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CHAPTER XLV.
CONCLUSION AND REVIEW
IN writing the concluding chapter of this work, the author deems it
proper to re-state some points, and elaborate others, and anticipate
some objections to some of the positions advanced. Each division of the
subject will be marked by a separate figure, and treated in a brief and
succinct manner, as follows:—
1. Several persons, who examined this work before it went to press, have
expressed the opinion that it must exert a powerful influence in the way
of producing an entire revolution in the religion of orthodox
Christendom sooner or later. But this must of course be the work of time
as moral revolutions are not the work of a day. When the human system
has been long prostrated with chronic disease, no system of medication
can restore it at once to health. The same principle governing the mind
makes it morally impossible to eradicate its deeply-seated moral and
religious errors in a day by even the presentation of the most powerful
and convincing truths and demonstrations that can be brought to bear or
operate upon the human judgment. The mind instinctively repels
everything (no difference how true or how beautiful) that conflicts with
its long-established opinions and convictions. The fires of truth
usually require much time to burn their way through those incrustations
of moral and religious error which often environ the human mind as the
products of a false education. But when they once enter, the work of
convincement is complete.
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2. It has been stated that the resemblance between Christianity and the
more ancient heathen systems is complete and absolute throughout in all
their essential doctrines, and principles, and precepts. And if it shall
be found, on a critical reading of this work after it comes from the
press, that there is one feature of Christianity which has not been
traced to pagan origin, or that any points of resemblance have been
omitted, they will be supplied in an appendix.
3. It has been stated that a transfiguration is related of Chrishna of
India (1200 B.C.) in the Hindoo bible (the Baghavat Gita), which is
strikingly similar to that of Christ. We will here present the proof.
"Abandoning the mortal form, he (Chrishna) appeared to his disciples in
all the divine eclat of his Divine Majesty, his brow encircled with such
a brilliant light that Adjourna and the other disciples, unable to bear
it, fell with their faces in the dust, and prayed the Lord (Chrishna) to
pardon their unworthiness. He replied, 'Have you not faith in me? Know
ye not, that whether present or absent in body, I will be ever present
with you to guard and protect you?'" (Baghavat Gita.) How remarkable
this to the story of Christ's transfiguration!
4. Some readers, perhaps, will be surprised to observe that we have
named so many crucified gods to whom some writers assign a different
death. But we have followed, as we believe, the best authorities in
doing so.
5. In our work, "The Bibles of Bibles," we have shown that the score of
bibles which have been extant in the world teach essentially the same
doctrines, principles, and precepts. There are to be found in the old
pagan bibles the same grand and beautiful truths mixed up with the same
mind-enslaving errors and deleterious superstitions as those contained
in the Christian bible. And the same exalted claim is set up by the
disciples of each for their
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respective holy books—that of being a direct revelation from God, and
inspired at the fountain of infinite wisdom. And all were exalted,
adored, and idolized by their respective admirers, as containing a
perfect embodiment of truth, without any admixture of error. The ancient
Persians carried their bibles in their bosoms, and read them and prayed
over them daily. The Hindoos often read their bible through on their
bended knees, and sometimes committed it all to memory. The Baghavat has
the following text: "The most important of all duties is to study the
Holy Scriptures, which is the word of Brahma and Chrishna, revealed to
the world." Some of the Mahomedans claim that immortal life can only be
obtained by reading the Koran, and that the reading of it is essential
to the progress and practice of good morals, and the advancement of
civilization; and that it will ultimately reform and civilize the world.
Both they and the Hindoos, like the Christian world, have numerous
commentaries, explaining the obscure texts of their bibles, and aiming
to reconcile their teachings with reason and science. And the disciples
of all bibles had a mode of doing away with the immoral teachings, and
concealing the worst features of their sacred books by bestowing on them
a spiritual meaning, as Christians do theirs, thus dressing up error in
the guise of truth. The Hindoo bible, the Mahomedan bible, and other
holy books, consign those who disbelieve in their teachings to eternal
damnation, denouncing them as infidel's. In this respect, also, they are
like the Christian's bible.
6. "But then, after all (as some good pious Christian will probably
exclaim after reading this work), the bible and Christianity are
essential to the progress of good morals, and the advancement of the
cause of civilization, and the civilized world would sink into a state
of heathen darkness, demoralization, and savagism without them;
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for every enlightened nation owes its present moral and intellectual
greatness to the Christian bible and the Christian religion, and would
relapse into barbarism without them." This is a mistake, a most
egregious mistake, my good brother Christian, as the following facts of
history will show:—
1. There are heathen nations now existing who never saw a bible, and
others which flourished in the past, before our bible was written, who
nevertheless attained to a higher state of morals, and a higher state of
civilization in some respects, than any Christian nation known to
history. A whole volume of facts might be adduced, if we had space for
them, drawn from the ablest and most reliable authorities, to prove that
India, Egypt, Greece, and other countries had reached a high state of
civilization centuries before Christianity or any of its founders were
even heard of, or made their appearance in the world. India was
distinguished for her learning, her laws, her legislation, her civil
courts, her judicial tribunals, her astronomers, her poets, her
philosophers, her writers, her moralists, her libraries, her men of
literature, and her good morals before Moses was found in the bulrushes.
Jacolliot says, "India gave civilization to the world." Egypt borrowed
of India, the Greeks of the Egyptians, and the Jews and Christians are
indebted to the Greeks for both their morals and their civilization.
Dubois, a Christian missionary, in his "Memoirs of India," testifies
that "kindness, justice, humanity, good faith, compassion,
disinterestedness, and in fact nearly all the moral virtues, were
familiar to the ancient Brahmans and Hindoos, and they taught them both
by precept and example." Can as much be said of any Christian nation?
Certainly not. And the Rev. D. O. Allen says they were distinguished for
all the arts and refinement of civilized life—thus placing them on the
highest plane of civilization and moral
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elevation. And other nations might be referred to. Egypt had her vast
temples of science, Chaldea her astronomical observatories, and Greece
her distinguished academies of learning, her profound philosophers, and
her high-toned moral writers and moral teachers, while the Jews, "God's
holy people," were in a state of semi-barbarism. So affirms the Rev.
Albert Barnes.
2. No advancement has often been made in morals or civilization in any
country by the introduction of the Christian bible or the Christian
religion. It is the arts and sciences which accompany or follow the
bible which do the work. A proof of this statement is found in the fact,
that no improvement takes place in the morals of the people by the
introduction of the bible till the arts and sciences are also introduced
amongst them. On the contrary, the morals of many deteriorate by reading
the bible alone, because it sanctions as well as condemns every species
of crime then known to society, (For proof see Chap. XXXIX. of this
work.) That India has become corrupted and sunk in morals since the
introduction of the Christian bible, is admitted by the Rev. D. O.
Allen, for twenty-five years a missionary in that country. But science,
especially moral science, imparts a different influence. It explains the
nature of crimes, and teaches and demonstrates that a life of honesty
and virtue can alone produce true and real happiness, while the bible
augments the temptation to commit sin by teaching that "it is a sweet
morsel to be rolled under the tongue," and that its punitive effects may
be entirely escaped by an act of divine forgiveness. But science, either
directly or by the enlightening of the mind, teaches and convinces the
wrong-doer that there is no escape from the evil effects of a wrong or
wicked act, and that sin is not a sweet morsel," but ultimately a bitter
pill. And thus
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it arrests the demoralizing effects of this pernicious doctrine of the
Christian bible.
It may startle some of the bible devotees to be told that their sacred
book, instead of being a prompter to civilization and good morals, is
really a hindrance to those ends; and that consequently nations without
bibles advance faster in these respects than those who are well supplied
with this book. But the facts of history seem to establish this as a
fact. As a proof we will contrast the present condition of heathen Japan
with that of Christian Abyssinia. Colonel Hall and Dr. Oliphant both
testify that no drunkenness, no fighting, no quarreling, no thefts, no
robberies, no rapes, no fornication, no domestic feuds or broils, and no
fraudulent dealing take place in Japan. No locks or keys are used, for
none are needed. There is no disposition to steal, or even to cheat, or
overreach in dealing. But in Christian Abyssinia, on the other hand,
according to Mr. Goodrich, where bibles and churches are numerous, and
preaching and praying are heard every day, nearly all the crimes above
enumerated are daily committed. The people go naked, eat raw flesh,
cheat, lie, and murder, and practice polygamy. Such a thing as a
legitimate child, he tells us, is not known. And thus it has been for
fifteen hundred years, while in the daily practice of reading their
bible. The arts and sciences have never been introduced amongst them.
And this fact explains the cause of their continued moral degradation.
4. According to Noah Webster, the cultivation of the arts and sciences
is essential to the progress of civilization and good morals. But bible
religion knows nothing about the arts and sciences. It don't even use
the words. Paul uses the word science only once, and then to condemn it.
But Jesus omits any allusion to science, philosophy, or natural law. So
thoroughly convinced were the early
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disciples of the Christian faith that the teachings of their bible are
inimical to the arts and sciences, that they destroyed works of art
wherever they could find them, and opposed with a deadly aim every new
discovery in the sciences even unto this day.
As bibles represent only the morals and state of society in the age in
which they are written, and are not allowed to be altered or
transcended, they thus hold their disciples back in all coming time, and
compel them to teach and practice the morals of that semi-barbarous age
as found taught in their bibles. And thus bibles prevent the moral
growth of the people as effectually as the Chinese wooden shoes prevent
the growth of the feet of young girls. For a fuller exposition of this
matter, see The Bible of Bibles, Chap. XIV.
from Crucified Saviors
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