THE BIBLE OF BIBLES;
OR,
TWENTY-SEVEN "DIVINE" REVELATIONS:
CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF TWENTY-SEVEN BIBLES, AND AN EXPOSITION OF
TWO THOUSAND BIBLICAL ERRORS IN SCIENCE, HISTORY, MORALS, RELIGION, AND
GENERAL EVENTS; ALSO A DELINEATION OF THE CHARACTERS OF THE PRINCIPAL
PERSONAGES OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, AND AN EXAMINATION OF THEIR
DOCTRINES.
By Kersey Graves,
Author Of "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors," "The Biography Of
Satan."
Fourth Edition.
Boston:
Colby & Rich, Publishers, No. 9 Montgomery Place.
1879.
By Lydia M. Graves,
Assistant Authoress.
NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS FOR THE THIRD EDITION.
1. On page 73 it is stated that no geologist or philosopher believes
in either a creation or a creator. It is admitted that some men, called
geologists, may believe so; but we hold that no man thoroughly versed in
geology and philosophy can thus believe.
2. On page 141, contradiction 146, it should be stated in the first part
that Ahaziah's reign began in his thirty-second year, instead of the
eleventh year of Joram. The second part should state that he began in
his forty-second year, instead of the twelfth year of Joram.
3. On page 143, contradiction 181, the anointment of Christ is spoken
of But the text refers to the feast of the passover.
4. On page 315 it is stated that the Unitarians believe in a hell. It
should be understood, however, that they believe in a hell merely as a
state or condition, and not as a place.
5. On page 364 it is stated that the weight of the tables of the law
was fifty times as much as Hilkiah could carry. This, of course, would
depend upon the quality and condition of the stone used and the manner
of engraving the law, if not, what is assumed, to constitute the law.
It is stated that some considered the Pentateuch the law. This, however,
was only in a general sense. They, of course, knew that the law as
described in Deuteronomy was the law proper, or special law.
6. The charge of falsehood against Christ, on page 403, is not intended
to imply that it is certain he designed telling a falsehood. But, as he
stated he would not go up to the feast at Jerusalem, and yet did go,
it shows that he either intended to deceive, or was ignorant of what
he would do in the future; and either defect would prove he was not an
omniscient God.
7. On page 414 it is stated that a Jew could not be a full Roman citizen
in the time of Paul, and that Tarsus was not at that time a Roman city.
But it may be stated also that authors differ on these points; and we
leave the matter for them or their critical readers to settle. Let it be
noted that it is not claimed that Paul, while professing to be first a
Roman citizen, and then a Pharisee, and then a disciple of Jesus Christ,
could not be all three at once; but it indicates his policy of changing.
THE PERSONALITY OF GOD.
As the denial of the personality of God, as set forth in Chapter, has
been warmly assailed by Orthodox professors since the work was issued,
and as that dogma constitutes one of the principal pillars of the
Orthodox faith, I propose to examine it a little further in the light of
reason and science. I will present other absurdities of the doctrine in
the form of questions.
1. If God is an organized personality, what should we assume to be his
form, size, shape, and color?
2. How large is his body?
3. Does it occupy more than one planet?
4. If not, how can he be present in other worlds?
5. What is his physical type--Malay, Mongolian, Anglo-Saxon, or African?
6. What is his complexion--white, black, or tawny?
7. What is the color of his eyes and hair?
8. What are the dimensions of his body and the length of his arms and
legs?
9. What is his position--lying, sitting, or standing?
10. How is his time occupied?
11. And as personality implies sex, and one sex not only implies the
other sex, but creates a necessity lor the other sex, we are driven to
ask, who is God's wife, and where is she?
12. Are they both on the same planet?
13. And have they ever been divorced? Or is he still a bachelor?
14. And as sex also implies offspring, we desire to ask, how many
children have they had?
15. And whether they are all boys?
16. And, as personality also implies parentage, this brings up the
question, who was God's father, grandfather, etc.
17. And as personality implies the susceptibility to anger, and the
Bible-God is often represented as getting angry, and anger has been
shown to be a species of insanity, would not this imply and prove that
heaven is ruled by an insane God--an omnipotent luuatic?
18. And would not this virtually make heaven a lunatic asylum, and
consequently a very unsuitable and disagreeable place to live in?
As all these and many other absurdities are involved in the assumption
of a personal God, it is difficult to see how any reasonable being can
swallow the doctrine.
MORE BIBLES.
As the notices of several bibles prepared for the first edition were
left out from fear of making the book too large, I have concluded to
insert a brief notice of some of them here.
1. _Dhammapada,_ or "Path of Virtue." This sacred book has constituted
the moral and religious guide of several hundred millions of Hindoos for
many centuries. It is probably the oldest record of the Budhistic
faith. It is assumed to be a collection from the _pitakas_, which
are principally compilations from the discourses of the incarnate god
Gautama, written out by his disciples. It was pronounced genuine and
canonical by a famous council which met in 246 B. C., under the reign of
King Asoka. Max Müller says, "Its moral code, taken by itself, is one of
the most perfect the world has ever known." Spence Ilardy, and' Johnson,
both speak highly of the work. It contains many wise, beautiful, and
lofty moral precepts, of which we will give a few specimens:--"Haste to
do good." "Give to those who ask." "Master thyself, and then thou canst
control and teach others." "Select for friend? the best of men." "Be
just, speak truly, act nobly," etc.
2. _Tripitika_. This book is divided into three parts hence its name,
which means "the three _pitikas_." Like the _Dhammanada_, it is a
history of some of the gods, and sets forth their lives and precepts. It
forbids the commission of sin, and enjoins the practice of the highest
virtues. "In no system," says Amherly, "is benevolence and charity
more emphatically inculcated." Chastity is recommended, and a life of
spotless virtue in every respect enjoined. The former work appears to be
made up principally by selections from this.
3. Other sacred books might be mentioned, such as "The Paradise of
Fo," "Confucius and his Disciple," "Catena of the Chinese Budhistic
Scriptures" "The Baghavat Gita," "The Sanhita," "Sudras" (appendages
to the Sunhita), "Divine Opherisms of Kanada," "The Uphanishads" (a
commentary on the Vedas), "Saddharma Pundosika" (another commentary),
"Worship and Psalmody of the Maharades," etc. Some of these works are
either other titles for those previously described, or are additions,
appendages, or commentaries. And thus it will be observed the world is
full of bibles and scriptures.
THE LEADING POSITIONS OF THIS WORK.
We maintain, 1st, That man's mental faculties are susceptible of
a threefold division and classification, as follows: First, the
intellectual department; second, the moral and religious department;
third, the animal department (which includes also the social).
2d, That all Bibles and religions are an outgrowth from some or all of
these faculties, and hence of natural origin.
3d, That all Bibles and religions which originated prior to the dawn of
civilization in the country which gave them birth (i.e., prior to the
reign of moral and physical science) are an emanation from the combined
action and co-operation of man's moral, religious, and _animal_ feelings
and propensities.
4th, That the Christian Bible contains (as shown in this work) several
thousand errors,--moral, religious, historical, and scientific.
5th, That this fact is easily accounted for by observing that it
originated at a period when the moral and religious feelings of the
nation which produced it co-operated with the _animal propensities_
instead of an _enlightened intellect_.
6th, That, although such a Bible and religion may have been adapted
to the minds which originated them, the _higher_ class of minds of
the present age demands a religion which shall call into exercise the
_intellect_, instead of the _animal_ propensities.
7th, That, as all the Bibles and religions of the past are more of an
emanation from the _animal propensities_ than the _intellect_, they
are consequently not suited to this age, and are for this reason being
rapidly abandoned.
8th, That true religion consists in the _true exercise_ of the moral and
religious faculties.
9th, As the Christian Bible is shown in this work to inculcate bad
morals, and to sanction, apparently, every species of crime prevalent in
society in the age in which it was written, the language of remonstrance
is frequently employed against placing such a book in the hands of the
heathen, or the children of Christian countries; and more especially
against making "the Bible the fountain of our laws and the supreme
rule of our conduct," and acknowledging allegiance to its God in the
Constitution of the United States, as recommended by the American
Christian Alliance. Such measures, this work shows by a thousand facts,
would be a deplorable check to the moral and intellectual progress of
the world.
10th, If any clergyman or Christian professor shall take any exceptions
to any position laid down in this work, the author will discuss the
matter with him in a friendly manner in the papers, or through the
post-office, or before a public audience.
Kersey Graves.
Richmond, Indiana
THE BIBLE OF BIBLES.
CHAPTER I.--THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
We live in the most important age in the history of the world. No age
preceding it was marked with such signal events. No other era in the
history of civilization has been characterized by such agitation of
human thought; such a universal tendency to investigation; such a
general awakening upon all important subjects of human inquiry; such
a determination to grow in knowledge, and cultivate the immortal
intellect, and mount to higher plains of development. The world of
mind is in commotion. All civilized nations are agitated from center
to circumference with the great questions of the age. And what does all
this prove? Why, that man is a progressive being; that the tendency of
the human mind is onward and upward; and that it will not always consent
to be bound down in ignorance and superstition. And, thanks to the
genius of the age, it is the prophecy of the glorious reformation and
regeneration of society,--an index of a happier era in the history of
the human race. Old institutions are crumbling, and tumbling to the
ground. The iron bands of creeds and dogmas, with which the people have
been so long bound down, are bursting asunder, and permitting them to
walk upright, and do their own thinking. In every department of science,
in every arena of human thought and every theater of human action,
we see a progressive spirit, we behold a disposition to lay aside the
traditions and superstitions of the past, and grasp the living facts
of the age. We everywhere see a disposition to abandon the defective
institutions, political and religious, which were gotten up in the
childhood of human experience, and supplant them with those better
adapted to the wants of the age. In a word, there is everywhere
manifested a disposition and determination to unshackle the human body,
and set free the human mind, and place it with its living aspirations
on the road to the temple of Truth. An evidence of the truth of these
statements the reader can gather by casting his eyes abroad, or by
reading the periodicals of the day. At this very time nearly all the
orthodox churches are in a state of commotion. The growing light and
intelligence of the age, penetrating their dark creeds and dogmas, are
producing a sort of moral effervescence. The question of "hell" is now
the agitating theme of the churches. Posterity will ridicule us, and
class us with the unenlightened heathen, for discussing a question
so far behind the times, and one so childish and so absurd in this
intelligent and enlightened age. To condescend to discuss such a
question now must be Well enough for scientific and intelligent
minds. And other important religious events mark the age. When the
Roman-Catholic Church, through its Ecumenical Council, dragged the Pope
from his lofty throne of usurped power, and robbed him of his attribute
of infallibility, it proclaimed the downfall of the Pope and the
_death-knell_ of the Church. Already thousands of his subjects refuse
longer to bow down and kiss the big toe of his sacred majesty. His
scepter has departed, his spiritual power is gone, his temporal power is
waning. And the same spirit of agitation is operating as a leaven in the
Protestant churches also. All the orthodox churches are declining and
growing weaker by their members falling off. The Methodist Church has
recently lost more than two hundred of its preachers; and the Baptist
Church, according to the statement of a recent number of "The Christian
Era," has lost twenty-two thousand of its members within a period of
five years. The agitation in the churches is driving thousands from
their ranks, while many who remain are becoming more liberal-minded.
The orthodox Quaker Church has, in many localities, "run clear off the
track."
It has abandoned its old time-honored peculiarities in dress and
language, once deemed by them sacred, and essential to true godliness.
The use of "thee" and "thou" is laid aside by many of its members; and
even leading members have given up the "shad-bellied coat," and the
round-crowned hat with a brim broad enough to "cover a multitude of
sins." They no longer wait for "the Holy Ghost" to move them to preach;
but, as a member once remarked, "they go it on their own hook, like the
Methodists, hit or miss." Music, once regarded by many of them as an
emanation from "an emissary of the Devil," is now admitted into many of
their churches. Thus it will be seen they are making some progress. The
_light without_ is benefiting them _more_ than "the light _within_." All
the orthodox systems committed a fatal error at the outset in assuming
that their religions were derived directly from God, and consequently
must be _perfect_ and _unalterable_, and a _finality_ in moral and
religious progress. Such an assumption will cause the downfall, sooner
or later, of any religious body which persists in propagating the error.
Religious institutions, like all other institutions, are subject to the
laws of growth and decay. Hence, if their doctrines and creeds are not
improved occasionally to make them conform to the growing light and
intelligence of the age and the principles of science, they will fall
behind the times, cease to answer the moral and religious wants of the
age, and become a stumbling-block in the path of progress. Common sense
would teach us that the doctrines preached by the churches two hundred
years ago must be as much out of place now as the wooden shoes and
bearskin coats worn by the early disciples would be _for us. Their
spiritual food_ is by no means adapted to _our moral and religious
wants_. We are under no more moral and religious obligation whatever
to preach the doctrines of original sin, the fall of man, endless
punishment, infant damnation, &c., because our religious forefathers
believed in these doctrines, than we are morally bound to eat beetles,
locusts, and grasshoppers, because our Jewish ancestors feasted on there
nasty vermin, as we learn by reading Lev. xi. Why is it that in modern
times there has arisen great complaint in all the orthodox churches
about the rapid inroads of infidelity into their ranks? It is simply
because, that while the people are beginning to assume the liberty to do
their own thinking, the churches refuse to recognize the great principle
of universal progress as applicable to their religion, which _would_
and _should_ keep their doctrines and precepts improved up to the times.
Instead of adopting this wise policy, they try to compel their members
to be content with the old stale _salt_ junk of bygone ages, in the
shape of dilapidated, outgrown creeds and dogmas; but it will not do. It
is as difficult to keep great minds tied down to unprogressive creeds as
it would be to keep grown-up boys and girls in baby-jumpers. Enlightened
nations are as capable of making their own religion as their own laws;
that is, of making its tenets conform to the natural outgrowth of their
religious feelings as they become more expanded and enlightened. And it
is a significant historical fact, that great minds in _all_ religious
nations have wholly or partially outgrown and abandoned the current
and popular religions of the country. It is only moral cowards, or
the ignorant and uninformed, who throw themselves into the lap of the
Church, and depend upon the priest to pilot them to heaven. Moses, Jesus
Christ, Mahomet, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Emanuel Swedenborg,
George Fox, Elias Hicks, and many other superior minds, strove hard
unconsciously to rise above the religion in which they were educated;
and all succeeded in making some improvement in its stereotyped
doctrines or practices. The implied assumption of the churches, that
their doctrines and precepts are too perfect to be improved and too
sacred to be investigated, and their Bible too holy to be criticised, is
contradicted both by history and science; and this false assumption
has already driven many of the best minds of the age from their ranks.
Theodore Parker declared that all the men of great intellects had left
the Church in his time, because, instead of improving their religion to
keep it up to the times they bolt their doors, and hang curtains over
their windows to keep out the light of the age. There could not be
one inch of progress made in any thing in a thousand years with the
principle of non-progression in religion adopted by the churches; for,
if it will apply to religion, it will apply with still greater force to
every thing else: and hence it would long ago have put a dead lock
upon all improvement, had it not been counteracted by outside
counter-influences. It is because a large portion, and the _most
enlightened portion_, of the community have assumed the liberty and
moral independence to _think_ and _act for themselves_, that society has
made _any_ progress either in science, morals, or religion. A religion
which sedulously opposes its _own improvement_ can do nothing essential
toward improving _any thing else_, unless _forced_ into it by outside
influences; and it can not feel a _proper degree of interest_ in those
improvements essential to the progress of society. On the contrary, it
must check the growth of every thing it touches with its palsied hands.
Here we can see the reason that no church in any age of the world has
inaugurated any great system of reform for the improvement of society,
but has _made war_ on nearly every reform set on foot by that class of
people which it has chosen to stigmatize as "infidels." Such a religion
will _decline and die_ in the exact ratio of the enlightenment and
progress of society.
THE COMING REVOLUTION.
That there is a general state of _unrest_ in the public mind, at the
present time, on the subject of religion, must be apparent to every
observing person. Theological questions, long since regarded as settled
for ever, are being overhauled and discussed with a freedom and general
interest far transcending that known or practically realized at any
previous period. This is premonitive of a _speedy_ religious revolution.
That it will come sooner or later is as _certain_ as that seed-sowing is
succeeded by harvest. Reforms no longer move with the snail's pace they
did a century ago. This is an age of steam and electricity; and every
thing has to move with velocity. We cherish no unkindly feelings toward
any church or people; but we must rejoice that the strongholds of
orthodoxy are being shaken, and error exposed, and that creeds are
loosening their iron grasp upon the immortal mind Old, long-cherished
dogmas, myths, and blinding superstitions are passing away, to make room
for something better.
Yes, the signs of the times indicate the _dawning_ of a brighter day
upon the world,--a day which shall be illuminated by the rays of reason
and science.
And, if this work shall contribute any thing toward _speeding_ the
dawning of that glorious era, we shall feel amply rewarded for the labor
and personal sacrifice required in its production.
REASON WILL SOON TRIUMPH.
The march of science and the rapid growth of the reasoning faculties
peculiar to this progressive age are daily revealing the errors of our
popular theology, and exposing their demoralizing effects in repressing
the growth and healthy action of the intellect, and perverting the
exercise of the moral faculties. And this progressive change and
improvement must be a source of great rejoicing to every true-hearted
philanthropist, and furnishes a strong incentive to labor with zeal in
this field of reform. It should be borne in mind, that all the dogmas
and doctrines of our current religious faith originated at a period
before the sun of science had risen above the moral horizon, and
anterior to the birth of moral science, and hence, like other
productions of that age, are heavily laden with error. But rejoice, O ye
_lovers of and laborers for_ truth and science! the dark clouds of our
gloomy theology are _rapidly_ receding before the sunlight of our modern
civilization, and will soon leave a clear and cloudless sky! And all
will rejoice in having learned and practically experienced the glorious
truth, that true religion is not incorporated in Bibles, or inscribed on
the pages of any book, and cannot be found therein, but is a natural and
spontaneous outgrowth of man's moral and religious nature, and is "the
_most beautiful flower of the soul_."