The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-01-07
RBLIGION--IDEAL AND PRACTICAL
TRUE AND FALSE,
ITO be continued ]

TRUE AND FALSE.
This is subject which seldom fails to
interest those engaged in the investiga-
ton of the various branches of science;
and while so many profess to understand
its import, yet comparatively few arrive
at satisfactory conclusion, and con-
tinue to the latest hour a restless search
after what they still feel is so infinitely
beyond their grasp.
1t is asserted that the heart of man is
naturally inclined to religious worship,
and that it is ever ready to pay its devo-
tions to the object considered worthy of
alteration. However true this may be,
it has not proved sure guide to direct
the inquiring minds of the multitudes
who have sought for objects whereon to
bestow their veneration.
In the examination of this subject, it
will be absolutely necessary to better
understanding of our actual relations to
higher power that we should take at
least a cursory glance-and the limits
of this article will admit of nothing
more-at the various attempts of the
inhabitants of earth, as furnished US in
the early records of history, both sacred
and profane, to institute some order of
worship, in which is exhibited the in
clinations of the heart to obey the voice
of God, or to follow the vagaries of per-
verted imaginations; and whether we
seek to enter the portals Of ancient
heather mythology, with its cruel sub
terfuges, or search the annals of modern
times, we need not wonder at the depths
of their moral degradation, for it should
not be expected that they would rise
higher than the shrine at which they
worship. An examination of the record
of their wanderings amid the darkness
that so densely enveloped the nations
as we'll as the individuals who forgot
their allegiance to the true God, will re-
veal to US the motives which governed
their choice. The record of their tenn
poral magnificence, contrasted as it con-
tinually appears on the historic page
with the profound depths of their spirit
ual darkness, adorned indeed with occa-
sional flashes of moral light, which only
proves them the more worthy of con-
demnation-we may wisely conclude
that their condition was of their own
choosing, and turning thus of their own
arrogant will from light to darkness,
"became the scourgers of mankind"
II we content ourselves with looking
only on the magnificent display of artis-
tic and architectural triumphs so daz-
zlingly exhibited, we must confess their
greatness. "Grandeur of empire, maj
esty of princes, the wisdom of Legislators,
and the learning of philosopher" all
combine to cause US to forget their ac-
tual blemishes, but we are not to forget
that these in the eye of God are as moth
ing. 1t is doubtless both right and
proper that we should esteem at its true
worth all that is really admirable in
the actions and maxims of the heath
en-, but we should be especially careful
to not permit the delicate form and
subtle influence of a false philosophy
to blind our perceptions of right and
wrong. When their histories are stud
led with judgment and mature thought
they lead US to these reflections, anC
make plain to the student the manner
in which the Almighty is causing the
: empires to become subservient to the
reign Of his Son. Certain it is that al
) their boasts of being governed by the
light of reason and the dictates of phi
, losophy have not availed them deliv'
erance from the clouds of error and vile
2 Isuperstition which have marred thI
= course of the heather of either the pas
S or the present. We shall find that they
' did not fail in religion or fervor of pietJ
such as it was-for they exhorted eacf
t the other to pay the highest reverenc'
to the gods, and not to undertake any
t enterprise without first calling upoI
r and consulting them and we shall, q
we advance, see what the nature o
: these gods was, and what the characte
q of their priests who ministered at tn
t altars, receiving the oblations of thos
o who preferred darkness to light, error {,
q truth.
# 1t will be impossible, within the linn
t its allotted to these thoughts, to ente
q deeply into the various manifestation
of theories evolved by those who hav