The moral teachings of the Bible are not original. Back of the pyramids
in pre-historic times mothers taught their children to be kind to each
other. Not from heaven but out of the human heart came the golden
rule. A mother's love was sufficient to reveal this best rule of
life. Human inspiration is the only inspiration needed to call forth
the expression--"Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you."
Sixty years before the Christian era, Hellel, a Jewish rabbi wrote:
"Do not do to others, what you would not like others to do to you."
Two hundred and eighty years before Christ, Epicurus said: "It is
more blessed to give than to receive."
Three hundred and fifty years before Christ, Socrates said: "Act
toward others as you desire them to act toward you."
Three hundred and seventy years before Christ, Aristippus said:
"Cherish reciprocal benevolence, which will make you as anxious for
another's welfare as your own."
Three hundred and eighty-five years before Christ, Aristotle wrote:
"We should conduct ourselves toward others, as we would have them
act toward us."
Four hundred years before Christ, Sextus said: "What you wish your
neighbors to be to you, such be also to them."
Four hundred and twenty years before Christ, Plato wrote: "May I do
to others as I would have them do to me."
Five hundred years before Christ, Confucius taught: "Do unto another
what you would have him do to you, and do not to another what you
would not have him do unto you: it is the foundation principle of
all the rest." (24th Maxim Confucius.) Jesus concludes by saying,
"For this is the law and the prophets," and Confucius closes his rule
by observing, "Thou only needst this law alone; it is the foundation
and principle of all the rest."
And it should not be overlooked that Jesus, in thus attributing
the golden rule to "the law and the prophets," disclaims its
authorship. Confucius does the same.
Six hundred years before Christ, Thales said: "Avoid doing what you
would blame others for doing."
Six hundred and fifty years before Christ, Pittacus taught: "Do not
do to your neighbor what you would take ill from him."
"That the system of morals propounded in the New Testament contains
no maxim which had not been previously enunciated, and that some of
the most beautiful passages in the apostolic writings are quotations
from Pagan authors, are well known to every scholar; and so far from
supplying, as some suppose, an objection against Christianity, it is
a strong recommendation of it, as indicating the intimate relation
between the doctrines of Christ and the moral sympathies of mankind in
different ages. But to assert that Christianity communicated to man
moral truths previously unknown, argues on the part of the assertor,
either gross ignorance or else wilful fraud." (Buckle, "History of
Civilization," vol. 1, p. 129.)
"Did space admit, I could cite numerous passages from Enoch in close
correspondence with the New Testament scripture, in many cases almost
word for word. In that book, as in the Talmud, and as was held by
the Jews in general (saving the Sadducees), may be found the exact
doctrines taught by Jesus relative to the Son of Man coming in the
clouds of heaven, the resurrection of the dead, the day of judgment,
the punishment of the wicked in everlasting fire, and the reward
of the righteous in heaven. The eschatology of Jesus is borrowed
in toto from that prevalent in Judea during his lifetime. Not one
single new idea respecting the 'four final things,' death, judgment,
heaven, and hell, can be found in Jesus' teachings as embodied in
the gospels."--Wm. Emmette Coleman.
Jesus an Essene.
"Of the resemblance between the Essenes and the followers of Christ
in their principles and practices, I will let a Christian writer
speak--Christian D. Ginsburg, LL. D., who is a leading contributor to
Alexander's new edition of Kitto's Cyclopedia, the most orthodox of the
chief English Bible dictionaries. I will read a few extracts from an
essay entitled, 'The Essenes Their History and Doctrines.' Dr. Ginsburg
says: 'The identity of many of the precepts and practices of
Essenism and Christianity is unquestionable. Essenism urged on its
disciples to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;
so did Christ. (Mat. 6 : 33, and Luke 12 : 31.) The Essenes forbade
the laying up of treasures upon earth; so did Christ. (Mat. 6 : 19,
21.) The Essenes demanded of those who wished to join them, to sell
all their possessions, and to divide it among the poor brethren;
so Christ. (Mat. 19 : 21, and Luke 12 : 33.) The Essenes had all
things in common, and appointed one of the brethren as steward to
manage the common bag; so the primitive Christians. (Acts 2 : 44,
45; 4 : 32, 34, and John 12 : 6; 13 : 29.) Essenism regarded all its
members on the same level, forbidding the exercise of authority of
one over the other, and enjoining mutual service; so Christ. (Mat.
20 : 25-28, and Mark 9 : 35, 37; 10 : 42, 45.) Essenism commanded its
disciples to call no man master upon the earth; so Christ. (Mat. 23 :
8, 9.) Essenism laid the greatest stress on being meek and lowly in
spirit; so Christ. (Mat. 5 : 5, 29.)
'Christ commended the poor in spirit, those who hunger after
righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart and the peacemakers;
so the Essenes.... Christ combined the healing of the body with that
of the soul; so the Essenes. Like the Essenes, Christ declared that
the power to cast out evil spirits, to perform miraculous cures, etc.,
should be possessed by his disciples as signs of their belief. (Mark
16 : 17; comp. also Mat. 10 : 8, and Luke 9 : 1, 2; 10 : 9.) Like
the Essenes, Christ commanded his disciples not to swear at all, but
to say yea, yea, and nay, nay. The manner in which Christ directed
his disciples to go on their journey (Mat. 10 : 9, 10) is the same
which the Essenes adopted when they started on a mission of mercy. The
Essenes, though repudiating offensive war, yet took weapons with them
when they went on a perilous journey: Christ enjoined his disciples
to do the same thing. (Luke 22 : 36.) Christ commended that elevated
spiritual life, which enables a man to abstain from marriage for the
kingdom of heaven's sake, and which cannot be attained by all men
save those to whom it is given (Mat. 19 : 10-12; comp. also 1 Cor. 8);
so the Essenes, who, as a body, in waiting for the kingdom of heaven,
abstained from connubial intercourse. The Essenes did not offer animal
sacrifices, but strove to present their bodies a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable, unto God, which they regarded as a reasonable
service; the apostle Paul exhorts the Romans to do the same. (Rom. 12 :
1.) It was the great aim of the Essenes to live such a life of
purity and holiness as to be the temples of the holy spirit and to be
able to prophesy; the apostle Paul urges the Corinthians to covet to
prophesy. (1 Cor. 14 : 1, 39.) When Christ pronounced John to be Elias
(Mat. 11 : 14), he declared that the Baptist had already attained
to that spirit and power which the Essenes strove to obtain in their
highest stage of purity. It will therefore hardly be doubted that our
Savior himself belonged to this holy brotherhood. This will especially
be apparent when we remember that the whole Jewish community, at the
advent of Christ, was divided into three parties, the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Essenes, and that every Jew had to belong
to one of these sects. Jesus, who in all things conformed to Jewish
law, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners,
would naturally associate himself with that order of Judaism which
was most congenial to his holy nature. Moreover, the fact that
Christ, with the exception of once, was not heard of in public
till his thirtieth year, implying that he lived in seclusion with
this fraternity, and that though he frequently rebuked the Scribes,
Pharisees, and Sadducees, he never denounced the Essenes, strongly
confirms this conclusion.... The accounts given by Josephus first
mentioned their existence in the days of Jonathan the Maccabaean,
B. C. 166; and they most unquestionably show that the Essenes existed
at least two centuries before the Christian era, and that they at
first lived among the Jewish community at large. Their residence at
Jerusalem is also evident from the fact that there was a gate named
after them. When they ultimately withdrew themselves from the rest
of the Jewish nation, the majority of them settled on the northwest
shore of the Dead Sea, sufficiently distant to escape its noxious
exhalations, and the rest lived in scattered communities throughout
Palestine and Syria. Both Philo and Josephus estimated them to be
above four thousand in number. This must have been exclusive of women
and children. We hear very little of them after this period (that
is, 40 A. D.); and there can hardly be any doubt that, owing to the
great similarity which existed between their precepts and practices,
and those of the primitive Christians, the Essenes, as a body, must
have embraced Christianity.'"--Underwood, in Underwood-Marples Debate.
Jesus' Teachings Not up to the Moral Standard of To-day.
1. Jesus failed to explicitly teach any of the cardinal human
virtues. If he taught kindness and forgiveness it was usually at the
expense of justice.
2. He nowhere explains and inspires self-reliance and individual
liberty.
3. He nowhere condemns kingcraft, priestcraft and tyranny. He opposes
their abuses, but not the radical evils out of which they spring.