The sacred books, the "Hennas," or "Books of Hermas," were believed by the Egyptians to have been dictated by the God Isis, and inspired by him. In their collected capacity they constituted the Egyptian Bible, and were believed to contain "the sum total of human and divine wisdom." Their great age is undisputed. They treat of the creation of the world, the attributes of God, and the theogony of the inferior deities, which answer to angels in the Christian system, as they hold the same office, and are apparently the same kind of beings. The "Hermas," like all other Bibles, recognize but one supreme God, whom it declares to be just, holy, morally perfect, invisible, and indivisible, and whom it recommends to be worshiped in silence. This "Holy Book" contains some lofty and soul-inspiring moral sentiments and useful precepts.
Modern archaeological researches in Egypt have disclosed a very striking resemblance between the ancient Egyptian religion and that found in the Jewish Old Testament, which, with the evidence of the greater antiquity of the former, has fastened the conviction upon the mind of every impartial reader of history, that the Jewish religion was constructed from materials obtained in Egypt and India; and this conclusion is corroborated by the Bible itself, which tells us Moses was skilled in all the wisdom and learning of Egypt, and was by birth an Egyptian. When we compare the doctrines, precepts, laws, and customs of the two religions, we find but little difference between them.
Even to the ten commandments there is a striking resemblance. The account of the creation and the order of its development is essentially the same in both. 1. The Egyptians had a leader filling the place of Moses by the name of Hermes; and his writings were held in similar estimation, as they were believed to be inspired and dictated by Infinite Wisdom. 2. The Egyptians had a priesthood of wealth and power, and possessing the same sacerdotal caste as those of the Jews. 3. And the priesthood, Mr. Pritchard tells us (Debate 116), was hereditary, and confined to a certain tribe, as was that of the Jews. According to Diodorus Siculus, and also Mr. Wilkinson, nearly all their ceremonies were essentially the same. 4. And their religious temples were constructed upon the same model, with an outer court and an inner court,—asanctum sanctorum. 5. The Egyptians had numerous prophets like the Jews. And Herodotus says, "The art of predicting future events came from the Egyptians." 6. The Egyptians had an ark, or shrine, which served as an oracle, and was carried about on a pole by a procession of priests, as the ark of the covenant of the Jews was by the Levites. The Rev. John Kendrick, in his "Ancient Egypt," acknowledged that he believed "the ark of the covenant of the Hebrews was constructed on the model of the Egyptian shrine." 7. Kitto, in his "Cyclopedia," says the Egyptian sphinxes explain what is meant by the cherubims of the Jews. 8. In their selection of animals for sacrifices, we find the same rules were adopted. Each were controlled by the singular fancy of choosing a red heifer. 9. Each had their scape-animals to carry away their sins,—the Egyptians an ox, and the Jews a goat. 10. Both practiced circumcision. And we have the authority of Herodotus for saying the Jews and Phoenicians borrowed the custom of the Egyptians. 11. Both Jews and Egyptians took off their shoes when approaching a holy place, which, with the Egyptians, was in the temple. 12. Both believed in one supreme, over-ruling God, and many subordinates, known either as angels or deities, which, in their character and their offices, were essentially the same. And a hundred other analogies might be pointed out, which indicate the Oriental origin of Judaism.
As a full comparison will show that the religion of ancient Egypt and that of the Jews were essentially alike, not only in their general features but in their most minute details, with respect to most of their doctrines, precepts, and customs, the question arises, How came this resemblance? It is out of the question to consider it merely fortuitous: that one grew out of the other, or both were derived from a common source, we are compelled to admit. To determine which was the parent system we have only to ascertain which possesses the greater antiquity. This question is very easily settled. A large volume of facts is at our command which tend to prove that the Egyptians were in a high state of civilization before the Jews were known to history. The Bible itself partially recognizes this fact by its frequent allusion to Egypt as a wise and powerful nation, able at all times to exercise superior sway over the Jews, and whose wise men, or magicians, could compete with not only the Jews, but their God, in the performance of miracles; that is, with the Jews and their God to help them, in achieving the most astounding feats. They could make any thing that Jehovah could, with the exception of lice. The remote antiquity of Egypt can be proved by a few facts. The Egyptians have a carefully preserved list of sixty-one kings, who ruled the empire between Menes and Amasis, with names and ages given, whose aggregate reign comprises a period of more than seven thousand years. Herodotus says they computed with great care and accuracy. Manetho tells us Menes reigned seven thousand seven hundred years ago, which places him more than seventeen hundred years before Adam. Engravings on monuments, and writings on papyrus, confirm the statement of Manetho. And then hieroglyphics on the pyramids of Egypt, with names, dates, and figures which have recently been deciphered, enable us to trace the antiquity of Egypt back eight thousand years, when she is shown to have been in a high state of civilization. Another fact: Layard and Rawlinson, who recently visited Egypt as commissioners or agents of the British Government, state that fragments of pottery have been recently found by digging in the Valley of the Nile, which, by counting the successive layers, or deposits, made by the annual overflowing of the river, are shown to be not less than eleven thousand years old. Such facts amount to demonstration, and can not be set aside. And Mr Wilkinson, in his "Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt," adduces another kind of evidence to show the impossibility of Egypt having obtained her religion from the Jews. He says, "The first glimpse we obtain of Egypt shows us a nation far advanced in the arts and customs and institutions of civilized life." And this was six or seven thousand years ago; while the most conclusive evidence can be adduced to show that no essential change has been made in her religion since the inscriptions were made on the monuments, some of which bear evidence of being eight thousand or nine thousand years old. If there has been no essential change in her religion for eight thousand or nine thousand years, it isprima facieevidence that she did not borrow any of her religious tenets of the Jews. Such facts settle the question more conclusively than the most elaborate argument could do.
The Persians, properly speaking, had two Bibles, or Testaments, regarded as inspired and of divine authority,—theZend Avestaand theSadder, which may be denominated their Old and New Testaments. With these may be classed other sacred books of Persia, known as the "Desatur" (or Revealed Will of God), the "G. Javidan" (or Eternal Wisdom), and the "Sophi Ibraham"(Wisdom of Ibraham). Hyde, in his Biography of Brittain, eighth chapter, pronounces theG. Javidanolder than the writings of Zoroaster, which were penned 600 B.C.
The Zend Avesta presents a detailed account of creation in sixkappas, or indefinite periods of time; the temptation and fall of man, and his final restoration; the immortality of the soul, &c.
The Sadder depicts "the war in heaven," in which the great dragon, or devil, Ahrimanes, is finally slain. This sacred book, as well as the Zenda Avesta, contains many beautiful precepts. The Persian sacred writings are all full of prayer and praise to God. One portion addresses him asOrmuzd, another asAhura Mazda. None of their Holy Books countenance or show any favor either for idolatry or polytheism. The Persians have alway's opposed the making and worship of deific images; and they worship but one God, with the above names. One of their prayers, as a specimen, will show this: "O Ahura Mazda, thou true and happy being! aid us to think and speak of thee, and do only those things which promote the true welfare of body and soul. I believe in thee as the just and holy God, thou living Wise One! Thou art the author of creation, the true source of light and life. I will praise thee, thou Holy Spirit, thou glorious God Mazda! Thou givest with a liberal hand good things to the impious, as well as to the pious." In that portion of the Zenda Avesta called the "Yacna," constituting seven chapters, it is declared, "We worship Ahura Mazda, and pray for the spread of his religion. We praise Mazda's religion, and the pure brotherhood which it established. From the Holy Spirit Mazda proceeds all good, and he is the source of perfection and immortality." Here let it be noted that Cyrus of Persia was teaching the doctrine of immortality of the soul, while Moses seems never to have thought of such a thing: he is silent on the subject. Zenda Avesta means "The Living Word of God." It has also been called by its disciples "The Revealed Word;" and Ahura Mazda has been called the "God of gods," as the Jews called Jehovah. Who is to settle this counter-claim?
Sin, repentance, and forgiveness are all recognized in the sacred books of the Persians. This is evinced by a devout disciple, when he says, in prayer, "I repent, O Lord, of my wicked deeds in thought and words. Forgive, O Lord: I repent of my sins." A writer says, "Upon the really fundamental duties of man, the Zenda Avesta upholds a high standard of morality and honesty, and seeks to inculcate the immense importance of leading an upright and virtuous life,—such a life alone as can be pleasing to God and useful to man." A text in this sacred book reads, "You can not be a worshiper of the one true God and of many gods at the same time;" which is a very explicit avowal of the belief in but one God. This Persian Bible declares, that one way to advance God's kingdom on earth is to confer benefit upon the poor. Its spirit of kindness and sympathetic regard for suffering extends even to the brute creation. It forbids cruelty to any class of beings, and enjoins kindness to all. Its psalms, hymns, and liturgies breathe forth a spirit of deep piety. A compliance with the divine law is urged as a means of saving the sinner from future punishment. The stern moral fortitude of the great teacher and moral exemplar Zoroaster, in resisting, like Christ, the temptations of the Evil One, evinces a high appreciation of true virtue. As a whole, the sacred books of the Persians, like those of other nations, contain a considerable amount of golden truth mixed with much rubbish and superstition.
Doctor Pocoke says, "Many things taught in the sacred books of the Persians are the same as those taught in the Pentateuch of Moses, and other parts of the Bible. They also contain many of the psalms erroneously called by the Jews and Christians the Psalms of David." Sir William Jones, in his "Asiatic Researches," says, "The primeval religion of Iran (Persia) is called by Newton the oldest, and it may justly be called the noblest, of all religions." It teaches "a firm belief that one supreme God made the world by his power, and governs it by his providence. It inculcates a pious fear, love, and adoration for God; also a due reverence for parents and aged persons, fraternal affection for the whole human species, and a compassionate tenderness even for the brute creation." Can as much as this be said of the Christian religion? Mr. Goodrich, after stating that the ancient Hebrews evidently had no idea of astronomy as a science, says, "The Chaldeans appear to have made observations on eclipses earlier than the commencement of written history" ("History of All Nations," p. 25).
The Chaldeans and Persians have a story of creation essentially the same as that of the Jews. It represents Ormuzd as creating the world through the word in six kappas, or periods of time. Previous to that period, nothing but chaos, or darkness, and water had existed. Ormuzd created, first, the heavens and the earth; second, the firmament; third, the seas and waters; fourth, the sun, moon, and stars; fifth, birds, reptiles, quadrupeds, &c.; sixth, man. The Persians and Chaldeans have also a story of a deluge, in which Xisuthra, being warned in a dream, built an ark, in which he saved himself, his wife and daughter, and the pilot, and a pair of every species of animals, reptiles, and birds. After the rain had ceased, he sent out a pigeon, which, finding no resting place, came back to the ark. The second time, it came with mud in its bill, which was a better evidence that the waters had subsided than the leaf which Noah's dove returned with, as that might have been picked up while floating on the waters. They had a giant in strength (a Gaza) answering to that of Samson. They had a story of a lofty tower designed to reach to heaven, but the gods destroyed it, and confounded the language of the builders. The Persians had their priests, their prophets, their angels, their twelve patriarchs, their holy fires, holy water, and rites of purification, like the Jews; also their ordinance of water-baptism. Their holy mountains, holy rivers, and holy waters, their animal sacrifices, and their sacrament or ceremony of bread and wine, were all similar to those of the Jews. They had a Soleimon and a Soleimon's temple. Their religion was a theocracy, and was violently opposed to idolatry; but, unlike the Jewish religion, it taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the lofty idea that the human mind is an emanation from the divine nature. We find the principal elements of the Christian system also mixed up with the doctrines and principles above set forth; such as two primary principles of good and evil (Ormuzd and Ahrimanes), termed by Christians God and the Devil,—two Gods with their two kingdoms, which were always at war with each other, to moderate which stands Mithra the Mediator, who was born, like Christ, of an immaculate virgin. For a further elucidation, see "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors."
The historical facts to establish the existence of the Persian religion long prior to that of the Jews are numerous, cogent, and unanswerable. They have calculations in astronomy which, scientists admit, must have been made four hundred years anterior to the time of Moses. According to Berosus, fragments of their history have been found which extend it back fifteen thousand years; and he tells us it is computed with great care.
The Chinese have varions sacred books, the principal of which are the Five Kings. They have also four Holy Books, known as Shoo, and one called Tao-te, though the word King is a term applied to all their sacred books. Some of these Holy Bibles are attributed to Confucius, one of them (Ta-heo, the Great Learning) to his grandson, and others to his disciples. Some of the sects recognize thirteen Kings, or sacred books, others only seven, and the principal sect but five. Some of these Holy Books bear a resemblance to the Christian Gospels, others to the Epistles; and one of them bears a considerable resemblance to Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. They are believed to be divinely inspired; and all are regarded as authority in matters of faith, doctrine, and practice. All of them inculcate virtue, and condemn vice and immorality. I will present merely a brief exposition of a few of the leading books.
This book forms the basis of the religious sect known as the Tao-ists. It treats principally of doctrines, but enjoins many important duties,—such as family government, the cultivation of the natural faculties, the acquisition of knowledge, the duty of being honest and sincere and rectifying the heart, and the moral obligation of having good rulers and a righteous government as means of making all peaceful and happy.
This book contains the Golden Rule: "What you do not like others to do to you, do not so to them." It recommends a state of harmony in the mental faculties as the path of duty and the road to happiness and to heaven. It teaches that people should follow the dictates of their own consciences, and cultivate and fully develop their natures. On the whole, it admonishes a system of moral perfection. It declares that spiritual beings are constantly around us, and we do nothing without them, though we do not see nor hear them. Pretty good spiritualism!
Mang, or Mencius, the philosopher, lived about two hundred years after Confucius. This Holy Book of his was not admitted into the Chinese canon till several centuries after it was written. Up to that date it was regarded as apocryphal, but is now held in high veneration as an inspired book. It affirms the essential goodness of human nature, instead of the Christian doctrine of "total depravity." It teaches that all men are possessed of more or less goodness by nature, but are often corrupted by bad example and bad governments. It argues the moral right of the people to choose their own rulers.
This work is constituted of fifty-eight books. It throws much light on the history of the Chinese Empire, and bears evidence of having been written in a very remote age, but was compiled about 500 B.C. It argues that people are not bad by nature, and that it is the duty of governments to bless the good and punish the wicked. Otherwise they need not expect the blessing of heaven, or the favor of the people. It relates the case of an emperor who was reformed by reading the Holy Book.
This book is about as devoid of moral instruction as the Books of Ruth and Esther in the Christian Bible. It is principally a display of human emotions and social feelings. Yet almost every Chinese has committed portions of it to memory. Being gotten up in the style of a poem, it is well calculated to enlist the feelings of the devout disciple.
This is principally a historical record, and is interpreted as representing spring and summer. It is held in high estimation as being the production of the "Great Divine Man," Confucius; and it is wonderful with what ingenuity its commentators and teachers have succeeded in extracting from its dry details about wars, marriages, deaths, travels, eclipses, battles, &c., the most profound lessons in morals. Like the admirers and expounders of other Holy Books in all ages and countries, they bestow the most recondite spiritual meanings on texts containing nothing but nonsense, senseless verbiage, or immoral teachings.
"Tao" meansabsolute, and "Te" meansvirtue; which indicates that it teachesabsolute virtue. Of all sacred books this is the most philosophical. It seems to constitute both a revelation and system of philosophy. It displays considerable wisdom and beauty, but is not free from those gross and repulsive elements which characterize the Christian and some other Bibles. It declares that God created, cherishes, and loves all the world. It has no angry God, but one enjoining love and benevolence, and the return of good for evil, upon all the human race. It declares God made all beings: his essence formed them, his might preserves them, his providence protects them, and his power perfects them. It condemns war and weapons of death: it says that Tao does not employ them, and all good men abhor them. It also condemns the possession of worldly wealth as being in opposition to a spiritual life, and as denoting the absence of good from the soul. Modesty, mercy, benevolence, and contentment are recommended as the highest of human virtues. An extensive commentary, written by a Chinese saint about 160 B.C., goes with this book to explain it, as all "divine revelations" have to be revealed over again by the priests, who seem to assume that Infinite Wisdom is too ignorant of human language to dictate a book that can be understood. Must it not be mortifying to him to have his blunders thus exposed?
The Christian historian, Mr. Milne, expressed a fear that he might be condemned for furnishing proof, that, before Jesus was born, a morality as pure was inculcated in the celestial empire (China). As in the Hindoo, Egyptian, and Persian religions, we find the Jewish and Christian religions here amalgamated together. The Chinese had a cosmogony, or story of creation similar in some respects to those already noticed. These sacred books speak of a primitive paradise, in which was a tree of knowledge and a tree of life; also of a deluge and an ark. Baptism, the cross, and the miter are emblematical rites of their religion. They also taught the doctrine of the eucharist and the trinity, and practiced circumcision.
The Chinese have a story or tradition of an incarnate God, Natigai, who, like Christ, was both creator and mediator. His system of religious faith taught the doctrine of special providences, future rewards and punishments, a general judgment-day, the duty of humility or self-abasement, and the moral and religious obligation to observe strict temperate habits, and to devote our whole lives to God, &c.
The Chinese religion inculcates many beautiful and sublime moral precepts, which we have not space to notice here.
The historical books of China, comprising a hundred and fifty volumes, and called "The Great Annals," and recently translated by a scientific Frenchman, have a regular chronology, beginning nearly two thousand six hundred years before the period assigned for the creation of Adam. And they have calculations in astronomy at that remote period. The learned men of Europe have decided that they made the calculation of an eclipse about seven hundred years before the time of Moses. These facts are sufficient to prove the existence of their religion long anterior to the time of Adam.
In addition to the facts and authorities we have cited to show that the Hindoo, Egyptian, Persian, and Chinese religions were all established prior to that of the Jews, there are other facts which demonstrate the absolute impossibility of any of these religions obtaining any of their religious elements or doctrines from the Jews.
1. We find both the Jewish and Christian doctrine interwoven into each one of those Oriental systems. Hence, if they borrowed one, they borrowed both. But that is impossible: for the Christian system is known to be much younger.
2. Those Oriental religions are all conservative in character; so that there has been scarcely any perceptible change in their doctrines during the thousands of years of their known existence. Hence their very nature would preclude them from borrowing any new doctrines.
3. On the contrary, the Jewish mind has been very vacillating. A disposition to change their religion has been constantly manifested through their whole history. Such facts as these settle the question.
The Bible of the Soffees, the "Musnavi", teaches that God exists everywhere and in every thing; that the soul of man, and the principle of life throughout all nature, are notfrom God, butofGod, and constitute a part of his essence; that nothing exists essentially but God; and that "all nature abounds with Divine Life." Mr. Malcom, in his "History of the Moguls" (p. 269), says: "The Soffees are incessantly occupied in adoring the Almighty, and in a search after truth." They are passionately fond of poetry and music (two essential elements of civilization). Their Bible teaches many beautiful moral lessons.
The Parsees' Bible is entitledBour Desch, which means "Genesis; or, the Beginning of Things." Its cosmogony is similar to that of Moses, though more definite, and probably written at an earlier period. Its Eden, or primitive paradise, lasted three thousand years before Kipo (the Devil) entered, plucked the fruit, handed it to the woman, and thus caused her downfall, and, after her, that of the whole human race.
We have space for but little more than the titles of other Bibles.
The Tamalese "Holy Book" was known as the "Kalivodkam," and contains some excellent moral precepts.
Saga, meaning "Wisdom," is the name of the Scandinavian "Inspired Volume," so called because it was believed to have emanated from the fountain of divine wisdom.
Kaliocham, the Kalmucs' Bible, was believed to contain in repletion "all the wisdom of God and man."
The ancient Athenians had what they claimed to be a "Holy and God-derived Book," called "The Testament." Dinarchus alludes to it in his speech against Demosthenes. It was read with deep, solemn awe and devoutness.
Yohar, or "Book of Light," the Bible of the Cabalists, relates some wonderful cures and miracles performed by that sect.
The Koran, or Alkoran, is the most modern in its origin of 22 in the list, having been penned six hundred years later than the Christian Bible. It differs from most other Bibles in being the production of a single author, and, for this reason, possesses more uniformity of style and fewer contradictions than most other Bibles. Mahomet did not claim to be its author, and did not write it, but merely dictated it to his secretary Zaid. Like the founder of the Christian religion, and nearly all the other great religions of the world, he was very illiterate. Incarnate Gods and religious chieftains possess no aspiration to become scholars, and no taste for science. They were governed by feeling and the impulse of religious enthusiasm, which have no affinity for science. Mahomet, however, did not profess to be a God, but merely a prophet. The Koran, having originated in a later and more enlightened age than the Christian Bible, possesses some superior features, and, of course, is superior to still older Bibles. It is more consistent in its teachings on the subject of temperance, as it does not, like the Christian Bible, both sanction and condemn the use of intoxicating drinks; but uniformly forbids the use of it, and even prohibits the manufacture of it. It also shows more respect for the rights of woman by providing for her maintenance by dowry. It levies a tax on its disciples of two and one-fourth per cent for the support of the poor. It enjoins not only kindness and respect for enemies, but a careful provision for their wants.
The disciples of the Koran were taught and believed that the Holy Book was originated in heaven, and had long been preserved there by its divine author Allah, and, in the fullness of time, was handed down, chapter at a time, by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Mahomet; and his scribe Zaid recorded it. The leading doctrines of the Koran are: the Unity of the Godhead, and the perfection of his attributes; the joys of paradise, and the terrors of hell; the awful fate of unbelievers in the Koran. The Day of Judgment is held up as a terror to evildoers and skeptics, and an encouragement to the faithful. Skeptics, or unbelievers in the Koran and the Mahomedan religion, are repeatedly consigned to the same terrible fate (the fires of hell) that Christ consigns the unbeliever in the Christian religion, and the same as that to which the founders of other religions doom those who reject or disbelieve their pretended revelations. The Koran abounds in precepts of a high moral tone.
Mahomet holds out the idea that Christ was created like Adam, and therefore was but a man, though a true servant of God. This, he asserts, was the view of Christ himself. The doctrine that God could have a son, or that there could be more than one person in the Godhead, was to him profanity, infidelity, and downright blasphemy. It is repeatedly denounced in strong terms in the Koran. All prayer and praises to God are addressed to him in the singular number. I will cite a few texts in illustration: "Praise be to God, Lord of all worlds, the compassionate and merciful King. Thee only do we worship, and to thee only do we cry for help. Guide us in the right path." "The sun is God's noonday brightness; the moon followeth him: the day revealeth his glory; and the night enshroudeth him." "He built the heavens, and spread forth the earth." "And whoso shall fear God, and do good works, no fear shall come upon them, neither shall they be put to grief. But those who turn away from him, he will consign to eternal fire." "To those who believe (the Koran), and do things which are right, hath God promised forgiveness and a noble recompense."
II. THE MORMONS' BIBLE—THE BOOK OF MORMON; ALSO "THE REVELATIONS OF JOSEPH SMITH."
This sacred book is claimed to have been found inscribed on gold plates, situated several feet below the surface of the earth, in Wayne County, N.Y., in the year 1823, by Joseph Smith, a pious youth, then only fourteen years of age, who declared he received information with respect to the existence of the plates and their locality from an angel of the Lord, with whom he had had frequent intercourse for several years. The following is a description of the plates and original records composing the book, as furnished by Orson Pratt, one of the "Latter-day Apostles" of Jesus Christ: "The records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold. Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches in length and width, being not quite as thick as common tin. They were filled on both sides with engravings in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, fastened at one edge with three rings running through the whole. This volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters, or letters, upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraven. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, and skill in its engravings. With the records was found a curious instrument called by the ancients 'Urim and Thummim'; which consisted of two transparent stones, clear as crystal, set in the two rims of a bow. It was used in ancient times by persons called seers, by means of which they received revelations of things past or future."
Mr. Smith finally succeeded, with the aid of a profound linguist in New-York City by the name of Anthon, in translating the whole work into the English language. Several writers testify that the ground out of which the records were dug was solid, and covered with a thick and solid growth of grass, presenting no appearance of having ever been disturbed. The sect now constitutes about three hundred thousand disciples. The following testimony to the truth of the story is a voluntary offering by three witnesses:—
BE it known unto all nations, tongues, kindred, and people unto whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of God the Father, and oar Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites. Men, brethren, and also of the people of Jared. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God; for his voice hath declared it unto Us: wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen engravings which are upon the plates; and they are shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down, and that he brought and laid before our eyes, and we beheld and saw, the plates and the engravings thereon. And we know it is by the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ that we beheld and bare record that these things are true, and it is marvelous in oar eyes. Nevertheless the voice of the Lord commanded that we should bear record of it. Wherefore, to be obedient to the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know, that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in heaven. And the honor be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, which are one God. Amen.
Oliver Cowdery.
David Whitmer.
Martin Harris.
MORMON SACRED BOOK, NO. 2—THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES AND COVENANTS; OR, THE REVELATIONS OF JOSEPH SMITH.
In addition to the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith originated and partly composed a Book of Doctrines and Covenants, purporting to be a direct revelation from heaven relative to the temporal government of their church. It enjoined the support of the poor, the taxation of members, the establishment of cities and temples, the education of the people, the emigration of saints, &c. This book has been venerated by the Mormons as a "holy revelation from God," and hence is, in a strict sense, a Bible. Its title sufficiently indicates its character. As much as Christians ridicule the idea of Joseph Smith receiving a revelation from God, it comes to us with exactly the same authority as the claimed-to-be revelation of Moses. The evidence in each case is the same.
The Bible of the Shakers is entitled "A Holy, Sacred, and Divine Roll from the Lord God of Heaven to the Inhabitants of the Earth, Revealed in the Society of New Lebanon, Columbiana County, New York, United States of America." The testimony of eleven mighty angels is given, who are said to have attended the writing of the Roll. A copy of the Holy Book has been sent to every king and potentate on earth. Its contents and style bear some resemblance to the Christian Bible; and it contains texts which appear to have been drawn from that book, and then altered. It should be borne in mind that the Shakers also profess to believe in the Christian Bible, with their own peculiar construction of the book, like other sects.
In a practical sense, there are other books beside the Old Testament which go to make up the Jewish Bible. The Talmud, or rather the two Talmuds; the Jerusalem Talmu (comprising the Mishna, or Second Law), compiled about 150 B.C. by a Jewish rabbi; and the Babylonian Talmud, compiled about six hundred and fifty years later,—are regarded by the Jews as equally inspired and equally binding in their moral requisitions as that of the Old Testament. In fact, they compare the former to wine, and the latter to water, when speaking of their relative value. Some "tall stories" are found in these Jewish revelations, such as these: it tells of a bird so tall that the water of a river in which it stood came only to its knees, though the water was so deep that it took an ax, thrown into it, seven years to reach the bottom; and of an egg of such enormous dimensions, that, when broken, the white of it glued a whole town together and a forest of three hundred cedar-trees. These are but specimens of their miracles. Such is the character of the Jewish sacred writings, emanating from the same source as the Old Testament; and consequently of equal authority and reliability, and equally entitled to our belief.
The Christian Bible, as now accepted by Protestants (for it must be borne in mind that it has been altered and amended on various occasions, thus altering the canonical Word of God), is composed of thirty-nine books in the Old-Testament department, and twenty-seven in the New; the whole constituting a multifarious collection of old oracles, obsolete dogmas, Oriental legends, ancient myths, religious reveries, beautiful precepts, poetry, heart-touching pathos, wild fancies, preceptive admonitions, martial exploits, domestic regulations, broken, disjointed narratives, ritual rules, and spiritual ideas; including also cosmogony, history, theocracy, theology, annals, romance, prophecy, rhapsody, psalmody, mythology, allegory, dreams, tradition, legislation, ethics, politics, and religion, all jumbled together without arrangement, division, classification, or order; committed to writing in various ages and nations and countries, and by various writers, extending over a period of several thousand years, including nearly every form of composition known to human ingenuity,—gay, grave, tragical, logical, philosophical, religious, and romantic,—emanating from Gods, angels, men, and devils; recorded, some of it in mountains, some of it in caves, some of it on the banks of rivers, some of it in forests, some of it in deserts, and some of it under the shadow of the Pyramids. It commenced on Mount Horeb, and ended in the isle of Patmos.
From such circumstances we are not surprised to learn that its chronology is unreliable, chimerical, and incorrect; its history contradictory and incredible; its philosophy fallacious; its logic unsound; its cosmogony foolish and absurd; its astronomy fragmentary and childish; its religion pagan-derived; its morals defective, sometimes selfish, often extravagant, and in some cases pernicious. Its government, both temporal and spiritual, is, to some extent, both barbarous and tyrannical; while its theocracy is mere brute force. It presents us with narratives without authorities, facts and figures without dates, and records without names. We find no order in its arrangement, no system in its subjects or the manner of presenting them, and no connection in its paragraphs, and often no agreement in its statements, and no sense in its logic. It seems to teach nearly every thing upon nearly every question of morals which it touches. It apparently both sanctions and condemns nearly every species of crime to which it refers, and pours fulsome laudations upon the heads of some of the most bloody-minded and licentious men,—such as David, Solomon, &c.,—and holds them up as examples of true practical morality. It is often dark, ambiguous, and mysterious, as well as contradictory, not only in its lessons of morality, but in its account of the simplest occurrences, thus rendering it comparatively worthless as a moral guide; inasmuch as it is much easier to find out what is right and what is not without going to the Bible, than it is to find out what the Bible teaches upon the subject, or what it intends to teach in any given case. With respect to war, slavery, polygamy, and the use of intoxicating liquors, for example, it is much easier to determine whether they are right or wrong by the moral fitness of things than whether they are scriptural or anti-scriptural; while it is silent upon many crimes which now infest society. If we are compelled to determine the character of some actions without going to the Bible, why not that of all other moral actions and duties? Edmund Burke says of the Bible, "It is necessary to sort out what is intended as example, and what only as narrative; what is to be understood literally, and what figuratively, where one precept is to be controlled and modified by another; what is temporary, and what of perpetual obligation; what is appropriate to one state or set of men, and what is the general duty of men in all ages." Now, who can not see that all this must require a quality of mind capable of determining or learning moral principles and moral duties without recurrence to the Bible? And it must require a vast amount of time to accomplish this task, all of which is lost, inasmuch as it is consuming time in making the Bible conform to what you have already learned of right outside its pages,—time that might be much better employed. Such are the moral aspects of the Bible. But it also has its beauties, which we need not occupy much space in depicting, as we have fifty thousand clergymen in this country who attend faithfully to that matter. Suffice it to say, that portions of it are characterized by a high-toned spirituality, other portions by a deep, heart-stirring pathos. And then we have manifested in other parts the most devout piety, while the books of the prophets often breathe forth a spirit of the most elevating poetry. And there is scarcely a book, or even a chapter, in the whole Bible, that does not evince a spirit of religious devotion, and an effort for the right, though often misdirected. Taken as a whole, the Bible may be regarded as an exposition of the condition of science, morals, religion, government, and domestic polity of the era in which it was written, and suited to the temporal and spiritual wants of the people of that age, for whom it was written,but not for this age. When regarded in this light, and as simply a human production of the best minds of the age and times in which it was written, many portions of it can be read with interest and instruction. But when read, as it has been for centuries, as a perfect, divine composition, designed for all time and as a finality in faith and practice and moral progress, it becomes a stumbling-block in the path of progress, an embargo upon free thought, a fetter upon the soul, a fog of bewilderment to the mind, and a drag-chain to the moral and intellectual reformation of the world.