The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-04-30
CONTRASTING FAITHS.


As peoples advance cut OF
primitive states, the eccentricities
of religions change. Shamanism,
primarily the religion of all
savage and untutored races, reposing
in fetishism, magic and myth, with
spells and rude lamentations for cere-
is modified as intelligence
increases until at last it may change
into purely moral doctrine, which
should be the prime object Of reli-
gious belief. And so it is with all
advanced religions. They present
moral codes, and hold out rewards |
and Inducements for their observance. |
Moral codes grow in standard as the |
intelligence of people grows, and
religion enforces their observance in
the same manner that civil codes
command respect through the penal
ties and punishments prescribed for
their non-ob5ervance. There is little
power in pure Shamau;sm except over
the untutured. There is no incent-
i've to contest IN it; it is not aggres-
siYe, does not encourage propagation,
and hence gives origin to no religious
wars involving bloodshed or intellect
ual struggles. The age Of man, whether
dating from the rather mythical abode
of an Eden, or from the eXceilencies
OF an elevated animal kingdom, Is
replete with religious contention
Faiths have been born and propogated,
and then they have passed away
among the contending influences OF
the mighty and the weak. That one
faith has had its day is no evidence
that it was devoid of excellencies. The
powerful is often not the purest nor
the beet, though Is may be
the most exalted. Time was when
the reign of Baal was recognized
as all powerful amid the most enlight
ened nations of the globe, in a day
when the elegances of literature and
art and of most of the elevated
sciences were so supreme as to live in
this day as examples for the most en-
lightened and cultivated people of
Christendom. Roman and Greek myth.
ology died out with the decline of en-
lightenment, and powerful as were the
influences of the gods, they are thought
of now only in connection with the
wonderful destinations Of ancient be-
liefs. AS myths passed away there
sprung UP the age of personal faiths.
themselves tinctured with myth and
with divinity often purely mythical
The God of Israel even partook OF
this attribute. He was leader OF
armed hosts as well as the dispenser
of mercies aud love. He led armies
. like the Assyrian hosts, to fields OF
terrible vengeance and slaugh-
ter. He dispensed vengeance
then as He dispenses mercy
: now. The old dispensation
3 made him terrible; the new mercifu
J and full of pity. And to-day there is
an irrepressible religious conflict be
. tween the followers of the one Goo
). the God that delivered tablets IL
Moses on Mount Saini, thai
prt scented the new law through
the Son and His Apostles
Neither does the beauty nor the di-
: vinity of faiths protect from the cor
: roding influences Of contest They al
: have their season of rise and of pro
gress, and of decline AMI death. II
ancient Persia there existed ont
e of the most beautiful religions
| and moral codes the world ha
i ever known. 1t had its strug-
Cling childhood and it IS vigorous
: youth and its grand manhood, bu
the millions that once worshipped il
the temples of Ormuzd, that lived I'm
der the teachings of Zoroaster, are rep
D resented to-day by handful of ParseeS
. with only the shadow Of the faith
}, that once shed its refulgence Owe
t continent. The Avesta has beer
S superseded by the Koran
and the Dharma, the Zoroastrians by
: Mohommedans and believers in Budd
t hism. Strange it is, that while al
J.. the great religions of the world ain
at moral perfection among men, there
5 can be no universal faith as to saliva
) ton. Even over Judea there has
3 spread a doctrine of salvation dis
3 similar to that which Christ taught il
, person there. AS the waves of the
ocean ebb and flow, so do faiths
7 buoy up and spread in grandeur
while others follow in unerring sue
cession. Aside from Mohamedanism
!, there are two great religions con-
tending for modern mastery-the one
Christianity, the other Buddhism. The
latter is distinguished by much SINH
larity to the former, Or it might bt
, proper to reverse the similarity, since
the one antidates the other in exist
ence. Buddhism is founded on COM
passion. Its priesthood Is desig
mated by shama, a WORD
of the Sanscrit language, having
, that signiAcation. When the Jesuit
, missionaries went TO China they were
impressed by the great similarity in
the system and ceremonies of Bud
dhism and their own faith. There is
Buddhist ritual and precepts. al
most identical with that of Chris
tianity, a symbolism in teachings
1
/ apparently springing from the same
source. 1t is taught that one
must not steal, nor rob. and especially
is it inculcated that it is sinful to i'm
properly appropriate what belongs to
the State. Evidently some of our
American politicians could never as
pire to be Buddhists. Chasti-
ty Is taught, truth 1nculcated, and