The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1848-04-19

World. The ideas ol God entertained b.
all Ihe mosl ill1sirigas. and mort ingeni-
lous natsons 81 unfif0ily were weak and
absurd. The Prrsisns orshiped The Sun |;
lIhe Egyptians believed IN An innnmerable
muliilude of gods, and NorshiPed not On.
IDS oxen. erorsdilrs. Digs and eals. hnI G.
ven gahles and onions. Thr Greeks il.
vented poctical religion. and sdnrrd men
and women. firlnfs and Eices; sir. water
and Gre. and everything that vivid ma.
ginallon rould peTsonify. Almost al The
Greek Philosophers reasoned and mrdi-
tailed upon he nature Of The gods; but
scarcely ans ofIhem rrfierIed enough even
TO imagine that there Vas but one God.
and not one Of them ever conceived Of
Him as the Crezsof Of The world. Clce-
70 has collected IngeIher all their opinions
upon The nature Of the gods. and plonOun.
ced them more like the dreams Of madmrn
than The sober judgment &c wise men. In
the fnl book Of OEid's Meiamorph0ses.
llieIe is an account Of the change 81 cha.
Eos IN the world. Before the sea aud the
earth. aud lIle sks that surrounds all things,
(says Ovid there was thing called Cha
os, and sumo oi the gods the does mol
know which, separated frum each other
the elements of this Chaos, and turned
them into the world; thus far and no far
ther could human reason extend. But the
first words Of The Bible are In the be-
ginning God created the heavens and The
earth" The blessrd and The sublime
idea Of God, as The Creator ofibe universe,
the source Of all human happiness, for
which all ,hs Sages aud Philosophers 81
Greece aud Rome CROPPED in darkness and
never found, il recalled in The first verse
Of the book Of Genesis. Icall il the source
Of sill human virtue and happiness; be-
cause when we have attained The cnncep.
tin of BeIng. who by the mere act oil
his will, created the world. il would FOL.
low as an irresistible consequence, even
il We were not told that the same Being
must also be the Governor of His own
rrealion-that Man. with all other things,
was also created by Him, and must hold
obedience to Ills will. In the 6rsi chap
, ter of the Bible there is short and rapid
|. historical narrative ofthc manner in which
, the " GRID aud Man were made--of iht
j condition upon which happiness and i'm
mortality was bestowed. nnon nnr FIRST M,
rcnis-nf their iraDsgression OF tins coadi'
iion--of the punishment, denounced upon
lhem-and the ptemise Of redemption
from il by the " Seed of the Woman"
There are, and always have been,
where the Holy Scriptures have beer
known, petty vikings, and self.conceilcd
A reasoners, who cavl al some Of the par,i'
r cular details Of this narration. Even
: serious inquirers after truth have some
times been perplexcd TO believe that there
should have been evening and morning
. before the existence of the Sun-,ha, man
:, should be made Of clay. and woman from
: the ribs Of man-that they should have
> been forbidden 10 ca, an apple, and fol
!, disobedience 10 tina, Injunction, be with al
|. their pos,erity doomed TO death, and .ha
|, eating an apple could give the knowledg.
4 Of good and eyil,"-that serpent shoult
speak and beguile woman. All this Il
;. undoubtedly marvellous. and above our com
=. prehension. Much of i, is clearly figura
tive and allegoricai; nor is it easy to dis
. tinguish what part Of il it TO be understout
:, in literal and not in a symbolIcal sense
;. But all that il imports us TO know or un
tersiand is plain i: the great and essentia
:, principles, upon which eur duties and en-
jovmenis depend, are involved in no oh
security. A God, the Creator and Cover
;, nor of the Universe, is revealed in all Hl'
: = majesty and power; the terms upon which
. lie gave existence aud happiness TO III,
! common parents Of mankind are exposed
;, to us 10 the clearest light. Disobedienct
= to the will Of God, was the offence fol
:, which he was precipi.a,ed from Paradise
= obedience to the will Of God is the merI
: by which Paradise is 10 he regained.-
:, Here, then, is the foundation Of all moral
:, i,y,-,he source of all our obligations. al
= accountable creatures. This idea Of tn
! transcentlcnt power Of the. Supreme Beln!
= is essentially connected with that by whicl
:, the whole duty of man is summed up
~ obedience 10 His will. have observer
" that natural reason might suffice tor al
obscure perception, but not for the clea
=. :. discovery of these truths. Even Cicer
y y. could start to his own mind the question
>, y Whether Justice could exist upon cart
IL 10 unless founded upon piety! but could nc
- settle il to his own satisfaction. The ra
.. of Divine ligh, contained in the principle
q. that justice has no other foundation tina
~ piety, could make its way to the soul
~, :" the heather, but there il was extinguishe
=, II in the low, unsettled and inconsistent nj
:" tons which were the only foundations I
:" Ms pie,v. How could his pieiy be pun
!, or sound. when he did no, know whe,h'
:" there was one Godor thousand,--wheil
r. :. er he. or they, had or had not any conceI
:, in the formation Of the world. and whell