The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine" Revelations

by Kersey Graves; Lydia M. Graves

5. Again he says he went to Jerusalem, and Barnabas took him by the hand, and brought him to the apostles (Acts ix. 27).

6. And then, again, to the Galatians he declares he saw none of the apostles,n"save James, the Lord's brother" (Gal. i. 13).

7. In 1 Cor. x. 35 he says, "I please all men in all things;" but in Gal. i. 10 he says, "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of God." Here, then, is another palpable contradiction.

8. In Rom. xi. 5 he speaks of the "election of grace;" but in Tit. xi. 9 he says the grace of God has appeared to all.

9. In his letter to Timothy he says, "God will have all men to be saved" (1 Tim. ii. 4): but in Rom. ix. 22 he speaks of "the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction;" and in Rom. ix. 27 he says, "A remnant shall be saved." All will not be saved if only a remnant are saved.

10. When about embarking for Rome he stated, "I perceive the voyage will be of much hurt and damage to life" (Acts xxvii. 10); yet on the voyage he declared, "There shall be no loss of any man's life among you" (Acts xxvii. 22). An "inspired apostle" and oracle of God should be punctiliously accurate in all cases, or all his statements will be brought under distrust, and it will be impossible to arrive at the truth in the case; or, in any case, all will be involved in doubt and conjecture.

11. Paul's errors in doctrinal inculcations are numerous. His confession to the Corinthians, that, "being crafty, I caught you with guile" (2 Cor. xii. 16), sets forth a bad example, and indicates a bad system of morals, which is calculated to have a demoralizing effect upon Bible readers and believers, especially the heathen and the youth of Christian countries.

12. And his statement that the truth of God "hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory" (Rom. iii. 7), is still more demoralizing in its tendencies. Many have looked upon it as a justification for lying. It seems to imply that lying is all right if done for the glory of God; and as he states in 1 Cor. x. 31, that whatsoever we do should be done to the glory of God, it logically follows that lying is justifiable in all cases. And Mr. Higgins states that such doctrine had the effect to reduce lying to a system among the early Christians, and that they considered it a duty to lie when the interest of the Church could be promoted by it. A book inculcating such bad morality should not be circulated amongst the heathen.

13. Paul's reason for recommending a life of single blessedness is deserving of notice. He says the unmarried man careth for the things of the Lord; but the married man careth for the things of the world,—"how he may please his wife" (1 Cor. vii. 33). The last act he named here does not trouble men much nowadays, at least after the honeymoon is passed; and a man who considers God worthy of more attention than wives, as Paul did, would not be likely to bestow a very high appreciation on the latter. But the greatest objection to the doctrine is, that, if practically carried out in accordance with his recommendation, there would soon be no wives to please. 14. We must notice another objectionable doctrine of Paul with respect to marriage. Instead of acknowledging an honorable and virtuous motive for marriage, he would tolerate it as the least of two evils; that is, as a means of mitigating a burning lust (1 Cor. vii. 9). This makes marriage a mere animal attraction,—the union of a man and woman drawn together from lustful motives. Paul advises bachelors not to marry or touch a woman, but remain single like himself (1 Cor. vii? 1). But such advice, if practically complied with, would soon depopulate the globe. If not so strongly adverse to human nature, it would doubtless ere this have filled the world, first with Shakers, and then with the graves of an extinct race.

15. Paul says to the Romans (Rom. vii. 17), "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I prove... that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing." Here are taught two erroneous doctrines: (1) The essentially corrupt and sinful nature of the human body, taught anciently by the Hindoo ascetics; (2) that sin or the Devil operates on the mind independent of the human will or volition, which savors of fatalism. And his statement that some vessels are made to honor, and some to dishonor (Rom. ix. 21), seems unequivocally to set forth the same doctrine. Many commentators have puzzled their brains over it to make it mean something else, but with ill success the declaration is not, that men become vessels of honor and dishonor, but that they are made so.