19. Isaiah frequently makes use of vulgar language. One case may be found in chap. lxvi. 3.
20. Another case in Hosea, describing horrible treatment of women and children. (See chap. xiii. 16.)
21. The conduct of Sechem towards certain women, as told in Gen. xxxiv. 4, is loathsome.
22. The conduct of parents toward their daughters, as described in Deut. xxii. 15, and as enjoined by the Mosaic law, is disgusting and shocking in the extreme.
23. And language no less disgusting, relative to the treatment of men, as prescribed by law, is found in Deut. xxiii.
24. The account of Paul's conversion, as described in Acts ix., is extremely vulgar.
The above-cited cases are mere samples of hundreds of similar ones to be found in God's Holy Book in the use of indecent language, calculated to make any person blush to read in private, much more if read in public. Indeed, no person dare read them to a company of decent people. Look, then, how the case stands. Look at the mortifying condition in which every devout Bible believer in Christendom is placed. Here is a book which, it is claimed, emanated from a pure and holy being; which contains so many passages couched in such obscene and offensive language, that any person who attempts to read the book to a company must be constantly and critically on his guard, and is liable to be kept in a state of fearful anxiety (as the writer knows by his own experience), lest he stumble on some of these offensive texts. What an uncomfortable situation to be placed in when reading a book which is claimed to be perfect in every respect! We have seen a Bible class in school stopped suddenly by the teacher, with orders to close their Bibles, because he had observed, by looking ahead, that the chapter contained language which would bring a blush to every cheek if read. In the same school we saw a modest boy, of refined feelings, burst into tears because he was required to read to the school a certain passage in the account of the conversion of Paul. The teacher being a devout Christian, whose piety overruled his decorum, attempted to enforce the reading by a threat of punishment, but failed. We have also seen the offer of one hundred dollars' reward, standing in a paper for a considerable time to any person who would read a dozen texts to a company of ladies, which the gentleman offering the reward might select, but no person dared to disgrace himself by accepting the offer.
And what is the moral, or lesson, taught by these things? Why, that the Bible is a very unsuitable book for a refined nation of people to read habitually, or for a morally elevated and enlightened age of the world, though it was probably adapted to the age and to the people for which it was written. They had not attained to the present standard of morality and refinement. We cherish no disposition to censure them. They were probably honest, and lived up to their highest idea of right. If anybody deserves censure in the case, it is the professedly enlightened Christians of the present age for going back to a savage, unenlightened age and nation for their religion and morals.
A PARTIAL LIST OF THE OBSCENE PASSAGES OF THE BIBLE.
The following figures point to texts, many of which are too vulgar to be described in any kind of language:—