1. On page 73 it is stated that no geologist or philosopher believes in either a creation or a creator. It is admitted that some men, called geologists, may believe so; but we hold that no man thoroughly versed in geology and philosophy can thus believe.
2. On page 141, contradiction 146, it should be stated in the first part that Ahaziah's reign began in his thirty-second year, instead of the eleventh year of Joram. The second part should state that he began in his forty-second year, instead of the twelfth year of Joram.
3. On page 143, contradiction 181, the anointment of Christ is spoken of But the text refers to the feast of the passover.
4. On page 315 it is stated that the Unitarians believe in a hell. It should be understood, however, that they believe in a hell merely as a state or condition, and not as a place.
5. On page 364 it is stated that the weight of the tables of the law was fifty times as much as Hilkiah could carry. This, of course, would depend upon the quality and condition of the stone used and the manner of engraving the law, if not, what is assumed, to constitute the law. It is stated that some considered the Pentateuch the law. This, however, was only in a general sense. They, of course, knew that the law as described in Deuteronomy was the law proper, or special law.
6. The charge of falsehood against Christ, on page 403, is not intended to imply that it is certain he designed telling a falsehood. But, as he stated he would not go up to the feast at Jerusalem, and yet did go, it shows that he either intended to deceive, or was ignorant of what he would do in the future; and either defect would prove he was not an omniscient God.
7. On page 414 it is stated that a Jew could not be a full Roman citizen in the time of Paul, and that Tarsus was not at that time a Roman city. But it may be stated also that authors differ on these points; and we leave the matter for them or their critical readers to settle. Let it be noted that it is not claimed that Paul, while professing to be first a Roman citizen, and then a Pharisee, and then a disciple of Jesus Christ, could not be all three at once; but it indicates his policy of changing.
As the denial of the personality of God, as set forth in Chapter, has been warmly assailed by Orthodox professors since the work was issued, and as that dogma constitutes one of the principal pillars of the Orthodox faith, I propose to examine it a little further in the light of reason and science. I will present other absurdities of the doctrine in the form of questions.
1. If God is an organized personality, what should we assume to be his form, size, shape, and color?
2. How large is his body?
3. Does it occupy more than one planet?
4. If not, how can he be present in other worlds?
5. What is his physical type—Malay, Mongolian, Anglo-Saxon, or African?
6. What is his complexion—white, black, or tawny?
7. What is the color of his eyes and hair?
8. What are the dimensions of his body and the length of his arms and legs?
9. What is his position—lying, sitting, or standing?
10. How is his time occupied?
11. And as personality implies sex, and one sex not only implies the other sex, but creates a necessity lor the other sex, we are driven to ask, who is God's wife, and where is she?
12. Are they both on the same planet?
13. And have they ever been divorced? Or is he still a bachelor?
14. And as sex also implies offspring, we desire to ask, how many children have they had?
15. And whether they are all boys?
16. And, as personality also implies parentage, this brings up the question, who was God's father, grandfather, etc.
17. And as personality implies the susceptibility to anger, and the Bible-God is often represented as getting angry, and anger has been shown to be a species of insanity, would not this imply and prove that heaven is ruled by an insane God—an omnipotent luuatic?
18. And would not this virtually make heaven a lunatic asylum, and consequently a very unsuitable and disagreeable place to live in?
As all these and many other absurdities are involved in the assumption of a personal God, it is difficult to see how any reasonable being can swallow the doctrine.
As the notices of several bibles prepared for the first edition were left out from fear of making the book too large, I have concluded to insert a brief notice of some of them here.
1. Dhammapada, or "Path of Virtue." This sacred book has constituted the moral and religious guide of several hundred millions of Hindoos for many centuries. It is probably the oldest record of the Budhistic faith. It is assumed to be a collection from the pitakas, which are principally compilations from the discourses of the incarnate god Gautama, written out by his disciples. It was pronounced genuine and canonical by a famous council which met in 246 B. C., under the reign of King Asoka. Max Müller says, "Its moral code, taken by itself, is one of the most perfect the world has ever known." Spence Ilardy, and' Johnson, both speak highly of the work. It contains many wise, beautiful, and lofty moral precepts, of which we will give a few specimens:—"Haste to do good." "Give to those who ask." "Master thyself, and then thou canst control and teach others." "Select for friend? the best of men." "Be just, speak truly, act nobly," etc.
2. Tripitika. This book is divided into three parts hence its name, which means "the three pitikas." Like the Dhammanada, it is a history of some of the gods, and sets forth their lives and precepts. It forbids the commission of sin, and enjoins the practice of the highest virtues. "In no system," says Amherly, "is benevolence and charity more emphatically inculcated." Chastity is recommended, and a life of spotless virtue in every respect enjoined. The former work appears to be made up principally by selections from this.
3. Other sacred books might be mentioned, such as "The Paradise of Fo," "Confucius and his Disciple," "Catena of the Chinese Budhistic Scriptures" "The Baghavat Gita," "The Sanhita," "Sudras" (appendages to the Sunhita), "Divine Opherisms of Kanada," "The Uphanishads" (a commentary on the Vedas), "Saddharma Pundosika" (another commentary), "Worship and Psalmody of the Maharades," etc. Some of these works are either other titles for those previously described, or are additions, appendages, or commentaries. And thus it will be observed the world is full of bibles and scriptures.
We maintain, 1st, That man's mental faculties are susceptible of a threefold division and classification, as follows: First, the intellectual department; second, the moral and religious department; third, the animal department (which includes also the social).
2d, That all Bibles and religions are an outgrowth from some or all of these faculties, and hence of natural origin.
3d, That all Bibles and religions which originated prior to the dawn of civilization in the country which gave them birth (i.e., prior to the reign of moral and physical science) are an emanation from the combined action and co-operation of man's moral, religious, and animal feelings and propensities.
4th, That the Christian Bible contains (as shown in this work) several thousand errors,—moral, religious, historical, and scientific.
5th, That this fact is easily accounted for by observing that it originated at a period when the moral and religious feelings of the nation which produced it co-operated with the animal propensities instead of an enlightened intellect.
6th, That, although such a Bible and religion may have been adapted to the minds which originated them, the higher class of minds of the present age demands a religion which shall call into exercise the intellect, instead of the animal propensities.
7th, That, as all the Bibles and religions of the past are more of an emanation from the animal propensities than the intellect, they are consequently not suited to this age, and are for this reason being rapidly abandoned.
8th, That true religion consists in the true exercise of the moral and religious faculties.
9th, As the Christian Bible is shown in this work to inculcate bad morals, and to sanction, apparently, every species of crime prevalent in society in the age in which it was written, the language of remonstrance is frequently employed against placing such a book in the hands of the heathen, or the children of Christian countries; and more especially against making "the Bible the fountain of our laws and the supreme rule of our conduct," and acknowledging allegiance to its God in the Constitution of the United States, as recommended by the American Christian Alliance. Such measures, this work shows by a thousand facts, would be a deplorable check to the moral and intellectual progress of the world.
10th, If any clergyman or Christian professor shall take any exceptions to any position laid down in this work, the author will discuss the matter with him in a friendly manner in the papers, or through the post-office, or before a public audience.
Kersey Graves.
Richmond, Indiana
We live in the most important age in the history of the world. No age preceding it was marked with such signal events. No other era in the history of civilization has been characterized by such agitation of human thought; such a universal tendency to investigation; such a general awakening upon all important subjects of human inquiry; such a determination to grow in knowledge, and cultivate the immortal intellect, and mount to higher plains of development. The world of mind is in commotion. All civilized nations are agitated from center to circumference with the great questions of the age. And what does all this prove? Why, that man is a progressive being; that the tendency of the human mind is onward and upward; and that it will not always consent to be bound down in ignorance and superstition. And, thanks to the genius of the age, it is the prophecy of the glorious reformation and regeneration of society,—an index of a happier era in the history of the human race. Old institutions are crumbling, and tumbling to the ground. The iron bands of creeds and dogmas, with which the people have been so long bound down, are bursting asunder, and permitting them to walk upright, and do their own thinking. In every department of science, in every arena of human thought and every theater of human action, we see a progressive spirit, we behold a disposition to lay aside the traditions and superstitions of the past, and grasp the living facts of the age. We everywhere see a disposition to abandon the defective institutions, political and religious, which were gotten up in the childhood of human experience, and supplant them with those better adapted to the wants of the age. In a word, there is everywhere manifested a disposition and determination to unshackle the human body, and set free the human mind, and place it with its living aspirations on the road to the temple of Truth. An evidence of the truth of these statements the reader can gather by casting his eyes abroad, or by reading the periodicals of the day. At this very time nearly all the orthodox churches are in a state of commotion. The growing light and intelligence of the age, penetrating their dark creeds and dogmas, are producing a sort of moral effervescence. The question of "hell" is now the agitating theme of the churches. Posterity will ridicule us, and class us with the unenlightened heathen, for discussing a question so far behind the times, and one so childish and so absurd in this intelligent and enlightened age. To condescend to discuss such a question now must be Well enough for scientific and intelligent minds. And other important religious events mark the age. When the Roman-Catholic Church, through its Ecumenical Council, dragged the Pope from his lofty throne of usurped power, and robbed him of his attribute of infallibility, it proclaimed the downfall of the Pope and the death-knell of the Church. Already thousands of his subjects refuse longer to bow down and kiss the big toe of his sacred majesty. His scepter has departed, his spiritual power is gone, his temporal power is waning. And the same spirit of agitation is operating as a leaven in the Protestant churches also. All the orthodox churches are declining and growing weaker by their members falling off. The Methodist Church has recently lost more than two hundred of its preachers; and the Baptist Church, according to the statement of a recent number of "The Christian Era," has lost twenty-two thousand of its members within a period of five years. The agitation in the churches is driving thousands from their ranks, while many who remain are becoming more liberal-minded. The orthodox Quaker Church has, in many localities, "run clear off the track."
It has abandoned its old time-honored peculiarities in dress and language, once deemed by them sacred, and essential to true godliness. The use of "thee" and "thou" is laid aside by many of its members; and even leading members have given up the "shad-bellied coat," and the round-crowned hat with a brim broad enough to "cover a multitude of sins." They no longer wait for "the Holy Ghost" to move them to preach; but, as a member once remarked, "they go it on their own hook, like the Methodists, hit or miss." Music, once regarded by many of them as an emanation from "an emissary of the Devil," is now admitted into many of their churches. Thus it will be seen they are making some progress. The light without is benefiting them more than "the light within." All the orthodox systems committed a fatal error at the outset in assuming that their religions were derived directly from God, and consequently must be perfect and unalterable, and a finality in moral and religious progress. Such an assumption will cause the downfall, sooner or later, of any religious body which persists in propagating the error. Religious institutions, like all other institutions, are subject to the laws of growth and decay. Hence, if their doctrines and creeds are not improved occasionally to make them conform to the growing light and intelligence of the age and the principles of science, they will fall behind the times, cease to answer the moral and religious wants of the age, and become a stumbling-block in the path of progress. Common sense would teach us that the doctrines preached by the churches two hundred years ago must be as much out of place now as the wooden shoes and bearskin coats worn by the early disciples would be for us. Their spiritual food is by no means adapted to our moral and religious wants. We are under no more moral and religious obligation whatever to preach the doctrines of original sin, the fall of man, endless punishment, infant damnation, &c., because our religious forefathers believed in these doctrines, than we are morally bound to eat beetles, locusts, and grasshoppers, because our Jewish ancestors feasted on there nasty vermin, as we learn by reading Lev. xi. Why is it that in modern times there has arisen great complaint in all the orthodox churches about the rapid inroads of infidelity into their ranks? It is simply because, that while the people are beginning to assume the liberty to do their own thinking, the churches refuse to recognize the great principle of universal progress as applicable to their religion, which would and should keep their doctrines and precepts improved up to the times. Instead of adopting this wise policy, they try to compel their members to be content with the old stale salt junk of bygone ages, in the shape of dilapidated, outgrown creeds and dogmas; but it will not do. It is as difficult to keep great minds tied down to unprogressive creeds as it would be to keep grown-up boys and girls in baby-jumpers. Enlightened nations are as capable of making their own religion as their own laws; that is, of making its tenets conform to the natural outgrowth of their religious feelings as they become more expanded and enlightened. And it is a significant historical fact, that great minds in all religious nations have wholly or partially outgrown and abandoned the current and popular religions of the country. It is only moral cowards, or the ignorant and uninformed, who throw themselves into the lap of the Church, and depend upon the priest to pilot them to heaven. Moses, Jesus Christ, Mahomet, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Emanuel Swedenborg, George Fox, Elias Hicks, and many other superior minds, strove hard unconsciously to rise above the religion in which they were educated; and all succeeded in making some improvement in its stereotyped doctrines or practices. The implied assumption of the churches, that their doctrines and precepts are too perfect to be improved and too sacred to be investigated, and their Bible too holy to be criticised, is contradicted both by history and science; and this false assumption has already driven many of the best minds of the age from their ranks. Theodore Parker declared that all the men of great intellects had left the Church in his time, because, instead of improving their religion to keep it up to the times they bolt their doors, and hang curtains over their windows to keep out the light of the age. There could not be one inch of progress made in any thing in a thousand years with the principle of non-progression in religion adopted by the churches; for, if it will apply to religion, it will apply with still greater force to every thing else: and hence it would long ago have put a dead lock upon all improvement, had it not been counteracted by outside counter-influences. It is because a large portion, and the most enlightened portion, of the community have assumed the liberty and moral independence to think and act for themselves, that society has made any progress either in science, morals, or religion. A religion which sedulously opposes its own improvement can do nothing essential toward improving any thing else, unless forced into it by outside influences; and it can not feel a proper degree of interest in those improvements essential to the progress of society. On the contrary, it must check the growth of every thing it touches with its palsied hands. Here we can see the reason that no church in any age of the world has inaugurated any great system of reform for the improvement of society, but has made war on nearly every reform set on foot by that class of people which it has chosen to stigmatize as "infidels." Such a religion will decline and die in the exact ratio of the enlightenment and progress of society.
That there is a general state of unrest in the public mind, at the present time, on the subject of religion, must be apparent to every observing person. Theological questions, long since regarded as settled for ever, are being overhauled and discussed with a freedom and general interest far transcending that known or practically realized at any previous period. This is premonitive of a speedy religious revolution. That it will come sooner or later is as certain as that seed-sowing is succeeded by harvest. Reforms no longer move with the snail's pace they did a century ago. This is an age of steam and electricity; and every thing has to move with velocity. We cherish no unkindly feelings toward any church or people; but we must rejoice that the strongholds of orthodoxy are being shaken, and error exposed, and that creeds are loosening their iron grasp upon the immortal mind Old, long-cherished dogmas, myths, and blinding superstitions are passing away, to make room for something better.
Yes, the signs of the times indicate the dawning of a brighter day upon the world,—a day which shall be illuminated by the rays of reason and science.
And, if this work shall contribute any thing toward speeding the dawning of that glorious era, we shall feel amply rewarded for the labor and personal sacrifice required in its production.
The march of science and the rapid growth of the reasoning faculties peculiar to this progressive age are daily revealing the errors of our popular theology, and exposing their demoralizing effects in repressing the growth and healthy action of the intellect, and perverting the exercise of the moral faculties. And this progressive change and improvement must be a source of great rejoicing to every true-hearted philanthropist, and furnishes a strong incentive to labor with zeal in this field of reform. It should be borne in mind, that all the dogmas and doctrines of our current religious faith originated at a period before the sun of science had risen above the moral horizon, and anterior to the birth of moral science, and hence, like other productions of that age, are heavily laden with error. But rejoice, O ye lovers of and laborers for truth and science! the dark clouds of our gloomy theology are rapidly receding before the sunlight of our modern civilization, and will soon leave a clear and cloudless sky! And all will rejoice in having learned and practically experienced the glorious truth, that true religion is not incorporated in Bibles, or inscribed on the pages of any book, and cannot be found therein, but is a natural and spontaneous outgrowth of man's moral and religious nature, and is "the most beautiful flower of the soul."
Although books are constantly issuing from the press, and the country kept literally flooded with new publications, yet but few of them meet the real wants of the age, and many of them are of no permanent practical benefit to the world. Such a work as is comprised in "The Bible of Bibles" is a desideratum. It has been long and loudly called for. It is a moral necessity, and partially supplies one of the great moral wants of the times. It is true, hundreds of works have been published embracing criticisms on the Bible, and attempting to expose some of its numerous errors, and portray some of its evil influences upon those who accept it as a moral guide. Yet it is believed that the present work embraces the first attempt to arrange together, or make out any thing like a full list of, the numerous errors of "the Holy Book." And yet it falls far short of accomplishing this end; for, although more than two thousand errors are brought to notice, a critical research would bring to light several thousand more. It will be observed by the reader, that there has been a constant effort on the part of the author to abridge, contract, and compress the contents of the volume into the smallest compass possible to be attained compatible with perspicuity. Every chapter, and almost every line, discloses this policy. In no other way than by the adoption of such an expedient could two thousand biblical errors have been brought to notice in a single volume. The adoption of the most rigid rules of abbreviation and compression alone could have accomplished it; and this policy has been carried out even in making citations from the Bible. Such superfluous words and phrases have been dropped as could be spared without impairing the sense or real meaning of the text. And yet, with this unceasing effort to compress and abridge the work, it falls so far short of portraying fully all the errors and evils which a critical investigation shows to be the legitimate outgrowth of our Bible religion, that the author contemplates following it with another work, which may complete an exposition of nine thousand errors now known to be comprised in "the Holy Book." The title will probably be, "The Bible in the Light of History, Reason, and Science." He intends also to rewrite and republish soon, and probably enlarge, his "Biography of Satan," so as to make it entirely a new work.
The author desires the reader to bear it specially in mind that his criticisms on the erroneous conceptions and representations of God, as found in the Christian Bible, appertains in all cases to that mere imaginary being known as the Jewish Jehovah, and has no reference whatever to the God of the universe, who must be presumed to be a very different being. The God of Moses, who is represented as coming down from heaven, and walking and talking, eating and sleeping, traveling on foot (and barefoot, so as to make it necessary for Abraham to wash his feet); and who is also represented as eating barley-cakes and veal with Abraham (Gen. xviii.); wrestling all night with Jacob, and putting his thigh out of place; trying to kill Moses in a hotel, but failing in the attempt; and as getting vanquished in a battle with the Canaanites; and also as frequently getting mad, cursing and swearing, &c.,—such was the character of Jehovah, the God of the Jews,—a mere figment of the imagination. Hence he is a just subject of criticism.
Some of the representatives of the Christian faith, when the shocking immoralities of the Old Testament are pointed out, attempt to evade the responsibility by alleging that they do not live under the old dispensation, but the new, thereby intimating that they are not responsible for the errors of the former. But the following considerations will show that such a defense is fallacious and entirely untenable.
1. It takes both the Old and the New Testaments to constitute "the Holy Bible" which they accept as a whole.
2. Both are bound together, and circulated by the million, as possessing equal credibility and equal authority.
3. Both are quoted alike by clergymen and Christian writers.
4. The New Testament is inseparably connected with the Old.
5. The prophecies of the Old form the basis of the New.
6. Both are canonized together under the word "holy."
7. Nearly all the New-Testament writers, including Paul, indorse the Old Testament, and take no exception to any of its errors or any of its teachings. For these reasons, to accept one is to accept the other. Both stand or fall together.
Note.—Christ modified some of Moses's error, but indorsed most of the Old Testament errors.
There are in this and other Christian countries more than one hundred thousand clergymen who spend a portion of each recurring sabbath in presenting the claims, and dilating upon the beauties and benefits (some real and some imaginary), of the religion of the Christian Bible. They claim that it is the religion for this age, and a religion that should be adopted by the whole human race; but they present but one side of the picture, and but one phase of the argument. A witness before a jury is required to "tell the truth, and the whole truth;" but the priesthood dare not do this with respect to the errors and defects of their religion. They would lose their congregations and their salaries also. But few clergymen possess the moral courage to turn state's evidence against their pockets or their "bread and butter." It is a sad reflection that they are hired, and required to conceal whatever errors may loom up before their moral vision in the investigation of the principles of their religion, or the Bible on which it is founded. They are placed in the position of an attorney who is sworn to be true to his client at any sacrifice of truth and moral manhood. Whatever may be their moral convictions with respect to the sinfulness or evil consequences or demoralizing effects of continuing to preach the intellectually dwarfing and morally poisoning doctrines originated in, and adapted only to, the dark and undeveloped ages of the past, when the race was under the dominion of the animal and blind propensities, yet they must do it. They must continue to preach these errors, to sustain these evils, and maintain their false positions, or lose their salaries and their popular standing in society. It is a very unfortunate position to be placed in; but, self-interest being the ruling principle of the age, we cannot reasonably expect the clergy will do any thing toward enlightening the people on the errors and immoral influences of their religious doctrines, or the substitution of a better system, until human nature has advanced to a higher moral plane. On the contrary, we must expect they will continue to blind the people, pervert the truth, magnify every imaginable good quality of their religious system; while, on the other hand, they will as sedulously attempt to hide every defect which either they or others may discover in their Bible. This state of things in the religious world imposes upon the moral reformer the solemn necessity of employing the most effectual lever, and of adopting every available moral means, to counteract this morally deleterious influence of the clergy, and arrest the tide of evil which follows in their wake as the legitimate fruits of a course of conduct dictated by policy instead of principle.
Some of our readers will doubtless be disposed to ask why we have not occupied a larger portion of this work in exhibiting the beauties and benefits of the religion and system of morals set forth in the Bible. The answer to the question is fully anticipated in the preceding remarks. It is simply because fifty thousand tongues and pens are almost constantly employed in this work. They do it and overdo it. This renders it a work of supererogation on our part; while, on the other hand, we find the errors and evils of the Bible and its religion, which they overlook or neglect to expose, so very numerous, that we can not exhibit them in a single volume, unless we allow but a limited space to a repetition of what is done by them every week. This is our reason for appearing to pursue a one-sided policy.
We hope we shall not be misunderstood or condemned by any reader for appearing to indulge frequently in a spirit of levity in attempting to expose the logical and moral absurdities of the Bible. We have assumed this license more from an apprehended moral necessity than from a natural disposition. Ridicule is now generally acknowledged by moralists to be a most potent weapon for the demolition of error. Moral and religions absurdities, according to Cicero, can be arrested and put down much sooner by "holding them up to the light of ridicule, than by any other means that can be employed." Let no one, then, oppose the use of such means simply because it may disturb a sensitive feeling in his own mind, derived from a false education. A critical investigation of religious history discloses the important fact, that the conviction established in the popular mind that it is wrong to indulge in a feeling of levity when writing or discoursing on religious subjects is the work of the clergy. Having discovered that many of the narrations of their Bible, and likewise many of the tenets of their creeds, are really ridiculous when examined in the light of science, reason, and sound sense, in order to prevent these ridiculous features of their systems from being exposed, they taught the people that ridicule is entirely out of place in matters of religion, and that such feelings, or language expressive of such feelings, should be entirely suppressed. And it is principally by the invention of this expedient, and the establishment of this conviction in the public mind, that the clergy have succeeded in keeping the ridiculous errors of their creeds concealed from age to age. And to continue this policy longer is only to yield to their interests, and prolong those evils still longer which have been perpetuated for centuries by the adoption of this expedient. No other argument or apology is necessary than this as a justification of the limited extent to which the language of ridicule has been employed in this work. It is an egregious error, which is the offspring of an erroneous education and habit, to suppose that ridicule is more out of place on religious subjects than on other subjects. O. S. Fowler has fully established this as a scientific fact on phrenological grounds. We should be quite sorry to wound the feelings of any sensitive mind by any language made use of in this work, and hope this explanation, will prevent such results.
As a critical examination of the Christian Bible discloses the fact that it contains several thousand moral and scientific errors, and as experience proves the tendency of such errors is to corrupt the moral feelings and check the intellectual growth of all who read and believe "the Hoty Book," we have, since arriving at this conviction, considered it to be our duty not only to expose these errors, but also to discourage the habitual reading of the Bible with any other view than to learn its real character. And more especially do we earnestly advise parents not to place the Bible in the hands of their children till they arrive at an age when a more mature judgment can enable them to discriminate between its truths and its errors. And we likewise entreat all moralists and philanthropists, and all lovers of truth and virtue, as they desire the moral growth and moral reformation of the world, to exert their influence to stop the shipment of the Christian Bible to foreign lands to be circulated among the uncultured and credulous heathen. Here is disclosed one of our principal reasons for writing this work. We wish to make it a voice of remonstrance against placing any of those morally defective books called Bibles in the hands of the ignorant and impressible heathen, or the children of Christian countries, until their minds become sufficiently fortified by age and experience to resist or withstand the demoralizing influence of their bad precepts and bad examples as exposed in this work.
The Quaker Church (of which the author was once a member) have a clause in their discipline forbidding their members to read pernicious books, which are defined by one of the founders of the Church (William Penn) to be "such books and publications as contain language which appears to sanction crime or wrong practices, or teach bad morals." And hundreds of cases cited in this work prove that the Christian Bible may be ranked with works of this character. If the advice of the Hindoo editor had been complied with many years ago,—to "revise all Bibles, and leave out their bad precepts and examples," and change their obscene language,—the Christian Bible might now be a very useful and instructive book. But we are willing to leave it to the conscience of every honest reader, who places truth and morality above Bibles and creeds, to decide, after reading this work, whether the Bible, with all its ennobling precepts, does not contain too strong an admixture of bad morality to make it a safe or suitable book to be relied on as a guide in morals and religion. According to Archbishop Tillotson, Bibles shape the morals and religion of the people in all religious countries,—they are derived from the examples and precepts of these "Holy Books." If this be true, we most solemnly and seriously put the question to every Bible reader, What must be the effect upon the morals and religion of Christian countries of such moral examples as Abraham, Moses, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, and nearly all the prophets, with their long string of crimes, as shown in this work? Let us not be guilty of the folly of suffering our inherited, stereotyped predilections, and exalted veneration for "the Holy Book," to rule our moral sense, and control our judgment in this matter, but muster the moral courage to look at the thing in its true light. Let us be independent moralists and philanthropists, rather than slaves to Bibles and creeds. "Every book," says a writer, "has a spirit which it breathes into the minds of its readers;" and, if it contains bad morals or bad language, the habitual reading of it will gradually reconcile the mind to those immoral lessons, and finally cause them to be looked upon as God-given truths. Such is the omnipotent force of habit. And we appeal to all Bible readers to testify if this has not been their experience. All Christian professors, when they first commenced reading the Bible, doubtless found many things in it which shocked their moral sense, did violence to their reasoning faculties, and mortified their love of decorum. But a perseverance in reading it, through the force of habit and education, has finally reconciled their minds to those immoral lessons, and blinded the judgment, so that they are not now conscious of their real character and deleterious influence upon the mind.
One of the strongest and most solemn lessons of human experience, and proofs of the blinding effect of a false religious education, may be found in the fact that the two thousand Bible errors brought to notice in this work have been overlooked from age to age by the great mass of Bible readers. So absolutely and deplorably blinded have they been in some cases, as to lead them to conclude, like Dr. Cheever of New York, that "the Bible does not contain the shadow of a shade of error from Genesis to Revelation." Such a perversion and stultification of the reasoning faculties was never excelled in any age or country. St. Augustine furnishes another striking illustration of the total wreck of mind and moral principle which an obstinate determination to accept the Bible with all its errors is capable of effecting. Having found a great many absurdities in the Bible which he could not reconcile with reason and sense, and hence discovering he must either give up his Bible or his reason, he chose the latter alternative, and declared in his "Book of Sermons" (p. 33), "I believe things in the Bible because they are absurd. I believe them because they are impossible" (as glaring an absurdity as ever issued from human lips). Such a desperate expedient to save his Bible and creed from going overboard shows that they had demoralized his mind, and made a complete wreck of his reason. This is the writer who declared he found and preached to a nation of people who had but one eye, and that situated in their foreheads, and another nation who had no heads, but eyes in their breasts. It seems a pity that this single-eyed nation became extinct; for Christ declared, "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Such an embodiment of light might have done much to enlighten the world. And this St. Augustine is the writer whom Eusebius pronounces "the great moral light of the Christian Church." And St. Irenaeus furnishes another deplorable example of the prostration or perversion of the moral faculties by accepting the Bible as a standard for morals when he justified the crime of incest