The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1878-12-14
LAY SERMON.
Number Five.

conclusion with regard to length o
time, or mode of formation. "In thu
lusinnng," may be millions of years
as well as thousands, and "a We ar,
told THAT "ouc day. with the Create
isa thousand years, the period st
designated. may have any imaginable
duration.
It is not probable that tho Bible
was intended to teach that, for whjcl
our developed human reason is a sut
ticient guide. The slow but certain
march of scientific kuo!1sedge Is max
in. plain much which it leave, OBJ
Scure. Biologists are showing us the
foot prints of the Creator upon the
rocks, Chemists and astronomers his
banaywo1k. and although his won.
ders are past finding out, we see
enough to awaken the deepest emo
tons of which the human soul is Ca
pablo.
All the past ties folded up in the
present, just as the possibilities OF
the present were living in the pas@,
just as the worm which crawls at our
feet, has the germ of tho dazzling
c"l"rs, and the glorions wings of the
flower of the air. The church has
wisely left it an open question, wheth-
er humanity had ono or many cen
tiers; bat while it is probable, almost
certain, that there we've Pre-adamite
races, We are taught by the best au-
thority, mat the history of the Jews
is the history of the race of Adam.
Moses himself seems almost to assert
this, when he says, "when the most
High divided to the nations their in-
heritance, when he separated the sons
OF Adam he set the bounds of the
people according to the number of the
children Of Israel" Cain, the first of
the sons of Eve, went into the land of
Nod, and butt city-Abraham jour
neyed to Damascus that wonderful
link between the past and the present
-Moses was wise 10 all the learning
of the Egyptians, who as far back as
chronological researches can be car
ried, were great nation, the remains
of whose architecture, yet astonish
the world. Still, she Creator seems to
have chosen the Isr"elltes as chan
mel through which Divine wisdom
through his revealed will, might flow
in upon humanity.
lie showed his especial favor by
placing them, through Prophets aud
Seers, by angel visitants iu commu-
nication with the world of spirits.
Moses continually apostrophises him,
as the "God Of the spirits, of all
flesh" He chose the people of Isra-
el, according to his i"sc'utable pur-
pose, and says through the mouth of
his Prophet, "'Thus saith the Lord,
which giveth the sun for a light by
day, aud the ordinances of the moon
and stars by night, tho Lord of Hosts
is his name, if those ordinances de-
part from before me, saith the Lord,
then, the seed of Israel shall cease
from being nation before me for
ever"
The genious of the Oriental nations
tended towards Pantheism. They
saw God in the hills, in the streams,
in tho moon and stars, ia all visible
nature, and without doubt, unless
continually punished, continually ad-
monished, the Jews would have re-
manned in the idolatry into which
they 50 often fell. Put they were
nnder the guardianship of the "shep-
herd of Israel, who neither slumbered
or slept
In the whole range of Biblical lore
there is nothing more wonderful than
the history of this people.
Tyre, the "Queen of the nations"
has become "a place for the spreading
of nets IN the midst of the sea-"
"Ninevah is laid waste, she is empty
and void in the earth, tho voice of her
messengers is no more heard. Baby
lon a golden cup in the hand of the
Lord which made all the nations
drunken,' is destroyed, but they re-
main people whose very existence
for the last eighteen hundred years,
has been continued miracle. The
fiat had gone forth-'thou shalt be
scattered says the most High "from
one end of the earth to the other, and
among the nations shall find no ease,
neither shall the soul of thy foot have
rest, thou shalt fear day and night,
and have no assurance of thy life"
This terrible punishment was during
many centuries, literally fulfilled.
When the church became triumphant
aDda power in the land she laid her
relentless grasp upon all who would
not walk in tho path she marked ont.
The cruelties practiced upon the Jews
during tho reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella, of Spain, as well as among
other nations, are too we'll known,
and too horrible to relate. Judeaism
connts her martyrs by the thousands
and tens of thousands. They were
the wjsest, the most learned, the most
virtuous Of the subjects of Spain, but
they were tortured at the stake, and
at the wheel; they were exiled and
defrauded to crafty the unholy bigot-
~ Of the church built upon the su-
perstructure they had raised.
Still, during all these centuries,
scattered, oppressed in every posi-.
slble manner, they have remained,
aud still remain a distinct race. God
has set bis mark upon his people; in
all changes ofnationality and climate,
9 Jew is always a Jew, distinct in
type Of feature, true to his faith and
bis race,
The same unjust prejudice whir'1
fouSd vent centuries ago, in jm,'s-
opment and tortue, modifsx as It
must be, by larger views Il the "
vine will, finds expree"on to-day 10
sarcaes:; az" t huo up)ust
Of mapy now living when Jewish