The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-07-25
BILL ARP ON
HEATHEN MYTuOLOGIES
He Draws Morals From Ancient
Stories His (onCluSion III Lat
ter Day Style.

He Draws Morals From Ancieti
Stories His Conclusion in Lat
ter Day Style.
Atlanta Constitution.
In all ages mankind las felt tn
need of God. There is n feeling o
hcl,lcssncss in our nature aud if MAJ
can't find a GpG he will make one. L
is curious how strangely similar are al
the hea,hcn mythologies to the Blbl'
religion. St. John says, "And there
was war i'm heaven and Michael and nj
angels fought against the dragon ant
his angels and hurled them down
That old dragon, which is the devil
was cast down unto The Garth" Jus
so in Grecian and Roman ana Scandl
navian mythology there vas war il
their heaven and the GOOD dCitlcS pre-
vailed and the evil We're cast out, but
not destroyed. Jupicr had war will
the Titans and dcthroncd them. Odcn
or Wooden, as he was called, had wal
with L0kl and dethroncd him and gave
him lIela, or He'll, for his Kingdom
The Scaldinavians bad 4 serpent tu
figure in the dawn Of tEeir creation.
and that serpent was ever craving at
the roots of lhn tree Of hfc--a tree that
grew by a spring and WAS kept in pei
petua bloom by the water Of the
spring. This srrng was at olc end of
the rainbow and the home ti Wooden
and the gods was at the other end ,
and as oft us the rainbow appeared
Wooden and his rctinuc made use of it
aS Il beautiful bri0Tc over which they
passed to The spring TO drink and re-
new teir youth and hold their high
court and sit III judgment upon oilen-
dcrS. Just so our religion tells us Of
The tree of life and the water Of life
and the leaves Of the tree which are
for the healing OF the nations.
This scandinavian mythology was Il
beautiful and fascinating religion and
the Norscmen, inclu'.lng Che Danes
aud Swcdcs, believed in it us piously
as we believe in our Bible and Chris
tianily. Indeed il took centuries to
overthrow il and plant Christianity
there. For centuries il held sway over
all Germany amd even to this day all
ChriStcndOm uses the names Of the
DAYS of tie week tha; came down from
the Norscmen, for Wednesday was
"Wednesday and Thursday was Thors
dav. Thor was Woden's sou and was
the god Of The clouds. When he wish
cd to make il thunder and shake the
raiu out Of the heavens he took two
great mountains, one in each ha ID,
and clappcd them together. Friday
was Fryga day. Nryga was Wodcn>s
wife. Just SO VIC got the names of The
months from the Roman mythology
and we got the considerations in the
heavens from the Egyptian mythology
:tnd it remains unchanged to thus day
But wish the young people TO know
and remember that in all mythOlogies
their religion was founded upon a faith
that truth and Justice and virtue must
prevail over evil. The good were re-
wardcd and the evil were punished,
not only in this world, but in the world
to come. The difference is that our
cy rather than justice and we have but
one God instead of II hundred.
Now il seems that Jupiter and his
brothers, Pluto and Neptune, after
they had whipped the Titans, proceed
cd al once TO divide their great domain.
Jupiter was the eldest and smartcst
and so he gave the seas to Neptune
and hades TO Pluto and kept heaven
ror himself. Smart, wasn't he Iladcs
was nol hell at that time. The spirits
Of the dead, both good and bad, mln-
glcd together IN hadcs until Pluto con-
cludcd TO separate the unrcpcntant and
incurab!c ones for fear they would
usurp his kiugdom, and so he estab-
lshed a hell and called it Tartarus and
shut up all the hardest cases therein.
Now Pluto married a daughter of
Ceres and she had a son named Plutus
He was The god Of wealth and that IS
where the word plutOcracy came from
Our millonaircs belong TO it. SO it.
seems that The god of money IS brother.
in-law to the god Of hell. Pretty close
kin and dangerous, but it is according
to Scripture, for it says that "the love
of money is the root Of all evil" and
cit is easier for a camel to 90 thu ough
the eye of needle than for rich man
to 90 to heaven" Now this pIutus
began to give his riches TO tho good
only, but Jupiter didn't like that and
struck linn blind so that he couldn't
tell one man from another and so he
gropcs his wav about slowly till he
finds man. Then he gives him pile
of money and suddenly opens his
wings and lllcs away.
That, too, is symbolic Of what Scrip
ture say, "Riches take wings and fly
away"
The love of money seems to hav,
been accurscd in all ages. The wedge
Of gold not only cursed Achan, bu
afflicted all Israel. Milton says tha
Mammon was one Of heavens gods
cone of The spirits that fell HIS look
and thoughts were always downward
bent, while he admired the golde,
pavcmcnts in heavens streets an,
never looked up to aught divine. Thcl
let no one wonder that riches grow il
hell. 1t is the soil that best deserve
the precious hanc."
No wonder, then, that Mr.. Carncgi
became alarmed and hurried to dis
gorge. What world of care he
now gong through in distributing hi