The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-06-15
misplaced Pantbeistc attack on the Christian faith
Mr.. Thoreau 1--WE must presume soberly) says;


his shaggy body, his pipe and his crook, his nymph
| Echo and his chosen daughter iambe for the great
| god Pan is not dead, as was ruInored. Perhaps OF
all the gods of New England and OF ancient Greece
| | am most constant at his shrine.
| ''One memorable addition 10 the old mythology
| is due TO this era-the Christian fable. With what
pains, and tears, and blood, these centuries have
| woven this and added it 10 the mythology of man
| kind The Prometheus. With what miracu-
ous consent and patience, and persistency has this
mythus been stamped upon the memory of the race:
IL would as il il We're in the progress of our
mythology to dethrone Jehovah, and crown Christ
in his stead.
IF il is tragical life live, then know not
what to call il. Such story that of Jesus Christ
the history of Jerusalem, say, being part of the
Universal History. The naked, the embalmed, I'M
think of it, In Tassos poeml trust some things are
sweetly buried. Consider the snappish tenacy with
which they preach Christianity still. What are
time and space 10 Christianity eighteen hundred
years, and new world! That the humble life of "a
Jewish peasant should have force to make New
York bishop so bigoted Forty four lamps, the gift
OF kings, now burning III place called the Holy
Sepulchre--a church bell ringing-some unaffected
tears shed by pilgrim on Mount Calvary within
the week.
'''Jerusalem, Jerusalem, when forget thee, may
my right hand forget her cunning.
'''By the waters of Babylon there sat down,
and we wept when we remembered Zion
81 trust that some may be as near and dear to
Buddha, or Christ, Swedenborg, who without
the pale of their churches. II is necessary not to be
Christian 10 appreciate the beauty and significance
of the life of Christ. ! know that some will have
hard thoughts Of me, when they hear their Christ
named beside my Buddha, yet am sure that am
willing they should love their Christ more than my
Buddha, for the love is the main thing, and like
him too. Why need Christians be still intolerant
and superstitious?
s'The reading which love best is the Scriptures
of the several nations, though it happens that am
better acquainted with those of the Hndoos, the
Chinese, and the Persans, than of the Hebrews,
which haye come TO last. Give of these
Bibles, and you have silenced me for a while
We have quoted fair proportion of our authors
Panlheistic sentences, but there is another
in which he directly asserts that he considers the
sacred Books of the Brahmins in nothing inferior
to the Christian Bible. Ii was hardly necessary to
say IN addition that he is well acquainted with
the latter; the point worth considering is, rather
ought not author to make himself thoI oughly ac
qpainted with book-which, if true, is of such
transcendent importance-before uttering opinions
concerning il calculated to shock and pain many
readers, not speak of those who will be utterly
repealed by them; Can that which Milton and
Newton profoundly reverenced (and they had
studied it thoroughly be wisely turned off by
YOUTH unworthy of even consideration, Mr..
Thoreau's treatment of this subject seems revolt
ing alike to good sense and good TASTE We ask
him to weigh all he has offered with regard to the
merits of the Christian as compared with other
scriptures against the following brief extract from
the last Edinburgh Review:
1.-The Bible, supposing it other than it pretends to
be, presents us with singular phenomenon in the
space which it occupies throughout the continued
history of literature. We nothing like it; and
il may well perplex the nfdel to account for it,
Nor need his sagacity dsdan 10 enter little more
deeply into its possible than he is usually in
cned to do 1t has not been given any other book
of religion thus to triumph over national prejudices
and lodge itself securely IN the heart of great
Misunderstanding by every conceivable diversity
OF language race, manners, customs, and, indeed,
agreeing IN nothing but generation for itself. Ii
adapts itself with facility To the revolutions of
thought and feeling which shake to pieces all things
else; and teNibly accommodates itself To the pro-
gress of society and the changes of civilization.
Even conquests-the Reorganization of old nations,
the formation of new-do not affect the continuity
of its empire IL lays hold of the Of the old
and transngrates with the spirit of humanity; at
tracing to itself, by its moral power, in all the
communities II enters ceaselcss intensity of effort
for it, propagation, illustration, and defence. Other
systems of religion usually delicate exotcs, and
will not bear transpantng The gods of the
tons local delties, and reluctantly quit their
tive soil; at all events, they patronze only their fa-
yorite races, and perish at once when the tribe or
nation of their worshippers becomes extinct, often
| long before. Nothing, indeed Is more difficult than
| 10 make foreigners feel anything but the utmost
Indifference Except object of philosophic GU
riosity) about the religion of other nations; and
portion of their national literature is regarded as
| more tedious unattractve than that which treats
| of their theology. The elegant mythologies OF
4 Greece and Rome made proselytes AMONG other
nations, and fell hopelessly the moment they fell
The Koran of MahOmct has, il is true, been propa
gated by the sword; but il has been propaganda by
nothing else. and it, dominion has been limited Il
those nations who could reply that logic II the
Bible BE- false, the facility with which it overleap:
| the otherwise impossible boundaries Of race ano
cline, and domicilates itself among many diff
fcrcnt nations, IL assuredly far striking anC
| wonderful proof of human ignorance, perversenes
and stupidity than IL afforded in the limited preva
lence of the most ablect sperstitions; or, if j
| really has merits which, though fable, have ena
bled il to impose Complementary and variously
on mankind, wonderful indeed must have been tn,
skill in it, composition; wonderful that tn,
inhdel himself ought 10 regard it but will
the proioundest reverence far too successful anc
sublime fabrication to admit a thought Of scott Of
ridicule. In his last illness, few days before hi
death, Sir w. Scott asked Mr.. Lockhart TO read u
him. Mr.. Lockhart inquired what book he would
like. Can you ask . said Sir Walter; there i
but ONE; and requested him 10 read a chapter o
| the gospel Of John When will an equal genius, u
whom all the realms Of fiction az familiar a
TO him, say the like Of some professed revelation
originating among a and associated with
history and a CLINE foreign those connectc'
with the birth place Of the Bible from those of tn
ancestry Of Sir Walter Scott ! Can we, by an,
stretch Of Imagination, suppose some Walter Scot
Of new race in Australia South Africa, sayin:
the Of the Nedas or the Koran 90