The Hindoos, Egyptians, Persians, Chaldeans, Jews, and Mahomedans, and various other nations, claim to have had a special revelation of God's will communicated to them for the benefit of the whole human race. But the following facts and arguments will tend to show that no such revelations have ever been made, and that there is none necessary:—

We will inquire, in the first place, what a divine revelation would be. Coming from a perfect being, it would of course be perfect, and perfectly adapted to the moral and spiritual wants of the whole human race. Such a revelation would be so clear, explicit, and unequivocal in its language with respect to every doctrine, principle, and precept, and every statement of fact, that no person of ordinary mind could possibly misunderstand it; and no two persons could differ for a moment with respect to the meaning of any text embraced in it. It would need no priest and no commentator to explain it; and, if any attempt should be made to explain it, it would only "darken counsel," render the matter more obscure, and would amount to the blasphemous assumption that Omniscience can be enlightened, and his works improved. And a divine revelation should be communicated to the whole human race; for, if restricted to one nation, it would render God obnoxious to the charge of partiality. And, in order to make it practicable to communicate it to all nations, it would be necessary to comprehend it in a universal language constructed for the purpose, or else impart it to the world through all the three thousand languages in use by different nations and tribes. But, as such a revelation has never been made or known on the earth, it is at once evident that no such revelation has ever been communicated to man by Infinite Wisdom.

II. REVELATION FOR ONE AGE AND NATION NO REVELATION FOR ANOTHER.

A revelation issued two or three thousand years ago could be no revelation for this age. The Rev. Jeremiah Jones admits that "a revelation can only be a revelation to him who receives it," and can not be made use of to convince another (Canon, p. 51). Bishop Burnet admits that a revelation to one man is no revelation to another. You can neither see nor feel a revelation made to another person. You can merely see the marks on the paper on which he has recorded what he claims to have been a revelation to him. And this is all the proof you can have in the case, which is no proof at all.

III. A REVELATION ON THE BRAIN CALLED REASON.

I know that God has inscribed a revelation on my brain called reason, as it is ever present with me. Hence I know that it was designed for me. But I can not have this testimony with regard to a written revelation, as it was not communicated to me. Hence, as a matter of certainty and safety, I should hold to my own revelation in preference to any other.

I can only be certain of my own revelation. Indeed I can not know that any other revelation was designed for me, because a dozen revelations are brought forward by different nations for my acceptance; and I can not determine to an absolute certainty which is divine and which is human. To settle the matter, I must have another revelation made expressly to me to inform me which is the true revelation. To save this extra labor, I might as well have had the original revelation itself.

IV. THE HUMAN BRAIN SUPERIOR TO ANY REVELATION.

As an idiot can not be made to understand a revelation, it is evident that a revelation presupposes a rational mind for its reception; otherwise the revelation would be perfectly useless. Hence it is evident the brain must be right before the revelation is given, or it will not be able to understand it. This makes the brain superior to, and of higher authority, than revelation.

The moment we begin to reason on the revelation of the Bible, which we are compelled to do to determine which is the true one, that moment we transfer the authority of the Bible to the brain, and the brain thus becomes its judge and jury. The reason sits in judgment over the Bible, and is thus proved to be superior to it. This is realized in the experience of every man who is superior to an idiot; and thus the question of Bible authority and superiority is at once and for ever settled. It is proved to be inferior to reason, and subordinate to it, and dare not advance a step beyond it.

V. INFALLIBLE REVELATION IMPOSSIBLE.

A Bible or revelation could only be infallible to a man or woman of infallible understanding; that is, to an infallible being. And, as no such being has ever existed, it is evident that no infallible revelation has ever been issued.

VI. EVERY THING MUST BE INFALLIBLE.

No infallible revelation could be of any practical use to any person unless all the circumstances connected with it were infallible. The language in which it is written must be infallible; the person receiving it must be infallible; and the reader, or his understanding, must also be infallible. But, as no such state of things has ever existed, it follows that no infallible revelation has ever been given to man, and is absolutely impracticable.

VII. NO DIVINE REVELATION WITHOUT A SERIES OF MIRACLES.

A divine revelation must be miraculously inspired; and then it must be miraculously preserved from the slightest alteration by the translator or the transcriber, and from any error on the part of the printer. And, finally, the reader's mind and understanding and judgment must be miraculously guarded from any mistake or misunderstanding or wrong conclusions relative to every text in the book. Otherwise there is no absolute certainty that the revelation is a true one, or superior to s mere human production.

VIII. OUR MORAL AND RELIGIOUS DUTIES CAN NOT BE LEARNED FROM ANY BIBLE OR REVELATION.

A critical investigation of the matter will show that our moral and religious duties are not half of them enumerated in the Bible; and to suppose that God would reveal only a portion of them, and leave us in the dark with respect to others, and compel us to find them out by chance and conjecture, is to trifle with Omniscience, and assume that he is short-sighted and imperfect.

IX. NO MORAL DUTY CLEARLY DEFINED BY THE BIBLE.

As the circumstances of each case of moral duty differ from every other case, so our courses of action must be different. Hence revelation, to be of any practical use, should have foreseen those circumstances, pointed them out, and instructed us how to act in the case. But this is not done in any case. We will illustrate: We are enjoined by the Bible to "bring up a child in the way he should go;" but that way is not pointed out or defined. We are not told which one of the thousand churches he should join; we are not told, when a man's leg is broken, how it should be mended; we are not told what means we should use to restore the sick to health, nor instructed as to the best means to be used for the preservation of health and life. And, as these are among the first and most important duties, we should have been instructed as to the best means to be used for that purpose; but these things are omitted, and left to the province of reason. There is no case in which we are not compelled to make reason our supreme judge to decide how we shall practice the duties of revelation; and thus revelation is made a servant or subsidiary agent.

Christians sometimes tell us, "Give us something better in the place of our religion before you take it from us." But the Bible tells them, "Cease to do evil [before you] learn to do well." Doom error to destruction, and truth will spring out of the ashes. What would you think of a man who should say to a physician, "Stop, sir! before you administer that medicine to my child, I want to know what you are going to let it have in place of its pains and aches"? We do not propose or desire to destroy any religion as a whole, but only the deleterious weeds which are choking and poisoning the healthy plants. We do not wish to put down or arrest the progress of any truth.

The clergy sometimes assert that "we could not distinguish right from wrong, but for the Bible." And was nothing known to the world about right and wrong, or the means of distinguishing between them, during the two thousand years which elapsed before the Bible was written? Christians place Moses, its first writer, about fourteen hundred years before Christ, while the Bible dates back 4004 B.C. And then what about those millions of the inhabitants of the globe who never had our Bible? And millions of them never had a Bible of any kind. Are they destitute of moral perception? On the contrary, reliable authority, and even Christian writers, assure us that the morals of many of those nations will put to shame the morals of any nation professing the religion of Christ. Take, for example, the Kalaos tribe of Africa, who appear to have no formal religion whatever; and yet, as Dr. Livingstone informs us, they maintain strict honesty in all their dealings with each other, and have made considerable progress in the arts and manufactures. They have never had a Bible or revelation of any kind. Look also at the inhabitants of the Arru Islands. "These people," says Dr. Livingstone, "appear to have no religion whatever; and yet they live in brotherly peace, and respect each other's rights,"—the rights of property in the fullest sense. The Rev. W. H. Clark, speaking of the Yoruba nation in Central Africa, says, "Their moral and even their civil rights in some respects would put to shame any Christian nation in the world." We might present a hundred more cases of this kind; but these three cases are sufficient to show that nations witt no Bible, no revelation, and even no religion, transcend any Christian nation with respect to strict honesty and a practical sense of right and wrong. How absurd, therefore, is the idea shown to be, that a knowledge of the Christian Bible is essential to the knowledge and practice of good morals! (See chap. 50.)

X. OUR DUTIES ARE ALL RECORDED IN THE BIBLE OF NATURE.

There is not a moral or religious duty that is not inscribed on the tablet of man's soul or consciousness which he would not soon learn if his attention were not constantly directed to, and his mind occupied with, the erroneous theories of the dark, illiterate ages.

The God of nature has endowed every human being with two sensations,—one of pleasure, and the other of pain,—which serve as guides in all his actions, both physical and moral. They stand as sentinels at the door of his soul to warn him of the approach of evil of every kind. The moment their kingdom is invaded, they raise an alarm, which he soon learns he must heed or suffer a penalty. If he drinks intoxicating drinks, or improperly indulges his appetites and propensities in any way, he learns, by suffering, that is the penalty affixed to the violation of the law of health, and that he can not escape it, and that no one can suffer for him, or make any "atonement for his sins." If he attempts to handle fire, he is soon apprized that he is meddling with something that will injure him; if he commits a moral wrong against a neighbor, it re-acts upon himself in various ways, as explained in Chap. 46. It thus acts as a two-edged sword, which cuts both ways, punishes both the victim and the perpetrator. Man learns by experience that crime will not only injure him, but, in many cases, will destroy him.

On the other hand, when he practices virtue, she greets him with her smiles, and fills his soul with pleasure. Let me illustrate:

The bells in some city toll the alarm of fire at midnight. In a few minutes thousands of men and boys are congregated on the spot, many of them half-dressed, and without hats or shoes, in order to aid a fellow-being in rescuing his dwelling from the all-devouring element. What prompts them to this act? It is not an injunction of their Bible. No: it was the well-spring of philanthropy leaping up through their souls that prompted to the deed, and not a written Bible. Again: why is a mother's loving, watchful care ever exercised for the protection and welfare of her child? She will endure almost any hardship or privation which its welfare requires. Why does she do this?

Her Bible is silent on the subject. It is the impulse of nature welling up from the fountain of maternal affection which prompts to these acts of loving care,—to this moral duty. And this is true of all the other moral duties of life. They are all imbibed al her fountain,—at the fountain of Nature. A man with a good moral development needs no revelation to teach him what is right, no Bible to prompt him to the performance of his duties. We rejoice "with joy unspeakable" that the world is fast learning this moral axiom. The Bible truly teaches us that our moral duties are revealed in the book of nature (Chap. 14). And Christian writers also admit this. Tertullian says, "Why pain yourselves in searching for a divine law while you have that which is common to mankind, and engraven upon the tablet of nature?" This is a wonderful admission for a Christian writer to make, as it virtually concedes there is no moral or religious necessity for a written Bible or revelation.

XI. A DIVINE REVELATION ADVERSE TO HUMAN PROGRESS.

One argument against the belief in a divine revelation is found in the fact that it would tend to paralyze human effort, and thus make man a mental sloth. If a man could find all his moral and religious duties "cut and dried," and laid out before him, he would be thus robbed of the motive to study and learn his duties by the exercise of his mental powers. And having no incentives to healthy, energetic action, he would become a drone and mental sloth. We can not believe God ever made such a blunder as this.

XII. A DIVINE REVELATION WOULD IMPLY IMPERFECTION ON THE PART OF DEITY.

It is admitted that no revelation was ever given to man for more than two thousand years after creation. This would imply that it was forgotten by Infinite Wisdom, or else the moral necessity for it overlooked. Either assumption would make God an imperfect and short-sighted being. It would appear like an after-thought. After man had lived so many years upon the earth, it just occurred to God that he had not given him a written revelation instructing him what to do and believe. The assumption of a divine revelation presupposes such a blunder as this on the part of Omniscience, and is therefore derogatory to his character.

Now, we ask seriously, Do not the foregoing facts and arguments show that there is no moral or religious necessity for a divine revelation to man? Let the believers in the necessity of the Bible, or a divine revelation, show their fallacy, or for ever abandon the old mythological assumption that it is necessary.

Another conclusive argument: A mind that could comprehend a truth divinely revealed could originate that truth. We will give an illustrative proof: A teacher works out a mathematical problem on the blackboard for the benefit of his school. Now, every teacher and every logical mind will admit that every pupil, possessing the mental capacity to understand the mathematical truth thus revealed, could, by his own unaided powers, have developed it himself sooner or later. In like manner, the mind that could comprehend a truth revealed from God, could originate it without the aid of revelation. Hence revelation would be worse than useless, as it would furnish a pretext for mental or intellectual sloth, and thus have a tendency to stop human progress by doing for us what we could and should do ourselves. A logical investigation of the case will show that we possess the mental capacity to discover every truth we need, whether it be scientific, moral, or religious; and such exercise furnishes the only means to keep the mind in a healthy condition. And thus the problem is proved again.