THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

This is no mere visionary dream or random guess-work : it is a
scientific problem, which can be proved and demonstrated by
figures. The progress of the churches in the past, in permitting
the truths of science and the infidelity of the age to displace
its mind-crushing dogmas,'and modify its creeds, furnishes a
certain criterion for calculating their final destiny; and, by
this rule, we are assured its }’ears will be few. Let us look and
see what progress the Protestant churches have already made
towards 41 abandoning the faith once delivered to the saints.”
Some of them are much farther advanced in the line of progress
than others ; and each new church that has sprung up since the
days of Luther dates a new era in the religious progress and
onward march of infidelity; and yet each one professed to be
sound in the faith, and forbid any one to advance beyond its
landmarks. Every one proclaimed, Thus far shalt thou go, and
no farther, in the line of religious progress. We will notice
them in their order. The old Romish Church held all Chris-
tians in its iron grasp for eleven hundred years, and hung its
dark curtains in the moral heavens to exclude the light of
science. Reason was held in chains, and the intellect crushed
beneath the foot of popish infallibility. But, after this night of
intellectual darkness, Luther rebelled, and broke the spell, and
set what little intellect there was left in the Church to thinking.
Its doctrines were heathenish. It taught the infallibility of the
Pope, and the divinity of the Virgin Mary. In this respect they
were more consistent than the Protestant churches; for the
divinity of Christ presupposes the divinity of both his parents,
otherwise he would be half human and half divine. It also
teaches the doctrine of election and reprobation, endless pun-
ishment, and other sil^ superstitions. In this state of mental
darkness Greek literature made an attempt to invade its ranks
and dispel its ignorance with the light of science, but failed,
— not, however, until it had let a few gleams of light into the
intellectual brain of some of the best minds, and set them to
thinking. This caused a few members to reject the infallibility
of the Pope, and a division in the Church was the consequence.
A new Church was instituted, which received the name of “ the
Greek Church. * * Here we find a slight improvement in the
 MODERN CHRISTIANITY ONE-HALF INFIDELITY. 387

Christian creed. The Greek Christians rejected the doctrine of
the infallibility of the Pope, but still held to the divinity of the
Virgin Mary, and all the other senseless dogmas of the Church.
But, as it abandoned one of the most popular but unreasonable
doctrines of the Church, it was an important step toward ad-
vancement. They did not, however, look upon it in that light,
but declared it was the true doctrine of the Bible, and here
planted then* stakes, and forbade any further improvement.
After gathering a Church of seventy million souls, another
night of intellectual darkness set in, and continued for four
hundred years ; which brings us down to the fifteenth century,
when Luther rebelled against the Pope, and again broke the
spell of mental lethargy and intellectual darkness, and set what
little intellectual mind there was left in the Church to thinking.
Another slight improvement was made in the Christian creed.
The Lutherans not only rejected the doctrine of the infallibility
of the Pope, but also the divinity of the Virgin Mary, but here
stopped, and planted their stakes, and issued a bull to interdict
further progress; but the ball, once set in motion, can not be
stopped. As well attempt to bind the ocean with a rope of
sand as to attempt to stop the march of thought when one link
is broken which binds it to the Juggernaut of superstition.
This is true, however, of but few minds. But few church-
members possess thought and independence enough to advance
faster than their leaders. Luther did not live long enough to
outgrow all the superstitious dogmas in which he had been edu-
cated ; but he made such rapid progress in infidelity that he
condemned the doctrines of eleven books of the Bible, and
consequently rejected them ; viz., Chronicles, Job, Ecclesiastes,
Proverbs, Esther, Joshua, Jonah, Hebrews, James, Jude, and
Revelation. He was then an infidel with respect to eleven
books of the Bible ; and, had he lived in an age of progress like
the present, he would have become an out-and-out infidel. But
the mass of his followers did not possess minds so susceptible
of intellectual growth: hence they lived and died in faith with
the creeds he made for them. There were, however, a few ex-
ceptions to this rule. In all ages and all religious countries,
and under every form of religion, there have been a few minds
 388

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

gifted with thought and reason beyond that of the multitude.
A few of this class figured under Lutherism, who eventually,
by virtue of their tendency to mental growth, discovered some
defects in his creed and system of faith. Among this number
was Arminius', who rejected the doctrine of total depravity,
original sin, the eucharist, purgatory, &c., and, with this change
of Lutherism, founded what became known as the Arminian
Church: but as no mind and no set of minds in any age have
possessed the mental capacity to discover all error, or to grasp
all truth, so Arminius only outgrew a few of the erroneous
dogmas of the Christian faith, and then stopped, and planted
his stakes, and stereotyped his creed ; and any opinion or doc-
trine that advanced beyond that was infidelity. He did not
live quite long enough to discover the absurdity of the atone-
ment and an endless hell, and hence those doctrines are
found in his creed; but the change he made in the popular
religion furnishes another indubitable proof of the progress of
mind, and the progressive improvement of the religion of Chris-
tianity, and another proof of the steady progress Christianity
has made towards infidelity. So distinct and marked have been
these changes, that the}7 furnish data for calculating proximately
the period when the last dogma shall drop out of the creeds of
the churches, and bring them into conformity to the teachings
of reason and science,—in other words, when Christianity shall
merge into infidelity. And what is meant by infidelity is the
want of faith in the false and morally injurious dogmas of the
superstitious ages.

Another step in the road of religious progress brings us to
the Unitarian Church. Here we find still longer strides in the
direction of the Christian faith towards infidelity. The Uni-
tarians rejected the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ.
And why? Simply because the founders of that church had
expansive intellectual minds that enabled them to perceive the
absurdity and logical impossibility of the truth of the doctrine.
Their enlightened reasoning powers enabled them to discover
these objections to the doctrine: viz. (1) The impossibility of
incorporating an infinite being into a finite body or into the
human body; (2) the absurdity of considering any being on
 MODERN CHRISTIANITY ONE-HALF INFIDELITY. 389

earth a God while there was acknowledged to be one in heaven,
making at least two Gods; (3) the difficulty of accepting the
Bible history of Christ as furnishing proof of his divinity, while
it invests him with all the qualities of a human being. These
and numerous other absurdities, which are treated of in “ The
World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors,” lead them to reject the
doctrine of the divinity of Christ, while most other Protestant
churches consider a belief in the doctrine essential to salvation.
Thus they make a long leap towards infidelity. Having intel-
lectually outgrown the doctrine, they set themselves to work to
get it out of the Bible. This was no difficult task: for as many
texts as may be found in the New Testament in favor of the
doctrine, a much larger number may be cited in opposition to it.

And a similar history may be given of the Universalist
Church. It, too, has run into infidelity. The doctrine of Uni-
versal salvation is a beautiful doctrine : it had its origin in the
noblest and kindest feelings of the human mind. Messrs. Mur-
ra}T and Ballou, founders of the church, were men of broad
philanthropy and human sympathy, and possessed the kindest
feelings. Such men could not brook the idea of endless misery
for a single soul in God’s universe. They were also men of a
liberal endowment of reason and logical perception, and hence
rejected the doctrine from logical considerations also. Being
intellectual and intelligent men, they became cominced that the
doctrine was wrong. They set themselves to work to get it out
of the Bible. Their object in doing this was more to save the
credit of the Bible than to make it an authority to sustain their
own position. The Bible being a many-stringed instrument, on
which you can play any tune, they found about as little diffi-
culty in disproving the doctrine by the Bible as others do in
establishing the doctrine by that authority. It is wonderful
with what ease and facility a dozen conflicting doctrines may
be drawn from the same text. • This is because all human lan-
guage is ambiguous, and that of the Bible pre-eminently so;
and this fact demonstrates the absolute impossibility of settling
any controverted theological question b}" the Bible. Controver-
sialists who should argue a question before a jury on Bible
ground, for a week or a month, should, in most cases, have
 390

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

a verdict given in favor of both parties; for, usually, both
“ beat,” and also get beaten. Universalists, taking advantage
of this ambiguity and uncertainty of Bible language, are now
able to show that the doctrine of endless punishment is not
taught in the Book. The}" succeeded in ruling the doctrine out
of all the punitive terms to be found in “ Hoi}" Writ.” The
word “ devil,” on being traced to its origin, was found to be a
contraction of “do evil.” With this discovery they cast the
“devil” out of their Bible. The word “hell” was found to
be derived from the Saxon word “ hole ; ” and hence, if it can
have any application in the case, must mean “ Symm’s Hole.”
“I-Iell-fire” originally meant a fire kindled in the vicinity of
Jerusalem to consume the offal of the city. And thus, accord-
ing to Universalism, the doctrine of future endless torment is
no longer a Christian doctrine; and, whether their position is
correct or not, it is rather comforting to believe that none of us
are to be eternally roasted in the future life, and that even
Satan himself has been released from the “painful duty” of
ruling that kingdom. The history of both the Unitarian and
Universalist Churches furnishes evidence of the rapid advance-
ment of Christianity toward infidelity ; and also the conclusion
that the natural desires and moral feelings, and also the rea-
soning faculties, have much to do in forming the opinions of
Christian professors as to whether certain doctrines are taught
in the Bible,—whether they are scriptural or antiscriptural.
The wish is often father to the belief. Just let a certain Bible
doctrine become repugnant to the natural feelings of some
pious professor, or at war with his enlightened reason, or in-
stinctively repulsive to his moral sense, and he will find some
way to convince himself that it is not a Bible doctrine. A new
light springing up in the mind has, in many cases, led to new
and improved interpretations of the Bible. It seems strange,
indeed, (hat none of the two hundred millions of Christian pro-
fessors have been able to discover that it is the improvement of
the moral and intellectual faculties that has done so much to
improve the doctrines and general teachings of the Bible in
modern times. The old absurdities and heathenish ideas of
the Bible arc pumped out by the clerical force-pump, and a new
 MODERN CHRISTIANITY ONE-HALF INFIDELITY. 391

set of ideas substituted in their place. This keeps it from fall-
ing immeasurably behind the times. It is a work of moral
necessity to keep it from being condemned and set aside, or
trampled under foot. Christian professors can all find abun-
dant scripture to prove any thing they desire to prove ; but let
them change their belief, and adopt the opposite doctrine, and
they can find as much scripture to prove that also. There is
no difficult}" in making out any kind of a creed or code of faith
that may be desired. Hence a man may change his creed or
his conduct as often as he pleases, and still be a Christian, or
at least pass for one.

Who that is not blinded by priestcraft, or a false religious
education, can not see that it was the natural growth of the
moral and intellectual faculties which gave rise to those new
churches to which I have referred, with their new and improved
interpretation of the Bible ? Step by step along the pathway
of human progress, the churches are forced against all resist-
ance to make occasional improvements in their creeds; but so
strong is their resistance to any change, and so determined to
keep their creeds and dogmas unalterably stereotyped, that
their improvements are too slow to suit the most progressive
minds amongst them. Hence they leave the churches to which
they have been tied, and in some cases form new ones, with
new creeds, better adapted to the improved taste and improved
moral code of the times. There is not a Protestant church in
existence that does not furnish incontestable proof that Chris-
tian doctrines are perpetually changing. There is not a Protes-
tant church that is not on the high road to infidelity. They
have all unconsciously broken loose from the old landmarks.
There is not One of them that is not now preaching doctrines
which they would fifty or sixty years ago have denounced as
infidelity. This may be to some a startling statement, but I
will prove it.

I have pointed out numerous changes in doctrines made by
all the modern churches, and their rapid tendency to infidelity.
I will now show that the churches from which they emanated,
on account of their immobility and conservativeness, have also
made radical changes in their creeds, and are moving on in the
 392

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

man, the readers of his paper, and the circle of his acquaintance,
shoiv the state of hundreds of thousands in India, who are dis-
satisfied with the Hindoo religion, and, having no confidence in
it, would gladly embrace something better, more reasonable,
and calculated to exert a better influence upon society and the
character of their nation.” All hail to such intelligence as
this! It shows that the heathen of India have more reason,
sense, and intelligence than many professors of Christianity.

Now, mark the cause which Mr. Allen assigns for this intel-
lectual skepticism of India. He says, “It is in part the effect
of the knowledge they acquire which removes their stupidity
and ignorance, and imparts power to think, compare, reason, and
judge on religious subjects; and in part from the principles
and facts of modern astronomy, history, geography, &c., being
utterly" at variance with the declarations and doctrines of the
Hindoo Shastras : so that no person who believes in the former
can retain any confidence in the latter. [And, if he had in-
cluded the Christian Bible with the Shastras, the statement would
have been almost equally true.] The natural consequence
of this course of education is to produce a spirit of skepticism
in respect to cdl religions. [Another wonderful admission, and
more proof that infidelity', brains, and intelligence are correlative
terms.] The effect is now seen in the religious, or rather the irre-
ligious, views of a proportion of the young men who have been
educated in European science and literature in the institutions
established by the government of India. The}' are strongly op-
posed to Christianity", and often ridicule its most sacred and
solemn truths [errors more probably]. The}' openly avow their
skepticism and deistical sentiments ; but they have hitherto gen-
erally conformed to the popular superstitions so far as to avoid
persecution, and retain their sacred positions, and to secure and
enjoy their property rights. . . . Motives of worldly policy may
lead most of the present generation of educated young men
through life to show some respect to notions, rites, and ceremonies
which they regard as false, unmeaning, and superstitious; but,
should these views pervade the masses of the native population
(which they are now doing rapidly), they may be expected to
develop their genuine spirit in very painful consequence, . . .
 INFIDELS UNDER THE ORIENTAL SYSTEMS.   373

unless Christianity acquires sufficient power to restrain them ”
(pp. 574 and 321). The painful consequence here appre-
hended is simply the triumph of religious skepticism based on,
and growing out of, a broad and thorough literary and scientific
education oyer the senseless dogmas and superstitions of Chris-
tianity. Such “painful consequences ” will alwa}^s follow in
any country the enlightenment and expansion of the minds
of the people by a thorough acquaintance with the principles
of science and literature. It is just as natural as that light
should dispel darkness ; and that is exactly what is realized in
such cases. Mr. Allen’s statement that motives of worldly
policy* restrains many of the educated y*oung men of India from
avowing their real convictions on the subject of religion shows
that the same spirit of mental surveillance and priestly despotism
prevails in India that prevails in all Christian countries, and pre-
vents thousands from letting their real sentiments be known.
And this mental slavery has filled the world with hypocrites;
but it will soon burst its bonds in India, or would, if the two
hundred Christian missionaries could be called home. And then
I would suggest that the tide of missionary emigration be re-
versed, and that some of those highty enlightened, educated men
of India be sent to throw some light upon this country. Mr.
Allen, in the continuation of his subject, states that th.3
government councils of education in India are publishing vari-
ous works on science and literature, — the production of the
minds of its own citizens, — and that they* have published a large
number of works of this character within a few years past. And
he states that, “ if this course is continued, India will soon have
a valuable indigenous literature” (p. 321). This statement
tends to enlighten us still further as to the cause of the recent
rapid spread of infidelity in that country ; for science and litera-
ture are certain to precede infidelity. But he complains that the
government system of education, which simply teaches science
without superstition, while “it is destroying the confidence of
the people in their own system of religion, is also introducing
speculation, skepticism, and deism” (p. 321). If he were an
enlightened philosopher, he would understand that this is the
legitimate operation of cause and effect. Mr. Allen, in con-
 374

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

eluding this sketch of the rapid progress of skepticism in India,
says there are man}' thousands in India who have passed from
conviction of the falsehood of the Hindoo religion into a state
of skepticism and indifference to all religion, unless when the
progress of Christianity now and then rouses them to oppose it.
This must be cheering news to every enlightened philanthropist.
This whole sketch of Mr. Allen’s is very interesting, as it dis-
closes the real causes of infidelity or skepticism in all religious
countries, and shows that every form of superstition is giving
way and sinking before the march of science, literature, and
education in the most populous nation on the globe. It is
indeed a soul-cheering thought. And where is there a Chris-
tian professor who is so bigoted as not to derive the hint from
these historical facts that he can find the cause of his rigid ad-
herence to his own religion, with all its errors, by simpl}' placing
his hands on his head? It is true. There are, however, many
persons who still believe in an erroneous system of religion,
simply because they have had no opportunity of obtaining light
on the subject.

II. Sects and Infidels in Greece and Home.

When we arrive at Greece we find a nation possessing a men-
tal caliber seldom equaled, and furnishing many philosophers
with brains sufficient to enable them to see through the errors
and the absurdities of any system of religion. Hence infidels
were more numerous than sectarians ; and those infidels (better
known as philosophers) nearly succeeded, by the force of supe-
rior logic and wisdom, in banishing all s}'stems of religious
superstition from the nation. But questions of controversy
were more on philosophical subjects than on religious themes;
because the dogmas of the popular religion of Greece, like that
of all other countries, were so absurd that the Grecian philoso-
phers could dispose of them without much mental effort. As a
proof and illustration of this statement, we will cite the case
of Stilpo, who, on being asked by Crates (B.C. 331) whether
he believed that God took any pleasure in being worshiped
by mortals, replied, “Thou fool, don’t question me upon such
absurdities in the public streets, but wait till we arc alone.”
 INFIDELS UNDER THE ORIENTAL SYSTEMS.   375

Greece, and also Rome, furnished intellectual minds of a high
order; and all their numerous philosophers were skeptical on
the prevailing forms of religion in those and other nations. It
will be observed, then, that nearly all the religious orders of
antiquit}’ gave rise to numerous sects, and also numerous infidels
and skeptics, alias philosophers.

III. Sects and Skeptics in Egypt.

Ancient Egypt was characterized by a considerable amount
of intellectual mind, and no inconsiderable proficiency in the
arts and sciences. And hence, as would naturally be expected,
a considerable portion of her people, in the course of time, broke
from the trammels of the popular religious faith, and became
infidel to all the systems and sects in the nation; while those
of a secondary order of intellect abandoned some dogmas, modi-
fied others, and started new sects. This gave offense to the
parental religious order, which resulted in one or two cases
in a serious quarrel, though not with the bloody and deadly
results which have marked the religious quarrels among the sects
and followers of “ the Prince of peace,” which have been so
sanguine, cruel, and bloody, as to leave eighteen million human
beings on the battle-field, or consumed by fire, or consigned
to a watery grave. Religious wars among the heathen have
not been half so fiendish or fatal as those waged by the disci-
ples of the cross. The number of sects in Egypt is not known,
but they were numerous.

IY. Sects and Skeptics in China.

China, though characterized by less mental activity than most
other religious nations, has had her sects and her skeptics, and
not a very small number of the former, though less in propor-
tion to her religious population than either Egypt, India, Persia,
Chaldea, or Arabia. Some of her sects manifested a disposition
to borrow dogmas from other religions ; while others attempted
an improvement on the ancient faith established by Confucius,
although in its moral aspects it was the best system of religion
extant. The oldest sect known was founded by Laotse, and
was known as Taotse. His religion differed more from that of
 376

TEE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

Confucius with respect to its ceremonies than its doctrines.
On the whole, there has not been sufficient intellectual growth
in China to produce any very marked changes in the long-estab-
lished religion of the country. Innovation and religious im-
provement in China are checked and almost prevented by a sort
of ecclesiastical tribunal, which has existed from time imme-
morial, known as “ the Court of Rites,” which is invested
with authority to suppress religious innovation, and thus put
an extinguisher on infidelity.

V. Persian Sects and Skeptics.

Persia has possessed sufficient intellectual mind to make very
considerable changes in her religion. According to tradition, she
was once overrun with idolatry. But now, and for at least three
or four thousand years (and before the time of Moses), that
nation has manifested the greatest abhorrence to images, excel-
ling in this respect even Moses, who probably borrowed his
antipathy to idolatry from that country. Sects have arisen
which have condemned not only the doctrines of the primary
system, but its mode of worship. There has been considerable
controversy among the sects in Persia upon the question whether
God should be worshiped in temples made with hands, or in the
open air; also with respect to the origin of evil, and whether
the Devil (Ahrimanes) was eternal, or co-eternal with God
(Ormuzd). These questions of dispute, and various others,
have given rise to more than seventy different sects ; while the
most intellectual and best improved minds have outgrown and
renounced them all, and assumed the character of infidels.

VI. Maiiomedan Skeptics and Sects.

Mahomedans have paid very particular attention to educa-
tion, and the cultivation of the arts and sciences, and have pro-
duced and published a number of literary works. A num-
ber of scientific men have arisen among them from time to
time ; and schools and colleges have been established, in which
many have obtained a literary and scientific education. Hence
there will be no difficulty in understanding why thousands
of infidels or skeptics have arisen amongst them, and avowed
 INFIDELS UNDER THE ORIENTAL SYSTEMS.   377

their disbelief in the religion of the Koran. Some of them
have spent much time in writing and speaking in their attempts
to expose its errors and absurdities ; and a large number of
sects have sprung up amongst them from time to time, number-
ing, on the whole, not less than fifty. All these sects mark the
progress of religious thought; and each sect made some im-
provement in the prevailing creeds and dogmas, or some of the
religious customs and ceremonials. One of the oldest and
principal sects was the Sabeans, who claim to be the original
founders of the Mahomedan religion. They are very devout,
pray three times a da}", — morning, noon, and evening. They
also observe three annual fasts, offer animal sacrifices, and
practice circumcision, and cherish other foolish customs, and
preach other superstitious doctrines, which the cultivation of
the sciences has had the effect to open the eyes of some of its
devotees to see the absurdity of. Hence they have left, and
founded new sects with new and improved creeds. In this
way a great many new sects have sprung up from time to time,
as in Christian countries, which marks the progress of religious
improvement. A great amount of religious controversy has
been carried on between these belligerent sects, which has had
the effect, to some extent, to liberalize all. One of the largest
and most important of these sects has arisen in modern times, —
46 the anti-Ramazan ” sect, —which now numbers not less than
forty thousand adherents. They discard the feast of Ramazan,
condemn polygam}", and contend that no man ought to be
persecuted for his religious opinions or his infidelity. It will
be perceived they are somewhat radical; and this is easily ac-
counted for. Their origin dates since the dawn of literature in
that country; and they number in their ranks the best educated,
most enlightened and intelligent professors of the Mahomedan
faith. Here is suggested again the cause of infidelity, or the
act of outgrowing the popular faith, which has characterized a
portion of the disciples of nearly every form of religion known
to history. Some of the Mahomedan sects rose up against one
form of popular superstition, and some another. One sect
opposed the prevailing belief in a physical resurrection, and
argued that the soul rises only as a spiritual entity. Another
 378

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

sect opposed and exposed the absurdity and obscenity of the
rite of circumcision. Another argued that punishment after
death would be blit for a limited period. Another sect opposed
the savage superstition of animal sacrifice, &c. While the
mother institution, which worshiped in the ancient, moss-covered
mosque, condemned them all as infidels ; but none of them seem
to have possessed the amount of intellectual acumen or scien-
tific intelligence to enable them to perceive that the whole sys-
tem was defective. Hence they labored to improve it, instead
of laboring to destroy it, and supply the place with something
better ; though hundreds and thousands of the educated classes
had their mental vision sufficiently enlightened and expanded
to enable them to see truth beyond the narrow confines of
creeds and dogmas. Hence they abandoned their long-cher-
ished religious errors, and have since lent their influence to
expose them, and put them down.

“ Thus round and round we run;

And ever the truth comes uppermost,

And ever is justice done.”

CHAPTER LYII.

SECTS, SCHISMS, AND SKEPTICS IN CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES.

The practical history of Christianity, ever since the dawn
of civilization, has been that of schisms, sects, and divisions, all
indicating the natural growth of the human mind, and its thirst
for knowledge, its struggles for freedom, and its unalterable
determination to be as free as the eagle that soars above the
clouds. The number of church sects is estimated to be more
than five hundred, and the number is still increasing. And the
multiplication of infidels lias kept pace with the increase of the
churches ; and skeptics are now increasing much more rapidly
than converts to the elm relies. This fact accounts for the lam-
entations with which church organs and religious magazines are
now filled with respect to the rapid falling off of church mem-
 SECTS, SCHISMS, AND SKEPTICS.

379

to find “ the only scriptures given by inspiration of God”?
The two hundred translators and four hundred commentators
make out more than two hundred distinct systems of faith, and
virtually more than two hundred Bibles. When we look at the
numerous and widely different translations of the Bible, and the
numerous collection of books by different churches which have
been made to constitute the Bible at different periods, and the
numerous alterations which Christian writers tell us have been
made in all of the books of the Bible, and the great number of
gospels and epistles floating over the world at one period and
afterwards denounced as spurious, and the constant alteration
of the Bible by adding some books and rejecting others, we
can see at once that it is impossible ever to find any way of
determining which are 4 4 the scriptures given by inspiration of
God.” Here let it be noted, that, for nearly three hundred
years, the Christian world had no Bible but the Old Testament,
and that, during that period, hundreds of gospels and epistles
were written, and thirty-six Acts of the Apostles, by all kinds
of scribblers, or, as one Christian writer calls them, 44 ignorant
asses.” These were put in circulation as constituting 44 the
only scriptures given by inspiration of God.” Most of them
were afterwards condemned by the Church fathers as being the
product of the Devil, and as being calculated to lead eveiy soul
down to hell who should read and believe them. But there
never was any agreement among church-leaders as to which of
the three hundred gospels and epistles in circulation were spu-
rious, and which were genuine ; nor has there ever been any
rule for distinguishing them, or determining which was which.
How, then, was it possible to know which were 44 the scriptures
given by inspiration of God”? Here arises a query of most
striking import, which should sink deep into the mind of every
honest investigator of this subject. Should it not be set down
as a moral impossibility that an all-wise God would inspire men
to write gospels and epistles for the instruction of mankind and
the salvation of the world, and then let them get mixed up with
hundreds of others 44 inspired by the Devil,” and calculated to
44 lead to perdition ” ? It must have been the means of effecting
the eternal ruin of thousands, if not millions, of immortal souls.
 ALL SCBIPTUBE GIVEN BY INSPIBATION OF GOD. 359

And nearly" all Christian writers admit there was no way of dis-
tinguishing the poisonous and pernicious productions from the
“inspired.” It is also admitted that the former were more read
than the latter. Now, we must assume that a God would be
essentially lacking in the ingredients of good sense (or rather
would be a mere imaginary being) who would do business in
such a bungling and reckless manner as to furnish man with a
revelation of his will, hang his salvation upon it, and then aban-
don the field for three hundred years, and let every thing run to
ruin. Such a God ought to “ repent, and he grieved to the heart."
Look what kind of stuff the people swallowed for gospel during
that period ! The Gospel of the Infamy, which was afterwards
condemned as the work of devils and impostors, was, during this
period, accepted as inspired by nearly the whole Christian world ;
and see what it contains. In the first chapter it is related that
a woman had a son who was, by the intervention of some witches,
turned into an ass, when she hastened off to the mother of the
young Messiah (Jesus), and related her grievance to that ami-
able personage, which so excited her compassion that she forth-
with seized the young child Jesus, and set him astride the ass’s
neck, when, “ lo and behold! ” it took all the ass properties out
of the animal, and restored him back to manhood, or rather boy-
hood. And all the biped asses then in Christendom swallowed
this assinine storjT as “ scripture given by inspiration of God.”
The same book relates that various sick and impotent persons
visited the child Jesus, and were cured of their diseases by hav-
ing his swaddling-clothes wrapped about their heads, necks, or
other portions of the body, and forthwith thie devils departed
(on one occasion in the shape of a dog). If there is a lower
plane of senseless superstition than this, I pray God I may
never know it. And all this was gospel and “inspired scrip-
ture,” for whole centuries, with the majority of Christendom.
Both preachers and laymen read and believed those “ Holy
Scriptures.” This is about as senseless as the story of some
devils coming out of a woman, and taking up their abode in
a herd of swine. These stories are all “chips of the same
block,” and all equally incredible.
 SCO

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

Character op the Voters who decided what Scriptures

SHOULD BE CONSIDERED INSPIRED.

It is now well known that the first authentic collection of Gos-
pels and Epistles, called “ the Bible,” was made by the Council
of Nice 325 A.D.,— a body of drunken bishops and lawless
bacchanalians. The Christian writer, Mr. Tyndal, says they
got drunk, came to blows, and lacked and cuffed each other;
and that “ the love of contention and ambition overcame their
reason.” They claimed to be under the influence of “ the
spirit.” Undoubtedly they were; but it was a kind of spirit
that men hold intercourse with by uncorking the bottle, and not
the spirit of gentleness and peace. He says, u They fell afoul
of each other; ” and such was the severity of their blows, that
one member was mortally wounded, and died a short time after.
It was simply a disgusting and disgraceful row, — a scene of
rowdyism of at first seventeen hundred, and finally about three
hundred, Christian bishops, without a character for either virtue,
sobriety, or honesty. One writer says, u They were abandoned
to every species of immorality, and addicted to the most abom-
inable crimes;” and such was their extreme ignorance, that
but few of them could write their names. Their method of de-
ciding which Gospels and Epistles were divinely inspired was
quite unique. It is stated the}" were all placed under the com-
munion-table ; and, when the proper signal was given (so says
Irenseus), the inspired Gospels “hopped on to the table,” which
separated them from the spurious. Why the spurious Gospels
did not possess the hopping power and propensity is not stated.
Two of the bishops, Chrysante and Musanius, died during the
council, before the vote wa3 taken; but such was the impor-
tance of the occasion, that they did not withhold their votes on
that account. The proper documents being prepared and car-
ried and placed near their defunct bodies, the}’ mustered all the
force their dead bodies could command, and signed them; and
thus, between the living and the dead, we have got a Bible
which, it is presumed, contains all “the scripture given by in-
spiration of God ” under the new dispensation. The Gospels
and Epistles thus voted into favor were not arranged together
 ALL SCRIPTURE GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD. 361

in the form of an authentic Bible until nearty sixt}r years after.
This was clone Iry' the Council of Laodicea in the year 363.
After this, council after council was called to vote in or vote
out some of the books adopted by previous councils, and to
settle some important church dogmas. The first council voted
the Acts of the Apostles and Revelation out of the Bible (i.e.,
voted them down) ; but the second council, which met in 363,
voted them in again. Another council, which met in 406, voted
them, with several other books, out of the Bible again. And
thus were books and dogmas voted in and voted out of ‘c the
infallible and inspired word of God,” and altered and corrected,
time after time and century after centuiy, by twent}^-four differ-
ent councils, composed of bigoted bishops and clergymen, so
quarrelsome and belligerent that they resorted to fisticuff fight-
ing in several of the councils; and thus was “God’s Holy
Word ” and “ perfect revelation ” tossed to and fro like a bat-
tledore,— this book voted in, and that one voted out, and
sometimes half a dozen at a time. And where was the “all
scripture given by inspiration of God ” at the end of this revo-
lution a it and demolishing clerical crusade? And where was
its author, that he would suffer the whole thing to be taken out
of his hands, altered and corrupted till he could not know his
own book, and would not have been willing to father it if he
had been able to recognize it? William Penn says, that “ some
of the scriptures which were taken in by one council as inspired
were rejected by another council as uninspired ; and that which
was left out by the former council as apocryphal was taken in
by the latter as canonical. And certain it is that they contra-
dict each other. And how do we know that the council which
first collected and voted on the scriptures — voting some up,
and some down—were able to discern the true from the false? ”
Here the whole thing is set in its proper light by a devout
Quaker preacher. The extract contains a volume of instruc-
tion, and shows the impossibility of our determining the “all
scripture given by inspiration of God.”

Additions, Alterations, and Interpolations.

We have a vast amount of testimony to prove that councils,
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THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

churches, and clerg3unen arrogated to themselves a lawless
license to change, insert, and leave out various texts, chapters,
and even whole books, from “ God’s unchangeable word,” till
it may now be assumed to be thoroughly changed. From a
large volume of testimonies we will cite a few: The version of
the Old Testament made under Ptolemy Philadelphus, 287
B.C., — the most reliable version extant,—Bishop Usher pro-
nounces a spurious cop3T, full of interpolations, additions, and
alterations. He says, u The translators of the Septuagint
added to, and took from, and changed at pleasure;” and St.
Jerome says that Origen did the same thing with the New
Testament. Bishop Marsh testifies, in like manner, that Ori-
gen, who first collected the Bible books together, confessed that
he made many alterations in them before they fell into the
hands of the Council of Nice. Dr. Bentle}7 admits that the
best copy of the New Testament contains hundreds of irrepar-
able omissions, errors, and mistakes. The Bev. Dr. Whitby
saj^s, “ Many corruptions and interpolations were made almost
in the apostolic age.” Dupin says, “ Several authors took the
libert}' to add, retrench, correct divers things.” Some of the
clergy and churches rejected books which did not suit them,
while others altered them to suit their fancy. We are told that
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, made countless numbers
of alterations in the Bible in the sixth century for the purpose
of making them suit his Church. Eusebius says he found so
much proof that the Gospel of Matthew had been altered and
corrupted, that he rejected it as being unworthy of confidence.
Victor Wilson informs us that a general alteration of the Gos-
pels took place at Constantinople in the 3’ear 50G by order of
the Emperor Anastasias. St. Jerome complains that in his
time many alterations had been made in the Bible, and that its
different translations were so essential^ changed that 44 no one
copy or translation resembled another.” Scaliger testifies that
the clergy and the churches put into their scriptures what-
ever they thought would serve their purpose. Michaclis says,
“ Tiny thrust in and thrust out as best suits fancy.” In the
name of God, we would ask how any person in his sober reason
can think of finding “all scripture given by inspiration of
 ALL SCRIPTURE GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD. 363

God ” in the midst of such a general wreck, ruin, and demoli-
tion of the original scriptures. It is as impossible as to raise
the dead or to find Charlie Ross. The Rev. Dr. Gregory says
that no profane author has suffered like the Bible by profane
hands. Where, then, can we find “ all scripture given by inspi-
ration of God ” ?

Forged Gospels and Epistles.

The Unitarian Bible says, in its preface, u It is notorious that
forged writings, under the name of the apostles, were in circula-
tion almost from the apostolic age.” Mosheim testifies that
“ several histories of Christ’s life and doctrines, full of pious
frauds and fabulous wonders, were put in circulation before the
meeting of the Council of Nice ; ” and he states, like William
Penn, that he had no confidence in their ability to distinguish
the truer from the false. We will here quote another statement
of William Penn : “ There are many errors in the Bible. The
learned know it: the unlearned had better not know it.” Here
is another sad proof of the blinding effect of reading and believ-
ing a book which abounds in errors. He would have the un-
learned and honest reader swallow all the errors of the Bible,
and be thereby morally poisoned by them, rather than have the
book brought into discredit by having its errors exposed. This
circumstance of itself is sufficient to seal its condemnation.
Belsham says, “ The genuine books of the Bible were but few
compared with the spurious ones.” This would be inferred
from the circumstance of only four Gospels being adopted out
of fifty, and only seventeen Epistles out of more than one
hundred. Daille says, “The Christian fathers forged whole
books ;9 9 but neither he nor anybody else can furnish any rule
for determining which they are.

Lost Books Found or Re-written.

Dupin says a portion of the books of the Old Testament
were burned in wars, and others lost by the Jews themselves;
and in the Second Book of Chronicles (xxxiv. 14) we are told
that Hilkiah found the Book of the Law after it had been lost
eight hundred years. This law appears to have constituted the
 364

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

most important portion of the Jewish sacred writings. The
circumstance gives rise to some very strange reflections and
conclusions. It appears from this circumstance that the Lord’s
holy people had been without any law to guide or govern them
for eight long centuries. Now, can we suppose for a moment
that their God, Jehovah, was a being of infinite wisdom to
write or dictate a law, and base the happiness and welfare of his
people if not the world on that law, and then, through care-
lessness or otherwise, suffer it to get lost, and remain unfound
for eight hundred years, so that nobody could have the benefit
of it during that long period ? The very thought is a trespass
upon our good sense, and does violence to our reason. And
where was the law during all that time ? and how wras it pre-
served for so long a period of time ? If written on papyrus or
parchment, it would have perished in less than a century from
being exposed to the weather : for we can’t assume it was pre-
served in a drawer or box, as, in that case, it would not have
been lost; and, if engraven on stone, the weight would have been
fifty times as much as Hilkiah could carry. We are told that
when Josiah the king heard the law read, he rent his clothes
(2 Chron; xxxiv. 19).

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

&c., until they effected the entire extinction of the human race.
The acquisition, then, of the knowledge of the moral difference
between good and evil was an invaluable blessing, and no curse
at all; and, having been brought about through the agency of
the serpent-devil, he should have the credit of it.

The third effect produced by plucking and eating the pre-
scribed fruit was the discovery that they were naked. Why
they had not made the discovery before is a mystery of godli-
ness. The people of the present age, although presumed to be
in a state of degeneracy, if not total depravity, do not require
the use of their eyes to know when they are naked; but it
seems, that, before the fall in a state of moral perfection, such
knowledge could only be acquired through the optic nerves.
Hence 44 the perfection of our first parents,” so often spoken of
and lauded by the orthodox world, must simply have been the per-
fection of ignorance ; and it is true, if their history is true, that
they were most consummately ignorant until the}' were enlightened
by the serpent. They were too ignorant to clothe themselves.
God Almighty had to forsake the throne of heaven, and come
down to earth, to make garments of goatskins for them, before
they could be sufficiently habilitated to go abroad, or admit
company. Their two sons, however, were the only company
the}' were permitted to enjoy at that time. And one of these
turned out to be a murderer ; and, having killed his only brother,
he fled to the land of Nod, and married a wife, although, ac-
cording to the *4 inspired account,” his mother was the only
woman then living. It seems strange, under such circumstances,
that lie should marry a wife when there were no women to make
wives of. After he had killed his brother, and repented of it,
a mark was set upon him, that 44 whosoever found him should
not slay him. ’’ But how could this 44 whosoever99 know what the
mark meant? And who was this 44 whosoever,” when lie himself
had killed off the whole human race, excepting his father and
mother? And we presume they would not be likely to slay their
own and only son if there were no mark set upon him to prevent
it. Hp to this period the conduct of the serpent-devil had been
very respectful, and every act performed had resulted in a direct
benefit to the human family. Even his conduct towards Mother
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345

Eye seems to have been marked by politeness ; for he served her
with fruit before partaking of it himself. For these good acts
he deserved the use of his legs, which, we must presume, he lost
by the fall, when he transgressed, fell, and was cursed ; and
a part of this curse consisted in taking his legs from him, and
compelling him to crawl. But it appears his legs were after-
wards restored to him; for, when he came with the sons of
God to attend a picnic at the house of Job, and was asked
where he came from, replied, u From walking to and fro in the
. earth.” This feat of walking he could not very well have per-
formed without legs. Hence we naturally conclude they had
grown out again, or had been restored to him in some way, not-
withstanding it had been decreed he should ‘ ‘ crawl on his belly
all the days of his life.” The. whole story of the serpent, as pre-
sented in Genesis, is a borrowed and laughable fiction ; and the
reader will excuse us for presenting it in that light.

We have shown that the violation of the command of Jehovah
to Adam and Eve not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowl-
edge, so far from being attended with any evil result, gave rise
to several important benefits, and was therefore a praiseworthy
act. And if they had carried the act of disobedience a little
further, and plucked and eaten of the fruit from the “ tree of
life” also, it would, according to the context, have produced
results still more important, as it would have immortalized their
physical bodies, and prevented the ingress of death into the
world ; and we should have been spared that dreadful calamity.
But a worse calamity would have overtaken us ; for it is easily
seen, that, in the course of a few centuries, our planet would be
overstocked with inhabitants. And, as a part of Adam’s curse
consisted in being doomed to eat the ground (see Gen. iii. 17),
it follows, that, if none of his posterity had died, the}' would have
become so numerous in the course of time as to have eaten up
all the ground (there being nothing else for them to eat), and
leave not a mole-hill of terra firma for a living being to stand
upon. The conception is really ludicrous, and yet a legitimate
inference from the stor}T which presents us with a series of laugh-
able ideas from beginning to end.

We will now notice the sentence pronounced upon the several
 346

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

participants in this fabled rebellion against the divine govern-
ment, and observe how, or to what extent, they were realized.
Adam, Eve, and the snake were the culprits arraigned at the
bar under charge of being rebels ; and, all being found guilty, a
sentence was pronounced upon each separately. We will exam-
ine them in their order. The first part of Adam’s curse con-
sisted in being doomed to die, — 44 The day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die” (Gen. ii. 17). The serpent, however,
took the liberty to contradict and counteract the sentence, and
told him he should not die, but that partaking of the fruit would
make him 44 wise as the Gods, knowing good and evil.” Now,
the first question which arises here is, Who told the truth in the
case, —Jehovah, or 44 the father of lies ” ? In the eighth chapter
of Genesis wTe read, 44 All the days of Adam were nine hundred
and thirt}^ years, and he begat sons and daughters.” It will be
seen, then, that he did not die in 44 the day thereof,” nor the
year thereof, nor the century thereof; so it appears the serpent
told the truth, and Moses’ God told the falsehood, or was mis-
taken. Hundreds of Christian writers and commentators have
racked their brains to find some plausible mode of disposing of
these difficulties. The most specious one they have resorted
to is that of assigning the text a spiritual signification, and
alleging that it was a spiritual death that was intended in this
case. But the text does not say so ; and the context shows it
was not so: for it is declared, 44 Dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return” (Gen. iii. 19), which shows it was not
spiritual but physical death that was meant; and this did not
take place for more than nine hundred years after the sentence
was pronounced.

The second part of Adam’s curse consisted in being driven
out of the garden, and compelled to engage in agricultural pur-
suits ; that is, lie was sentenced to earn his bread by the sweat
of his face. (Sec Gen. iii. 23). But the experience of nearly
the whole human race, from that period to the present time,
proves that the sweating part of the operation is no curse at all,
but a real blessing; for no person in warm climates can enjoy
good health without perspiring occasional^; and as for labor
being a curse, because said to have been pronounced upon
 THE THREE PLANS OF SALVATION.

347

Adam as a penalty for transgression, the experience of all who
have tried it, and the present condition of the civilized world,
proclaim it to be untrue. Indeed, we must consider it a very
fortunate circumstance that he was driven out of the garden,
and compelled to embark in agricultural pursuits, not only on
account of such employments being conducive to health, but
because the very existence of human life depends upon it in all
civilized countries. It is the source whence we derive all our
food, all our clothing, and nearly all the comforts of life. No :
it is laziness, aot labor, that curses the race ; and the most ac-
cursed set of beings are the drones, the soft-handed gentry,
who are almost as afraid of a hoe, axe, or spade, as they are of
the measles or small-pox, having been erroneously taught that
labor is a curse.

The third item in Adam’s curse consisted in being doomed
to eat the ground, — u Cursed is the ground for thy sake, and
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life 99 (Gen. iii.
17) ; but we have never seen any report of either Adam or any
of his posterity eating the ground, or making it an article of
diet. It will be observed, then, that no part of the sentence
pronounced upon Adam turned out to be a curse, but, when
realized at all, was realized as a blessing.

The sentence pronounced upon the woman was also of a
threefold character. In the first place, she was doomed to
“ bring forth children in sorrow 99 (Gen. iii. 16). And her pos-
terity, we are told, inherited the curse, and must suffer in the
same way; but the history of the human family shows that
many individuals, and whole nations in some cases, have never
suffered this affliction. It is well known that the mothers of
some of the African tribes, also some of the tribes of Ameri-
cans, never suffer in childbirth. Hence it will be seen that the
curse in the general sense implied by the text is a failure in this
case also.

The second punishment to which woman was to be sub-
jected was that of being ruled over by her husband. This
portion of her curse, we must confess, has not been an entire
failure. Many women, even in civilized countries, are not only
ruled over, but tyrannized over, by their husbands. Yet this
 348

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state of things has by no means been universal. On the con-
trary, in many cases, woman has been the ruling party ; and, in
some instances, they have not merely ruled their own husbands,
but all the husbands in the nation. Queen Mary, Queen Anne,
and Queen Victoria, and many others, are examples of this kind ;
and then there have been thousands of women in all ages and
countries who never had any husbands. Consequently the curse
is a failure in their cases. The curse of husband-dominion, then,
has not fallen upon woman as a sex.

There was to be enmity between the seed of the woman
and the seed of the serpent (i.e., their offspring) as the third
part of woman’s curse ; but we find no evidence that this part
of the curse has ever been fulfilled. We observe no more en-
mity between men and serpents than between men and other
noxious reptiles and ravenous beasts. How much enmity exists
between the Hindoo juggler and the serpent that twines around
his arm and neck, and crawls through his bosom? We may be
told in reply that it is not the common serpent that is referred
to here, but the serpent-devil that beguiled Eve ; but we do not
learn that his Devilish Majesty ever had any offspring. So this
part of the curse, in a general sense, is a failure also.

Tiie Curse of the Serpent.

The curse pronounced upon the serpent was of a twofold
character.

He was doomed to crawl upon his belly. How 'he traveled
previous to that period we have no means of knowing, as reve-
lation is silent on this momentous subject. lie must have
crawled on his back, or hopped on his head or tail, — either of
which we should consider a much more difficult mode of travel-
ing than that inflicted on him by the curse. I can see no curse
or punishment in an animal or reptile traveling in its natural
wa}r, and by the easiest mode known in the whole animal king-
dom. To make a curse of his mode of travel, he should have
been turned the other side up, so that, while wiggling or wrig-
gling along on his back, his eyes and mouth would get full of
dust and mud. This would have been much more like a pun-
ishment,— a more real and sensible curse than his present mode
of traveling.
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349

The second mode of punishing the serpent was to compel
him to eat dust as an article of diet; but some difficulty must
have arisen in attempting to comply with the injunction. When
the ground is saturated with water, he would have to take a
meal occasionally of mud, which would not be more nutritious
than dust, and would not be fulfilling the law. But it is need-
less to speculate. It is evident he does not subsist in that wa}",
but, like the other culprits, escaped the penalties or punishments
due to his crime.

I have now examined all the items of the curse — eight in
number — said to have been visited upon Adam, Eve, and the
serpent; and what do they all amount to ? Not one of them has
been realized as such ; but most of those which were practically
realized turned out to be real blessings. And yet they have
been proclaimed to the world by the clergy as the missiles of
wrath hurled upon a guilty world for the sin of rebellion against
the divine government; and, whether any of these so-called
u visitations of divine displeasure’ 9 were designed as penalties
for disobedience or not, it is evident they have not in a moral
sense been realized, or had any beneficial effect whatever. And
we must conclude that it was rather short-sighted in •Moses’
God to attempt to bring his children into obedience by pro-
nouncing curses upon them. He himself virtually acknowledges
it; for, after having tried these expedients and found they availed
nothing, he became so discouraged, that he said, “It grieved
him to the heart” (see Gen. vi. 6) that he had made so rebel-
lious a creature as man.

The Second Scheme op Redemption.

The God of Moses, after having tried the expedient of curs-
ing his children, —the cunning workmanship of his hands, — and
grieved over the failure for more than a thousand years,—he
(the God of Moses) came to the conclusion to try another ex-
pedient. He concluded to select a few of the choicest speci-
mens of the genus homo, in order to preserve the race, and start
anew with some of the best stock or material that could be
found. Accordingly, old drunken Noah — the most righteous
man that could be found amongst the millions of the inhabit-
 350

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ants of the globe — was chosen to build a schooner, yacht,
canoe, or some kind of a vessel, called an ark, into which he
stowed millions of birds, bipeds, and insects of all species
and all sizes, from the ostrich and condor down to fleas, flies,
mosquitoes, spiders, and bed-bugs; and millions of animals
and reptiles of all kinds and all sizes, from the mammoth and
the mastodon down to skunks, lizards, snakes, gophers, and
grasshoppers; together with himself and family of eight persons,
and food sufficient to last them ten months while in the ark,
and several years afterwards, as we must presume was done
from the fact that it is declared that the waters destroyed every
living thing upon the face of the earth. And it must have re-
quired several years to restock it with grass and animals to
serve as food for the granivorous, herbivorous, and carnivo-
rous species ; and this would make a bulk sufficient to fill forty
such vessels, and a weight Sufficient to sink the whole British
navy. And all this living mass of respiring and perspiring
animals were dependent upon one little window twelve inches
by fifteen for light and air, and which had to be kept shut most
of the time to keep out the rain. If some giraffe or cameleo-
pard had been disposed to monopolize the window by thrusting
his head out, we can easily imagine what would have been the
fatal consequence to this living, breathing cargo. And then
we have to entertain the thought that lions and lambs, wolves
and sheep, dogs and skunks, hawks and chickens, owls and
doves, cats and mice, men and monkej’s, all ate and slept to-
gether inimmediate juxtaposition like a band of brothers. Per-
haps more glorious times never were realized since 4ttlie sons
of God shouted for jo}’.” But it appears the whole thing
turned out to be a failure. The drowning process was no more
effectual in producing the desired reformation than the first
scheme that had been tried ; for, only a few hundred years after
the culmination of this world-drowning experiment, Moses’ God
is represented as crying out in despair, “ The imagination of
man’s heart is evil, and onl}r evil continually.” This was cer-
tainly a deplorable and disheartening state of things witnessed
so soon after it had been presumed that all the bad folks had
been drowned; but it appears, that, if all that class had been
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351

a book whose language is so contradictory and so ambiguous that
no two persons in a million agree with respect to all it teaches ?
Every preacher and teacher simpty makes known his ignorance
whenever he assumes to know what the Bible teaches ; and }^et it
is called “ a perfect revelation of God’s will.” It is an assump-
tion that makes God an ignoramus and a tyrant to suppose he
would give forth a perfect revelation to the world, and require us
to accept it as such on pain of endless damnation, and yet leave
it in such a jumbled, bungling, and unintelligent condition that
it is impossible to understand it. Such an assumption certainly
borders on blasphemy. We would charge him with no such
driveling nonsense. It is the legitimate prerogative of reason
to assume that a perfect being could make a perfect revelation
or Bible, the language of which should be so absolutely perfect
and plain that no person of ordinary understanding could possi-
bly fail to understand every text, every word, and every sylla-
ble of it, and no two persons cquld possibly differ about the
meaning of one text in the whole book. Such a revelation or
Bible, and only such, could be ascribed to an all-wise God.
Even men and women can now be found who are so far master
of human language that they can write books so plainly that
there can be no dispute about the meaning of one sentence in
them. To assume, then, that an infinitely wise God could not
produce such a book is to place him lower in the scale of intel-
ligence than a common schoolboy. When, therefore, I find
the Christian Bible so far from possessing such characteristics,
I set it down as prima-facie evidence that an intelligent and
all-wise God had nothing to do in originating it. And if he
were not superior to, or incapable of, such human weakness, he
would reject with contempt and disdain the honor, or rather dis-
honor, ascribed to him in the authorship of such a book, — such
a medley of contradiction, ignorance, superstition, and barbar-
ism as is ascribed to him.

It is sometimes alleged (as we have alread}7 observed) in de-
fence or mitigation of the endless disputes among Christian
professors about the teachings of the Bible, that this disagree-
ment does not appertain to an}7 of the essential doctrines of
Christianity, but only to minor points, or doctrines of minor irn-
 332

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

portance. But such an admission is fatal either to their hon-
esty or to their good sense. It concedes that the quarrels
among the churches for ages has been about mere trifles, not
worth spending breath about. It concedes that it is “ non-
essentials, ” or mere trifles, that keep them apart, and that have
led them to build five or six churches, and hire five or six
priests, in every little village throughout the country, at an ex-
pense of many thousand dollars. It is certainly a criminal
waste of time and money to spend it by the million for churches
and priests to propagate doctrines which thej" themselves admit
possess no real intrinsic importance. It shows they have been
actuated by selfish, dishonorable, and ignoble motives in fighting
each other for a thousand years, and in some cases murdering
each other by the thousand, for a difference of opinion they
admit to be of no importance. Those murdered Christians and
devout Bible-believers were charged with preaching damnable
doctrines and devilish heresies; but now we are told it was
minor and unimportant doctrines that they were quarreling
about, and for which they were tortured and killed for preach-
ing. Yes, non-essential doctrine ! 0 temporal 0 mores! But
they make a serious blunder when they talk about non-essential
doctrine; for their Bible teaches that all doctrines are essen-
tial,— that there is no such thing as a non-essential doctrine;
for it first proclaims “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.”
and then declares that “ he who offends in the least, offends in
the whole.”

These two declarations taken together prove (if they prove
any thing) that there is no “non-essential doctrine,” and
that the slightest departure from the right faith, or the least
disregard of the most trivial doctrine of the Christian creed,
will land the soul of the man or woman in endless perdition
who is guilty of it. The solemn question arises here, then,
Who can escape eternal damnation? For, if there is only one
true faith, then the hundred and forty thousand different and
conflicting faiths cherished and propagated among Christians
must all be wrong but one, — a fact which impels us to the
awful and inevitable conclusion that not one Christian in a thou-
sand— no, not in ten thousand — can be saved by these terms
 WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE AND DO TO BE SAVED? 333

of the gospel. The thought sometimes occurs to the writer,
that no truty enlightened person, possessing a true moral dig-
nity of character, could consent to hang his salvation upon
a book which, after eighteen hundred }Tears of the most criti-
cal investigation and explanation by the most learned minds
in Christendom, still remains a mystery with regard to all
its most important doctrines, so that more than six hundred
churches are now disputing about what it teaches; and the
difficulty is still increasing by the uprising of new churches
with new creeds and new interpretations of the Bible. Let
the reader observe the striking difference in the harmony of
views which prevail in the various scientific societies throughout
the country and those of the churches, and he will discover at
once that there is no science in our religion. Take for example
the astronomical societies. They are all perfectly agreed with
respect to what the great Bible of nature teaches concerning
that science. There is no contention and no dispute with re-
spect to the doctrines and principles of that grand revelation of
nature, because they are all susceptible of proof and demonstra-
tion. Were it otherwise, —were the amateurs and students of
that science divided into six hundred conflicting factions, like
the churches, each with a different theory with respect to what
it teaches,—one contending that the sun rises in the east,
another that it rises in the west; one arguing that the sun is the
revolving center of our solar system, another contending that
the earth is ; one teaching that the starry orbs which roll their
massive forms through infinite space are mere wax tapers stuck
in the azure vault to light this pigmy planet, or mere peep-holes
for Gods to look out upon our world ; and one arguing that they
were all knocked up in a single day out of that singular sub-
stance called nothing, and another that they are the outgrowth
of other worlds, or have existed from all eternity. Had the
author, who was once a member of one of those societies, ob-
served such a chaos of confusion and conflict of opinion, he
would have discovered at once that nothing is really known
about the science of astronomy,—that what is called such is
nothing but a jargon of conflicting dogmas and wild specula-
tions. Hence he would not have remained with them a single
 334

TIIE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

da}’ after making suck a discovery. Having learned that the
churches are in such a condition, he withdrew, and has not been
a member of one of those discordant institutions for many
years. He considers it a waste of time to be a member of a
religious body which only increases this difficulty and confusion,
lie has but one life to live, and does not wish to waste that in
a mere wild-goose chase after religious speculations that can
never be settled. Why fool away our lives in chasing theologi-
cal butterflies that can never be caught, when there is a hun-
dred times as much to be learned within the domain of positive
science as can be acquired in a lifetime, that is practically use-
ful and calculated to enlarge the boundaries of our knowledge
and elevate us to a higher plane of happiness, while the occu-
pancy of the mind with theological dogmas is only calculated to
“ lead to bewilder, and dazzle to blind ” ?

Yes, we shall make more progress in learning our duties, in
learning “ what we must do in order to be saved,” if we would
look about us and forward, and endeavor to read the great Bible
or book of nature illuminated by the rays of science, in which
there are no contradictions, no confusion, and where we may
learn of, and, in our finite measure, grow into and partake
of the attributes of the Infinite Father, instead of looking
backward and searching amongst the jarring contradictions,
the creeds, dogmas, myths, and traditions of the past, covered
as they are with the mold and dust of ages.

CHAPTER LIII.

TIIE THREE PLANS OF SALVATION.

“Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission for
sin.” The doctrine of this text constitutes the basis of all the
plans of salvation which various ages and nations have founded
on dead Cods and living devils. Nearly every religious nation
known to history cherished the belief that God is an irritable,
irascible, and vindictive being, subject to fils or paroxysms of
anger; and, when in this furious and unbalanced and ungov-
 THE THREE PLANS OF SALVATION.

335

ernable state of mind, he frequently poured out his vengeance
upon his disobedient children, often subjecting them to the most
terrible penalties in this life, and then threatened them with a
still worse doom in the next. To avert this direful calamity, —
at least so far as it appertained to the life beyond the grave, —
most religious nations invented schemes which came to be
known as s}rstems or plans of salvation. The original model
seems to have been furnished by the Hindoos, and borrowed
from them b}T the Egyptians, and thence transmitted to the Per-
sians and Grecians, and was finally incorporated into the
Christian system, and now constitutes what is known as u the
Christian plan of salvation.’5 Each system was composed of
three cardinal principles:   1. The primeval innocency and

moral perfection of man. 2, His temptation and downfall into
a state of moral depravity. 3. His restoration to the divine
favor by the voluntary sacrifice and atoning offering of a God
(one of the three members of the trinity). These three car-
dinal doctrines constitute what Christians denominate ‘4 the
great and glorious plan of salvation,” and on which a thousand
volumes have been written, and ten thousand sermons are
preached even7 year. As it professes to point out the road,
and the onty road, to heaven, it merits a somewhat critical ex-
amination. We will therefore analyze and examine its several
principles, to see whether it has a true moral basis, or is in strict
accordance with the principles of natural justice. The first
proposition assumes that man primordially occupied the highest
plane of moral perfection, and that all his animal propensities
were held in strict abejmnce to his moral convictions, and that
he consequently led a morally pure, perfect, and holy life.
The first and most important query to which this proposition
or assumption gives rise is, Can it be shown to be true? Can it
be sustained by either the principles of natural or moral science,
or by the facts of history comprised in man’s practical life?
Now, it so happens that facts have been accumulating for thou-
sands of }^ears, gathered from almost every department of
science and history, to prove and demonstrate that the proposi-
tion is entirety untenable, —that it is not true. Geology alone
demonstrates its falsity. It has written its negative verdict
upon a thousand rocks beneath our feet.
 336

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

These rocks contain the fossiliferous and organic remains of
the earl}" and primitive inhabitants of the earth, and indicate
the order of man’s moral and intellectual development; for as
each successive layer or stratum of fossiliferous rocks, in which
the organic remains of man are found, marks a distinct period
in his history, and the growth of his moral and intellectual
brain is found in all cases to correspond to the age and growth
of these strata, the question is thus settled and demonstrated
by the facts of geological science. As, the older the rocks, the
more remote period they mark in man’s history ; and, the more
remote the period to which it is thus traced, the lower the posi-
tion in the scale of moral and intellectual development his
organic remains prove him to have occupied. The question is
thus reduced to a scientific problem, which admits of no dis-
proof or refutation. It is, then, a settled scientific truth, that,
the further we trace the past history of man by the footprints of
geological science, the nearer he approaches to the condition
of an animal, — when he was almost totally devoid of intellec-
tual perceptions and moral feelings, and was consequently a
victim to his lusts and animal propensities. Where, then, w-as
his moral purity and perfection, or his angelic holiness? The
doctrine is thus shown to be false and fabulous. All the skulls
of the primitive races that have been found by geological re-
search show that man, in his first rude type, had scarcely any
moral brain; and the history of the race at that period shows
that lie possessed a correspondingly low, weak, defective moral
character, so much so that he could scarcely be considered a
moral, accountable being. To talk, then, of his occupying a
high moral plane at that early period, is to contradict every prin-
ciple of science and every page of history. His animal propen-
sities and selfish feelings must have held complete sway over the
whole empire of mind for thousands, if not for millions, of years ;
so that his moral status was but little above that of the brute.
The facts of science and history to prove this proposition are
abundant; but, as we are compelled to constantly observe the
most rigid rules of brevity, we can only find space for one or
two proof-illustrations. Human skulls have been found em-
bedded in the rocks of Gibraltar with retreating foreheads,
 THE TEHEE PLANS OF SALVATION

337

The Quaker’s Answer.

Brother Quaker, as you profess to get light from above, per-
haps you can throw some light on this dark question. We have
not yet heard your answer to this puzzling question. Can you
tell us “ what to do and believe in order to be saved” ? “Most
certainly I can,” replies the inspired disciple of Fox and Penn.
“ There can be no mistake about what the Bible teaches on the
subject. It is perfectly plain, and easily understood. You are
to retire into the quiet, and turn your minds inward with a
praj^erful desire to know the will of God. In this state of mind,
open 3’our Bible, and you will learn that you are to do justly,
love mercy, and walk humbly with God, and become estab-
lished in the true faith: for the Bible declares that, 4 without
faith, it is impossible to please God ; ’ that is, faith in his be-
 318

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

loved Son, whom he sent into the world to die a propitiatory
offering for the sins of man.”—“ What! ” exclaims the Ilicks-
ite Quaker, “ do j"ou mean to teach the dark and bloody doc-
trine of the atonement ? Do you mean to say that we have to
swim through blood to get to 6 the house of man}" mansions ’ ?
If you do, you are egregiously mistaken. You are teaching and
preaching an old, worn-out, bloody, heathen doctrine that never
did and never can save a single soul.”—“Now, look here,”
cries the orthodox Quaker, “ the Bible declares, ‘There is no
other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved than
that of Jesus Christ;9 and }"OU are blaspheming his name by
denying the efficacy of his death and sufferings. Therefore
your chance for salvation is a hopeless one. You will be lost,
and consigned to the pit where there is eternal weeping and
wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” So away go both the Quaker
orders, each booked by the other for eternal perdition. But we
must stop, or we will swell this chapter on the war of conflicting
creeds to a volume. We have now interrogated all the leading
churches relative to what it is necessar}r to do and believe in
order to make a sure thing of salvation, and escape the awful
and dreadful fate of endless damnation. And what is the
result? No two churches — and it could easily be shown that
scarcely any two Christians — agree upon this all-important
question, upon which they tell us is hung the salvation of the
world. As we have shown, the churches all virtually shut the
door of heaven against each other. They are all off the track,
all on the road to eternal damnation, according to the testimony
of their oxen witnesses. In the name of God, what is the use or
sense, then, of professing to believe in the Bible, or claiming to
be Christians, when it is thus demonstrably proved that nobody
knows any thing about what the Bible teaches, or what it takes
to make a Christian? The picture we have presented is no
more fancy sketch. It is not the work of mere imagination.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of quotations could be furnished
from the writings of eminent Christian writers of the different
churches to show that it is a solemn realitj", and that they differ
in the way, and as widely, as wc have represented. And what
is the solemn lesson taught by it? Why, the absolute imppssi-
 WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE AND DO TO BE SAVED f 319

bility of our finding the road to heaven through the churches ;
and it is an entire waste of time, besides being demoralizing to
the mind, to attempt it. We are often told by the orthodox
Christians, by way of defending their creeds, that the churches
are agreed upon all the leading doctrines of the Christian faith.

Well, let us see how this is, and whether they in reality agree
upon any thing. We will institute another court of inquiry,
and briefly examine and compare the views of the various
churches relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian
religion.

1.   Moral Depravity. —The first in order will be the fall and
depravity of man.

Well, brother Calvinist, as you hail from the oldest Protes-
tant Church, we will first solicit your views upon this all-impor-
tant question. We wish to know whether you believe that man
fell from a state of purity, and became morally depraved by the
fall. “ Oh, yes ! we believe he fell so low that he became
totally depraved by the fall; so that all men are now the children
of wrath, born in sin, and conceived in iniquity, and covered
with corruption from the crown of the head to the sole of the
foot.”

Brother Arminian, what do you think of this view of the
matter ? Is it Bible doctrine, or not ? “ No : it is neither accord-
ing to the Bible, nor according to common sense, but a damna-
ble doctrine, that will send any man’s soul to hell who believes
in such outrageous doctrine. It is not only untrue, but it is
demoralizing to rob man so completely of his moral attributes
as to make him feel like a brute, and, consequently, act like
one.”

2.   Man's Restoration. — How is this to be effected, brother
Calvinist? “Why, by the outpoiiring of the blood of Christ,
the propitiator}" offering.” Brother Arminian, is this true
Christian doctrine? “No, it is not. Man’s salvation is ef-
fected in no such a way. Every man is to work out his own
salvation. I can prove it by the Bible.”

3.   Endless Punishment.—Most Protestant sects hold and
preach that the wicked, when they die, are consigned to a place
or state called “ the bottomless pit.” (How they are kept in
 320

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

it with the bottom out, the Lord only knows, or perhaps we
should say the Devil). But the Universalists affirm that the
Bible teaches no such doctrine, but tells us that, “as in Adam
all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive ; ” which proves, as
the}’ affirm, the ultimate salvation of all the human race. But
the Restorationists prove that there is u a mediate place for
souls, which is neither heaven nor hell, but a preliminary and a
temporary abode for all souls, good and bad.”

And there is another class of Christians who find in the same
book a still different doctrine, that of the absolute and total de-
struction of the wicked. They quote Phil. 3-19. Which of these
four Christian sects teach the true Bible doctrine ? Who can
tell?

4.   Divinity of Christ.—Most of the Protestant sects tell us
that the Bible makes a belief in the supreme divinity of Jesus
Christ essential to salvation; but the Parkerite Christian, the
Hicksite Christian, and the Unitarian Christian affirm that it
does not, that it only makes him a perfect or superior specimen
of manhood. Which is right? Who can tell?

5.   Polygamy. — Most of the churches once believed that
polygamy is a Bible doctrine, and practiced it for eight, hundred
years. But now they tell us it is not. The Mormons, how-
ever, declare that it is sanctioned in the Old Testament, and
not condemned in the New, and hence is a Bible doctrine.
Which is right? How can wc tell?

G. Marriage. —Nearly all the sects hold that marriage is a Bi-
ble institution. But the Shakers declare that it is not, and quote
Christ’s own words to prove it as found in Luke 20-35.   “ The

children of this world marry and arc given in marriage; but
they who shall be counted worthy of that world, and the resur-
rection, neither marry nor arc given in marriage.” They rea-
sonably conclude that those who shall not be considered worthy
of being saved (which includes all married people) will not be
saved, being cut off by Christ’s positive prohibition of mar-
riage. Which is right? Who can tell? The text, however,
furnishes a consoling hope for old bachelors and old maids,
to say the least.

7.   The Sabbath. —Most of the churches keep the first day
 WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE AND BO TO BE SAVED f 321

of the week as the Bible sabbath. But the Seventh-day Bap-
tists affirm that it is not, that the seventh day of the week is
the true sabbath of the Lord; while other sects tell us that
Christ, both by precept and example, labored to do away with
all sabbath observances and all holy days. Which is right?
Who can tell ?

8.   The Godhead. — All Trinitarians teach that there are
three persons in the Godhead. The Paulite Christians say there
are but two, while the Unitarians affirm there is but one. Which
is right ? Who can tell ?

9.   Baptism. — The churches are not agreed with regard to
baptism as to what it is, how, and when it should be applied,
and on whom it should be administered. Some hold to dip-
ping, some to douching, and some to sprinkling, as the scripture
mode of administering it. Which is right? Who can tell?

I should prefer the dipping process. It would do something
toward saving the body of the sinner from disease, if not the
soul from hell, if frequently applied. He should be baptized
once a week, if not once a day, with water and soap. We have
now enumerated nearly all the leading doctrines of the Christian
faith, and shown that the views of the churches, with respect to
them, are about as different as day from night. The impor-
tant query then arises, What progress have we made'towards
determining, by the Bible or by the churches, what we must do
and believe in order to be saved? Why, about the same prog-
ress the boy had made toward reaching the schoolhouse, who,
on being interrogated by the teacher as to the cause of his late
appearance, replied, 44 Why, master, you see the road was so
slipper}7, that, when I attempted to take one step forward, I
slipped two steps backward.” —44 How did you manage to get
here, then?” asked the teacher. 44 Why,” replied Tom, 441
turned round and went the other way.” I would suggest that
the churches try this policy.of turning round, and going the
other way. My conviction is they would find the true road to
salvation much sooner, and be better prepared to settle the ques-
tion as to what they should do and believe in order to be saved.
It is a question, however, they never can settle. The Bible is
a very old book ; and, the farther we get away from the age in
 322

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

which it was written, the more difficult it will become to under-
stand it: for human language, and even human thought and
the meaning of words, are constantly changing. These circum-
stances will constantly augment the difficulty of ever under-
standing any old Bible, or of determining what it teaches or
designed to teach with respect to an important doctrine.

10.   The Number of Hells.—When the disciple of the
Christian faith talks of a hell in the presence of a Hindoo, he
tells him he don’t know any thing about the matter : that there
are no less than three institutions of this kind. But here the
Mahomedan rises up, and sa}’s, “ You, too, are totally igno-
rant on the subject; for there are no less than seven institutions
of this character. One of them is set apart for Christians
who believe in the divinity and atonement of Christ.” Lieut.
Lynch, of the United-States navy, says that a Mahomedan
told him, u No man or woman can be saved who believes that
God was born of a woman, and then became a malefactor to a
human tribunal; for the doctrine is blasphemous.” Which of
all these opinions is right? Who can tell?

11.   Bible Doctrines constantly changing.—The increase of
intelligence, and the growth and expansion of the human mind,
have the effect to change the views of the people general^ and
constant^ upon almost every subject that occupies the mind;
so that the creeds of the churches are constantly changing.
Hence the Bible is made to teach widelj’ different doctrines in
different ages ; and what is Christianity to-day is infidelity to-
morrow, and vice versa. (See Chapter lviii.) And so thor-
ough is the change wrought upon the meaning or interpretation
of nearly all the important texts in “ God’s perfect revelation,”
that it virtually makes a new Bible for each generation. I will
present some proofs and illustrations of this statement by com-
paring the doctrine of the churches of the last century with
those .of the present. In the days of Jonathan Edwards, a
hell, constituted of a lake of fire and brimstone, was preached
in nearly all the Christian churches ; also the doctrine of infant
damnation, when the Methodists sang that beautiful and charm-
ing hymn, —
 WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE AND DO TO BE SAVED? 323

“ For hell is crammed
With infants damned,

Without a day of grace; ”

also the doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of election
and reprobation, the doctrine of purgatory, the doctrine of
Christ’s descent into hell, &c. All these and other similar
doctrines were preached in nearly every pulpit nearly every
sabbath ; and the preacher who would have neglected to preach
these doctrines would have been denounced as on the road to
hell. But now the clergyman who should attempt to preach
these old Calvinistic tenets would be denounced as “an old
fog}'.” Hence the important query arises, When were the
churches preaching Bible doctrine, then or now? Who can tell?
Such changes are unceasingly going on. Important changes
are sometimes made in the popular creed in a few years’ time,
as we will cite a case to prove. Just before the last war the
peace doctrine was becoming quite popular in nearly all the
churches, and sermons were often preached from such texts as
the following : “ Nation shall not lift up sword against nation ;
neither shall they learn war anj^ more.” But, when the war
broke out, new texts were hunted up, and the preaching all ran
in the opposite direction. “ Cursed be he who holdeth back his
sword from blood” (Jer. xlviii. 10) ; “He who hath not a
sword, let him sell his coat, and buy one,” —then constituted the
texts for a sound sermon. Now it is evident that a book which
thus teaches opposite doctrines virtually teaches nothing. Its
moral force is destroyed. If a man wants to perform a certain
act to-day, and an act of an opposite character to-morrow, and
can find a warrant for both in the Bible, then it is evident the
Bible can have no effect whatever towards changing his course
of life. When every moral duty is both commanded and
countermanded, and every crime both sanctioned and con-
demned, as appears to be the case with the Christian Bible,
then it is evident that a man with the Bible would act exactly as
the man without the Bible ; for whatever he may naturally feel
inclined to do, or whatever he wants to do, he finds Bible
authority for. Hence it is evident the Bible can’t change his
conduct in the least 5 for it merety tells him to do what he wishes
 324

and reliable in business than the majority of church-members.”
(Let the reader mark this statement.) And this declaration
was concurred in by another eminent hrayer, banker, and
church-member, who is doing a more extensive business in the
North-western States than any other man. And he states that
the most extensive business-man in Central New York has
arrived at the same conclusion as the result of his observation.
And the greatest business-man in Boston is also referred to,
whose experience led him to this conclusion. And other busi-
ness-men in different parts of the country testify to the same
effect. We may, then, set it down as the universal testimonjy of
business-men that infidels and “outsiders” are more honest,
more reliable, more truthful, and more honorable than church-
members. What a fatal argument these facts furnish against
the religion and morality of the Christian Bible ! The}r indicate
that the religion and morality of nature and science are supe-
rior.

Burning the World’s Benefactors as Infidels.

It will be perceived, from the preceding orthodox testimonies,
that the class of people usually stigmatized as infidels are the
true exemplars in practical morality, and the true benefactors
of society. And Christian countries owe them a debt of grati-
tude for all the reforms and improvements which have proved
such signal blessings to society within the last few hundred
years, and for their own elevation out of the groveling igno-
rance of barbarism into the glorious sunlight of civilization.
What withering self-reproach, what shameful mortification and
self-condemnation, they ought therefore to feel in view of having
committed so many of them to the flames, or otherwise mal-
treated and killed them! For, according to the above Christian
testimonies, they were the world’s real benefactors ; and the fol-
lowing list will show that those victims perished at the hands
of Christians as infidel martyrs: In 1511 Herman of Ityswiek
was burned for heresy; in 154G Aonius Polearius was hung,
and then burned for skepticism; in 1574 Geofroi Yallie was
burned for publishing a heretical book ; in 1546 Stephen Dolet,
a printer and bookseller, was burned at Paris for atheism; in
 SEND NO MOBE BIBLES TO THE HEATHEN.   303

1579 Matthew Hamont had his ears cut off, and was then
burned alive, in England, for denying that Christ is God; in
1583 John Lewes was burned at Norwich, Eng., for “ denying
the Godhead of Christ; ” in 1589 Francis Kett, a member of a
college in Cambridge, Eng., was burned for holding “divers
detestable opinions against Christ, our Savior;” in 1611 Bar-
tholomew Legate was burned to ashes at Smithfield for deny-
ing that Christ was God; in 1644 Edward Wightman was
burned at Litchfield for denying the divinity of Christ; in
1619 Lucilio Yanini, an Italian, was burned for atheistical opin-
ions ; in 1574 John Gonganelle was poisoned for his infidelity
by the Holy Sacrament; in 1629 Alexander Leighton had his
nose slit and his ears cut off, and was imprisoned for eleven
years for publishing a work against miracles. To make the
matter short, without extending the list, it has been estimated
that forty thousand perished at the hands of Christians in forty
years for infidelity, heresy, or other opinions deemed unsound
by orthodox. And thus it will be perceived that infidelity has
had its martyrs as well as Christianity; and that Christians, in
putting these men to death, were robbing the world (according
to “ The New-York Evangelist ”) of its real benefactors. Oh,
shame ! Christianity, where is thy blush ?

CHAPTER LI.

SEND NO MOKE BIBLES TO THE HEATHEN.

A recent work by a Christian writer states that there are now
employed in the work of converting the heathen to Christianity
fifteen thousand missionaries, and that they succeed in convert-
ing about ten thousand a year. From this statement, it appears
that ten thousand missionaries make annually one convert apiece,
while five thousand make none. And the cost the writer esti-
mates to be about twenty thousand dollars for each convert.
Col. Wiseman estimated it, about thirty years ago, to be ten
thousand dollars apiece. And, while these ten thousand con-
verts were made, the heathen population increased in numbers
 304

THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.

five millions. Thus it appears they increase two hundred times
faster than they are converted. How long will it take, at such
rates, to effect the entire conversion of the world? and what will
be the cost ? All the gold ever dug from the mines of Golconda
and California would be but a drop in the bucket compared with
the requisite amount. The question naturally arises here, Do
the results justify such an enormous expenditure of time and
treasure, say nothing of the loss of health on the part of the
missionaries? A learned Hindoo stated, in a speech made in
London in 1876, that the conversions made in India are con-
fined principally to the low, ignorant, superstitious class, who
do not possess sufficient sense and intelligence to know the dif-
ference between the religion they are converted to and the
religion they are converted from. Are such converts worth
ten thousand or twenty thousand dollars apiece? The case
suggests the story of the Hibernian who stated his horse had
but two faults : u First, he is hard to catch ; second, he is no
account when caught.” The heathen must be hard to convert
if it requires an expense of ten thousand dollars apiece, and of
but little account when converted if they know nothing about
the nature of the religion they are converted to. There are
various considerations which go to prove that the hundreds of
millions of dollars expended annually in this enterprise are
worse than wasted : —

1.   One missionary, becoming discouraged at the prospect,
once made the statement that nine-tenths of the converts have
not sense enough to understand the Christian religion, nor
moral principle enough to live up to its precepts, and that a
considerable portion of them relapsed into heathenism. It
should 1)0 borne in mind that it is not the most intelligent nor
the most moral portion of the heathen who profess to embrace
Christianity, but generally the credulous, ignorant, and fickle-
minded class, who are ready for any change that may be offered.

2.   No real good seems to be accomplished by the introduc-
tion of the Christian llible among the heathen, but much evil.
Its thousands of bad moral precepts and bad moral examples,
and its sanction of every species of crime, must inevitably have
the effect to weaken then* moral resolutions, and deepen them in
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the commission of crime. And hence, as missionaries them-
selves indirectly confess, crime has increased in almost every
nation where missions have been established. It is true, that, in
those nations where the arts and sciences have been cultivated,
they have operated to some extent in counteracting the bad
moral lessons they learn by reading the Bible; and in some
cases, in this way, some improvement has been made. But no
instance can be found in the history of the missionary enterprise
where any improvement has been made in the morals of the
people, where their instruction has been confined to the Bible,
without the arts and sciences. On the contrary, their morals
have grown worse, or remained unimproved, as in Abyssinia and
the Samoan Islands, where, after more than a thousand years’
instruction in Bible religion, without the arts and sciences, they
are still in the lowest stages of barbarism. (See Chapter 50.)

u The Bible as a Moral Necessity.”

3.   It is a policy that must be deplored by every true philan-
thropist, that the Christian world expends millions of dollars
every year to convert the heathen to a religion that can neither
improve their morals or their intellect, but inculcates bad les-
sons in morals and science, and, in many cases, is a worse
religion than that already established in those countries. (For
evidence, see Chapter 50.)

4.   And this policy becomes still more reprehensible when
coupled with the fact that there are sixty thousand Christians
living in a state of want, beggary, destitution, and suffering, in
Christian cellars in New-York City; and two hundred thou-
sand, including Boston and Philadelphia, who are in a state
of degradation and suffering almost beyond description, who
might be relieved and placed in a situation to improve their
morals and their physical condition comfortably if the millions
of money, time, and labor were spent on them which are use-
lessly expended on foreign missions. Think of two hundred
thousand church-members living in dark, damp, dreary, sickly
cellars, with grim starvation daily staring them in the face, while
their purse-proud Christian landlords are living in luxury over
their heads. No such cruel, inhuman religion can be found in
any heathen nation.
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5.   And then the missionary enterprise inflicts physical evils,
as well as moral, upon the foreign heathen. It introduces habits
and customs amongst them, which, in some cases, destro}^ their
health, as well as corrupt their morals. Look, for example, at
the Sandwich Islands. Since the establishment of Christian
missions amongst them, the population has decreased thirty
per cent. Twent}r thousand children in schools in 1848 are
dwindled down to eleven thousand. Marriages have decreased,
and divorces have increased. Nine hundred divorces took
place in four }Tears, while previous to the introduction of Chris-
tianit}', we are told, divorces were almost unknown. Mission-
aries, ignorant of plysiolog}7 and the laws of mental science,
and in total disregard of natural law, establish habits among
the heathen which destroy both their health and their happiness.

6.   The people in several heathen countries have proved to be
sharp-sighted and intelligent enough to detect the errors in the
Bible and religious sj^stem presented to them b}T the mission-
aries. Bishop Colenso states, that, while serving as missionary
among the Zulus tribe, some of the natives started objections
to statements found in the Bible which had not occurred to his
own mind. And this fact made him resign his mission and
return home, and read his Bible with more care, which resulted
in detecting hundreds of errors in the Holy Book, which he has
published to the world in a large volume. We are informed
that the Hindoos told some of the missionaries while among
them, that such a God as the Christian Bible describes would
not be allowed to run at large in their countiy. lie would be
taken up as a criminal.

7.   The natives in several countries where the missionaries
have been operating, on becoming acquainted with the character
of the teachings of the Christian Bible, have raised objections to
its being circulated amongst them, and, in some cases, have
besought the missionaries to leave. The Lev. Mr. Ilall, a mis-
sionary in India, states that a public meeting was called at
Madras by the natives to draw up a petition to Lord Stanley
of England to send no more missionaries, and also entreat him
to withdraw those then operating there; and such was the
interest manifested that the meeting called out ten thousand
 WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE AND DO TO BE SAVED f 307

people. The Chinese, also, have manifested strong opposition
to the movements of the missionaries among them; while the
Japanese have kept out from amongst them both Bible and
missionaries by positive law until a recent period.

8.   The inhabitants of the Friendly Isles, of Honolulu, of
India, and also of Japan, have all discussed the subject of send-
ing missionaries to this country to improve the morals of the
Christians; and it is certain that some of them are practically
acquainted with a better system of morals than that which pre-
vails in this country.

Here we will note the remarkable circumstance that a learned
Hindoo has recently held a two days’ debate with a Christian
missionary, which excited such an interest that it drew together
from five to seven thousand of the natives, who desired to see
the missionary beat in the debate. A writer states that the
Hindoo handled the missionary’s arguments as a cat would a
mouse, thus intimating that the missionary was completely van-
quished in the logical contest; and yet this Hindoo is called
a u heathen.” Pshaw! It would be a blessing to Christian
countries to be supplied with a few millions of such heathen.
It would improve both their morals and their intelligence.

Note. —Many anecdotes are afloat tending to prove the superior moral honesty of the
Hindoos and other “ heathen.” As a traveler was walking the streets of an Asiatic city
with one of the natives, he proposed to step into a store and purchase some article.
“ No,” said the native: “ see that chair in the door to let us know the merchant is ab-
sent.” — “ What! ” exclaimed the traveler: “ do merchants go away and leave their goods
exposed in that way?” — “Yes,” responded the honest native, “when there are no
Christians about.”

CHAPTEK LET. ^

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE AND DO TO BE SAVED ?

u What shall we believe and do in order to be saved? ” is an
all-important query, and one which daily occupies the minds
of millions of earth’s inhabitants of all countries and all climes.
There are ten thousand answers to this question, and they are
as conflicting as the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel.
No two religious orders, and scarcely any two religious believ-
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ers, agree with respect to the all-important answer to be
rendered to this all-important question. To prove this, we will
interrogate the disciples of all the leading religious orders who
have found a place in the world’s history, and compare their
answers, and observe the result. Commencing in the order of
time, the disciples of the Vedas will be the first we will
interrogate, as they represent the oldest religious faith that has
ever been promulgated in the world.

I. Hindoo’s Answer to the Question.

Well, brother Hindoo, will 3*ou be so good as to answer this
question, u What shall we do and believe in order to. be saved? ”
“ Oh, yes !” responds the devout worshiper of Brahma, point-
ing to a stone arche.d pagoda. u Go and prostrate 3*ourself in
that hoty building, made venerable b3r a thousand 3*ears’ devo-
tion, and offer up piTiyer and praise to Brahma, and, if you
have committed any sins, implore his forgiveness. You must
also believe in his Hoty Book, the Vedas, and obe3T its precepts,
which enjoin virtue and holiness, and forbid theft, robbe^,
murder, tying, dishonest3r, adulteiy, and other crimes; and
you must not onty believe in the Hoty Book as God’s revealed
will to mankind, but you must believe it is all true, — every word
of it. You must believe, also, that it existed in the mind of the
great God Brahma from all eternity; and some nine thousand
3*ears ago was revealed b3T him to certain hoty men, known as
rishis, or prophets, who recorded it in a book for the instruction
and salvation of the world ; and that this divinety revealed and
perfect book contains all knowledge, past, present, and future,
and all the relirjion necessary to save the whole human race.
And, if you would become a true-born saint [i.e., in Christian
language, “regenerated and born again ”], 3tou must read the
Iloty Book through upon 3’our bended knees. [And thousands
of its most pious and devout disciples have performed this
humble and laborious task.] And if 3*011 would advance still
farther in soul-purification and true sanctit3*, so as to become a
thrice-born saint [for the3r hold that the oftener 3*011 are born
the bettor], then you must commit the divine volume all to
meinoty. [And man3r of them, we are assured, have accom-
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plisked this herculean task.] But you can not attain to
complete and perfect holiness as a Hindoo saint, unless you
forsake the busy scenes of life, retire to lonely places, and
devote yourselves to a life of religious contemplation.” By
leading this austere, self-denying life, they hold that men and
women can attain to complete holiness, and draw near to the
spirit of God, and become so exalted in his favor as to receive
important revelations from him, and be enabled by him to
perform great miracles, such as casting out devils, raising the
dead, handling fire without being burned, and swallowing poi-
son without being killed or injured, and finally become Gods,
and ascend to heaven in mortal bodies after the manner of
Enoch and Elijah. In one respect some of the sects are much
more consistent than Christian professors. Believing, as Chris-
tians have always professed to do, that sickness is often sent by
God as a punishment for sin, they never send for a physician,
nor allow one to treat the case ; because, as they argue, trying
to cure it would be trying to counteract the judgment of God,
and thus bring down his vengeance upon the heads of those
guilty of this sin. Here Christians might learn an important
moral lesson of the heathen, — that of living up to the doctrines
they preach.

We have, then, the Hindoo answer to the question, “What
must we do and believe in order to be saved ? ’ ’

The Egyptian’s Answer.

Well, brother disciple of the old Egyptian religion, let us
hear your answer to the question, “What must we do and
believe in order to be saved?” — “Well,” replies the believer
in this ancient order of faith, “ if you would make a sure thing
of escaping the pangs of hell, and being saved in the heavenly
mansion, you must not neglect to pray daily to the great God
Tulis, crucified some twenty-eight hundred }Tears ago for the
sins of mankind; and, if you have committed any sin, you
must pray to him to have them canceled from 4 The Book of
Life.’ [For the ancient Egyptians believed and taught that
our evil deeds, as well as our good deeds, are recorded in “ The
Book of Life,” in which St. John represents (see Rev. 22-19.)
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