Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1870-02-18
fs.A.ogri o'u.l t u pa /. /.
The Dignity Of Agriculture. ) !


Of about opefifth of that of South Carolina,
was covered, IL the days Of Diodorus Siculus,
with fifteen thousand cities and towns con.
tanning population ofpe,haps seven millions.
The stupendous ruins which remains bear
witness to the science, wealth and grandeur
of that land Of wonder, at very early period
and for many Centuries The capitol build.
iugsat Mpis, for tho accommodation of the
government, consisted, according to Herodi.
tus, Of twelve vast halls, surrounded by three
thousand chambers. !, The Egyptians had lit
tie, if any commerce with other nationa In
early times, and all this amasipg wealth and
grandeur were due to agriculture alone. To
regulate this first Of arts, to stimulate industry,
to cultivate the homely virtues, were the
main ends Of government and religion. IN
deed, to the ancient Egyptians agriculture
wasreligion. IN that far-off, backward and
abysm Of time-the prehistoric age of man
this wise people had beyond all manner of
question knowledge of the true God. Him
they symbolized, even as we do, under three
aspects, personal persons, 1. c., masks or ap-
poarances; and their Phthar, Meth and
Cneph, tho most ancient trinity of oneness,
corresponds to ours. Their wise priesthood
long had a? knowledge of symbolism, since
lost to the world, and understood the true
signifoation of oil national Objects and opera.
tions. Tho sun in his heat typifed Gods
love; in his light Gods wisdom, and 10 his
active, productive energy, the Spirit of Good.
ness. They be- cid, in the universal cosmos,
marriage as the primal principle underlying
oil things hero aud hereafter. The sun was
masculine, as it is with us tho moon femi-
nine. Descending into lower degrees, the
water was masculine, the earth feminine.-
They spoke, as we do, of "Mother Earth"
but with infinite difference. We use the
word Specifically; The Egyptians and the early
Greeks, religiously and devoutly. Ceres,
fioan> >whtch we derive our word cereal, was
with the Greeks Dcmster or Gemseter, that is
"Mother Easth::" Isis came finally to be
worshipped as the chief deity Of Egypt, and
the name is from Isl, signifying fertility, in
the language of that country. 70 one people
Gods power was, the most impressiveqnality,
and they would symbolic Him as lion; to
another. His providence or far.sceingness,
and they would give to Jove an eagle. But
the goodness, benefcence and usefulness of
the deity most profoundly impressed tho de-
won't minds of the ancient Egyptian priest
hood, and they sympolized this quality OF ap-
pearance or person of God Under the form of
that animal which is Of all the most perfect
form of charity or benefcence TO man. With
the bull they plowcd their land and trod out
the grain; and there is nothing Of the COW in
body or in operation which is not Of use to
man. The pooplc, soon losing sight of the
beautiful living parable, fell to worshippipg
the animal itself Hence the worship Of the
calf by the children Of Israel, which they
had been taught in Egypt. Osiris was the
nnaseulips principle of use; Isis the fcmi.
nine. Osiris was'in the highest degree the
sun; Isis, the. moon. Osiris was Father
Mile; Isis, Mother Earth, Mother Egypt.
All their greater gods were but phases of the
sun. Whonsh touched the ccliptlo, aenter.
Ing ohr hemisphere, ths sun was Ammop,
and a ram was sacrificed to him.. Hence, our
sign ofArics at that poiat. AS he ascended
Up the highest point; aud exhibited his power,
HE was Horus and tbe,lion. 81 m4q1 .in.t (.
AT the autumnal equinox he became Sera.
pie, and died at the winter solstice. Then
about Christmas the young god Harpocrats
was born. If when the sun passed out Of
our hemisphere isis wept for the death Of
Osiris, SO, too, did Ceres or Detneter bewail
the loss Of her Proserpine,, the terminating
and; ffustifying principlo, .Whek ,yProsor-
pine in spring came from the arms ef Pluto
and skisssd his qmother--when Osiris. EN-.
braesd his wife -seths genial earth tceased
vith1'kihaly faitage, Still the earth had ID
he titled by thethand Of labcr,a and. the wise
ssl al sSs asts3s ssa ot of
]ssa pig gtsat sedfet ;was revealed ,thas shSy
tsers, tbutrsymbolical or pasabolicat of tho
mind add 1of theasoul:! The Kidgdona Of
'IfSassn is|as If atman SHOULD cast aeed into
sths ssarsh which ttripgsa forth .Arsti the Blade,
then she stalky lastly, the full car y and Di.
sidb Wisadta basIiikehsd the trdthsT of His
Word tossed planted in various .epils,. yield,
ing sometimes no product, sometimes aesin
fiuSihft XIX kftih fnJd afo 900. I'm,