The Bible Compared with Other Systems of Religion by Dudley Marvin Canright

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 14, 1878

The Bible Compared with Other Systems of Religion.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELDER D. M. CANRIGHT.

ALL intelligent persons know that numerous books and systems have claimed to give a revelation from God, and among them all, the Holy Bible stands prominent. But infidels argue that the fact of there having been so many confessedly false revelations, and false systems of religion, and false gods, prove that all are deceptions; that there are no genuine ones. How foolish the conclusion! Shall we conclude there is no genuine coin because there is so much spurious? Shall we deny that there are any genuine bank-bills because the land is flooded with counterfeit bills? We would pronounce a man insane who would reason thus. The very existence of a counterfeit proves the existence of the genuine. Men never counterfeit that which does not exist. And so the existence, in all ages of the world, of so many counterfeit revelations, and systems of false religion, is in itself proof that the genuine exists somewhere. But how shall we determine which is the true, and which is the false? The Lord says, "Prove all things." And Jesus gives a good rule, "By their fruits ye shall know them."

All infidels admit that the Bible is much the best of all books claiming to be sacred. They admit that much of its teaching is pure and sublime, far better than can be found anywhere else. Take all the atheists, deists, infidels, and skeptics of christendom, and not one of them has a particle of faith in any other sacred book than the Bible. So, they themselves being judges, if God has ever spoken to man this must be his word. If not, then we are without a revelation from heaven. This latter conclusion, however, is here inadmissible, since it contradicts the abundant proof we have already given on the other hand.

Since men forsook the worship of the true God, immediately after the flood, many false gods have come up, and many systems of worship have flourished in the earth at different times. Let us briefly notice them, and inquire what has become of them.

If we go back to the remotest antiquity, so far as the records reach, we find that Egypt stood far above all other nations in reputed learning, wisdom, and human science. Acts 7:22. The Egyptians had their gods, their temples, and their priests. Gen. 41:45. The Jews fell into the worship of the Egyptian gods. They made the golden calf in imitation of one of the gods of Egypt. Ex. 32:4. For hundreds of years the worship of these Egyptian gods was professed by millions, and was maintained with the greatest pomp, while the God of Israel, his worship and his people, were held in contempt. But where are the gods of Egypt now? Where are their worshipers? Where are their temples? Gone; all gone; not a vestige of them left upon the face of the earth; not a temple, not a priest, not a book, not a worshiper—blotted out of existence. But the God of Israel and his holy Book still live.

Coming a little farther down, we are all familiar with the god of the Philistines, viz., Dagon. For several hundred years there was a sharp contest between the worship of this famous god and the worship of Jehovah. Many times it looked as though Dagon and his followers would triumph. On one occasion a grand feast was made to this god in honor of the glorious victory over Israel. "Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand." Judges 16:23. But his triumph was short. Where now is Dagon? Where are his temples? What has become of his worshipers? Not a vestige of any of them left beneath the sun. The deep waves of oblivion have rolled over their silent graves for three thousand years; but Jehovah and his holy Book still live and reign in the hearts of as many millions now as of hundreds then.

Baal was another famous god at one time. The king and queen were on his side, and the power of the law supported him. The great mass went after him, while the Lord's prophets were slain, his altars thrown down, and his worshipers driven into caves. Elijah makes this mournful appeal to the people: "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men." 1 Kings 18:21, 22.

What a mighty difference! Apparently what an unequal contest! But God alone is a majority against the world with all its false gods, and hell with all its demons. Twenty-eight centuries have rolled by since then, and where is Baal? What has become of his worship? It, too, has gone down, and the dust of more than twenty-five centuries lies piled upon its forgotten grave. But the Lord lives, and his worship has spread from pole to pole.

Moloch was another renowned god, who came up and flourished for a season. Many of Israel ran bowing to him, and courted his protection. The Phœnicians and Carthaginians also worshiped him. But who can find Moloch now? Where is there a nation, city, a town, or a solitary individual among all the nations of the earth, who believes in Moloch? Nowhere. He, too, with his worshipers, is buried beneath the dust of ages; while the Lord Jehovah is exalted on high.

How lordly and magnificent the gods of Assyria! What treasures of gold were poured out upon their shrines! What millions did them reverence! How they lorded it over the Hebrews, and despised the God of Israel! But where are they now? Echo answers, Where? They are dead, and forgotten, and their worshipers are scattered. But our God still sits upon his throne, and all over the earth millions daily bow to him.

Great Diana at Ephesus was one of the most renowned goddesses of the world. All Asia bowed at her shrine. Kings paid her homage, princes brought her offerings, and the fame of her magnificence was world-wide. Her temple is said to have been the richest that the sun ever shone upon. A learned author thus describes it: "It was reckoned one of the wonders of the world. It was built of pure white marble, about five hundred and fifty years before Christ; and though burned by a fanatic on the night of the birth of Alexander the Great, B. C. 356, it was rebuilt with more splendor than before. It was four hundred and twenty five feet long, by two hundred and twenty broad; and the columns, one hundred and twenty in number, were sixty feet in hight, each of them the gift of a king, and thirty-six of them enriched with ornament and color. It was what the bank of England is in the modern world, the larger portion of the wealth of Western Asia being stored up in it. It was constantly receiving new decorations, and additional buildings, statues, and pictures by the most celebrated artists. It created unparalleled admiration, enthusiasm, and superstition. Its very site is now a matter of uncertainty." Com. on the Old and New Testaments, by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, on Acts 19:27. A mighty commotion was raised by the worshipers of Diana when the religion of the humble Man of Nazareth was introduced at Ephesus by the apostle Paul. Hear what those worshipers said:—

"So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at naught, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth." Acts 19:27. What a mighty goddess was this! The zeal of her worshipers was so great that for the space of two hours they cried out, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" The town clerk said that these things must not be spoken against. The plain worship of the humble Christians seemed contemptible in comparison with that of this goddess. How could a few fishermen make headway against such a mighty system as this? But eighteen centuries have rolled by since that period, during which time the religion of Jesus has spread all over the face of the earth. And what has become of Diana? Where now is her temple? Where her followers? They are among the antiquities of the past. They are known only in history. Not a vestige of this worship is left upon the face of the earth to-day. And this fact is another monument to the power of our God, and to the eternal stability of his religion.

Let us go with the apostle to Athens, at that time the most polished and educated city upon the earth. Very devout indeed were these Athenians. One historian declares that they had thirty thousand gods. So jealous were they of the honor of these gods that they put to death one of their most renowned men, Socrates, for supposed contempt of them. The whole power of the government was enlisted to support them. The greatest philosophers, the wisest statesmen, the most eloquent orators, with the treasures of Greece, were on their side. But where are they now? Like all the others named, a few centuries ended their glory, exposed their corruption, scattered their worshipers, and leveled their temples with the ground. Who now believes in any of the numerous gods of ancient Greece? They live only in history. We now read of them, and wonder that any people were so foolish as to believe in them. Why does not the religion of the Bible go down as have all these systems of worship? Is it not remarkable that, on the other hand, it has grown stronger with each succeeding generation?

What shall we say of the gods of Rome? This was the grand metropolis of all the gods. Here each god was protected by law, and had an honorable place assigned to it. Faithful devotees worshiped at each shrine, and were zealous in their service. But who can now find a heathen god in Rome? The glory of these gods is gone; their altars are thrown down; their worshipers are dead. They are known only from history. "False religion" has been written on all their tombs. Time would fail us to mention the scores and hundreds of like cases which are familiar to all the world.

Now, reader, on the other hand, look a moment at the wonderful history of our Bible, and of the worship of God, which it promulgates. Beginning in Eden, there has been an unbroken succession of faithful worshipers through all the generations of men. After the flood, Abraham stands forth as a prominent pillar of the faith. The knowledge and worship of the Lord was preserved in Egypt through four hundred years of the hardest bondage. Next, Moses appears, and commences to write the very record we have in the Bible to-day, by hundreds of years the oldest writing in the world. Herodotus and Homer are thought to be very ancient writers, but Moses was about a thousand years earlier than they. The world was then in its infancy; all nations were then barbarians, unlettered and uncivilized. Rome was a howling wilderness. Greece had not learned the first letter of the alphabet. Is it not wonderful that so far back in hoary antiquity, and in the deep darkness of barbarism, any man could have studied out such sublime precepts of morality and religion as Moses gave his people? Look at the ten commandments, for instance. They have been in admiration of the world every since their promulgation. Their equal has never been found, nor ever will be found. What other religion ever had such precepts as these?

Follow that chosen people through fifteen hundred years of their history, to the birth of Jesus. They were in bondage under the Philistines many times, carried into Babylon for seventy years, hunted, persecuted, and slain by their enemies on every side. The Holy Scriptures were proscribed and burned. It was death for any man to be found in possession of a copy of them; but they still survived. At the coming of Christ, they burst all national bonds; they put on new glory, and went forth conquering and to conquer.

The people rose to oppose them; priests cursed them by their gods; armies marched against them; kings from their thrones condemned their followers to death. But nothing hindered their progress. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were rapidly translated into the languages of the different nations where their ministers went. If one missionary is murdered, a hundred spring up from his ashes, catch the falling banner and carry it forward with renewed zeal. Nation after nation yields to the mighty power, lays down its defense, and takes the gospel into the heart. Paganism vanishes before it like dew before the rising sun. On it rolls, gathering impetus and volume with each succeeding generation. Opposition only gives it strength. While other systems decay, it strengthens; while others lie down in the dust, it rises higher; while others are circumscribed to one nation, the religion of the Bible spreads among all people.

The Bible, the Book of God, the Book for all nations, where can it not be found within the circle of this mighty earth? It is enthroned in millions of hearts of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. The sun never sets where it is not. How different from all other religions is the Bible religion! How different from all these professedly sacred books is the Bible! Ah, dear reader, this vitality of Heaven—it is the power of God. Let us bow our heads in solemn awe.

Let us notice one more point: How are you to account for the fact that civilization, refinement, education, the sciences, everything that is good and great, has gone where the Bible has gone, and stopped where it has stopped? Who is it that have school-houses, colleges, and hospitals? It is those who live where the Bible holds sway. Who is it that ride in the chariots that go like the lightnings? What nations have the benefit of steamboats, of printing presses, of telegraphs, of sewing machines, of astronomical instruments? Who have good houses and the carpeted floors, easy carriages, fine clothes, and good food? They are the nations who have the Bible.

"If you will take the map of the world and a pencil, then sit down and draw a black line around that portion of the earth where the Bible has been in the longest and most plentiful circulation, where every class, high and low, are able to read, and do read the volume most commonly and with most ease, such as England, Scotland and the United States of America, there you will find men most enlightened and most amiable in demeanor. There, wherever there are most Bibles, men are less cruel, less polluted, and less unprincipled. They are less inclined to kneel before images of wood and stone, and more ready to understand and to practice the law of forgiveness and of love. Then sit down and draw a line around those countries where there are fewest Bibles, where there were none for generations, and there you will find most cruelty, most pollution, most absurd notions of Deity, and most darkness.

Finally, mark off those sections of earth where that book has a partial circulation, as in Catholic countries, where it is read by a portion of the people, and with a medium frequency only, and there you will find a twilight in everything. The moralist is either afraid to look long at or to follow out such facts, or he says, 'It happened so.'" Nelson on Infidelity, p. 116.