The practice of polygamy is indorsed by the Christian Bible. It is frequently sanctioned in the Old Testament, both by precept and example, while it is nowhere condemned by the Book, either in the Old or New Testament. This fact makes Mormonisin an impregnable institution; and this is the reason it bids defiance to the efforts of a Christian nation to put it down. It is a Bible institution. Hence a Bible-believing nation dare not attack it. The hand of the government is powerless to put it down, because it is justified by the "Holy Book." Hence it continues to exist, a stigma upon the nation. Were it as explicitly and strongly condemned by the Bible as idolatry is, it would have been banished from the country long ago.
VII. LICENTIOUSNESS IS SANCTIONED BY THE BIBLE.
It can hardly be wondered at that so many Christian professors fall victims to licentious habits, as is evident from reports almost daily published in the periodicals, from which one traveler has collected more than two thousand cases of priests, the professed teachers of morality, who have fallen victims to the vice of illegal sexual intercourse within a few years; and probably the number whose deeds are never brought to light is much greater. As we have already remarked, this licentiousness among Bible believers and Bible teachers is no cause of wonder when we reflect that it is taught in their Bible, both by example and precept, and even, we are told, commanded by Jehovah himself. In the thirty-first chapter of Numbers it is written, that the Lord commanded Moses to slay all the Midianites, except the women and girls who "had never known man," amounting to about thirty thousand. They were even ordered to kill every male among the little ones; and it is declared they left "nothing alive that breathes," except the thirty thousand maids saved to gratify the lust of those murderous libertines. Who that has any mercy, justice, or refinement in their nature, can believe that such cruelty and licentiousness was the work of a righteous God? Christian professors contemplate these revolting pictures with an anxious desire to save the credit of the Book, until, by dint of determination to believe (for they are afraid even to doubt), they finally persuade themselves, that, somehow or other, they must be right, notwithstanding their revolting nature. They conclude they don't understand them, or that it is our fine moral sensibilities, and our natural love of virtue, that is at fault. And thus our moral manhood is deadened and sacrificed to our barbarous religion. It is an evident fact, and a sorrowful truth, that the moral sensibilities of all Christendom are more or less blunted and seared in this way, and their standard of virtue lowered. Such is the demoralizing influence of the "Holy Book" when idolized and regarded as the source of our morals, and "the supreme rule of our conduct." It is evident we never can reach that elevated standard of morals and true refinement which is the natural outgrowth of civilization till the Bible is lowered to a more subordinate position, and is no longer allowed to shape our morals, and mold our religion, and retard our civilization. The texts I have cited are but samples of many similar passages which evince a sickly, licentious state of morals amongst "the Lord's holy people." By the moral code of Moses and Jehovah, a Jew was authorized to seize a beautiful woman (if he should see one amongst the captives taken in war), and take her to his house for his wife; but, if he finds upon trial that she don't suit him, then he can turn her out, and let her go whither she will. He was licensed to turn her adrift upon the cold charities of the world. "If it shall be that thou find no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will" (Deut. xxi. 14). It does not appear that her wishes were consulted in any case. She was a captive at first, and a slave to the end. And these hard-hearted, licentious men were "God's holy people." Those pious and devout Christians who are so inveterately opposed to, and horrified at, "Free-Lovism" should not let it be known they believe in the Bible, lest they should get into the same difficulty the Rev. Mr. Hitchkiss did while in Arabia. Having stated to a Mahomedan that there was a class of people in America known as "Free-Lovers," and that they were infidels and Spiritualists, the disciple of the Koran remarked, in reply, "I suppose you are a Free-Lover also."—"What makes you entertain that supposition?" asked the reverend. "Because," said the Mussulman, "you are a believer in the Christian Bible; and I have observed, by reading that its leading men were practical Free-Lovers.' The wise Solomon was so highly esteemed by God, that he opened to him the fountain of wisdom; and hence he must have been looked up to by the Jews as a leading authority in matters of religion and morals, and an example be followed in practical life; and he practiced 'Free-Lovism,' or licentiousness, on a very large scale. His subjects and victims were numbered by the thousand; and with three hundred of them he maintained no legal relation. Hence they were what are now called prostitutes. And his father David, 'the man after God's own heart,' was also a 'F ree-Lover, and indirectly committed murder in order to increase his number of victims; and Abraham, the father and founder of the Jewish nation, also belonged to that class. I suppose, therefore, you consider it all right." The reverend gentleman replied, "I believe it was right for them, but would not be right for us." "Then," said the Mahomedan, "you believe that moral principles change,—that what is right to day may be wrong tomorrow, and vice versa. Now, it is evident, that, if they can change once, they can change again, and may thus be perpetually changing; so that it would be impossible to know what true morality is, for it would be one thing to-day and another tomorrow. I hold that the principles of morality are perfect, and hence can not change without becoming immorality." Thus reasoned the "unconverted heathen;" and thus closed his controversy with the Christian missionary. The reader can judge which had the better end of the argument.
VIII. THE BIBLE SANCTIONS WIFE-CATCHING.
In the Book of Judges (Judges xxi. 20) we learn that the Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin were instructed in the art of wife-catching. "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man a wife" (Judges xxi. 21). "And they did so." Now it was certainty rather shameful business for God's oracles to be engaged in,—that of advising rude and lustful men to hide in ambush in the vineyards, and, when they saw the young maidens approaching, to pounce upon them while dancing, and carry or drag them off without a moment's warning. It was called catching a wife; but, in this age of a higher moral development, it would not be designated by such respectful language, but would be placed in the list of crimes, and punished as a State-prison offense.
IX. THE CRIMES OF TREACHERY AND ASSASSINATION.
In the fourth chapter of Judges we find a case of barbarity related, comprising the double crime of treachery and murder, for which a parallel can scarcely be found in the annals of any heathen nation, and which appears to have received the approval of the Jewish Jehovah. It is exhibited in the history of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. We read, that as a poor fugitive by the name of Sisera was fleeing from "the Lord's holy people," who were pursuing him with uplifted swords with the determination to kill him, not for any crime whatever, but because he professed a different religion, and refused to worship their cruel God (for they seemed to consider themselves authorized by their God to exterminate all nations who dissented from their creed),—as this fugitive was flying from the swords of the worshipers of Jehovah, Jael went out to meet him (Sisera), and said unto him, "Turn in, my lord: turn in to me. Fear not." And, when he had turned in unto her in the tent, she covered him with a mantle, and feigned much pity for him; and, when he asked for a little water, she gave him milk: but, as soon as he had fallen asleep, "she took a nail of the tent and a hammer, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temple, and fastened it into the ground." Who can read this deed of treachery and cruelty without emotions of horror, and thrilling chilly sensations at the heart? And yet Jehovah, the God of Israel, is represented as saying, "Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be" (Judg. v. 24). Now, what is this but a premium offered for treachery and cold-blooded murder? I believe, with Lord Bacon, that "it is better to believe in no God than to believe in one possessing dishonorable traits of character;" and I can not see how it would be possible to ascribe more dishonorable traits of character to any being than are ascribed to the Jewish Jehovah. And this is the God the orthodox world wants put into the Constitution of the United States; but most unfortunate for our progress in morals and civilization would it be to adopt such a measure. And this is the book which the churches are constantly appealing to the people for aid to circulate among the heathen as necessary to improve their morals, and save their souls; but no other book could be put into their hands so completely calculated to deaden and obliterate every feeling of humanity, every natural impulse of justice and mercy, and kindle feelings of murder and revenge. Such a book should not be admitted into their families to corrupt their natural sense of right and justice.
I will cite another case evincing the same spirit, and teaching the same kind of moral lesson. We are told in Judges (chap. iii.) that the Lord sent a man by the name of Ehud to murder Eglon, King of Moab, and sent him with a lie upon his lips. As he came near to the king, he said unto him, "I have a message from God unto thee" (Judg. iii. 20, 21). And, while conversing with him under the guise of a friend, he drew out a dagger which he had concealed under his garments, and plunged it into his body, and killed him. And the Lord, "the God of Israel," is represented as raising up the bloody-minded Ehud for the special purpose of perpetrating this shocking deed of murder. To circulate a book among the heathen, detailing such revolting deeds of cruelty as consistent with sound morality, and approved by a just and righteous God, is an evil of no small magnitude.
I will cite one other case illustrative of Bible intolerance. It is found in the history of the godly Phinehas, related in the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers. He was one of "The Lord's peculiar people," who were such violent sectarians that they showed no mercy towards any nation or any individual who dissented from their creed. Hence, when it was reported to Moses and his God that Zimri and his wife Cozbi had become converts to the Baal-peor religion, they sent Phinehas after them with deadly weapons to slay them for heresy; and he chased them into their tents, and slew them with a javelin upon their own hearthstone for no crime whatever against the moral law, but for simply exercising their God-given right to worship God according to the dictates of their consciences. It was a feeling of sectarianism, intolerance, and bitter animosity which prompted the act. We can not wonder, therefore, that Christian Bible believers, who have chosen this book as "the supreme rule of their conduct," should have written their history in blood, and that the whole pathway of their pilgrimage is strewn with the bones of their murdered victims, who were slain for being true to their consciences, and for believing in and worshiping God according to their convictions of right and duty.
In addition to the long list of crimes already enumerated as being sanctioned by the Bible, we will name a few others:—