Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1841-03-18

voting aud unnatural c~rueiiies. Dreadful tor
lures were inflicted OF their bodies, TO appeasc
their offended deites human victims. IN vast
numbers. were sacrificed. and even their in
iants and little children were thrown into the
flames, rs an offering to the idol which they
adorcd.
The McNicans were accustomed to treat
themselves with the most inhuman austeritics.
thinking that the diabolical rage of their del
ties would be nppeased by human blood. 1T
makes one s%hudder,' says Clavlgcro. 10 read
the austeritiesw which they prac,iscd upon them
selves, either in atonement for their transgres-
sions, or IN preparation for their festivals
They mangled their flesh as if it had been in.
sensible, and let their blood run in such pro-
fusion, as II IT had been a supcrfuous fluid in
the body. They pierced themselves with the
shapes, splnes of the aloe, and bored several
parts of their bodies, particularly their ears,
lips, tongues, and the fat arms and legs
The priests OF Baal, we are told in the book of
Kings. cut themselves with knives and lam
Gets, till the blood gushed out upon them
When the Carthaginians were vanquished by
Agothoclcs, king Of Sicily, they conceived
that their god Jupiter Latialis, was displeascd
with their conduct. In order to appease him,
and propltiatc his favor, they sacrificed to him,
at once, fco hundred sons of the first noblemen
OF their state. On the affairs Of Mexico, toenfy
thousand human beings are said TO have been
sacrificed every year and yffy thousand were
annually offered up in the varions parts ofthat
empire, accompanied with circumstance Of
such dreadful cruelty and horror, as to make
us shudder at the recital. In Hindostan, even
at The preseat day, several thousands of wo-
men are annually burned on the funeral piles
OF their deceased husbands, as victims to the
religion they profess; besides multitudes of
other human victims, which are crushed to
death under the wheels of that Internal engine
which supports the idol Juggernaut. Were
the one hundredth part of the denominations
which have been perpetrated under the system
OF idolatry, in those countries where it has pre-
vailed, to be fully detailed, il would exhibit n
picture of internal agency, at which the mind
would shrink back with horror and would
form n striking commentary on the divine dec
l%aration, that the dark places ofthe earth are
full OF the habitations of cruelty
1t appears, then, that a violation Of the first
precept OF the moral law IS the greatest crime
of which a rational creature can he guilty =
for it is the source of all the other crimes which
have entaIlcd Indebtedness on mankind, and
strewed the earth with devastation and car
mage. 1t isa comprehensive summary ofwick-
edness; which includes pride, falsehood, bias
phcmy, malignity, rebellion, hatred of moral
excellence, and the basest ingratitude towards
Him from whom we derived our being, and on
whom we depend for all our e%nioyments. 1t
is a crime which, above all others, has a ten
dency TO degrdde the character of man for
where ii abounds, the human mind is sunk INTO
the lowest state, both of moral and of intel
l%ectual debasement. What a pitiful and hu,
initiating sight it is, and what emotions of as
tonishment must il excite in the mind of an
archange!, TO behold a rational and immortal
intelligence cutting down an oak in the for
est, burning part Of 1t in the fire, baking bread
and roasting flesh upon its embers, and form
ing the residue into an idol, falling down and
worshipping ii, and saying. Deliver me, foi
thou art my God = And when we behold the
same degraded mortal sacrificing the children
of his own bowels before this stump of a tree
can we refrain from eXclaiming, in the Ian,
guage of the prophet, Be astonished, O yo
heavens, at this, and be We horribly afraid -
Were idolatryt TO become unirersntin the world
/, there is no crime, no species Of cruelty, nc
/, moral abomination within the compass of tho
human heart 10 devise, but would soon be per
petrated without n blush, in the open face oI
, day. Had not God, in his mercy, comnuni,
r Gated a revelation of his will, in order to coun
5 tcract the influence Of pagan t~heology-in.
! stead of cultivating the powers Of our minds
and expanding our conception of the Almigh
ty, by a contemplation of his word and works
we might, al this moment, have been sunk
/ into the lowest depths Of moral degradation
been prostratlng ourselves, n alteration, before
5 a stupid OK or a block ofmarble, and %sacrfic.
ing our sons and daughters to an Internal Mo
= loch. 1t is one Of the glo'ies of revelation
and "A gtr,ttu rrp,I If IL .1tytna DFtUtu that al
4 It's promises and threatenlngs, its admonitlon'
Q and fcprout-. lis doctrines, lis laws and ordln,
r anccs, are directly opposed to every idolatrou,
f practlce and there Is not a single instance il
: which the least countcuance Is gwen tr any o
the denominations of the pagan world.
r an the present age, aud IA the country il
which ~ reside, ~e are Ia littlc danger OF re
: lapsiug mto the PRACTICES to which have nov
1 adAnllnl Rm1 LhnLaLrH ~ moi cnnhned % n.