The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-24

flee it is, in answer to prayer to take
of the things of Christ and show
them unto us. Whenever | hear a
man talking of liberility and broad
guagism, | take it for granted he is
drifting into PolytheiSm and will. ere
he knows it, lose faith in God. and
find himself in the condition of the
ancient Egyptians who worshipped
everything but God.
BY the way, speaking of the Egyp-
tians,I guess | had as well tell the
children, who may read this article,
why they Worshippcd animals.
There is a tradition among them
that, at some far distant period in
the past, men rebelled against the
gods, and drove them out of heaven
They tell us that the gods, when drv-
Ell from heaven, fled into Egypt and
concealed themselves under the form
of different animals. Hence every
animal was worshipped from the great
OK to the little mouse, and from the
crocodile, down to the snake, the frog
and the tadpole.
They made a god of the OK because
he helped to till the ground, of the
dog because he defended the home;
of the sheep because he supplied
them with wool for clothing; of the
crocodile because he prevented the
Arabs from making incursions; of the
ichnenmon because it destroyed the
crocodile. The ichneumon was lit
tie animal that would eat the croc-
odile's eggs; and when the crocodile
would lie down to sleep on the banks
of the river Nile. with mouth open.
this little animal would jump out of
the mud, and leaping down the croco-
dies throat, and forcing its way
down into his entrails. would gnaW
away until he reached the stomach of
that great amphibious creature, and
thus put him to death.
My children readers may think it
very strange that the Egyptians wor-
shipped the crocodile and then wor-
shipped the little animal that ate out
the very vitalS of the crocodile.
And it was strange. But we must
remember the Egyptians were heath
ems, and perhaps did not know any
better. How much better are we, deal
children, when we pretend to worship
God and yet, at the same time, wor-
ship the things of this world which
destroy all that is God-like in us. ]
fear that God sees in many of us just
as gross idolators as the Egyptians
were; and what makes us worse sim
ners than they were, we know better.
| observe that we have a few young
women who worship dogs; and / am
sorry to say that some of them don't
keep their dogs in good trim. l don't
mind riding on the street cars with
a dog that's we'll groomed Ct suppose
that's the right word); but ] do feel
Inundated when a poodle or a pug
is brught on board that looks as il
it slept among the pots and kettles
and has to spend all the time of its
riding, scratching off fleas. I've come
to this conclusion that a man had
better live bachelor, sew, on his OWE
buttons darn his own socks and do
his own cooking rather than marry
girl who wofships a dog, and yet il
too lazy to wash and comb her idol
a very learned writer on idol wor-
ship says: zones character will, more
or less, be like the god he worships.
/ don't blame old maids so much
for worshipping cats, for the reason
that cats are preferable to rats, ev-
cry time, and good cat will not only
earn his own Twin, but be a saving in
keeping the rats out of the pantry,
and the smoke-house. But l can't
become reconciled to seeing "a pretty
girl going down street in company
with a dog: and it Il smutty dog at
that.
I don't think I've had anything to
say with reference to Judge Parker's