{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38372/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38372","id":"gutenberg_38372","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38372","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Study and teaching","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Politics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Moral education","Poverty -- Moral and ethical aspects"],"text":"Produced by David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHARACTER OF THE JEW BOOKS\n\nBeing, A Defence of The Natural Innocence of Man, Against Kings and\nPriests or Tyrants and Impostors\n\nBY PHILANTHROPOS\n\nLondon:\n\nPRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY R. CARLILE, 55, FLEET STREET.\n\n1821.\n\nPrice Twopence.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHARACTER OF THE JEW BOOKS\n\nJustice is due to all men; it is a gem that sheds a brilliant radiance\nupon the tyrant and the slave, upon the rich and the poor; Justice is\nin the moral world what the sun is in the physical, one illuminates\nthe intellectual, the other the terrestrial system. By the standard of\njustice measure the rulers of the earth; try their actions, calculate\ntheir characters, weigh their governments in the balance of justice;\nwhen analyzed by this test and found unalloyed, grant unmeasured praise;\nif deficient, if tyranny, villainy, bigotry and cruelty preponderate,\ncondemn them, and consign them to the execration of all mankind.\nNotwithstanding the exertions of Philosophy, and the undaunted\nperseverance of _a few men_, barbarity, cupidity and bigotry, generally\nprevail; the numerous devotees, the thronged congregation of rogues,\nslaves, and fools at the shrine of avarice, too frequently paralyze\nthe efforts of liberal men; mean, pitiful, despicable traffic, has\nintroduced mercantile ideas, and consequently _this nation of hucksters\nestimates merit in money_. The rich assume to be privileged, and\nunceasingly condemn and revile the industrious poor, as being vicious,\nimmeasurably criminal, and abandoned to every moral offence: regardless\nof themselves, their families, their society, and their souls; let us\nenquire if those charges are just, if the poor are degenerated, if they\nhave abandoned themselves to contempt, to degradation, to confinement,\nand to death; _let us endeavour to ascertain if the laws of nature are\nchanged, let its endeavour to ascertain if the precepts of reason are\nrevoked, let us endeavour to ascertain if death is preferred to life_.\nThe poor are the most numerous, the most industrious, and the most\nuseful part of society; should this portion, this staple part, this\nlever of the nation be so deserving of contempt, of execration, and of\ncondemnation, as some puny-minded, rickety-headed fools would have us\nbelieve, much might be feared for the continued indissolubility of the\nnation; such as have monopolized the labour of the poor, and enjoy\nthe rank of the privileged rich, incessantly insist that severe laws,\nvindictive tortures, and daily sanguinary executions would insure\ntranquility endangered, preserve religion scoffed, suppress blasphemy\nencouraged, strengthen monarchies loathed, despised, scorned, hated and\nexecrated. The passions of distrust, revenge, fear, hatred, malice and\ncruelty distract the rich, that thrive by treachery, hypocrisy, tyranny\nand rapacity; conscious of turpitude, stung by remorse, alarmed for the\nsafety of ill-gotten gains, the robbers and impostors are afraid the\npeople will claim a restitution of rights and property.\n\nIn investigating the origin of crime perhaps it will appear that the\nrobbery and hypocrisy of King, and Priests, and Peers, have been the\nexciting cause, the immoderate agents, the operative principle, that\ncalled into action the criminal intention imputed to the poor; if such\nis proved, could any thing be more cruel, more shocking, more outrageous\nof common decency, than for the rich and privileged robbers, usurpers\nand impostors, to accuse the people of crimes they have been parties to,\nthat they have promoted by rapine, encouraged by example; crimes that\nthey may in effect have committed, for Kings and Peers and Priests\nunblushingly practise trades of fraud, imposition, and rapine, their\ntitles admit their separation from men; experience proves they have\ninclination and capacity for any degree of villainy, the worst, the\nvilest, and the most detestable of men can invent; no disgrace can\nmove, no contempt can stagger, no scorn can lower such as pollute the\nsanctuaries of the Church and Throne, as certain places are called.\n\nSurvey man from his origin, from his birth, from his infancy, he enters\nthe word without reflection, without will, without ideas; his mind can\nbe formed, it can be moulded, it can be directed at pleasure; his\nideas, his expressions, his actions, his life, are the result of his,\neducation; his infancy, adolescence, his manhood, and his old age, are\nthe consequence of his instruction; without internal or innate idea,\nwithout any indigenous or spontaneous mind he was nothing but from\nwithout: he has no ideas, no conceptions, but such as result from\nexternal impressions; if deficient organization has deprived him of\nsight, he knows nothing of colours; of hearing, nothing of sounds; of\nboth, he is an idiot.\n\nIf a male child is shut up in a dungeon and fed through a chink, from\ntwelve months old, he would know nothing beyond his cell, nothing\nfurther than its walls; he would know nothing of Kings, or Priests,\nor Peers, or prayers, or tithes, or taxes, or blasphemy; he would know\nnothing beyond softness and hardness, roughness and smoothness, heat\nand cold; he would know nothing beyond experience, nothing but by\nexamination, and could have no conception of any thing beyond his\nhearing, seeing, touching, tasting and smelling; he would only have\nconception of such things as would be produced by a combination of his\nfew ideas; even the man in the world without information knows nothing\nabout the superstition of Mahomet, of Zoroaster, of Brahma, and an _Old\nJew_; the child in the dungeon would know nothing of the cruelty of _Jew\nMoses_, the licentious ferocity of David, or the amiable gallantry of\nSolomon; he would know nothing about the incest, the polygamy and murder\nof the Jew fellows, he would knew nothing beyond simple sensations;\nlet the experiment be continued, let the subject be placed in another\nsituation, let him be taken at ten years of age from his dungeon and\nplaced in a disused cell unfrequented by any person but his keeper,\nhis instructor, his director, a monk and a eunuch; let his keeper\nbe directed to teach him nothing but the _Jew Books_, let all his\ninformation, let all his ideas, let all his impressions be from those\nfamous books of law, of morality, and of religion; he will be taught\nthat incest, adultery, fornication, hypocrisy, drunkenness, perjury,\nindecent exposure of women, rapine, and assassinations, are acts of\nreligion, inculcated, enforced, patronized and practised, by Jew Kings\nand Jew Prophets, the chosen people of God; the subject could think\nof nothing but what resulted from his education, nothing but what was\nconsistent with his theory; he could not speak of colours never seen,\ndescribe the people never known, prefer nations never heard of. Arrived\nunder those exclusive impressions at puberty, sexual organization would\nbe developed, a new ardour, a new stimulus, a new inclination would\nact. His mind would be filled with assassinations, with butcheries,\nwith seductions and with debaucheries; now prepared, now surcharged with\nreligious precepts, let him enter the world; his mind, his impressions,\nhis actions would be formed upon the most sacred models, such as Moses,\nDavid and Solomon; he would be religiously prepossessed in favour of\nfraud, perjury, hypocrisy, incest, lust, perfidy and homicide; impressed\nwith experience, impregnated with religion, with Jew Morality and sacred\ngibberish, he would act according to his experience, to his education,\nto his religion, and to his God; now set at liberty, impelled by his\npassions, irritated by opposition to his lust, his avarice, or his\npetulancy, he would, acting consistently and religiously, commit a rape,\na robbery, or a murder, and offend against _human laws or the laws of\nreason_, and not those of religion; it would avail nothing even among\nKings, Priests and Peers, to plead the injunctions, the precepts, the\nexamples, and the dignity of Moses, of Abraham, of Lot, of Isaac, of\nDavid, or of Solomon; suppose he is under sentence of death, who brought\nhim into that situation? Is he to blame, is he the architect of his\ncase, is he the cause of his fate, is he the author of his misfortunes,\nis human nature to be blotted by such affairs, is he to be censured,\nexecrated, and despised? Oh no! he is the victim of iniquity, the\nmartyr of wrong impressions, of wrong education and of bigotry, he\nacted according to his education, to his religion and to his experience;\ninstruction in falsehood, in error, and in injustice has been the\ncause, and the blame could only be annexed to the authors of fallacious\nprinciples, interested bigots, and venal hypocrites. Any one instructed\nto follow practically the horrid dogmas set forth in the _Jew Books_\nwould soon reach the gallows, would be soon covered with crimes, would\nbe soon consigned to infamy, and the dignity of human nature would be\ntraduced, would be vilified, would be denounced by every silly fool,\nevery fanatical quack, every ignorant pretender to legislation, and\nevery Arch-hypocrite would call aloud for vengeance upon the seduced.\n\nMan knows nothing of his infancy, he knows nothing but what he is\ntaught, of the combination of ideas he has imbibed, consequently such\nas teach are answerable for the crimes, when the principles of education\nare false, and such are Kings, Priests and Legislators.\n\nImpostors unnecessarily make, religion an important feature in men's\neducation, the people are obliged to hear, to read, told to reflect upon\nsome ignorant, illiterate, confused, and cabalistical _Jew Books_*, as\nthese books contain false, cruel; lying, bloody and obscene stories, and\nhold up, as religious and moral, most indecent examples of lechery and\nmurder, so they are very improper, very dangerous books to put into the\nhands of the uneducated and of children. The _Jew Books_ will debauch\nthe wife, seduce the maid, brutalize and mislead the son; the beastly\nmaxims they inculcate, have been protected by the superstitious\nignorance, and unreflecting barbarity of former venal bigoted\nParliaments, whose ignorance would now disgrace the awl, or the spade;\nthe intelligence of the age, however deficient, scorns the Gothic\nsuperstition of our forefathers; the hypocrites endeavour to enforce the\njargon by the perversion of law, by the halter, by the torch, and by\nthe sword; the intellectual dwarfs are laughed at when they call for\neverlasting wrath, and vow eternal perdition; anathemas, eliminations,\nand maledictions are ridiculed, as well as the rogue or fool that raves\nin the pulpit for his bread; where reason has not spread her rubies,\nfalse doctrines are dangerous; impressed upon vacant minds with such\nterrific emphasis and sordid assiduity, the youth and unsuspecting are\ncorrupted; false doctrines are instilled into vacant minds, which are\nthe precursors of crime. _Eclat_ is given to the cruelties, of Moses,\nthe lewd butcheries of David, and the amours of Solomon; the Jew Books\nsay, \"God approves such acts,\" and such heroes are said to be men after\nGod's own heart: the statutes, blasphemously of course, proscribe such\nroyal adventures. Either the statutes, are irreverend and impious, or\nthe Jew Book is irreverend; law, religion, reason, and the Bible are the\nopposites of each other, so that the supporters of what is now called\nlaw, are the destroyers of the Jew Books; the destroyers of the Jew\nBooks are statute lawyers, or blasphemers, as reasoners are termed in\nant phraseology. Rare inconsistency!\n\n* Sometimes called Bibles and Testaments.\n\nMan is the creature of the instruction received; intellectual\nimpressions form his motives of action, he is necessitated to direct his\nlife according to those impressions; the mind is moulded like clay by\nthe potter, carved like marble by the sculptor; as the Jew Books contain\nthe religion and morals of children, and as they are cruel, wicked,\nand vindictive, so children have criminal propensities excited by their\nexistence; first impressions are adulterated, early habits are poisoned,\nand future life impregnated with villainy.\n\nSo far from criminality being occasioned by neglect of Bible reading,\nas the ignorant, sordid hypocrite pretends, if it was more read, and\neducation less mixed, men would be more debased, more perfidious, and\nmore sanguinary. It is a matter of fact, it is known by experience,\nthat since Bible Societies have been instituted, and Bible circulation\nwidened, crimes have increased; the people have been more cruel, more\nbrutal, more sanguinary, and more vindictive; the human mind has been\npoisoned, all the feelings of philanthropy have been blighted; if\nsuch gibberish should extend, the intelligence of the human mind will\nretrograde, and its element, a reign of Gothic ignorance predominate,\nomit the Bible part of education, and there will be fewer prostitutes,\nfewer debauchees, fewer perjurers, fewer tyrants, and fewer murderers;\nit is this part of education that pollutes and contaminates the essence\nof charity, and mildews all the flowers of intellectual cultivation;\nthis is the source of the present barbarous schemes of government,\nidolized by rogues, and allowed by fools; the Jew Books are the prolific\norigin of the cruelty, the treachery, the avarice, and bloody-mindedness\nof Kings, Peers and Priests, and all the _coterie_ of impostors; they\ncollect, they coalesce, they conspire to mislead, to dupe, to rule,\nto rob and degrade an unsuspecting and innocent people; a spontaneous\ncourse, a common object, a fellow feeling, bind together the plunderers\nand oppressors of mankind. If the people were instructed in morality, in\njustice, and in equity, they would see the robbery, the oppression, the\nintolerance, and villainy of Kings, Priests and Peers; if intelligence\nlead the people to see injustice, a spontaneous breath would remove it,\nand regal and sacked impostors cease to oppress; morality and justice\nshould be the fundamental principles of education, then would men\nannihilate the baneful despotisms of Kings, and Priests; they would\nno longer support, no longer vindicate, no longer permit to exist,\nthe canting slothful hypocrisy of voracious privileged impostors;\nsuch villains devour the produce of other men's toil, laugh at what\nthemselves profess, without care, except to propagate and to continue,\nthe simplicity, the ignorance, credulity and superstition, of a devoted,\na plundered and inoffensive people; how can men listen to the precepts,\nor be persuaded by, the example of impostors, who spend their lives in\nlicentiousness, in debauchery, in fornication, in drunkenness, and in\nsacred swindling? If men follow the example of impostors, abounding in\nnothing but infamy, they cease to have claims as citizens upon society,\nthey forfeit every claim to credit, to justice, and the laws; they are\nthe pests, the terror, and the disgrace of each other. The impostors\ndemand the people to pay attention to the Jew Books, because the Jew\nBooks recommend tribute and tithes; this code of the hypocrites is\ncalculated to advance the intolerance of despots, and rapacity of\npriests; if the people followed some Scripture examples, and adopted as\nperfection the models preached up by the priests, they would be daily\nconspiring against Kings or tyrants, slaying their brothers, sleeping\nwith their fathers' wives, debauching their sisters and daughters? in\nshort, there would, be nothing but adultery, licentiousness, perjury,\nconspiracy, cruelty, perfidy, and murder; all those crimes would be the\nconsequence of adhesion to the Jew Books; yet if the people do act like\nJew-Book heroes, if they do commit any one crime, if either avarice or\ndelusion excite to violence, they are accused of not having the fear of\nGod before their eyes, of not having attended to the _tithe-catching_\nadvice of Priests, and their books; but of being actuated by\nirreligious, profane, blasphemous, and diabolical motives; the dogmas\nof Priests and the Laws constantly dash, and while reason suffers the\n_tithe-eating corporation_ to exist, legislation must be necessarily\nimperfect; it is impossible for the people to follow the law and the\nBible; notwithstanding the suspicion of the Priests, the laws will act\nin contradiction to the Bible.\n\nMen are the creatures of education, they act consistently with what\nthey are taught; impostors and fools promulgating false principles are\namenable to reason, and they should be to laws made by the whole of\nthe people; men are criminal in consequence of a fallacious education\nadopted by regal and religious impostors, with a view of reaping other\nmeu's harvests; the object is firstly, to debase, to enslave, to\ndegrade the mind, and secondly, to plunder the victim; such scoundrels\nconstantly preach up the deficiency of human nature, that more authority\nmay be granted to those earthly saviours; a nation governed by Kings\nand Priests must be always in a state, of barbarism, of shameful\nindifference, and of crime; such nations are inhabited by an inferior\nrace of men, when it may be presumed only a few scintillations of\nPhilosophy have reached; States governed by Kings and Priests show the\nsun of reason is still below the horizon; if human nature is criminal\nin appearance, it is not so in fact, such cases are confounded with the\nerrors of educators, which are instilled into man from the moment of his\nbirth; if he is ever revengeful, vindictive, and sanguinary, attribute\nit to the licensed villains that blot the face, of the earth; reflect\nupon this you pampered; you bloated impostors, who riot upon the poor\nman's industry; you hypocrites, who carouse upon the sweat of his\nbrow, and who sack the spoil of the criminal your rapacity has created;\n_Tyrants and impostors! remember you are splendid at the expence of\nhonesty, pain, disease and death_; Give the people justice, and they\nwill be laborious; if they are laborious, they must have plenty; and\nif they have plenty, they will be honest; men are naturally innocent,\npassive and pacific; false information and injustice are the sources of\nviolence and crime; remember this, you corporate impostors and tyrants,\nand correct your own errors before you brand the innocent with infamy.\nCast the beams out of your own eyes before you shed your acrimonious\ncalumny upon the virtuous and the just.","title":"The Character of the Jew Books: Being, a Defence of the Natural Innocence of Man, Against Kings and Priests or Tyrants and Impostors","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2955}