape-horse.
41. Both taught that the sins of the father were visited upon the
children.
42. Religious pilgrimages were practiced by each.
43. Both acknowledge and teach one supreme God. Inferior deities, or
angels, are believed in by each. God's omniscience, omnipotence, and
omnipresence are taught in both Bibles.
44. God is represented to be invisible by each. And "God is a spirit,"
and infinitely wise and good, is taught in each.
45. To love God supremely is recommended by each.
46. Both taught that God was a God of power, and assisted them in their
battles.
47. Both taught that a knowledge of God is essential.
48. Silent meditation upon the Lord is recommended by each.
49. God was to each a refuge in danger and trouble.
50. The government of each was a theocracy, God the executive.
51. Both religions were constituted largely of external rites. In each
the priest was the expounder of the holy books and laws. "Patriarchs"
was one of the sacred orders of each system. Holy "prophets" figure
conspicuously in each system. Both priests and people were in each case
believed to be inspired.
52. And each had its witnesses to prove the truth and fulfillment of its
prophecies.
53. Both held their Holy Bibles as an inspired guide of right and wrong.
54. One Bible was from Jehovah, and the other from Brahma.
55. Ezra was inspired to compile the Jewish Bible, and Vyas the Brahmin.
56. Each religious order had a holy ark containing something sacred.
57. A story of a deluge is found in the Bible of each.
58. The corruption or wickedness of society caused the flood in each
case.
59. The Brahmins had their patriarch Satyavrata, answering to Noah.
60. Each was forewarned of the flood.
61. Eight persons were saved in each case.
62. In each story a large vessel is prepared. Animals were saved by
pairs in each case. A rainbow is spoken of in each flood story.
63. For Shem, Ham, and Japhet, the Hindoos have a Sherma, Charma, and
Jyapheta.
64. Charma was condemned to be "a servant of servants," like Ham.
65. Human life was in each traditionally spun out to nearly a thousand
years.
66. One day a thousand years with God, in each system.
67. Both have stories of persons ascending to heaven.
68. Budha was cast into the fiery furnace like the three holy children.
69. Musavod was a giant in strength like Samson.
70. Rhambha was changed to a pillar of stone, like Lot's wife to salt.
71. Mahendra was carried through the air like Habakkuk.
72. A story of Budha answers to that of Darnel in the lions' den.
73. Idolatry is discouraged, but occasionally practiced by each
74. Witchcraft was believed in by each.
75. Here are presented eighty-eight striking analogies.
VII. ANTIQUITY OF INDIA.
Having presented a long list of analogies between the Hindoo and Jewish
religions, we will proceed to prove the prior existence of the Hindoo
system, and leave the reader to deduce his own inferences. "In times
coeval with the earliest authentic records," says a writer, "the Hindoos
calculated eclipses, and were venerated for their attainments in some of
the arts and sciences." According to the learned astronomer Baily,
their calculations in astronomy extended back to the remote period of
seventeen hundred years before Moses; and some of the ancient monuments
and inscriptions of India bespeak for its religion a very remote
antiquity. Some of our modern learned antiquarians have expressed
the opinion that the Sanscrit language of the Brahmins is the oldest
language that can be traced in the history of the human race. They also
state that this language was extant before the Jews were known as a
nation; and neither it nor their religion has _ever_ been known to
_change_. These facts are sufficient to establish the existence of
the Brahmin and Budhist systems of religion long prior to the earliest
records of the Jewish nation.
Note.--Here we desire to call the attention of the reader to the very
remarkable statement of Col. Dow in his "History of India." He tells us
that "the Hindoos give a _very particular account of the origin_ of the
Jewish religion" (pref. v.). They say that a pious Hindoo by the name of
Rajah Tara apostatized from the faith, for which he was banished to the
West, where he established a system of religion, which became afterwards
known as the Jewish religion. Tura only needs a change of one letter to
make Tera, the father of Abraham. Let the reader make a note of this.
CHAPTER VI.--THE EGYPTIAN BIBLE.
THE "HERMAS."
The sacred books, the "Hennas," or "Books of Hermas," were believed by
the Egyptians to have been dictated by the God Isis, and inspired by
him. In their collected capacity they constituted the Egyptian Bible,
and were believed to contain "the sum total of human and divine wisdom."
Their great age is undisputed. They treat of the creation of the world,
the attributes of God, and the theogony of the inferior deities, which
answer to angels in the Christian system, as they hold the same office,
and are apparently the same kind of beings. The "Hermas," like all other
Bibles, recognize but one supreme God, whom it declares to be just,
holy, morally perfect, invisible, and indivisible, and whom it
recommends to be worshiped in silence. This "Holy Book" contains some
lofty and soul-inspiring moral sentiments and useful precepts.
ANALOGY OF THE EGYPTIAN AND JEWISH RELIGIONS.
Modern archaeological researches in Egypt have disclosed a very striking
resemblance between the ancient Egyptian religion and that found in the
Jewish Old Testament, which, with the evidence of the greater antiquity
of the former, has fastened the conviction upon the mind of every
impartial reader of history, that the Jewish religion was constructed
from materials obtained in Egypt and India; and this conclusion is
corroborated by the Bible itself, which tells us Moses was skilled in
all the wisdom and learning of Egypt, and was by birth an Egyptian.
When we compare the doctrines, precepts, laws, and customs of the two
religions, we find but little difference between them.
Even to the ten commandments there is a striking resemblance. The
account of the creation and the order of its development is essentially
the same in both. 1. The Egyptians had a leader filling the place of
Moses by the name of Hermes; and his writings were held in similar
estimation, as they were believed to be inspired and dictated by
Infinite Wisdom. 2. The Egyptians had a priesthood of wealth and power,
and possessing the same sacerdotal caste as those of the Jews. 3. And
the priesthood, Mr. Pritchard tells us (Debate 116), was hereditary,
and confined to a certain tribe, as was that of the Jews. According to
Diodorus Siculus, and also Mr. Wilkinson, nearly all their ceremonies
were essentially the same. 4. And their religious temples were
constructed upon the same model, with an outer court and an inner
court,--a _sanctum sanctorum_. 5. The Egyptians had numerous prophets
like the Jews. And Herodotus says, "The art of predicting future events
came from the Egyptians." 6. The Egyptians had an ark, or shrine, which
served as an oracle, and was carried about on a pole by a procession of
priests, as the ark of the covenant of the Jews was by the Levites.
The Rev. John Kendrick, in his "Ancient Egypt," acknowledged that he
believed "the ark of the covenant of the Hebrews was constructed on the
model of the Egyptian shrine." 7. Kitto, in his "Cyclopedia," says the
Egyptian sphinxes explain what is meant by the cherubims of the Jews.
8. In their selection of animals for sacrifices, we find the same rules
were adopted. Each were controlled by the singular fancy of choosing
a red heifer. 9. Each had their scape-animals to carry away their
sins,--the Egyptians an ox, and the Jews a goat. 10. Both practiced
circumcision. And we have the authority of Herodotus for saying the Jews
and Phoenicians borrowed the custom of the Egyptians. 11. Both Jews and
Egyptians took off their shoes when approaching a holy place, which,
with the Egyptians, was in the temple. 12. Both believed in one supreme,
over-ruling God, and many subordinates, known either as angels or
deities, which, in their character and their offices, were essentially
the same. And a hundred other analogies might be pointed out, which
indicate the Oriental origin of Judaism.
ANTIQUITY OF EGYPT.
As a full comparison will show that the religion of ancient Egypt and
that of the Jews were essentially alike, not only in their general
features but in their most minute details, with respect to most of their
doctrines, precepts, and customs, the question arises, How came this
resemblance? It is out of the question to consider it merely fortuitous:
that one grew out of the other, or both were derived from a common
source, we are compelled to admit. To determine which was the parent
system we have only to ascertain which possesses the greater antiquity.
This question is very easily settled. A large volume of facts is at our
command which tend to prove that the Egyptians were in a high state of
civilization before the Jews were known to history. The Bible itself
partially recognizes this fact by its frequent allusion to Egypt as a
wise and powerful nation, able at all times to exercise superior sway
over the Jews, and whose wise men, or magicians, could compete with not
only the Jews, but their God, in the performance of miracles; that
is, with the Jews and their God to help them, in achieving the most
astounding feats. They could make any thing that Jehovah could, with the
exception of lice. The remote antiquity of Egypt can be proved by a few
facts. The Egyptians have a carefully preserved list of sixty-one kings,
who ruled the empire between Menes and Amasis, with names and ages
given, whose aggregate reign comprises a period of more than seven
thousand years. Herodotus says they computed with great care and
accuracy. Manetho tells us Menes reigned seven thousand seven hundred
years ago, which places him more than seventeen hundred years before
Adam. Engravings on monuments, and writings on papyrus, confirm the
statement of Manetho. And then hieroglyphics on the pyramids of Egypt,
with names, dates, and figures which have recently been deciphered,
enable us to trace the antiquity of Egypt back eight thousand years,
when she is shown to have been in a high state of civilization. Another
fact: Layard and Rawlinson, who recently visited Egypt as commissioners
or agents of the British Government, state that fragments of pottery
have been recently found by digging in the Valley of the Nile, which,
by counting the successive layers, or deposits, made by the annual
overflowing of the river, are shown to be not less than eleven thousand
years old. Such facts amount to demonstration, and can not be set aside.
And Mr Wilkinson, in his "Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt," adduces
another kind of evidence to show the impossibility of Egypt having
obtained her religion from the Jews. He says, "The first glimpse we
obtain of Egypt shows us a nation far advanced in the arts and customs
and institutions of civilized life." And this was six or seven thousand
years ago; while the most conclusive evidence can be adduced to show
that no essential change has been made in her religion since the
inscriptions were made on the monuments, some of which bear evidence of
being eight thousand or nine thousand years old. If there has been no
essential change in her religion for eight thousand or nine thousand
years, it is _prima facie_ evidence that she did not borrow any of
her religious tenets of the Jews. Such facts settle the question more
conclusively than the most elaborate argument could do.
CHAPTER VII.--THE PERSIAN BIBLES.
I. THE ZEND AYESTA.
The Persians, properly speaking, had two Bibles, or Testaments,
regarded as inspired and of divine authority,--the _Zend Avesta_ and the
_Sadder_, which may be denominated their Old and New Testaments.
With these may be classed other sacred books of Persia, known as the
"Desatur" (or Revealed Will of God), the "_G. Javidan_" (or Eternal
Wisdom), and the "_Sophi Ibraham"_ (Wisdom of Ibraham). Hyde, in his
Biography of Brittain, eighth chapter, pronounces the _G. Javidan_ older
than the writings of Zoroaster, which were penned 600 B.C.
The Zend Avesta presents a detailed account of creation in six _kappas_,
or indefinite periods of time; the temptation and fall of man, and his
final restoration; the immortality of the soul, &c.
II. PERSIAN BIBLE--THE SADDER.
The Sadder depicts "the war in heaven," in which the great dragon, or
devil, Ahrimanes, is finally slain. This sacred book, as well as the
Zenda Avesta, contains many beautiful precepts. The Persian sacred
writings are all full of prayer and praise to God. One portion addresses
him as _Ormuzd_, another as _Ahura Mazda_. None of their Holy Books
countenance or show any favor either for idolatry or polytheism. The
Persians have alway's opposed the making and worship of deific images;
and they worship but one God, with the above names. One of their
prayers, as a specimen, will show this: "O Ahura Mazda, thou true and
happy being! aid us to think and speak of thee, and do only those things
which promote the true welfare of body and soul. I believe in thee as
the just and holy God, thou living Wise One! Thou art the author of
creation, the true source of light and life. I will praise thee, thou
Holy Spirit, thou glorious God Mazda! Thou givest with a liberal hand
good things to the impious, as well as to the pious." In that portion of
the Zenda Avesta called the "Yacna," constituting seven chapters, it
is declared, "We worship Ahura Mazda, and pray for the spread of his
religion. We praise Mazda's religion, and the pure brotherhood which it
established. From the Holy Spirit Mazda proceeds all good, and he is the
source of perfection and immortality." Here let it be noted that Cyrus
of Persia was teaching the doctrine of immortality of the soul, while
Moses seems never to have thought of such a thing: he is silent on the
subject. Zenda Avesta means "The Living Word of God." It has also been
called by its disciples "The Revealed Word;" and Ahura Mazda has been
called the "God of gods," as the Jews called Jehovah. Who is to settle
this counter-claim?
Sin, repentance, and forgiveness are all recognized in the sacred books
of the Persians. This is evinced by a devout disciple, when he says,
in prayer, "I repent, O Lord, of my wicked deeds in thought and words.
Forgive, O Lord: I repent of my sins." A writer says, "Upon the really
fundamental duties of man, the Zenda Avesta upholds a high standard of
morality and honesty, and seeks to inculcate the immense importance
of leading an upright and virtuous life,--such a life alone as can be
pleasing to God and useful to man." A text in this sacred book reads,
"You can not be a worshiper of the one true God and of many gods at the
same time;" which is a very explicit avowal of the belief in but one
God. This Persian Bible declares, that one way to advance God's kingdom
on earth is to confer benefit upon the poor. Its spirit of kindness and
sympathetic regard for suffering extends even to the brute creation. It
forbids cruelty to any class of beings, and enjoins kindness to all.
Its psalms, hymns, and liturgies breathe forth a spirit of deep piety. A
compliance with the divine law is urged as a means of saving the sinner
from future punishment. The stern moral fortitude of the great teacher
and moral exemplar Zoroaster, in resisting, like Christ, the temptations
of the Evil One, evinces a high appreciation of true virtue. As a whole,
the sacred books of the Persians, like those of other nations, contain
a considerable amount of golden truth mixed with much rubbish and
superstition.
ANALOGY OF THE PERSIAN AND JEWISH RELIGIONS.
Doctor Pocoke says, "Many things taught in the sacred books of the
Persians are the same as those taught in the Pentateuch of Moses,
and other parts of the Bible. They also contain many of the psalms
erroneously called by the Jews and Christians the Psalms of David." Sir
William Jones, in his "Asiatic Researches," says, "The primeval religion
of Iran (Persia) is called by Newton the oldest, and it may justly be
called the noblest, of all religions." It teaches "a firm belief that
one supreme God made the world by his power, and governs it by his
providence. It inculcates a pious fear, love, and adoration for God;
also a due reverence for parents and aged persons, fraternal affection
for the whole human species, and a compassionate tenderness even for the
brute creation." Can as much as this be said of the Christian religion?
Mr. Goodrich, after stating that the ancient Hebrews evidently had no
idea of astronomy as a science, says, "The Chaldeans appear to have
made observations on eclipses earlier than the commencement of written
history" ("History of All Nations," p. 25).
The Chaldeans and Persians have a story of creation essentially the same
as that of the Jews. It represents Ormuzd as creating the world through
the word in six kappas, or periods of time. Previous to that period,
nothing but chaos, or darkness, and water had existed. Ormuzd created,
first, the heavens and the earth; second, the firmament; third, the seas
and waters; fourth, the sun, moon, and stars; fifth, birds, reptiles,
quadrupeds, &c.; sixth, man. The Persians and Chaldeans have also a
story of a deluge, in which Xisuthra, being warned in a dream, built an
ark, in which he saved himself, his wife and daughter, and the pilot,
and a pair of every species of animals, reptiles, and birds. After the
rain had ceased, he sent out a pigeon, which, finding no resting place,
came back to the ark. The second time, it came with mud in its bill,
which was a better evidence that the waters had subsided than the leaf
which Noah's dove returned with, as that might have been picked up while
floating on the waters. They had a giant in strength (a Gaza) answering
to that of Samson. They had a story of a lofty tower designed to reach
to heaven, but the gods destroyed it, and confounded the language of the
builders. The Persians had their priests, their prophets, their angels,
their twelve patriarchs, their holy fires, holy water, and rites of
purification, like the Jews; also their ordinance of water-baptism.
Their holy mountains, holy rivers, and holy waters, their animal
sacrifices, and their sacrament or ceremony of bread and wine, were
all similar to those of the Jews. They had a Soleimon and a Soleimon's
temple. Their religion was a theocracy, and was violently opposed to
idolatry; but, unlike the Jewish religion, it taught the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul, and the lofty idea that the human mind is an
emanation from the divine nature. We find the principal elements of the
Christian system also mixed up with the doctrines and principles above
set forth; such as two primary principles of good and evil (Ormuzd and
Ahrimanes), termed by Christians God and the Devil,--two Gods with their
two kingdoms, which were always at war with each other, to moderate
which stands Mithra the Mediator, who was born, like Christ, of an
immaculate virgin. For a further elucidation, see "The World's Sixteen
Crucified Saviors."
ANTIQUITY OF THE PERSIAN RELIGION.
The historical facts to establish the existence of the Persian religion
long prior to that of the Jews are numerous, cogent, and unanswerable.
They have calculations in astronomy which, scientists admit, must have
been made four hundred years anterior to the time of Moses. According to
Berosus, fragments of their history have been found which extend it back
fifteen thousand years; and he tells us it is computed with great care.
CHAPTER VIII.--CHINESE BIBLES.
KINGS AND SHOO.
The Chinese have varions sacred books, the principal of which are the
Five Kings. They have also four Holy Books, known as Shoo, and one
called Tao-te, though the word King is a term applied to all their
sacred books. Some of these Holy Bibles are attributed to Confucius, one
of them (Ta-heo, the Great Learning) to his grandson, and others to his
disciples. Some of the sects recognize thirteen Kings, or sacred books,
others only seven, and the principal sect but five. Some of these
Holy Books bear a resemblance to the Christian Gospels, others to the
Epistles; and one of them bears a considerable resemblance to Paul's
Epistle to the Hebrews. They are believed to be divinely inspired;
and all are regarded as authority in matters of faith, doctrine, and
practice. All of them inculcate virtue, and condemn vice and immorality.
I will present merely a brief exposition of a few of the leading books.
I. TA-HEO; OR, GREAT LEARNING.
This book forms the basis of the religious sect known as the Tao-ists.
It treats principally of doctrines, but enjoins many important
duties,--such as family government, the cultivation of the natural
faculties, the acquisition of knowledge, the duty of being honest and
sincere and rectifying the heart, and the moral obligation of having
good rulers and a righteous government as means of making all peaceful
and happy.
II. THE CHUNG YUNG; OR, THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN.
This book contains the Golden Rule: "What you do not like others to
do to you, do not so to them." It recommends a state of harmony in the
mental faculties as the path of duty and the road to happiness and to
heaven. It teaches that people should follow the dictates of their
own consciences, and cultivate and fully develop their natures. On the
whole, it admonishes a system of moral perfection. It declares that
spiritual beings are constantly around us, and we do nothing without
them, though we do not see nor hear them. Pretty good spiritualism!
III. THE BOOK OF MANG, OF MENCIUS.
Mang, or Mencius, the philosopher, lived about two hundred years after
Confucius. This Holy Book of his was not admitted into the Chinese canon
till several centuries after it was written. Up to that date it was
regarded as apocryphal, but is now held in high veneration as an
inspired book. It affirms the essential goodness of human nature,
instead of the Christian doctrine of "total depravity." It teaches that
all men are possessed of more or less goodness by nature, but are often
corrupted by bad example and bad governments. It argues the moral right
of the people to choose their own rulers.
IV. SHOO KING; OR, BOOK OF HISTORY.
This work is constituted of fifty-eight books. It throws much light on
the history of the Chinese Empire, and bears evidence of having been
written in a very remote age, but was compiled about 500 B.C. It
argues that people are not bad by nature, and that it is the duty of
governments to bless the good and punish the wicked. Otherwise they
need not expect the blessing of heaven, or the favor of the people.
It relates the case of an emperor who was reformed by reading the Holy
Book.
V. THE SHE KING; OR, BOOK OF POETRY.
This book is about as devoid of moral instruction as the Books of Ruth
and Esther in the Christian Bible. It is principally a display of human
emotions and social feelings. Yet almost every Chinese has committed
portions of it to memory. Being gotten up in the style of a poem, it is
well calculated to enlist the feelings of the devout disciple.
VI. THE CHUN TSEN; OR, SPRING AND SUMMER.
This is principally a historical record, and is interpreted as
representing spring and summer. It is held in high estimation as being
the production of the "Great Divine Man," Confucius; and it is wonderful
with what ingenuity its commentators and teachers have succeeded in
extracting from its dry details about wars, marriages, deaths, travels,
eclipses, battles, &c., the most profound lessons in morals. Like the
admirers and expounders of other Holy Books in all ages and countries,
they bestow the most recondite spiritual meanings on texts containing
nothing but nonsense, senseless verbiage, or immoral teachings.
VII. THE TAO-TE KING; OR, DOCTRINE OF REASON.
"Tao" means _absolute_, and "Te" means _virtue_; which indicates that
it teaches _absolute virtue_. Of all sacred books this is the most
philosophical. It seems to constitute both a revelation and system of
philosophy. It displays considerable wisdom and beauty, but is not free
from those gross and repulsive elements which characterize the Christian
and some other Bibles. It declares that God created, cherishes, and
loves all the world. It has no angry God, but one enjoining love and
benevolence, and the return of good for evil, upon all the human race.
It declares God made all beings: his essence formed them, his might
preserves them, his providence protects them, and his power perfects
them. It condemns war and weapons of death: it says that Tao does
not employ them, and all good men abhor them. It also condemns the
possession of worldly wealth as being in opposition to a spiritual
life, and as denoting the absence of good from the soul. Modesty, mercy,
benevolence, and contentment are recommended as the highest of human
virtues. An extensive commentary, written by a Chinese saint about 160
B.C., goes with this book to explain it, as all "divine revelations"
have to be revealed over again by the priests, who seem to assume that
Infinite Wisdom is too ignorant of human language to dictate a book that
can be understood. Must it not be mortifying to him to have his blunders
thus exposed?
ANALOGY OF THE CHINESE AND JEWISH RELIGIONS.
The Christian historian, Mr. Milne, expressed a fear that he might be
condemned for furnishing proof, that, before Jesus was born, a morality
as pure was inculcated in the celestial empire (China). As in the
Hindoo, Egyptian, and Persian religions, we find the Jewish and
Christian religions here amalgamated together. The Chinese had a
cosmogony, or story of creation similar in some respects to those
already noticed. These sacred books speak of a primitive paradise, in
which was a tree of knowledge and a tree of life; also of a deluge and
an ark. Baptism, the cross, and the miter are emblematical rites of
their religion. They also taught the doctrine of the eucharist and the
trinity, and practiced circumcision.
The Chinese have a story or tradition of an incarnate God, Natigai,
who, like Christ, was both creator and mediator. His system of religious
faith taught the doctrine of special providences, future rewards
and punishments, a general judgment-day, the duty of humility or
self-abasement, and the moral and religious obligation to observe strict
temperate habits, and to devote our whole lives to God, &c.
The Chinese religion inculcates many beautiful and sublime moral
precepts, which we have not space to notice here.
The historical books of China, comprising a hundred and fifty volumes,
and called "The Great Annals," and recently translated by a scientific
Frenchman, have a regular chronology, beginning nearly two thousand six
hundred years before the period assigned for the creation of Adam. And
they have calculations in astronomy at that remote period. The learned
men of Europe have decided that they made the calculation of an eclipse
about seven hundred years before the time of Moses. These facts are
sufficient to prove the existence of their religion long anterior to the
time of Adam.
CONCLUDING INFERENCE.
In addition to the facts and authorities we have cited to show that the
Hindoo, Egyptian, Persian, and Chinese religions were all established
prior to that of the Jews, there are other facts which demonstrate the
absolute impossibility of any of these religions obtaining any of their
religious elements or doctrines from the Jews.
1. We find both the Jewish and Christian doctrine interwoven into
each one of those Oriental systems. Hence, if they borrowed one, they
borrowed both. But that is impossible: for the Christian system is known
to be much younger.
2. Those Oriental religions are all conservative in character; so that
there has been scarcely any perceptible change in their doctrines during
the thousands of years of their known existence. Hence their very nature
would preclude them from borrowing any new doctrines.
3. On the contrary, the Jewish mind has been very vacillating. A
disposition to change their religion has been constantly manifested
through their whole history. Such facts as these settle the question.
CHAPTER IX.--BIBLES
I. THE SOFFEES' BIBLE--THE MUSNAVI.
The Bible of the Soffees, the "Musnavi", teaches that God exists
everywhere and in every thing; that the soul of man, and the principle
of life throughout all nature, are not _from God_, but _of_ God, and
constitute a part of his essence; that nothing exists essentially but
God; and that "all nature abounds with Divine Life." Mr. Malcom, in his
"History of the Moguls" (p. 269), says: "The Soffees are incessantly
occupied in adoring the Almighty, and in a search after truth." They
are passionately fond of poetry and music (two essential elements of
civilization). Their Bible teaches many beautiful moral lessons.
II. THE PARSEES' BIBLE--"BOUR DESOT."
The Parsees' Bible is entitled _Bour Desch_, which means "Genesis; or,
the Beginning of Things." Its cosmogony is similar to that of Moses,
though more definite, and probably written at an earlier period. Its
Eden, or primitive paradise, lasted three thousand years before Kipo
(the Devil) entered, plucked the fruit, handed it to the woman, and thus
caused her downfall, and, after her, that of the whole human race.
III. THE TAMALESE BIBLE.
We have space for but little more than the titles of other Bibles.
The Tamalese "Holy Book" was known as the "_Kalivodkam_," and contains
some excellent moral precepts.
IV. SCANDINAVIAN BIBLE.
Saga, meaning "Wisdom," is the name of the Scandinavian "Inspired
Volume," so called because it was believed to have emanated from the
fountain of divine wisdom.
V. THE KALMUCS' BIBLE.
Kaliocham, the Kalmucs' Bible, was believed to contain in repletion "all
the wisdom of God and man."
VI. THE ATHENIAN BIBLE.
The ancient Athenians had what they claimed to be a "Holy and
God-derived Book," called "The Testament." Dinarchus alludes to it in
his speech against Demosthenes. It was read with deep, solemn awe and
devoutness.
VII. THE CABALISTS' BIBLE.
Yohar, or "Book of Light," the Bible of the Cabalists, relates some
wonderful cures and miracles performed by that sect.
CHAPTER X.--THE MAHOMEDAN BIBLE--THE KORAN.
The Koran, or Alkoran, is the most modern in its origin of 22 in the
list, having been penned six hundred years later than the Christian
Bible. It differs from most other Bibles in being the production of a
single author, and, for this reason, possesses more uniformity of style
and fewer contradictions than most other Bibles. Mahomet did not claim
to be its author, and did not write it, but merely dictated it to his
secretary Zaid. Like the founder of the Christian religion, and nearly
all the other great religions of the world, he was very illiterate.
Incarnate Gods and religious chieftains possess no aspiration to become
scholars, and no taste for science. They were governed by feeling and
the impulse of religious enthusiasm, which have no affinity for science.
Mahomet, however, did not profess to be a God, but merely a prophet. The
Koran, having originated in a later and more enlightened age than the
Christian Bible, possesses some superior features, and, of course, is
superior to still older Bibles. It is more consistent in its teachings
on the subject of temperance, as it does not, like the Christian Bible,
both sanction and condemn the use of intoxicating drinks; but uniformly
forbids the use of it, and even prohibits the manufacture of it. It
also shows more respect for the rights of woman by providing for her
maintenance by dowry. It levies a tax on its disciples of two and
one-fourth per cent for the support of the poor. It enjoins not only
kindness and respect for enemies, but a careful provision for their
wants.
The disciples of the Koran were taught and believed that the Holy Book
was originated in heaven, and had long been preserved there by its
divine author Allah, and, in the fullness of time, was handed down,
chapter at a time, by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Mahomet; and his
scribe Zaid recorded it. The leading doctrines of the Koran are: the
Unity of the Godhead, and the perfection of his attributes; the joys of
paradise, and the terrors of hell; the awful fate of unbelievers in the
Koran. The Day of Judgment is held up as a terror to evildoers and
skeptics, and an encouragement to the faithful. Skeptics, or unbelievers
in the Koran and the Mahomedan religion, are repeatedly consigned to the
same terrible fate (the fires of hell) that Christ consigns the
unbeliever in the Christian religion, and the same as that to which the
founders of other religions doom those who reject or disbelieve their
pretended revelations. The Koran abounds in precepts of a high moral
tone.
Mahomet holds out the idea that Christ was created like Adam, and
therefore was but a man, though a true servant of God. This, he asserts,
was the view of Christ himself. The doctrine that God could have a son,
or that there could be more than one person in the Godhead, was to
him profanity, infidelity, and downright blasphemy. It is repeatedly
denounced in strong terms in the Koran. All prayer and praises to God
are addressed to him in the singular number. I will cite a few texts in
illustration: "Praise be to God, Lord of all worlds, the compassionate
and merciful King. Thee only do we worship, and to thee only do we
cry for help. Guide us in the right path." "The sun is God's noonday
brightness; the moon followeth him: the day revealeth his glory; and
the night enshroudeth him." "He built the heavens, and spread forth the
earth." "And whoso shall fear God, and do good works, no fear shall come
upon them, neither shall they be put to grief. But those who turn away
from him, he will consign to eternal fire." "To those who believe (the
Koran), and do things which are right, hath God promised forgiveness and
a noble recompense."
II. THE MORMONS' BIBLE--THE BOOK OF MORMON; ALSO "THE REVELATIONS OF
JOSEPH SMITH."
This sacred book is claimed to have been found inscribed on gold plates,
situated several feet below the surface of the earth, in Wayne County,
N.Y., in the year 1823, by Joseph Smith, a pious youth, then only
fourteen years of age, who declared he received information with respect
to the existence of the plates and their locality from an angel of the
Lord, with whom he had had frequent intercourse for several years. The
following is a description of the plates and original records composing
the book, as furnished by Orson Pratt, one of the "Latter-day Apostles"
of Jesus Christ: "The records were engraven on plates which had the
appearance of gold. Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches
in length and width, being not quite as thick as common tin. They were
filled on both sides with engravings in Egyptian characters, and bound
together in a volume as the leaves of a book, fastened at one edge with
three rings running through the whole. This volume was something near
six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters, or
letters, upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraven. The
whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, and
skill in its engravings. With the records was found a curious instrument
called by the ancients 'Urim and Thummim'; which consisted of two
transparent stones, clear as crystal, set in the two rims of a bow. It
was used in ancient times by persons called seers, by means of which
they received revelations of things past or future."
Mr. Smith finally succeeded, with the aid of a profound linguist in
New-York City by the name of Anthon, in translating the whole work into
the English language. Several writers testify that the ground out of
which the records were dug was solid, and covered with a thick and solid
growth of grass, presenting no appearance of having ever been disturbed.
The sect now constitutes about three hundred thousand disciples. The
following testimony to the truth of the story is a voluntary offering by
three witnesses:--
TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES.
BE it known unto all nations, tongues, kindred, and people unto whom
this work shall come, that we, through the grace of God the Father, and
oar Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record,
which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites.
Men, brethren, and also of the people of Jared. And we also know that
they have been translated by the gift and power of God; for his voice
hath declared it unto Us: wherefore we know of a surety that the work
is true. And we also testify that we have seen engravings which are upon
the plates; and they are shown unto us by the power of God, and not of
man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came
down, and that he brought and laid before our eyes, and we beheld and
saw, the plates and the engravings thereon. And we know it is by the
grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ that we beheld and bare
record that these things are true, and it is marvelous in oar eyes.
Nevertheless the voice of the Lord commanded that we should bear record
of it. Wherefore, to be obedient to the commandments of God, we bear
testimony of these things. And we know, that if we are faithful in
Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found
spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him
eternally in heaven. And the honor be to the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost, which are one God. Amen.
Oliver Cowdery.
David Whitmer.
Martin Harris.
MORMON SACRED BOOK, NO. 2--THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES AND COVENANTS; OR, THE
REVELATIONS OF JOSEPH SMITH.
In addition to the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith originated and partly
composed a Book of Doctrines and Covenants, purporting to be a direct
revelation from heaven relative to the temporal government of their
church. It enjoined the support of the poor, the taxation of members,
the establishment of cities and temples, the education of the people,
the emigration of saints, &c. This book has been venerated by the
Mormons as a "holy revelation from God," and hence is, in a strict
sense, a Bible. Its title sufficiently indicates its character. As much
as Christians ridicule the idea of Joseph Smith receiving a revelation
from God, it comes to us with exactly the same authority as the
claimed-to-be revelation of Moses. The evidence in each case is the
same.
III. THE SHAKERS' BIBLE.
The Bible of the Shakers is entitled "A Holy, Sacred, and Divine Roll
from the Lord God of Heaven to the Inhabitants of the Earth, Revealed in
the Society of New Lebanon, Columbiana County, New York, United States
of America." The testimony of eleven mighty angels is given, who are
said to have attended the writing of the Roll. A copy of the Holy Book
has been sent to every king and potentate on earth. Its contents and
style bear some resemblance to the Christian Bible; and it contains
texts which appear to have been drawn from that book, and then altered.
It should be borne in mind that the Shakers also profess to believe in
the Christian Bible, with their own peculiar construction of the book,
like other sects.
CHAPTER XI.--THE JEWISH BIBLE.
In a practical sense, there are other books beside the Old Testament
which go to make up the Jewish Bible. The Talmud, or rather the two
Talmuds; the Jerusalem Talmu (comprising the Mishna, or Second Law),
compiled about 150 B.C. by a Jewish rabbi; and the Babylonian Talmud,
compiled about six hundred and fifty years later,--are regarded by the
Jews as equally inspired and equally binding in their moral requisitions
as that of the Old Testament. In fact, they compare the former to wine,
and the latter to water, when speaking of their relative value. Some
"tall stories" are found in these Jewish revelations, such as these: it
tells of a bird so tall that the water of a river in which it stood
came only to its knees, though the water was so deep that it took an ax,
thrown into it, seven years to reach the bottom; and of an egg of such
enormous dimensions, that, when broken, the white of it glued a whole
town together and a forest of three hundred cedar-trees. These are but
specimens of their miracles. Such is the character of the Jewish sacred
writings, emanating from the same source as the Old Testament; and
consequently of equal authority and reliability, and equally entitled to
our belief.
CHAPTER XII.--THE CHRISTIANS' BIBLE.
The Christian Bible, as now accepted by Protestants (for it must be
borne in mind that it has been altered and amended on various occasions,
thus altering the canonical Word of God), is composed of thirty-nine
books in the Old-Testament department, and twenty-seven in the New; the
whole constituting a multifarious collection of old oracles, obsolete
dogmas, Oriental legends, ancient myths, religious reveries, beautiful
precepts, poetry, heart-touching pathos, wild fancies, preceptive
admonitions, martial exploits, domestic regulations, broken, disjointed
narratives, ritual rules, and spiritual ideas; including also cosmogony,
history, theocracy, theology, annals, romance, prophecy, rhapsody,
psalmody, mythology, allegory, dreams, tradition, legislation, ethics,
politics, and religion, all jumbled together without arrangement,
division, classification, or order; committed to writing in various
ages and nations and countries, and by various writers, extending over
a period of several thousand years, including nearly every form of
composition known to human ingenuity,--gay, grave, tragical, logical,
philosophical, religious, and romantic,--emanating from Gods, angels,
men, and devils; recorded, some of it in mountains, some of it in caves,
some of it on the banks of rivers, some of it in forests, some of it in
deserts, and some of it under the shadow of the Pyramids. It commenced
on Mount Horeb, and ended in the isle of Patmos.
From such circumstances we are not surprised to learn that its
chronology is unreliable, chimerical, and incorrect; its history
contradictory and incredible; its philosophy fallacious; its logic
unsound; its cosmogony foolish and absurd; its astronomy fragmentary and
childish; its religion pagan-derived; its morals defective, sometimes
selfish, often extravagant, and in some cases pernicious. Its
government, both temporal and spiritual, is, to some extent, both
barbarous and tyrannical; while its theocracy is mere brute force.
It presents us with narratives without authorities, facts and figures
without dates, and records without names. We find no order in its
arrangement, no system in its subjects or the manner of presenting
them, and no connection in its paragraphs, and often no agreement in its
statements, and no sense in its logic. It seems to teach nearly
every thing upon nearly every question of morals which it touches. It
apparently both sanctions and condemns nearly every species of crime to
which it refers, and pours fulsome laudations upon the heads of some
of the most bloody-minded and licentious men,--such as David, Solomon,
&c.,--and holds them up as examples of true practical morality. It is
often dark, ambiguous, and mysterious, as well as contradictory, not
only in its lessons of morality, but in its account of the simplest
occurrences, thus rendering it comparatively worthless as a moral guide;
inasmuch as it is much easier to find out what is right and what is
not without going to the Bible, than it is to find out what the Bible
teaches upon the subject, or what it intends to teach in any given case.
With respect to war, slavery, polygamy, and the use of intoxicating
liquors, for example, it is much easier to determine whether they are
right or wrong by the moral fitness of things than whether they are
scriptural or anti-scriptural; while it is silent upon many crimes which
now infest society. If we are compelled to determine the character of
some actions without going to the Bible, why not that of all other moral
actions and duties? Edmund Burke says of the Bible, "It is necessary to
sort out what is intended as example, and what only as narrative; what
is to be understood literally, and what figuratively, where one precept
is to be controlled and modified by another; what is temporary, and what
of perpetual obligation; what is appropriate to one state or set of men,
and what is the general duty of men in all ages." Now, who can not see
that all this must require a quality of mind capable of determining or
learning moral principles and moral duties without recurrence to the
Bible? And it must require a vast amount of time to accomplish this
task, all of which is lost, inasmuch as it is consuming time in making
the Bible conform to what you have already learned of right outside
its pages,--time that might be much better employed. Such are the moral
aspects of the Bible. But it also has its beauties, which we need not
occupy much space in depicting, as we have fifty thousand clergymen in
this country who attend faithfully to that matter. Suffice it to say,
that portions of it are characterized by a high-toned spirituality,
other portions by a deep, heart-stirring pathos. And then we have
manifested in other parts the most devout piety, while the books of the
prophets often breathe forth a spirit of the most elevating poetry. And
there is scarcely a book, or even a chapter, in the whole Bible, that
does not evince a spirit of religious devotion, and an effort for the
right, though often misdirected. Taken as a whole, the Bible may be
regarded as an exposition of the condition of science, morals, religion,
government, and domestic polity of the era in which it was written, and
suited to the temporal and spiritual wants of the people of that age,
for whom it was written, _but not for this age_. When regarded in this
light, and as simply a human production of the best minds of the age
and times in which it was written, many portions of it can be read with
interest and instruction. But when read, as it has been for centuries,
as a perfect, divine composition, designed for all time and as a
finality in faith and practice and moral progress, it becomes a
stumbling-block in the path of progress, an embargo upon free thought,
a fetter upon the soul, a fog of bewilderment to the mind, and a
drag-chain to the moral and intellectual reformation of the world.
CHAPTER XIII.---GENERAL ANALOGIES OF BIBLES.
From the foregoing brief analysis of the characters of the Bibles of
various nations, it will be observed that they are, in their main or
leading features, essentially alike, including the Holy Books of Jews,
Christians, and pagans; that they are alike in their ends and aims and
main characteristics; that all inculcate the same fundamental doctrines;
that all impart and enjoin the observance of intrinsically the same
moral lessons, the same preceptive aphorisms. All teach substantially
the same superstitions, the same kind of miraculous feats performed
by Gods, angels, and men and devils, the same marvelous stories and
achievements over-ruling and over-riding the great laws of nature,
often checking or stopping the ponderous wheels of the machinery of
the universe. The revelations on the pages of each are claimed to
be God-derived, and to have been inspired through prophets, oracles,
angels, apostles, or "holy men;" or to have issued directly from the
mouth of God, and descended from his immaculate throne to earth, without
the intervention or employment of a medium. Each puts forth similar
notions and traditions concerning Gods, deities, or angels, genii,
demons, or evil spirits, priests, prophets, patriarchs, prayers,
sacrifices, penances, ceremonies, rituals, Messiahs, redeemers,
intercessors, sin-atoning, crucified Saviors, sons of God, &c. All
recognize the doctrine of atonement for sin; all, or nearly all,
approximate in their modes of propitiating the favor of an offended
Deity by oblations, sacrifices, and offerings of animals, men, or Gods,
or sons of God. Each has its cosmogony; each proclaims the doctrine
of one supreme God, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, of
post-mortem rewards for "deeds done in the body,"--endless bliss for
the righteous, and punishment for the wicked. Each attests the truth and
divine origin of its religion by the record of a long array of the
most astonishing miracles, confirmed and ratified by the fulfillment
of numerous prophecies. Most of them teach the doctrine of the primeval
innocence and moral elevation of man, and of his fall, and of his
prospective subsequent restoration; and also of the necessity of a
"change," or "being born again," in order to a full reconciliation
with God, and a perfect state of righteousness. In a word, all had
essentially the same religious institutions, and the same ecclesiastical
orders of priests, pilgrims, monks, and missionaries; the same or
similar prayers, liturgies, sermons, missionaries, and sacrificial
offerings; similar holy orders of saints, angels, and martyrs. All had
their "holy days," their "holy fasts and feasts," "holy rivers," "holy
mountains," and "holy temples," &c.; and nearly all preached essentially
the same doctrines relating to a spiritual birth, regeneration,
predestination, and a future life, rewards, and punishments, and a final
judgment, &c. All furnish a religion cut and dried (the great end of all
Bible creeds) so as to save the intellectual labor and mental toil of
discovering the rule of right and the road to duty by an investigation
of the great laws of cause and effect, the nature and constitution
of the human mind, and the moral fitness of things. As a finale to
creation, and a final consummation and triumph of their peculiar faith,
each imagines and portrays a great prospective millennial epoch, at
which juncture the heavens are to be "rolled together as a scroll;" the
oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers to take fire, and be reduced to ashes;
"the New Jerusalem to descend from God out of heaven;" and peace,
righteousness, and happiness unalloyed to rule and to reign thenceforth
and for ever. Hence all Bibles and religions are of divine origin, or
none.
Note.--Sir William Jones says the ancient religions borrowed from each
other.
II. SUPERIOR FEATURES OF HEATHEN BIBLES.
There is not one Oriental Bible in all the number but that is superior
in some respects in its teachings to the Christians' Bible.
None of them sanction so explicity every species of crime; none of them
contain so much obscene language. On the contrary, the Chinese Bible, as
Mr. Meadows says, "_contains not one sentence but that may be read with
propriety in any drawing-room in England._" Strikingly different from
that of the Christian Bible, as shown in Chap. XXIII. The Mahomedan
Bible is quite superior in its teachings, both with respect to
intemperance and the treatment of women. It forbids both the use and
the traffic in intoxicating drinks, and also the manufacture; while
the Christian Bible, although condemning one, sanctions both (see Chap.
LVIII.). With respect to women, it contains some commendable precepts.
It not only enjoins husbands to treat their wives properly, and provide
for them, but provides for their divorce in case this is not done; while
the Christian Bible, by the authority of Christ, allows divorce for no
crime, abuse, cruelty, or inhuman treatment on the part of tyrannical,
wicked, or drunken husbands, but that of fornication (see Matt, v.
32). The Koran also enjoins a tax of two and one-fourth p. ct. on its
disciples to support the poor; while the Christian Bible says, "Thou
shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause" (Ex. xxiii. 3), though it
is true it contains counter-precepts. These examples are sufficient
to lead to the conclusion that nothing would be gained to the cause of
practical morality by supplanting any of the Oriental Bibles with the
Christian Bible.
CHAPTER XIV.--THE INFIDELS' BIBLE.
We find the remarkable admission in the Christian Bible, that the moral
guide adopted by infidels is superior to that book which Christians
have adopted for a guide. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, says, "The
Gentiles, who have not the Bible, do by nature the things contained in
the Bible." An astonishing Bible concession, truly! He, however, uses
the word "law" for Bible; but commentators tell us the law is contained
in the Bible, and some writers make "law" and "Bible" synonymous terms.
We therefore give the sense more fully by rendering it "Bible"
instead of "law." It is here admitted by Paul, that the great Bible of
Nature, written upon man's consciousness, and inscribed upon every thing
around him, which is the infidels' Bible and revelation, is superior to
any printed Bible. If man learns by nature the moral lessons taught
by the Bible or moral law (that is by nature's laws, as learned by
observation and experience, which is the infidel's sole reliance for
learning the great lessons and duties of life), then this _natural_
revelation, which Paul commends so highly, is superior to any _written_
preprinted revelation. If, as Paul teaches, the ignorant, illiterate
Gentile can learn by this _revelation_ of nature, or _law_ of nature,
the duties of life, the great truths of salvation, and the right road to
heaven, then it must be greatly superior to the Christians' Bible. For
it is admitted by Christians themselves (foreign missionaries), that,
with all the aid that priests and commentators can render, there is a
considerable portion of their Bible which the heathen can not learn or
be made to understand. But not so, according to Paul, with God's natural
Bible, and the revelation inscribed on man's moral nature, and
learned by the exercise of his common sense, natural judgment, and the
experience of mankind in general. Hence we have a Bible which is not
only easily read and easily understood by even the unlettered heathen,
but a Bible which possesses many advantages over all printed Bibles,
some of which I will mention. In the first place, it is a Bible always
open. It can not be kept closed under lock and key, as the Christian
Bible has been in past ages. Second, It is a Bible that needs no
translation in any language; for it is already written in the languages
all the nations of the earth. Third, It is a Bible, thank God! that all,
whether high or low, learned or unlearned, can read and understand.
Its glorious truths are easily read; for they are plainly and legibly
inscribed upon every leaf and page of the soul of every human being.
Fourth, Hence this revelation needs no priest to expound it, and no
church to unravel its mysteries, by voluminous commentaries. Sixth, No
concordance is needed to enable its readers to find its golden gems,
which glitter and sparkle upon every page. They are what the Quakers
call "the light within." Seventh, Neither moths nor mice can destroy
this glorious Bible. Fire can not consume it, nor water wash it away.
It is imperishable and eternal. It is a Bible into which no errors
have ever crept, either by printers, transcribers, or translators. And
(soul-cheering thought!) it is a Bible which contains all the important
doctrines, principles, and precepts which can be found in any perishable
paper-and-ink Bible, and all the grand truths that God ever vouchsafed
to man. They can all be found in this golden-leaved Bible, this eternal,
soul-saving revelation of God.
Jesus refers to this natural Bible, or revelation, again when he say's,
"Know ye not of yourselves what is right? "--that is, by the Bible
planted in your own souls, the revelation stereotyped upon your own
moral sense or moral nature. Hence the virtual acknowledgment by Jesus
(who is Bible authority), that there is no necessity of running to any
printed or paste-board Bible to learn the truths of the gospel or the
duties of life; for he teaches the important lesson that we may learn
them in our own inward selves. We can "know of ourselves what is right."
And there are other texts which admit that God's first revelation, and
his last and only revelation, to the human race, is far superior to that
of any books of human origin; and which admit that this glorious
revelation can not be found In the Christian Bible, or any other
perishable book, but existed for ages before any paper-and-ink Bible was
ever thought of.
I will quote one other text to prove these statements, and in further
confirmation of the proposition that the Christian Bible itself admits
that the infidels' Bible, direct from the hand of God, is greatly
superior to it in all the essential features and principles of a Bible.
Paul concedes this when he says, in his epistle to the Romans, "The
invisible things of God are clearly seen and understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead" (Rom. i. 20). Now,
here it is proved, if any thing can be proved by the Bible, that every
thing that can be learned about God and religion can be found written
upon the tablets of nature, and inscribed upon every thing that is made.
For it is declared, that even the "invisible things of God"--that is,
the _great spiritual truths_ of the kingdom--can be seen and learned
by the revelations, or lessons, written upon things "that are made." A
wonderful admission, truly! It is stated, they can not only be seen, but
"_clearly seen_ and understood," by studying the things "that are made,"
and learning their important lessons. If, then, they can be "clearly
seen and understood," there is not the shadow of a doubt left upon
the mind as to their truth or meaning: you are not annoyed with that
perplexity, uncertainty, and painful anxiety about the meaning of moral
lessons they teach, as you are with respect to hundreds of texts you
find in the Christian Bible. This is a grand revelation and declaration
and benefit, truly. And "even his eternal power and Godhead,"--that is,
God's character and attributes,--we are here told, can be learned by
reading and studying this beautiful and easily comprehended Bible,
written by the finger of God upon every leaf and page of nature.
Was there ever a more important, more pleasing, or more beautiful
revelation made to the world than this of Paul's? And is it not
surprising that Christians have never noticed this most important
admission? It is an important moral lesson that throws their pen-and-ink
Bible into the shade, and shows we would be better without than with it
by substituting God's eternal and universal Bible. It will be observed,
then, that it is shown by different texts of the Bible, that the "Holy
Book" which came directly from the hands of God is greatly superior to
that which came through the hands of man. And the fact that it is the
only Bible, or revelation, that can now be found in all countries, and
the only Bible that can be read by all nations, kingdoms, tongues, and
people, and that not one man, woman, or child in a hundred, take the
world over, can read any other Bible but this, is very nearly _prima
facie_ evidence that it is the only Bible God ever designed for the
human race, and that he never did impart, and never will impart, any
other revelation to the world; that no other Bible is necessary for the
moral, religious, and spiritual welfare of the race, or to point the
road to salvation. Hence it is the only Bible we would recommend for
the reading of the young. It is the only Bible we are certain they can
understand. It is the only Bible we are certain is free from errors.
It is the only Bible we are certain has never been altered or
mistranslated. It is the only Bible we are certain teaches no immoral
lessons. It is the only Bible which we are certain contains no vulgar or
obscene language, calculated to raise a blush on the cheek of modesty,
and outrage every feeling of decorum, as many of the texts found in the
Christian Bible do. It is the only "Holy Scripture" we can be certain
was given forth by divine inspiration, and the only sacred volume or
"Holy Word" which has the full seal and sanction of Almighty God. Read,
then, and study well, this open and widespread Bible which infolds the
universe. All the Bibles and religions of the past claim to have been
authorized by a _direct_ revelation or inspiration from God. But we
are satisfied that no such revelation has ever been given forth to any
nation in any age of the world. For inspiration is now known to be a
universal law of the natural mind; an inborn principle of the human
soul, which all ages and nations, and every human being, have possessed
a greater or less share of. And the amount of true inspiration possessed
by each individual depends upon his or her moral, intellectual, and
spiritual elevation of the soul or mind into the higher enjoyment of
spiritual bliss where it becomes _en rapport_ with all that is lovely,
inspiring, and beautiful in God's universe; where it can take cognizance
of great moral problems and spiritual truths; and where it can look
through the long vista of futurity, and behold the events of coming
years rolling up toward the threshold of time. This is true inspiration,
and the spirit of true prophecy. But it is the work of our own minds,
and not of Deity, and is not confined to any age, nation, or religion.
It depends upon the culture of the moral and intellectual faculties and
the spiritual aspirations of the individual, and not upon his creed or
religious belief.
As for a divine revelation, it can not be found in any book of human
origin. It could not be incorporated into a book, nor could all the
books in the world contain it. It is inscribed all over the face of
nature. We read it upon the outstretched earth and upon the shining
heavens; we read it upon
"Every bush and every bower,
Every leaf and every flower."
Here, then, we have a Bible with a revelation as broad as the universe.
Its lids are the heavens above, and the earth beneath. Its golden-leaf
pages are spread out at our feet; its lessons of wisdom, its truths of
salvation, and its soul-inspiring beauties, are inscribed upon the soul,
and written all over the face of nature. Read and study it, O man! and
become "wise onto salvation."
CHAPTER XV.--TWO THOUSAND BIBLE ERRORS. OLD TESTAMENT DEPARTMENT.
A HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE ERRORS IN THE STORY OF CREATION.
As the Old Testament possesses no order, no arrangement, and no distinct
system of either morals or religion, and no regular connection in its
history, we have to treat it in the same unsystematic order in which we
find it, and to expose many foolish errors and stories which seem almost
beneath the dignity of any respectable writer to notice. But, as they
constitute a large portion of the Old Testament, we have got to deal
with _them_ or _nothing_. And, although trifling in _themselves_, they
have done much mischief. Hence we deem it of greater importance to
expose their evil influence than to trace them to their heathen origin,
as we originally designed doing.
1. The first text in the Bible is evidently an error. "In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1). No geologist and
philosopher at the present day believes in either a creation or a
creator. The assumption involves two impossibilities. First, a creation
could not take place without something to create from: "_Ex nihilo nihil
fit_,"--"Out of nothing nothing can come." Second, to account for the
origin of the earth, sun, moon, and stars, by assuming the existence of
a creator, is throwing no light on the subject. We have made no progress
towards solving the problem; for we are equally puzzled to account for
the origin of the creator himself. It is as easy to assume that matter
always existed as to assume that the creator always existed. Hence there
would be no creation possible, and none needed. This is now regarded as
a settled scientific problem.
2. It is a scientific error to assert that matter had a beginning,
as the Bible assumes. Many scientific facts have been developed to
establish the conclusion that all beings and objects on earth were
eliminated from its elements, and all the planets we can recognize
were an outgrowth from some other worlds. The proposition is not only
susceptible of much proof (which I have not space here to present), but
is very beautiful and satisfactory. It "composes our reason to peace."
All we lack of comprehending it is the capacity to grasp eternity and
infinity, which finite mortals cannot do.
3. If God "created the heavens" (Gen. i. 1), and heaven is his
"dwelling-place" (see 1 Kings viii. 30), then where did he dwell before
the heavens were made? Here is a very puzzling question, and involves an
absurdity equal to that of the Tonga-Islanders, who teach that the first
goose was hatched from an egg, and that the same goose laid the egg. An
idea equally ludicrous is involved in the assumption that God created
the heavens and the earth about six thousand years ago; so that,
previous to that era, there was nothing on which he could stand, sit, or
lie, but must have been suspended in mid-air from all eternity.
4. If nothing existed prior to six thousand years ago, then there was
nothing for God to do, and nothing for him to do it with. Hence he
must have spent an eternity in idleness, a solitary monarch without a
kingdom.
5. As we are told God created the light (Gen. i. 3), the conclusion is
forced upon us, that, prior to that period, he had spent an eternity in
darkness. And it has been discovered that all beings originating in
a state of darkness, or living in that condition, were formed without
eyes, as is proved by blind fishes being found in dark caves. Hence
the thought is suggested, that God, prior to the era of creation (six
thousand years ago), was perfectly blind.
6. "God saw the light that it was good" (Gen. i. 4). Hence we must
infer that God had just got his eyes open, and that he had never before
discovered that light is good. Of course it was good to be delivered
from eternal darkness.
7. "And God divided the light from the darkness" (Gen. i. 4). Hence,
previous to that period, they must have been mixed together. Philosophy
teaches that light and darkness never can be separated, any more than
heat and cold, as one is only a different degree of the other.
8. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night"
(Gen. i. 5). And to whom did he call them? as no living being was in
existence until several days afterwards.
Hence there was no need of calling them any thing, and, as we are told
Adam named every thing, he could as easily have found names for these as
for other things.
9. The Bible teaches us that day and night were created three days
before the sun. Every school-boy now knows that it is the revolution
of the earth upon its axis that causes day and night; and, but for the
existence of the sun, there could be no day and night. If Moses' God
was so ignorant, he had better never have wakened out of his eternity of
darkness.
10. The Bible teaches that the earth came into existence three days
before the sun; but science teaches us that the earth is a child or
offshoot of the sun. Hence it could be equally true to say a son was
born three days before his father.
11. "And the earth was without form, and void" (Gen. i. 2); but
philosophy teaches that nothing can exist without form, or when
void. The declaration brings to mind the Scotchman's definition of
"nothing,"--"a footless stocking without a leg." We have an idea of a
thing which does not exist.
12. "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. i.
2). Here we are taught that the original state of the earth was that of
water. But geology teaches its original constituents was fire or fusion;
that water did not exist, and could not exist, in it, or on it, for
millions of ages. Professor Agassiz says our earth was once in a state
of igneous fusion, without water, without rain, and even without
an atmosphere ("Geological Sketches," i. 2). And even the pious,
God-fearing Hugh Miller says that "the solid earth was at one time, from
center to circumference, a mass of molten matter" ("Lectures on Geology,"
256). Here we have geology against theology.
13. God spent a day making a firmament, by which he "divided the waters
from the waters." If it had then stated that he spent a day in making
moonshine, or one day in making breath for Adam, it would have been
as sensible; for the firmament is as truly a part of the earth (being
eliminated from it) as our breath is a part of our bodies.
14. "Divided the waters from the waters." Here is disclosed a belief
which prevailed in various Oriental and heathen nations, that the
earth exists between two large lakes, or sheets of water; and that the
firmament is a solid floor, which holds the water up, and prevents it
from falling, and inundating the earth; and, being supplied with doors
and windows, when God wants it to rain he opens the windows (the Bible
says "the windows of heaven were opened," see Gen. vii. 11). He pours
it down by opening the windows, and stops it by shutting them up. "The
windows of heaven were stopped" (Gen. viii. 2). How fully is the heathen
tradition disclosed here!
15. We are told that God gathered "the waters under heaven together unto
one place" (Gen. i. 9). How ignorant he must have been of geography! He
evidently had not studied the science, or had not traveled much, or
he would have known the waters under heaven never have been "gathered
together unto one place," but exist in many places, as the two hundred
large lakes prove.
16. The Bible tells us, that, when God created the vegetable kingdom, he
ordered each species of vegetation to "bring forth after its kind" (Gen.
i. 11). Can we suppose that apple-trees would have borne buckeyes, or
mullein-stalks produced pumpkins, or any thing foreign to their nature,
if the command had not been given for each to bring forth after its
kind?
17. According to the Bible, the vegetable kingdom was created before
the animal; but the learned geologist Hitchcock, although a Christian
by profession, in his "Elements of Geology" says, "An examination of the
rocks shows us that animals were created as early as vegetables" (and
he might have said much earlier). And yet the Bible says vegetables were
created on the third day, and animals on the fifth (see Gen. i.).
18. The Bible represents vegetables as coming into existence before the
sun, but philosophy teaches that they could neither germinate nor grow
without the warming and vivifying influence of the sun.
19. The Bible tells us that "God made two great lights, the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and God
set them in the firmament to give light to the earth" (Gen. i. 16,
17). That is, he made two round balls, and then stuck them into a hole
scooped out of the firmament for the purpose. This seems to be the idea.
Here is disclosed the most egregious ignorance of astronomy. Think of
that stupendous solar luminary, as much larger than this pygmy planet as
a man is larger than a mouse, being hung up or stuck up above us for our
sole accommodation! How sublimely ridiculous!
20. The Bible represents the great world-builder, the almighty-,
architect, as spending five days in plodding and toiling at this little
mole-hill of ours before he got it finished up to his notion, and then
made such a bad job of it that he repented for having undertaken it.
21. But when he came to make the countless worlds, the vast suns, and
systems of suns, which roll their massive forms in every direction
around the earth, these were all made in a few hours. "And he made
the stars also." This text tells the whole story of the origin of the
boundless planetary system, comprising millions of worlds larger
than our planet. What superlative ignorance of astronomy Moses' God
manifests!
22. Moses is awarded great credit by Bible believers for opposing
polytheism, and teaching the existence of but one God: but it would have
been more to his credit if he had stuck to a belief in a plurality of
Gods; for it would take a million of such Gods as his imagination has
created a thousand years to make such a universe as astronomers have
brought to light since he wrote.
23. The language, "Let us make man in our own image" (Gen. 1. 26), seems
to imply that there was an association of gods,--a company of almighty
mechanics, who had formed a copartnership to do up a big job.
24. If man was made in the image of God, why was he cursed for eating
the fruit of the tree of knowledge in order to be like God?
25. According to the Bible, God became so tired in the business of
world-making that he had to take a rest of a whole day (and perhaps took
a nap also) when the job was completed; but geology and philosophy both
teach that creation never was begun, and never will be finished, but is
going on all the time. Hence new species of animals and vegetables are
constantly coming into existence.
26. The Bible represents the entire universe as being created less
than six thousand years ago; but science teaches us that it has been in
existence for millions of years.
27. A large volume of scientific facts has been accumulated by
scientists, showing that even our earth, one of the youngest of the
planets, is at least several hundred thousand years old. Look at a
few of the facts which go to prove it. The coral reefs of Florida
are estimated by Professor Agassiz to be one hundred and thirty-five
thousand years old. Charles Lyell estimates the delta of the Mississippi
Valley to be at least one hundred thousand years old. Four growths of
cypress-trees far below the surface of the ground, and situated one
above another, have been discovered near New Orleans, whose successive
growths must have occupied a period of at least one hundred and
fifty thousand years. So much for the agreement of geology and Bible
chronology.
28. But we are told that a day in the Bible means a thousand years.
Then, as the sabbath day constitutes one of the days spoken of in the
Bible, and was provided as a day of rest, Christians and Bible believers
should rest a thousand years at a time; and, as God rested a whole day
(a thousand years), he must have been as tired of resting as he was of
world-making. Why do the figures "4004 B.C." stand at the top of the
first page of the Bible, if a thousand years mean one day?
29. The Bible teaches that whales, fishes, and birds were made on the
same day; but geology assures us that fishes came into existence long
before fowls.
30. The Bible teaches that beasts and creeping, things were all made
on the fifth day of creation; but geology tells us that reptiles and
creeping things crawled upon the earth millions of years before beasts
came into existence.
31. The Bible represents man as coming into existence about six thousand
years ago; but human bones have recently been discovered in the vicinity
of New Orleans which Dr. Dowler estimates to be at least fifty thousand
years old.
32. A deity who becomes so tired and physically exhausted with six days'
labor as to be compelled to stop and rest, physiology teaches would
be liable to physical disease; and, if physically diseased, it might
terminate in death, and thus leave the world without a God (Godless).
33. The Bible tells us "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground" (Gen. ii. 7); but philosophy teaches that dust possesses no
vital properties, and that it would have been less difficult to make
man of a stone or a stump, owing to their possessing more adhesive
properties. One writer suggests that the negro must have been made of
coal-dust.
34. According to the Bible, a serious blunder was made by Jehovah in
the work of creation, by exhausting all the materials in the process
of world-making and man-making, so that nothing was left to make
a "helpmeet" for Adam; and this blunder caused the necessity of
robbing Adam of one of his ribs.
35. But common sense teaches us that a small crooked bone but a few
ounces in weight could not furnish half the material necessary to
constitute a woman. The Parsees, with a little more show of sense, tell
us that the rib was used merely as a back-bone, around which the woman
was constructed; which revives in memory Erin's mode of making cannon,
which consisted in "taking a round hole, and pouring melted metal around
it." The Tonga-Islanders have a tradition about as sensible as that of
Moses with respect to the origin of the first woman. Their God made the
first man with three legs, and amputated one of them to make a "helpmeet
for him?" This is an improvement, as a leg can be better spared when
there are three than a rib: it also possesses more material than a rib.
36. The Bible teaches that man was created upright, but fell. If it
means physically, it can be easily accounted for, and must be ascribed
to his creator; for depriving him of one of his ribs would leave him in
an unbalanced condition, so that he would be liable to fall.
37. The Bible imparts to us the strange intelligence that "the Lord God
brought all the beasts and birds to Adam to see what he would call them"
(Gen. ii. 19). What an idea for Omniscience or Infinite Wisdom to engage
in the business of chasing bears, lions, tigers, elephants, and hyenas,
and all manner of beasts great and small, and all manner of birds, also
hissing, crawling, biting reptiles, and every living thing which he had
created, and taking them to Adam "to see what he would call them"! Not
having sufficient intelligence to find names for them himself (pardon
the thought), his curiosity was no doubt aroused to see what an ignorant
being of his own creation, who had not sufficient intelligence to clothe
himself, would call the innumerable host of beasts, birds, &c., before
any language was known, or even a single letter was invented to spell
names with. (We are very far from desiring to wound the feelings or
encroach upon the reverence that any man or woman may cherish for "a God
of infinite love, wisdom, and goodness;" but let it be kept constantly
in mind we are not presenting the history of such a being here, but the
mere imaginary God of Moses and the Bible.)
38. As the Bible teaches that Adam named all the beasts, animals, and
birds, it must have occupied a great number of years for the Lord God of
Moses to have caught and taken the several hundred thousand species
to Adam to receive names in all the three thousand languages, and then
convey them back to their respective climates.
39. The question naturally arises, Why should Adam give them names by
saying, "This is a horse, that is an ass, the animal yonder shall be
called a hippopotamus," &c., when there was nobody present to hear it
and be benefited by it? And nobody could have remembered half the names
had they been present. Here we wish to call the attention of the reader
specially to the fact that all the thoughts and language we have so far
cited as being either that of God or Moses sounds like the utterance
of ignorant children, and unworthy the dignity of an intelligent and
sensible man much less that of a God.
40. The Bible teaches that "God made man in his own image." The reverse
statement would have been true, "Man made God in his own image;" for
this is true of all nations who believe in a God.
41. Here let it be noted the Bible contains two contradictory accounts
of creation; one found in the first chapter of Genesis, the other in
the second. In the first, animals are created before man; in the second,
after man.
42. The first chapter of Genesis says, "Let the earth bring forth
plants" (Gen. i. 11): the second says, "God created every plant...
before it was in the earth" (Gen. ii. 9). A contradiction; and neither
statement is true, there being no creation.
43. The first chapter has the earth created several days before the
firmament, or heaven: the second chapter has it created on the same day
(Gen. ii. 4).
44. The first represents fowls as originating in the water (Gen. i. 20):
the second has them created out of the water.
45. After the first chapter says "God created man in his own image"
(Gen. i. 27), the second says "there was not a man to till the ground"
(Gen. ii. 4).
46. The first chapter represents man and woman as being created at the
same time (Gen. i. 27): the second represents the woman as being created
after the man.
47. The first implies that man has dominion over the whole earth: the
second restricts his dominion to a garden. Which is the inspired story
of creation?
48. The Mexicans claim that the first man and woman were created in
their country. The Hindoos aver that the original progenitors of the
race (Adimo and Iva) first made their appearance amongst them. The
Chinese claim a similar honor. The Persians contend that God landed the
first human pair in the land of Iran. And, finally, the Jews affirm that
Jehovah created the first pair in Eden.
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE TREE OF LIFE.
Moses tells us God planted two trees in Eden, one of which he called
"the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." This tree bore fruit which
nobody was allowed to taste (Gen. ii. 9).
49. Why the tree was planted, or why its fruit was forbidden to be used,
are problems which the Bible does not solve, and which set reason at
defiance.
50. And then it looks like a senseless act to create a tree for the
purpose of bearing fruit (as we can conceive of no other purpose for
which it could have been created), and then decree that it should all go
to waste.
51. It was worse still to create human beings with an appetite for this
fruit, and place it in their sight, and then forbid them to taste it on
penalty of death. Nothing could be more opposed to our ideas of reason
and justice.
52. Did God create beings in his own image, and then treat them as if he
wished to tantalize them and render them unhappy?
53. It would seem that he created man for no other purpose than to tease
and torment him, and quarrel with him.
54. Common sense would suggest it to be the act of an ignoramus or a
tyrant to implant in man the desire to eat fruit which he did not allow
him to eat.
55. And would it not be unjust to punish Adam and Eve for doing what he
himself had implanted in them the desire to do?
56. God must have known they would eat the fruit, if he were omniscient.
57. If he were not omniscient, he was not a God in a supreme or divine
sense.
58. God must have had the power without the will to prevent the act of
disobedience, which would make him an unjust and unmerciful tyrant.
59. Or else the will without the power, which would make him a weak and
frail being, and not a God. (For a full elucidation of these points, see
chapter sixty-nine.)
We will notice a few other points.
60. As God declared eating the fruit would make Adam "like one of us,"
that is, Godlike (and all men are enjoined to become Godlike), was
not Adam, therefore, justified in eating the fruit in order to become
Godlike?
61. In chapter sixty-nine it is shown, that, as Adam and Eve got their
eyes open by eating the inhibited fruit, the act of disobedience turned
out to be a great blessing, inasmuch as it saved the earth from being
filled with a race of blind human beings.
62. And, as this blessing was obtained through the agency of the
serpent-devil, we must admit "the father of lies" was a great benefactor
of the human race, as shown in chapter sixty-nine.
63. As Adam could not very well exercise "dominion over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth" (Gen. i. 26) while shut up in a little
eight-by-ten garden, we can observe here another practical benefit of
the act of disobedience which drove him from the garden.
64. Is it not a strange piece of moral incongruity to set Adam to
tilling the soil in the garden as a _blessing_, and then doom him to
till it _outside_ as a curse? (Gen. iii. 23.) He first embarked in the
business as a blessing, and then as a curse. How the same act could be
both a blessing and a curse is a "mystery of godliness" which swamps us.
65. The Jews tell us the original tempter was a serpent (Gen. iii.
1); The Mexicans say it was a demon; the Hindoos call him a snake; the
Greeks declare it was a dragon; Josephus supposes it was an ape; some of
the East-India sects speak of him as a fish; but the Persian revelations
make it a lizard. Which is right?
66. The Mosaic or Hebrew cosmogony represents the serpent as dealing out
the fruit to the _genus homo_; while the Mexicans, the Egyptians, and
the Persians set the serpent or "evil genius" to guarding the tree to
protect the fruit. Which is right?
67. When God Jehovah announced to the trinity of Gods, "Behold, the man
has become as one of us to know good and evil" (Gen. iii. 22), exactly
as the serpent had predicted, instead of dying as Jehovah had predicted,
does it not prove that the serpent was the best and most reliable
prophet?
68. As Adam and Eve could know nothing of the nature of right and wrong
until they attained that knowledge by eating the fruit, does not this
fact prove it to be a justifiable if not a righteous act?
69. How could Adam and Eve know that any act was sinful before an act of
any kind had been committed by which they could learn the character or
consequences of human conduct?
69. Is it not a logical conclusion, that, if God created every thing,
he can control every thing, and hence, strictly speaking, is alone
responsible for the right performance of every thing?
70. The Christian Bible tells us the first pair of human beings sewed
fig-leaves together for clothing; but the Chinese revelation say
palm-leaves. Which is right? Who can tell?
71. As it is declared the voice of God was heard "walking in the garden"
(Gen. iii. 8), we beg leave to ask, what kind of a thing is a "walking
voice"?
72. We also beg leave to ask, who took charge of "the house of many
mansions" while Jehovah was down among the bushes hunting and hallooing
for Adam?
72. And who took charge of creation, and kept the machinery of the
universe running during the thousand years' rest of God Almighty, if the
one day he rested means a thousand years?
73. Was it necessary for an omnipresent God to come down from heaven
to find Adam when he hid among the bushes? And what would have been the
result if he had not been found?
74. Must we not conclude that the command to "multiply and replenish the
earth" was rather superfluous, inasmuch as nations who never heard of
the command perform the duty faithfully?
75. If the River Gihon, one of the four rivers of Paradise, "encompassed
the whole land of Ethiopia" (Gen. ii. 13), which is in Africa, how did
it manage to cross the Red Sea, so as to get into Eden, which is in
Asia?
111. As Bishop Colenso shows the territory lying between the four rivers
in Eden, as mentioned in Gen. ii. comprised an area of several hundred
miles, we would suggest that father Adam, while in Eden, had rather a
large garden to cultivate.
112. How could fig-leaves be sewed together for clothing before needles
were invented? (see Gen. iii. 7.)
113. How did Eve see the tree as stated in Genesis ("she saw the tree")
before she ate the fruit which caused her eyes to be opened?
114. Is it not calculated to destroy all ideas of justice in the minds
of man and woman to believe that God cursed and ruined the happiness
of the whole human race merely for one simple act prompted by a being
destitute of moral perception or moral accountability?
115. And what should we think of a being who would suffer a grand
scheme, on which is predicated the happiness of his innumerable family
for untold ages, to be defeated by the wily machinations of a brainless
creature of his own creation?
116. Why should Adam hide from God because he was naked, when, if
God made him, he must have become accustomed to seeing him in that
condition?
117. If God in the morning pronounced every thing good, and in the
evening every thing bad, does it not imply not only a serious blunder in
the job, but a serious mistake in his views either in the morning or in
the evening?
118. As we are told "the Lord God made clothing for Adam out of
goat-skins," the question naturally arises, Who caught and killed the
animals, and dressed the skins? Does it not imply that God was both a
butcher and a tanner? Rather plebeian employment for a God.
119. And the statement that "the Lord God planted a garden eastward in
Eden" (Gen. ii. 8) seems to imply that he was a horticulturist also.
120. It is pretty hard to believe that Adam could sleep while God
Almighty (Moses' God) was digging amongst his ribs, as stated in Gen.
ii. 21.
121. How could Adam know what the word "die" meant before there had been
any deaths in the world, when the Lord told him he should _die_ if he
ate the forbidden fruit?
122. As Eve was pronounced "the mother of all living" when there were
no human beings in existence but she and Adam, the inference seems to
be that she was the mother of herself, her husband, and all the animal
tribes.
123. "In the image of God created he them" (Adam and Eve, see Gen. i.
27). If Adam and Eve were both created in the image of God, it would
seem to follow that he was constituted of two genders, male and female.
In concluding this section, we ask the reader to think of an infinitely
wise God being defeated in his grand scheme of creation or salvation by
a crawling serpent, and a frightful hell and all its horrors originating
from this act. How sublimely ridiculous is the thought!
II. THE SCIENTISTS ACCOUNT OF CREATION.
1. Millions of years ago the sun in its revolution threw off, as it
had done on previous occasions, a sort of fire-mist, or nebulous
scintillations, which floated and rolled through space for countless
ages, gradually accumulating from the atmosphere in its revolution,
thus swelling in size until it became a conglomeration of gas; and,
continuing to grow and progress, it ripened into a fiery, liquid mass
possessing the most intense heat.
2. After innumerable ages this fiery liquid mass began to cool, and
finally formed a crust upon its surface.
3. As its interior elements began to evolve or emanate from its bosom,
it formed a dense, heavy, murky atmosphere, almost as heavy as water, in
which no living thing could have breathed or lived for a moment.
4. This atmosphere contained moisture, which in the course of time
became condensed into globules forming drops, which descended to the
earth in the shape of rain.
5. This rain, descending to the earth, cooled its surface, and
eventually filled its vast cavities with water, and thus formed lakes,
seas, and oceans. The boiling, heaving mass in the bowels of the earth
made it very irregular in shape.
6. As soon as the surface of the earth became sufficiently cool, small
swellings began to appear upon its surface, presenting the appearance of
blisters, or boils. These outgrowths finally began to exhibit vegetable
life; but for a long period of time they presented the appearance of
rocks or stones.
7. In the mean time the washings from the surface of the earth were
deposited in the seas and oceans, and, sinking to the bottom, in the
course of time formed rocks.
8. These rocks, as they hardened, gave off an element of life, which in
the course of time supplied the waters with various forms of animal or
finny life, and thus originated mollusks, fishes, &c.
9. As the surface of the earth cooled and grew thicker, the elements of
life diffused through the liquid mass finally made their appearance on
the surface in the character of the lowest forms of vegetable life? such
as mosses, lichens, ferns, &c.
10. As the surface of the earth thickened, and consequently accumulated
the elements of vitality gave forth higher and still higher forms
of vegetable life, finally the most matured forms of matter began to
exhibit animal life.
11. The first species was the zoophite, a compound of vegetable and
animal life, but possessing scarcely any of the functions of animal life
except those of absorption and respiration, and these functions were but
slightly manifested.
12. Succeeding the zoophite came the mollusks and various hard-shelled
animal forms, which at first clung to the rocks, then fed on seaweeds
and other vegetable substances, absorbing also from the atmosphere.
13. In this way various species of animals and birds and reptiles sprang
up, ran their course, and then perished, to give place to higher forms.
14. And finally, when all the elements of life became sufficiently
matured, they formed a combination, and turned loose upon the earth the
animal man, who at first was nearly as ugly, clumsy, and awkward as a
baboon, possessed of but little more sense or intelligence.
15. Each one of these changes and outgrowths of the new forms of
vegetable and animal life constituted an epoch of innumerable ages, thus
showing the age of our planet to be beyond computation. We submit to the
reader whether this is not a more rational, beautiful, and satisfactory
solution of the great problem of mineral, vegetable, animal, and human
existence, than the jumbled-up medley presented by Moses.
CHAPTER XVI.--ABSURDITIES IN THE ARK AND FLOOD STORY.
If there were no other errors or absurdities in the Bible, our faith
in it would diminish at every step in the investigation of the ark
and flood story as related in the sixth chapter of Genesis. The
avowed purpose of the flood, the means employed, and their failure to
accomplish the end desired, are all at war with our reason and our moral
sense.
1. The first question that naturally arises in considering this
story is, Why should so many millions of innocent beings--men, women,
children, animals; birds, &c.--perish as a penalty for the sins of a few
thousand people?
2. The reason given for this wholesale destruction was the wickedness
and moral depravity of the human race. But is it true that the whole
human race was in that state at that period? According to Manetho and
Herodotus, Egypt was in a state of high civilization and moral culture
at the time; and, according to Dr. Hulde, China was also far advanced
in the arts of civilization and in morality. Col. Dow and other writers
represent India as being in a similar condition. There could, therefore,
be no justice in drowning all these nations in order to punish a few
thousand rambling Jews: it was too much like "burning the barn to
destroy the rats."
3. An enlightened moralist of the present day would decide that it was a
species of injustice to destroy all the land animals, and let the fishes
and aquatic animals live. It looks like partiality.
4. But God, having discovered that he made a signal failure in the work
of creation, acknowledged that it "grieved him at his heart," and that
he "repented" having undertaken it. However, he issued a proclamation,
stating that "the end of all flesh is come: every thing that is in the
earth shall die."
5. "I, even I, do bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy all
flesh" (Gen. xi. 6). The language seems to imply that somebody else had
undertaken, or was about to undertake, the business.
6. But "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord," and was placed at the
head of this grand scheme; being, as was assumed, although a drunkard,
the most righteous man that could be found.
7. The Lord instructed him to build an ark five hundred and fifty feet
long, twenty feet wide, and fifty-five feet high,--about the size of an
eastern warehouse. Think of putting into this two of every species of
animal, and seven of every species of clean beast, and fowls of the
air!--there being one hundred and fifty thousand or, as some make it,
five hundred thousand species of animal, one hundred and twelve thousand
kinds of bird, and fifty thousand species of insect.
8. And God ordered to be taken into this ark food sufficient to supply
these millions of mouths. This alone would have required forty such
vessels.
9. As it was declared that God destroyed every living thing from the
face of the earth, it would have been necessary to have food enough
stored away to last several years, until the earth could have time to be
replenished with a new crop of grass and vegetables to serve as food for
the granivorous and herbivorous species, and animals for the carnivorous
tribes. The weight of such a cargo would have been sufficient to sink
the whole British navy!
10. Consider for a moment what amount of food would be required for
each species of animal. The four elephants (two of each species) would
consume a ton of hay in two days, making more than one hundred and
fifty tons in twelve months. The fourteen rhinoceroses would consume
one thousand and fifty tons. And then the horses, cattle, sheep, goats,
asses, zebras, antelopes, and other mammalia, would require at least two
thousand tons more; making in the aggregate three thousand two hundred
tons. This alone would have filled every inch of the vessel.
11. The seven hundred and eighty-four thousand birds (one hundred
and twelve thousand species) would require grain, which would make it
necessary to store several thousand bushels.
12. The three thousand flesh-eating animals, including lions (one lion
could eat fifteen pounds a day), cats, dogs, jackals, hyenas, skunks,
weasels, crocodiles, snakes, eagles, hawks, buzzards, &c., would require
about forty wagon-loads to be slaughtered and fed to them each day; for
all would require fresh meat but the buzzards.
13. And otters, minks, gulls, kingfishers, spoonbills, storks, &c.,
would require fish for food, which must either be preserved in tanks for
the purpose, or one hundred and fifty persons would have to be employed
all the time in catching them; and there were only four men to do this
and perform all the other labor,--sufficient for five thousand hands.
14. There were nine hundred species of fly-catchers,--those that feed
on flies, beetles, and other insects. We are not informed whether flies
were included in the registered list or not; but they would, of course,
be impudent enough to take up their quarters in the vessel without
invitation.
15. About two hundred and fifty birds known as bee-catch-ers would
have to be supplied with this kind of insect: this would be, to say the
least, rather stinging business.
16. Many cans of cockroaches must have been saved to feed the
birds-of-paradise.
17. There are several kinds of ant-eaters also, which would have
required much time to be spent in searching for ants in the cracks of
the vessel, or in collecting then! off the water.
18. The four hundred and forty-two monkeys would require fresh fruit;
and it is not probable anybody had the forethought to can it for them.
19. Sixty-five species of animal feed on insects; and it would have been
necessary for several persons to spend most of their time in crawling
after millipeds, fleas, wood-lice, &c.
20. There would have been work for fifty boy's in providing leaves and
flowers (if there were any possibility that they could be obtained while
merged in twenty-seven feet of water) for the animals that feed on these
things.
21. Besides food, fresh water must have been stored up for most of these
animals, as they could not have endured the salty water of the briny
deep.
22. Noah and his family must have studied ornithology and natural
history many years to know what kind of food to save for the various
kinds of birds and animals.
23. Naturalists estimate that there are fourteen different climates,
each with animals adapted only to the temperature and natural growth
of that locality. How, then, could they all endure the change of being
removed to the vicinity of Mount Ararat? Animals from the frigid zones
must have felt like fish out of water in the warm climate of Armenia.
24. And think of the immense labor required to obtain this innumerable
collection of animals! In the first place, either Noah or his God must
make a trip to the polar regions to obtain the white bear, the reindeer,
the polar dog, &c.
25. And then the Rocky Mountains must be scaled to find and catch the
grizzly bear. Some time and labor must have been required to obtain the
rattlesnakes, copperheads, vipers, cobras, snapping-turtles, &c., of the
torrid zone.
26. And a great deal of strategy must have been employed to catch
the fox, the deer, the antelope, the gazelle, the chimpanzee, of the
temperate zone; also the eagle, hawk, buzzard, &c.
27. To do all this hunting and catching, and conveying to the ark, of
the million and a half birds and animals, would have required a larger
number of persons than Napoleon or Xerxes ever commanded; for, as the
whole thing is related as a natural occurrence, we can not assume that
they made the journey of their own accord.
28. The Bible commentator Scott supposes that angels were employed to
aid in this business of storing away the animals in the ark; but it is
certainly derogatory to that elevated order of beings to suppose they
would stoop to such groveling work as bug-hunting, skunk-catching,
snake-snaring, &c.
29. And how could this immense multitude of respiring and perspiring
animals live and breathe in a vessel with but one little twenty-two-inch
window, and that in the third story, and shut up most of the time to
keep the rain out, especially if some giraffe had been disposed to
monopolize it when it was open by thrusting his head out? How could they
be kept thus for a whole year without breeding pestilence and death?
30. All animals require light; and total darkness must have reigned
in the two lower stories, and only a partial light supplied the third
story,--just what could come through a twenty-two-inch window.
31. The chorus of voices in the ark--consisting of bellowing, baying,
howling, screaming, hissing, neighing, snorting, roaring, chattering,
buzzing, &c.--suggests that deafness would have been a blessing to the
human beings present.
32. We are told that "fifteen cubits upward did the water prevail, and
the mountains were covered." Fifteen cubits (twenty-seven feet) would
not cover nine-tenths of the buildings now on the earth. Ararat is
seventeen thousand feet, and Everest twenty-nine thousand feet high.
33. Several scientists have shown by actual experiment that the
atmosphere could not contain the fourteen-hundredth part of the water
that is represented to have fallen in the time of the flood.
34. Who or what conducted the ark to Ararat when the waters subsided? In
the Brahminical flood story a fish is said to have performed this feat,
and dragged it to Mt. Hinavat; but Noah and Moses are silent on this
point.
35. The peak of Ararat is perpetually covered with snow and ice; hence
it must have been rather difficult and dangerous for the biped and
quadruped cargo to descend from it.
36. And what was there to prevent the nine hundred carnivorous animals
from devouring the sheep, hogs, poultry, rabbits, minks, hedgehogs, &o.,
as they tumbled pell-mell down the mountain together.
37. The same catastrophe must have ensued from the act of turning them
loose upon the earth together, with nothing to subsist upon but the
flesh and blood of each other.
38. Many Oriental nations have traditions of a flood, and some of them
of several floods. Xisuthrus of Chaldea built a ship, in which he saved
himself and family during a mighty flood which overflowed the world;
also Fohi of China, Menu of the Brahmins, Satravarata of India, and
Deucalion of Greece. Hence it appears there were several families saved
besides that of Noah's. Egypt and India have stories of two floods
occurring. All these stories are evidently older than that recorded in
the Christian Bible.
39. Geologists and archaeologists have collected a whole volume of
evidence, which shows that such a deluge could never have taken place as
is embodied in the traditions of several nations. The fresh water of
the lakes, and the salt water of the seas and oceans, would have been so
mixed as never again to be separated as they are now. Egyptian monuments
and sculpture can be traced to a much earlier period than that assigned
for Noah's flood.
40. Lepsius has traced the existence of several races or tribes of
negroes up to a period within forty-eight years of Noah's flood; this
would seem to indicate that some of Noah's family were negroes, and must
have "multiplied and replenished" very rapidly to start several races in
forty-eight years.
41. The dynasties of Egyptian kings can be traced back several thousand
years beyond Noah's time.
42. It is true Jesus Christ and the apostles indorsed the truth of
the flood story (Matt. xxiv. 37); but that is evidence against their
intelligence, instead of being a proof of the truth of the story.
43. And the assumed divine author of the flood admitted it was an utter
failure,--that it entirely failed to accomplish the end intended; for it
was declared but a few centuries after, that "the imagination of man's
heart is evil, and only evil, continually," which is an evidence that
the wicked folks were not all drowned by the world's inundation.
44. With respect to the many difficulties and impossibilities I have
enumerated as lying in the way of carrying out this experiment of the
flood, it is sometimes argued in defense, that, as the whole thing was
in the hands of God, such obstacles would not be a straw in his way. But
such persons at different periods,--one ninety-five hundred years ago
have failed to notice that it is nowhere stated or implied that it was
to be accomplished by miracles. A miracle could have destroyed all the
wicked inhabitants of the earth in a moment, without any flood or other
means.
45. With regard to its being only a partial deluge, as argued by some
Bible defenders, we will say that it is only necessary to examine the
language of the Bible to settle this matter. It is declared over and
over again, that the whole earth was covered with water, and _every
living thing destroyed_. If it had been only a partial deluge, all that
would have been necessary for Noah to do to save himself and family
would have been to migrate to some dry country; and the doomed sinners
might have saved themselves in this way.
46. I will note here that the rainbow was for more than a thousand years
looked upon both as evidence that there had been a universal deluge, and
also that there never would be another. It is only at a recent period
that the study of philosophy has disclosed the fact that the rainbow is
caused by the reflection and refraction of the rays of light upon the
falling rain, and the error thus exploded.
47. One thing in connection with this flood story is not clearly
explained in the Bible: Methuselah's time was not out till ten months
after the flood began, according to Bible chronology. Where was he
during this ten months?
CHAPTER XVII.--THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, MORAL DEFECTS OF.
These commandments have always been regarded by Bible believers as being
a remarkable display of infinite wisdom, and as being morally perfect
beyond criticism; and consequently they have passed from age to age
without examination, when a little investigation would have shown any
logical mind that they contain palpable errors both in logic and morals.
First commandment: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" (Exod. xx.
3); that is, as commentators have interpreted it, "Thou shalt prefer
no Gods to me." And why not? What harm can it do? Supposing the people
prefer a golden calf, as the Jews did under the leadership of Aaron, in
the name of reason how can it injure either God or man? if not, where
is the objection? The feeling of devotion is the same in all cases,
whatever may be the object worshiped. Hence the worshiper is as much
benefited by worshiping one object as another. On the other hand, it
would be a slander upon infinite wisdom to suppose he can desire the
homage, adoration, and flattery of poor ignorant mortals, and desire
them to crouch at his feet. It would make a mere coxcomb of him to
suppose he can be pleased with such adulation, or that he desires such
homage. We worship no such God.
Second commandment. The second commandment prohibits our making "the
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, the earth beneath, or the
waters under the earth" (Exod. xx. 4). Let us look, in the first place,
at the effect of this prohibition, and then at the character of the
act. It effectually cuts off the use of photographs, portraits, and
pictures,--illustrations of every description; for all these are
likenesses of something.
Hence thousands of oases of the violation of this commandment take place
every day in all Christian or civilized countries. Books are issued
every day containing likenesses of something in the heavens above or
the earth beneath; especially are school-books illustrated with the
likenesses of all kinds of living beings, and often with inanimate
objects, by which children learn. The second commandment is utterly
disregarded and trampled under foot by all Christendom.
Third commandment. This commandment prohibits our bowing down to and
worshiping any other God but Jehovah, because "I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God" (Exod. xx. 5).
As for "jealousy," it will make any being hateful and despised,
according to William Penn. But why not worship other Gods (that is,
beings supposed to represent or resemble God)? Can any serious evil
result from such an act, either to God or his worshipers? If so, what
is it? Let us assume, for the sake of the argument, that the heathen who
bow down to images of wood and stone suppose them to be the veritable
living and true God (which, however, is not true), yet it would be the
very climax of folly to suppose that an infinite being, of such infinite
perfection that it places him at an infinite distance beyond human
flattery, can take the slightest offense at such an act. It is childish
to entertain such a thought. A thousand times more sensible is the
doctrine of the Hindoos' Vedas, which makes God (Brahma) say, "Those who
worship other Gods worship me, because I hear them, and correct their
mistake." We will illustrate:--
A rebel soldier (son of a doctor) was wounded near his father's house,
in Kentucky, during the war, in which he immediately sought refuge. As
he entered the hall (it being evening twilight), he observed some person
at the farther end whom he supposed to be his father, and exclaimed,
"Father, I am wounded! Can you aid me?" His father, being in a room
above, overheard him, and responded, "Yes, sir." Had he had the vanity
of Jehovah, he should have replied, "No, sir: you mistook the servant
in the hall for me: therefore I will not assist you, but punish you, and
kill you." Remember, Jehovah is represented as killing the worshipers
of other Gods (Deut. 3. iii. 6). If an illiterate heathen in like manner
should, in his ignorance, call upon idols or mere imaginary beings for
aid, would not his heavenly Father, "in the room above" or the heaven
above, hear him and reply, "You are mistaken; I am here, not there; but
no difference, the mistake is not important: your intention was good,
and your motives honest; therefore I will grant your request"? This
would be sensible. But Jehovah is represented as saying, "If thy brother
or son or daughter, or even the wife of thy bosom, shall say, let us
go and serve other Gods, thou shalt not pity nor spare, but kill them"
(Deut. xiii. 6). Here is the most shocking cruelty, combined with
supreme nonsense. We are commanded to kill wives, sons, and daughters,
if they entertain a different view of God from ours, no matter how
honest they may be; and there is no question but that all worshipers
are honest. They can not be otherwise. And yet there is no sin more
frequently or more fearfully denounced in the Christian Bible than that
of worshipping other Gods. Who can not see that it all grew out of
the bitter sectarian bigotry of the Jews, which engendered feelings of
animosity toward all nations who refused to subscribe to their creed?
This has been the fault of all creed worshipers. As "no man hath seen
God at any time" (John i. 18), it must be a matter of imagination with
every human being as to what is the form, size, and character of God.
And therefore it can make no difference what God, or what kind of God,
we call upon in our prayers. We would be equally heard and answered, if
there were a God answering prayer. The third commandment, therefore, is
devoid of sound sense.
Fourth commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain" (Exod. xx. 7). The word "vain" is defined to mean "worthless,
fruitless;" that is, attended with no good results. And we can not
conceive that it can be any more sinful to take the name of God in vain
than that of a human being, or of any other object. It is not rational
to suppose God, while superintending the movements of eighty-five
millions of worlds, pays any attention to the manner in which the
inhabitants of this little planet use his name, or that he cares any
thing about it. And then how is it possible for us to know when we are
using his name in vain, and when we are not?
Fifth commandment: "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy." This
commandment is universally laid aside by all Christendom. Nobody keeps
the sabbath but the Jews. And as God himself does not keep the sabbath,
but lets all nature run and work (her laws operate the same on that day
as on all other days of the week), we can not believe the sabbath was
instituted by him.
Sixth commandment: "Honor thy father and mother" (Exod. xx. 12). Pretty
good; but the reason assigned for it is devoid of sense,--"That thy
days may be long upon the earth." We have never learned that long-lived
persons have been more dutiful to parents than others.
Seventh commandment: "Thou shalt not kill" (Exod. xx. 13). If the
word "not" were left out, we would concede this commandment has been
faithfully obeyed. His "holy people" were killing nearly all the time;
and their successors (the Christians) have inundated the earth with
blood by a constant violation of this command. What good, therefore, we
would ask, has resulted from this commandment?
Tenth commandment. The tenth commandment forbids us to covet our
neighbor's house, wife, or servant, or any of his property (covet,
"to desire earnestly"). We can not conceive how there can be any moral
turpitude in the act of desiring to possess any of our neighbor's
property, or even his wife, if no improper means are used to obtain
them. The command was doubtless issued to keep the poor man from aping
the rich, and to make him content with his own lot and condition.
The above will be understood to be the true exposition of "the holy
commandments of the Lord," "the ten glorious laws of God," when people
become accustomed to use their reason in matters of religion.
CHAPTER XVIII.--FOOLISH BIBLE STORIES.
I. TALKING SERPENTS AND TALKING ASSES.--GEN. III., NUM. XXII.
The laws of nature appear to have possessed but little force,
permanency, or reliability in the days of Moses, as they were often
brought to a dead halt, and set aside on the most trivial occasions,
according to Bible history; and nothing could be learned of the
character, habits, or natural powers of animals by their form or
physical conformation, if they possessed, as represented, minds and
reasoning powers supposed to be peculiar to the human species. Hence the
study of natural history must have been useless. When naturalists at the
present day find animals without the organs of speech, they assume they
do not possess the ability to talk and reason. But the absence of
the vocal organs in the days of Moses appears to have furnished no
criterion, and interposed no obstacle to becoming a fluent speaker and
an able reasoner, as is illustrated in the case of a serpent and an
ass talking and arguing like a lawyer. Hence natural history could have
possessed no attraction, as nothing certain could have been learned by
studying it.
1. It is a singular reflection that the Christian plan of salvation
is based on a serpent, and with about as little show of sense as the
Hottentot tradition of the earth resting on the heads of four turtles.
2. The idea of God creating a serpent to thwart and defeat his plans and
designs, or permitting him to do it, is absolutely ridiculous.
3. If God knew, when he created the serpent, that his machinations would
bring "death and sin and all our woe" into the world, the act would
prove him to be an unprincipled being.
4. And, if he did not know it, he must have been ignorant and
short-sighted, and not fit to be a God.
5. It would imply that he made a wonderful mistake in creating a being
that "turned right round," and made war on his own kingdom, crippled it,
and defeated its success.
6. To assume that God could be outwitted by a serpent is to place him
lower in the scale of intelligence than a snake.
7. It would seem that the serpent was superior to Jehovah either in
knowledge or veracity; for his statement relative to the effect of
eating the fruit proved to be true, while that of Jehovah proved to be
false (Gen. iii. 3).
8. And, as we have shown in chapter liii, he was a greater friend and
benefactor to the human race than Jehovah, as a number of benefits
and blessings were conferred upon Adam and Eve and their posterity by
yielding to his advice instead of obeying the mandates of Jehovah.
9. It would doubtless be a source of gratification to naturalists of the
present age to learn what species of snake that was which possessed such
a remarkable intellect and reasoning faculties and powers of speech; and
also whether Hebrew was its vernacular.
10. Why is it that ladies of the present day possess none of the
nerveless intrepidity and moral courage of old mother Eve, who could
stand and listen to a serpent talking without any signs of fainting,
and with a perfect _nonchalance_, when our modern ladies would probably
scream or run if a snake they should meet should assume the liberty to
address them even in the most polite manner? Mother Eve must have been
familiar with oddities.
11. If serpents and asses could talk in the days of Moses, why not now?
Why have they lost the power of speech?
12. The species of serpents and asses which furnished such distinguished
reasoners and orators should have been preserved, both as natural
curiosities and on account of their practical benefits. It would be
a source of instruction as well as amusement for a traveler, while
journeying astride the back of an ass, to be able to enter into a
friendly chitchat and exchange views with him, especially if the ass
should be well posted on the topics of the day.
13. It seems singular that the heathen prophet Balaam should be able
to enlighten infinite wisdom when he called on him for information
concerning Balak, King of Moab, or that he should have been better
posted in the matter.
14. The circumstance of Jehovah advising Balaam to go at the call of
Balak to curse Israel, then becoming very angry at him because he did
go, and employing an ass to intercept his journey, evinces him to have
been a fickle-minded and changeable being. (Num. xxii. 20, 22.)
15. It appears that, with all of Balaam's superior intelligence, he was
inferior in spiritual discernment to that of his ass, as she could see
the spirit standing in the road when he could not.
16. It has been contemptuously suggested as a slur on spiritualism, that
perhaps the ass was a spiritual medium. But the fact that asses (of
the biped species) can now be found endowed with the power of speech,
renders the conclusion more rational that the ass talked without the aid
of a spirit.
Such are some of the ridiculous features of these ridiculous stories.
The expedient of disposing of these foolish stories as allegories, as
some have attempted, will not avail any thing: for such figures are too
low and groveling to be employed even as metaphors; and there is no
hint in the Bible that they are to be understood in an allegorical or
metaphorical sense.
II. THE STORY OF CAIN, ABSURDITIES OF.
1. Did not Eve dishonor God when, at the birth of Cain, she said, "I
have got a man from the Lord" (Gen. iv. 1), inasmuch as he turned out to
be a murderer?
2. Did not God know that Cain would become a murderer? If he did not, he
is not an omniscient God.
3. And, if he did know it, would it not make him accountable for the
murder?
4. Why did God set a mark on Cain that "whosoever should find him should
not slay him" (Gen. iv. 15), when there was no "whosoever" in existence
but his father and mother? And it can not be supposed they would have to
hunt to find him, or that they would kill him when found.
5. And how could "whosoever" know what the mark meant?
6. Where did or where could Cain have gone when he "fled from the
presence of the Lord" (Gen. iv. 16), as David says he is present
everywhere, even in hell?
7. How could Cain find a wife in the land of Nod (see Gen. iv. 17),
when he himself had killed the whole human race excepting his father and
mother? There were then no women to make wives of.
8. Why did Cain build a city (see Gen. iv. 17), when there was nobody to
inhabit it?
9. As there were "workers of iron and brass" in this city, does it not
furnish evidence that there was a race of people who had attained a high
state of civilization before Adam was made?
10. And as brass is not an ore, but a compound of copper and zinc, does
it not furnish evidence that the mining business and the mechanic arts
were carried on long before Adam's time?
11. If Cain did find a wife in the land of Nod, is it not evidence that
some ribs had been converted into women before Adam's time?
12. Where did Cain find carpenters and masons to build his city, if his
father and mother constituted the whole human race?
13. Did not Jehova know when he accepted Abel's offering and rejected
Cain's, that he was sowing the seeds of discord that would lead to
murder?
14. And did he not set a bad example by showing partiality, as there is
no reason assigned for preferring Abel's offering?
15. Had not Cain just ground for believing that his offering of herbs
would be accepted, inasmuch as Jehovah had ordered Adam to use herbs for
food?
16. Must we conclude that Jehovah had a carnivorous appetite, which
caused him to prefer animals to vegetables for sacrifices?
17. What sense was there in dooming Cain to be a vagabond among men,
when there was but one man in the world, and that his father?
III. THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, ABSURDITIES OF.--1 SAM. CHAP. VI.
We find no case in any history of superstition reaching a more exalted
climax than that illustrated in the history of the Jewish ark of the
covenant. It appears that up to the time of Solomon the Jews had no
temple for their God to dwell in, but for some time previous hauled him
about in box, about four feet long by thirty inches deep, known as the
"ark of the covenant". Let it not be supposed that we misrepresent
in saying that Jehovah was supposed to dwell in this box; for it is
explicitly stated that he dwelt between the cherubims, which constituted
a part of the accoutrements of the ark. (See 1 Sam. iv.)
One of the most singular and ridiculous features connected with this
story is, that Jehovah, in giving instructions for the construction of
the ark, told the people they must offer, among other curious things,
badger-skins, goat's hair, and red ram's skins (i.e., ram's skins dyed
red). What use God Almighty could have had for the hides and hair of
these dead animals is hard to conjecture. Could superstition descend
lower than this? As minute a description is given of the whole affair by
Jehovah and Moses as if there were some sense in it. The box was hauled
about by two cows; and it was enjoined that those selected by the
Philistines should be cows that had never been worked or harnessed, and
that their calves should be shut up and left at home. This is descending
to a "bill of particulars." The calves must have suffered, as their dams
were driven far away and then slaughtered. What became of the calves is
not stated; but we are told that the cows kept up a continual bellowing,
or "lowing." Perhaps this was designed as a kind of base or tenor for
the music which accompanied them; and this accounts for the calves being
left at home. It is curious to observe that the cows were not yoked to
the cart on which the ark was drawn, but tied to it,--probably by their
tails. The Jews did not seem to possess sufficient mechanical skill
or genius to invent an ox-yoke. Another singular part of this singular
story is, that the Philistines constructed six golden mice to accompany
the ark; and yet we are told that the Jews were not allowed to have
images of any thing (Ex. xx. 4). The most serious consideration
connected with this affair was the vast destruction of human life. In
the first place the Philistines, in a battle with the Lord's people,
slew thirty thousand of them, and captured this box, as we must presume,
with the Lord in it. It seems strange that, when Jehovah had fought so
many successful battles, he would allow himself to be captured. It was
some time, too, before he was recovered from the Philistines. When
this was effected, as the ark was being conveyed back under the
superintendence of David, with a company of thirty thousand people,
while passing over some rough ground, the cart jostled, and the ark came
near being thrown off, with the Lord Jehovah in it, who would probably
have been considerably bruised by the fall. But a very clever man by
the name of Uzzah clapped his hand upon the cart to prevent this awful
catastrophe; and, although probably actuated by the best and most pious
motives, he was immediately killed for it. This part of the story has
a bad moral. On another occasion, on the arrival of the ark at
Bethshemesh, because one or two persons attempted to gratify a very
natural curiosity by looking into the ark, Jehovah became so much
enraged that he killed fifty thousand of the people of Bethshemesh.
Here is another of the many cases in which thousands of innocent people
were punished for the sin of one man or a few persons. How can any good
grow out of the relation of such unjust, unprincipled, and superstitious
doings recorded in a book designed for the moral instruction and
salvation of the world? We are told that at every place to which this
box was carried, while in the hands of the Philistines, it caused death
and destruction, or some other serious calamity. At Ashdod it produced
disease and destruction among the people to an alarming extent; and
similar results followed while the ark was at Ekron. Assuming that there
is any truth in the story, the thought is here suggested that the box
might have been affected with some malarious disease. While at Jagon
it caused the God of that place to fall down in the night from his
resting-place; on the second night he lost both his hands. Who that is
acquainted with Jewish history can not sec that this circumstance is
related to show that the God of the Jews was superior to other Gods, as
he excelled them in working miracles, in Egypt and other places? That it
was a borrowed tradition is quite evident from the fact that the Hindoos
and Egyptians had practiced similar rites and customs anterior to that
period.
The Hindoo ark was carried on a pole by four priests; and, wherever it
touched ground, it wrought miracles in the shape of deaths and births,
or the outgushing of springs of water. The Egyptian ark was constructed
of gold, which probably made the box more valuable than the God within.
All such wooden or metal Gods were supposed to operate as talisman, or
protection against evil. When will the believers in divine revelation
and divine prodigies learn that all such superstitious customs and
inventions were the work of men, and not of God?
IV. KORAH, DATHAN, AND ABIRAM, ABSURDITIES.--NUM. CHAP. XVI.
These three leading men of Israel, growing tired of the tyrannical
usurpations of Moses, concocted a mutiny, in which they succeeded in
enlisting some two hundred and fifty persons. When Moses learned what
was on foot, this "meek man" became very angry, and reported the case to
Jehovah, and requested him not to accept their offering when they came
to make their usual oblations. The Lord took Moses' advice, and not only
refused their offering, but split the ground open where they stood, so
that they fell in, and were seen no more. And, when their two hundred
and fifty followers saw this, they fled, fearing they might share the
same fate. But that expedient did not save them: "a fire came out from
the Lord," and consumed the whole number. It must have been a fearful
fire to consume so many while they were running. The fire came from the
Lord; but where the Lord was at the time we are not informed,--whether
sitting on his throne in heaven, or standing beside the altar, as he
frequently did. Hence we can not tell whether the fire came from heaven,
as it did on some other occasions, or from below. It must have been a
very aggravated case of rebellion; for God and Moses both got angry at
once, which was something rather unusual. It was customary, when Jehovah
got angry and made severe threats of what he would do, for Moses to
interfere, and intercede for his people, and try to cool him down;
and, by the power of his logic and eloquence, he mostly succeeded in
convincing him that he was wrong, and got him to desist from carrying
his threats into execution. But, on this occasion, Moses, being angry
himself, let him take his own course. But the most unjust and unmerciful
act in the whole transaction was that of Jehovah sending a plague, and
destroying fourteen thousand more, merely because they mourned for their
destroyed friends, and ventured to complain of the course he and Moses
were pursuing. It was certainly cruel to destroy them for so slight an
offense. It appears that, by Aaron's standing "between the dead and
the living, the plague was stayed." But for this timely interference
of Jehovah's high priest, there is no knowing when or where the plague
would have stopped. Now, is it not something near akin to blasphemy to
charge such nonsense--ay, worse than nonsense, _cruelty, injustice, and
malignity_--to the just God of the universe?
V. THE STORY OF DANIEL AND NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
We shall not attempt to present an exposition of all the absurdities
which abound in the Book of Daniel, but will merely notice a few of its
most incredible statements. The most amusing chapter in the history of
Daniel is his interpretation of the dreams of King Nebuchednezzar. It
appears that on one occasion the king had forgotten his dream, which
made it ostensibly necessary for Daniel, before interpreting it, to
reproduce it. But who can not see it was not necessary for him to do
either to save his reputation and his life, both of which it appears
were at stake? If he were possessed of an active, fertile imagination,
he could invent both, and palm them off on to the king as the original,
who would be perfectly unable to detect the trick, as he knew nothing
about either. It is stated that one of the dreams consigned the king
to the fate of eating grass like an ox for three years. In all such
incredible stories which abound in the Christians' Bible, we find
glaring absurdities, which a little reflection would reveal to the
reader if he would allow himself to think. There is a palpable absurdity
in this story which shows that, the conversion of the king into an ox us
a punishment could not have achieved that end. If he were converted into
an ox, his reason was gone, and he was unconscious of his condition; and
hence it was no punishment at all. Or, if he still retained his reason,
he had nothing to do but to walk away, and find food more congenial to
his appetite than grass. And thus the story defeats itself. It is stated
his hair became like eagles' feathers, and his nails like the claws of
a bird (Dan. iv. 33),--a very singular-looking ox surely. It would have
been more appropriate to call such a being an eagle or a dragon. Such is
the careless and disjointed manner in which all Bible stories are told,
as if related by mere ignorant children. The most conclusive "knock-down
argument" to the truth of this story is found in the fact that
no allusion to this astounding miracle can be found by any of the
historians of th
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