Is the Bible the book of God? Is it a record of divine revelations? Does God speak to man through its pages? Has it supreme authority?
These questions are important. If the Bible is a record of the divine will, the fact must be susceptible of proof, and it should be proved. If it is a miserable cheat, concocted by designing priests, or a mass of old wives' fables, imposed upon the weakness of credulous fools, that fact can be proved, and the sooner the better, for the subject is of moment, and the necessity for its discussion is urgent.
I know men say that if the Bible is not true, yet it is best to let the imposition pass unquestioned, because it exercises a wholesome moral influence upon rascals generally, who are kept from actual mischief in this world by fear of fancied punishment in the next. But the main question cannot be settled by such evasions. Ignorance is not the parent of true devotion, nor are lies, or pious frauds, the seeds of righteousness.
It is sometimes said that the Bible is an inspired book, and so is the Koran, and so are the Shasters, so are Shakespeare's Plays, so are Plato's Dialogues, and so are books generally,—all are inspired, all have truth, all have error, but all are behind the times, and need to be improved by the addition of whatever new revelations may present themselves; and when all are completed, we are then to believe and obey just as much and just as little of any or all of them, as we please.
But this position does not quite satisfy me. Various modern authors offer me theories, fancies, opinions, and arguments. I take them for what they seem to be worth. But the writers in the Bible do not usually offer their opinions. They relate facts which they profess to have seen; they profess to reject fables and traditions, and they, over and over again preface their sayings with the words, "THUS SAITH THE LORD."
Shakespeare does not say that, nor Plato, nor Socrates, nor any of the poets or sages of ancient or modern times. Now, if the Almighty really speaks to us, we ought to listen and give heed. But if he does not speak, then we cannot accept these statements as either true, or wise, or profitable, for man to believe.
It is sometimes suggested that the writers of the Bible were a pack of credulous fools, quickly imposed upon, and easily deceived. But at this I demur. A fool never wrote Moses' Laws, Job's Discourses, David's Psalms, Solomon's Proverbs, Isaiah's Poetry, Daniel's Visions, Ezekiel's Prophecies, Paul's Epistles, or John's Revelations. The man who thinks fools could write such books, might well afford to try his own hand at it, and see.
Now these writers in general, though intelligent and of acknowledged ability, do not profess to offer speculations, or opinions, but they base their whole system upon alleged facts. If they had been fools they might have been imposed upon somewhat; but in general the facts were of such a nature that they could not be mistaken about them. And they either tell the positive truth, or else they were most outrageous and infamous liars. The Israelites either went through the Red Sea dry shod, or the man who wrote the story about it lied. Either the Jordan was divided before them, or the record of it is a falsehood.
Christ either healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, cast out demons, and raised the dead, or Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were impudent, lying knaves.
Jesus of Nazareth, whom Jews, Gentiles, and Christians all agree was crucified, either did really, truly, personally, and bodily rise from the dead, and ascend to Heaven, or the men who, at the loss of reputation, at the expense of every personal comfort, and even unto the suffering of violent deaths, bore testimony that they saw him, handled him, walked with him, talked with him, ate with him, and knew him "by many infallible proofs," and finally beheld him ascending heavenward, till a cloud received him out of their sight, were base hypocrites, arrant knaves, vile impostors, and persistent and determined liars.
There is no middle ground to stand on here. They saw what they said they did, or they lied. The Almighty spoke to the prophets, or they told falsehoods in the name of the God of truth. Either they bring to us the actual verities of divine revelation, or else the whole tribe of them, in all their generations, for hundreds and hundreds of years, were deceivers and prating knaves, who lied about the hell which they asserted that all liars should have part in, and deceived about the very words in which they declared damnation on all deceivers.
We cannot blink this proposition out of sight. The question must be met here and settled. Honest men do not wish to be deceived, and in these days men want facts, not fables; truths, not "raw head and bloody bones" stories, by which to direct their lives.
I know the Bible is said to be the best of all the pretended sacred books in the world. But that argument amounts to nothing. If it is not true, it is false. If the Koran, the Shasters, or the spirit communications are true, then let us believe them, and turn Turks, Hindoos, or Spirit-rappers. Or if there is no revelation of the future, then let us make the most of the present—"let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
But let us not cling to a lie because it is better than a dozen other lies. If indeed the Bible is better than they are, that is no reason why it should be received if false. For it is not a mere harmless humbug, a collection of the writings of well-meaning but misguided idiots. It is either the word of the everlasting Deity, or else it is a cheat so outrageous and shameful that compared with it, the Koran is sacred, the Arabian Nights reasonable, and the Book of Mormon worthy of sincere respect.
The Bible is everything, or it is worse than nothing. It is the best book or the worst one in the world. It contains eternal truth, or the deepest error. It is pure gold, or base counterfeit. Which is it?
We must not prejudice this question. The Christian says he knows the Bible to be true because he feels it is. The infidel says he rejects it because he has no such feeling. Both may be prejudiced. Either may be mistaken. A more conclusive style of argument than this must be introduced to decide this important question.
The question is not whether the English Bible is entirely, in all its jots and tittles, the word of God, for all agree that there may be in that mis-prints, mis-translations, and possible inaccuracies. And even in the Hebrew and Greek originals, there are errors of transcribers, and some slight variations of readings in different manuscript copies. And then there are recorded in it, not only the words of God, but also of men and of devils; and some of these words all admit to be false. But the question is, whether God, men, or devils, said the words and did the things there related of them. Is the account correct? Is the record true?
We need not inquire whether the Bible is a modern or an ancient book. Here there is no room for dispute. It is older than the art of printing, for it was the first book printed. It is older than the dark ages, for copies of it exist which were written long before. And about the year 176, Celsus, a heathen, or infidel philosopher, in writing the first book ever published against Christianity, entitled "The Word of Truth," quotes or refers to about EIGHTY PASSAGES which can now be found in the New Testament. He speaks of the histories of Jesus written by his disciples, refers to all the leading facts narrated in the gospels, and says "It is but RECENTLY, as it were yesterday, since we punished Christ." "It is but a few years since he delivered this doctrine, who is reckoned by Christians to be the Son of God."
And Porphyry, another heathen writer, about the year 270, wrote against the Book of Daniel, which he2allowed was written as early as the days of Antiochus, or about one hundred and fifty years before the Christian Era. A book cannot be quoted or refuted before it is written. Hence, as Celsus quotes the New Testament, it was written before A. D. 176, and as the New Testament quotes the prophets, they were written previous to it, and as the prophets quote the law, that was written before the prophets wrote, and as the Law refers to Genesis, and Genesis refers to no preceding book, it seems to stand at the head as the oldest of all. We shall not need then to discuss this question of age, as we can prove by Jews, Christians, and infidels, that the books which are called the Bible are very ancient works. But another question, namely, concerning the inspiration, the divine origin, and the authority of the Bible, is the one before us.
We know and admit that there is a God in nature, for there are things done before our eyes which no man has power to do. And the source of that almighty power, that ceaseless energy that rules and upholds and guides the universe, is what we call Deity. And so when power is displayed beyond all human might, we refer that display back to God as to its only author.
But what power do we find in the Bible? It is a book; men have written it; do they give proof of divine assistance in their work?—The Christian.