The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1849-07-11
THE BIBLE.

4 zssa g,..F a. : 90
. '"a The Bible, supPosins i to be other than II
apretends to be, presents us with singular phe-
iomenon in The space witch il occupies through.
7ilaao out fhe continued history of literature. we
sce nothing like It (; aud it may we'll perplex
5ssfhe infidel 10 account for it. Nor need his sa
50 .sSaciiy iisdain 10 enter little more deeply in
Ills possible causes than he is usually inclined
Il, 90. IL has mol been given to any other book
20 of religiori thus to triumph national pre-
Itdice, and lodge itself securely in the heart of
great communllies-varying by every conceiva-
SIX gble diversity Of language, race, manners Gus.
rs fo1ns, and, indeed, agreeing in nothing hut
ration for itself. II adap,s itself with ia
als@iiiy 10 the revolutions of thought and feeling
shakes TO pieces all things else; and fiexi.
S bly acconinodaies itself to the progress OF SO.
rsciesy and the changes Of civilization Even
u ysotif,Iests The Reorganization Of old nations
= 1tH formation Of ne do moi effect the confnui-
~ 5aylofi,s empire It lays hold Of the new as OF
kshe old, and transmigraies with The spirit OF hu
-rnanity; attracting to ITSELF by its own moral
s.r s,ower. 10 aifihe communities il enters. cease
intensify Of effort for its propagation illus
-.so sra,idn. and defence.
81 q Other systems of religion are usually deli.
> cato exotics. and viii not bear transpan,ing.
s.asFhe gods offhe nations are local deIlles, and
rTsreluctanfiy quit their native soil at all events
s,ssbey patroaise only their favorlte races, and
s4 perish at once when the tribe or nation Of their
sworsbippers become extinct. often long before.
. ~ Noshing, indeed, is more difficult than t" make
oreisuers feel any thing hut the utmost inditier.
,raence fexcrpt as an object fphilosoPhc curlosI-
aa aY1 about the religion of other nations and no
.a.spaften Of their national literature is regarded
y us more tedious or unattracive than that which
- treats oftheir theology. The elegant my,holo-
~, gies Of Greece and Rome made no Prosclytes
among other nations, and fell hoPeless'y, the
ssn,oment they fell. The Koran of Mohomet
Ehas, Ii is true, been propagated ny the sword
sssb,ait has been propagated by nothing else and
Its dominion has l,een limited to those nations
who could.not rcpiy.to that logic.
cEss 1.-THE Bible be false, the facility with which
1T oyereapst the otherwise impassable bnunda.
-sfies0f race and cline, and domici'iates itself
among So many different nations, is ass'lredly
far moro striking and wonderful proof othuman
.signorance, prrverseness, and stupidity than is
afforded in the limited prevalence of even the
most abject supersiiiions; or, if it really has
merits which, tiongha fable, have enabled it
10 impose 50 con,prehensively and varionsly on
mankind, wonderful indeed must have been the
skill, in It's composi.ien so wonderful that even
the n6del himself ought never to regard it but
with the profonndest reverence, as far tpo sue.
,cesfnl and sublime.
aIn his las, illness, few days he foro bio
deaIh, Sir W Sanilas4ed Mr. Lockhartllo read
10 him. Mr.. Lockhart inquired what ftook he
would like. "Can you ask !" said Sir Walter
Ia There is but one" and requested him to
read chapter Of lhe Gospel Of John. When
win an equal genius, to whom all the I'd aims oil
fiction are az TO him, say the like of so he pro.
fassed revelation, originating among rice and
- associated with history and cline as{ore'yn
asihnss connected with the birth placef OF The
Bible, from those connected with the ancestry
Of Sir Walter Scott, Can we. by any stretch OF
imagination, suppose some Walter Scott OF
new race in Australia or South Africa, saying
fi,e same Of The Yedas or Koran =
am Edinburg Rerier.