Blue-grass blade., 1891-01-03
sixteen of thcscrvs they ran out.

\ DcdVtiIuI OdtuVtW .Nuty NSVccu VI
Scots, because shi was Catholic,
and that Henry FvIII., the only
and great origind Bluebeard, was
the great champion of Protestan-
ism. -
The average lexington Profess
tant looks at thehltar, the vcstry,
the candles and @ensor of Catholi-
cism with no iddt in the world that
there is any reIiG1 1pus authority for
them, and that aspart Of his own
religious faith d me from exactly
the same source bhat these Catholic
paraphcrnalia am emblcms did.
You can not raore readily offend
the average Prd destant Christian
than by telling ! m that he has no
authority for th4 observance of a
Sabbath, or SuH ~.
He may red all the way
through his Ngf Testament, and
he will not fnd single prccept or
example for th$ keeping of any
sabbath.
He will not fihd an instance in
which Jesus or any OF his apostles
commended anybody for keeping
the Sabbath, or &provcd them for
violating it, and 10 to justify him
self he quotes the Old Testament as
authority to a Christian.
The Catholic oes the same and
finds abundant authority for his
altar, his vestry, his censcr and for
burning candles in the middle of
the brightest day that comes.
Both Of them have made the
mistake of supposing that the
Jewish scriptures are authority for
Christian practice.
Again on the FIRST day of Janu-
ary there are Protestant and Cath
olic gentlemen i9 Lexington that
will spend the day walking around
from house tQI house drinking
liquors, and arShot ashamed to be
seen reeling Hbme drunk, who
would feel then elves disgraced to
be seen acting us on the first day
Of December d the first day of
June.
They don't tnow why public
consent allows 9bem to make this
distinction.
This idea Is eligious one, and
was brought the Christian
church by th6d Ia 1ere con.
.xetted to 9hd * the
heathcn, Just H( e the censor amt
the candles, and the Sabbtah were
brought into the Christian church
by those who were converted from
among the Jews.
A religious duty among the
heathen was the observance of the
Lupercalia. This required that
they should get drunk, and stay
drunk for a week at the beginning
Of the year, in honor the heather
god Janus, for whom they named
the first month, and which heathnn
god the Christians still honor by
retaining the name of that month.
Subsequent heather converts to
Christianity brought into the
church the names of their gods by
calling the days of the week for
them, and we retain them to this
day.
The evidence that Jesus, the
founder of the Christian religion
was born in Bethlehem is, regarded
as a historical matter, almost as
strong as that Mahomet established.
MahOmetanism six hundred years
later;is quite as iincontestible as the
story of Hannibal and IIasdrubal
and Scipio and Dido and Carthage;
as plain as the story Of Alexander
the Great palmer than that of
Anthony and Cleopatra, and inn
mensely palmer than the story Of
Aenaeus; of Menelaus, Of Paris,
of Helen and Troy.
| No scholar would doubt that
there were such characters as
Zoroaster. .Gautama, ,Sachia Amounl
COnfucius and Socrates, nor
| fail to trace the effects of the reli
gions and the morals they taught
But the story Of the birth OF
Jesus and his wonderfully beayti-
full life aud tragic death with the
effects of his moral aud religious
teaching, is,regarded as a mere his.
torical fact, immensely palmer thar
any | have mentioned eXcep
i. Mahomet.
lie was born in Il cave that wa
used as stable, and was laid in thu
rack, or trough, or "manger, tina
= they put straw in for the horses
But he was not born in the winter
! nor any time near our Christina
e day. He was born in the summe
a in u climate where they have sno,
and raise fig, and about a. cold Il
: Georgia; and when the weathe
| was so warm that the Shepherd
5 could lie on the ground and slee
t through the night. All the col