The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-08-07


5 tai passions and weaknesses, possessing
f conflicting powers and Jurisdiction, they
r were constantly warning with each other.
Jupiter with his thunder ruled Olym-
pus-Neptune with his trident the sea,
} and Pluto the internal regions. Ox-ey-
cd Juno was the Empress of Heaven,
, Minerva was the Symbol of learning and
Venus the matchless Queen Of love and
! beauty! besides a host Of lesser lights.
Goods partial, changeful, passionate,
unjust,
Whose attributes were rage, revenge
and lust!n
It requires but small capacity to see
that all this was in direct contradiction
: to the unity and consistency of nature
The very number of their Gods is
alone conclusive evidence against the
whole system. But besides most of these
deities were immoral and vicious beyond
the standard of their own worshipers.
AS Rosseau says, "the confluence Of
Zenocrates was admired by those who
celebrated the debaucheries of Jupiter.
The chaste Lucretia adored the unchaste
Venus. The most intrepid Romans
sacrificed to fear The most contemplate
divinitics were served by the greatest
:. men. The holy voice of nature,
stronger than that of the Gods made
itself heard, respected and obeyed on
earth, and seemed to Danish to the
confines of heaven guilt and the guilty"
Indeed the Greeks and Romans did
not believe the Polytheism, which, with
its multitudinous affairs, rites and sacrif
ces, was universal around them. But it
was so dove-tailed into their shows and
spectacles, their literature and fine arts,
that it was convenient to tolerate, and
unsafe to oppose it. Gibbon, in one Of
his grand antithetical sentences, charac-
terizes the whole fabric as follows: "The
various modes Of worship which pre-
vailed in the Roman world, were all con-
sidered by the people as equally true, by
the philosophers as equally false and
by the magistrates as equally useful"
Plato had dim glimpscs Of what con-
tormity to nature required and Socrates,
long before the birth Of Christ, was con-
demnel to drink hemlock for corrupting
the youth Of Athens by teaching strange
doctrines.
THE BUDDHISM AND BRAHN1ANIsM
of the Asiatics and that whole family of
kindred systems. AS to these we need
hardly say one word to show that they
are not in accord with the constitution
and course of nature. The three hun
dred millions who profess these religions
belong to an inferior type Of the human
race, and their prevailing doctrine of
successive transmigrations to higher de-
grees of being, eliminating in the holy
Buddhas, is but oneof the many forms Of
idolatry!
JUDAISM.
We can not say that Judaism is con-
trary to the constitution and course Of
nature, for so fur as their Old Testa-
ment is concerned, it is identical with
Christianity. But this we do say that
Judaism, as VIC now sec it,, not
withstanding its great antiquity, is
an imperfect system-the foundation.
of an edifce without the snperstruc-
ture-the preface of great work
which lacks completion. 1t appears
to us that without their own prom
Used Messiah-the central character
and pivot Of the system tho whole
preparatory fabric tumbles to pieces
making the ceremonial law Of Moses,
their types and figures, vain and
meaningless, if not positively super
stitious. Does it not strike the most
casual observer that Judaism without
second coming is merely an anti
quated fragment, like the huge foun-
dations Of some great temple, which
was never built? Look at it. Juda.
ism, as it is contained in tho Old
Testament, was not, as it seems TO US,
intended for all mankind. 1t docs
not profess to be catholic, but pre-
cisely the contrary. It is limited
strictly to the 1sraelites, which eN-
presses moro distinctly a race than a
creed. 1t seems plain that the mission
of this people was to keep the oracles
until "Shiloh como," and for this
purpose-to prevent the contagion Of
surrounding superstitions-exclusion
was the idea. That popularity made
them proper instruments to preserve
the faith, but in no way fitted them,
but on the contrary, made thcm unfit,
to propagate it. The original purpose
was accomplished, but the Jews still
retain the character of cxclusiveness
first impressed upon them. We are
inclined to think that now, as in the
days of the prophets, they are so
proud Of their race as an ecclesiastical
aristocracy, because of the sacred
trust confded to them, that they are
as much opposed to spreading their
religion as they are to mixing their
blood with those who havc not de-
scendcd from Abraham. In the oldcn
time one of their objections to Jesus
as the Messiah, was that he associated
with "publicans and sinners" They
considered it a violation Of their rights
as an exclusive people, and Of their
religion, superior to that of all Others
to expose the sacred arcana Of the
only living and truo God before the
vulgar gaze of the motley nations Of
the earth and denounced as impious
the sublime mission of the great and
heroic apostle to the Gcntics. And
now in these days, they arc still in
the strongest sense an exclusive pco-
| pie. They make no converts, and so
far as We are informed, no effort to
proselyte. How rarely has any Gen
tile embraced as his faith Judaism
There arc mono but hereditary Jews.
| As some classical writer hos said