The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine" RevelationsGraves, Kersey
Religion
The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine" Revelations
Graves, Kersey
Free thought
We find the remarkable admission in the Christian Bible, that the moral
guide adopted by infidels is superior to that book which Christians
have adopted for a guide. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, says, "The
Gentiles, who have not the Bible, do by nature the things contained in
the Bible." An astonishing Bible concession, truly! He, however, uses
the word "law" for Bible; but commentators tell us the law is contained
in the Bible, and some writers make "law" and "Bible" synonymous terms.
We therefore give the sense more fully by rendering it "Bible"
instead of "law." It is here admitted by Paul, that the great Bible of
Nature, written upon man's consciousness, and inscribed upon every thing
around him, which is the infidels' Bible and revelation, is superior to
any printed Bible. If man learns by nature the moral lessons taught
by the Bible or moral law (that is by nature's laws, as learned by
observation and experience, which is the infidel's sole reliance for
learning the great lessons and duties of life), then this _natural_
revelation, which Paul commends so highly, is superior to any _written_
preprinted revelation. If, as Paul teaches, the ignorant, illiterate
Gentile can learn by this _revelation_ of nature, or _law_ of nature,
the duties of life, the great truths of salvation, and the right road to
heaven, then it must be greatly superior to the Christians' Bible. For
it is admitted by Christians themselves (foreign missionaries), that,
with all the aid that priests and commentators can render, there is a
considerable portion of their Bible which the heathen can not learn or
be made to understand. But not so, according to Paul, with God's natural
Bible, and the revelation inscribed on man's moral nature, and
learned by the exercise of his common sense, natural judgment, and the
experience of mankind in general. Hence we have a Bible which is not
only easily read and easily understood by even the unlettered heathen,
but a Bible which possesses many advantages over all printed Bibles,
some of which I will mention. In the first place, it is a Bible always
open. It can not be kept closed under lock and key, as the Christian
Bible has been in past ages. Second, It is a Bible that needs no
translation in any language; for it is already written in the languages
all the nations of the earth. Third, It is a Bible, thank God! that all,
whether high or low, learned or unlearned, can read and understand.
Its glorious truths are easily read; for they are plainly and legibly
inscribed upon every leaf and page of the soul of every human being.
Fourth, Hence this revelation needs no priest to expound it, and no
church to unravel its mysteries, by voluminous commentaries. Sixth, No
concordance is needed to enable its readers to find its golden gems,
which glitter and sparkle upon every page. They are what the Quakers
call "the light within." Seventh, Neither moths nor mice can destroy
this glorious Bible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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