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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1900)
Vt ? * " - - ' r Iff SltJZ JuJ ' - " ; lbV- . J. .r I . _ 8 'Cbc Conservative. MEDIATORS AND TRINITIES. Science , as applied to historical inves tigation , has already demonstrated that there never hns been any revelation of Deity to man , and that man knows nothing about a God , and nothing about a future state of existence. Knows Nothing ? Each of the developed religious of the world claims a divine origin for its Bible , and each considers its own Scrip tures as the only authentic revelation ; the pretentious of one being as good as , and no better than , another. The idea of a God , a supreme ruler of the Universe , seems to have grown out of the experience of man in his attitude towards the powers of Nature , and to have found original expression in the worship of the Sun and of Sex. The idea of a connecting link between Divinity and Man a mediator is com mon to all primitive religions cults , as is also the idea of a third Influence , a per vading Spirit , acting in harmony with the other two sources of Eternal Being. The whole idea is the conception of an age when the Universe was supposed to be governed by a God , or by gods , capa ble of being propitiated by sacrifices and moved by prayers ; conseqnenty it no longer applies to an age which has discovered - covered that the Universe is governed by immutable law. Among the ancient Egyptians the Sun , the earth fructified by the sun , and the young , rising sun , constituted the Divine - vine Family , as represented by Osiris , Isis , and Horus. Osiris , the sun , disappearing every night and paling every winter , is raised every morning and every spring as Horns , who is at once the Son of God and God himself. Krishna among the East Indians ; Bel among the Babylon ians ; Adonis , Hercules , Bacchus , among the greeks , illustrate in like manner the changes of the seasons and personify the sovereignty of the Sun. The same idea , that of a divine Son , born of the union of the Sun and the Earth , God and a woman , runs through all the myths which have gradually been evolved out of the spiritual ques tionings of man. The idea of a suffering God atoning by his death for the sins of men , decend- ing into the abodes of darkness and ris ing again to bring life and immortality to light , is found in the oldest records of the human race in every part of the world. It is originally in all coses a personification of the Sun , and in all cases it is developed and embellished to apply to the spiritual needs and aspira tions of man. The gods of Egypt , India , Greece , and Rome have long been offering their testimony to modern in vestigators , and continued search has brought forward the forgotten religious treasures of nations less active in the history of the world. CTOHH. Extinct races show the cross upon the ruins of their temples ; the Virgin Moth er and the Divine Ohild sanctified the worship of primitive Peru ; and in Siam , ages before the Christian era , the Son of God was incarnated for the salvation of mankind , and after he was restored to heaven and "desired to return to earth no more , Fhra Indara laid his tiand upon the brow of the lad and showed him the generations yet to come , rejoicing in his prayers and precepts , and Somaiinass , beholding , stretched in his arms to the earth again. " The Triad theory , in its various ap plications , lies at the foundation of the later Trinity idea ; as also the annual resuscitation of Nature suggested a be lief in the resurrection of the human dead. The later developed system of Egypt ian philosophy combined the three local representations of Ra , the Supreme Deity , into a Trinity : Amman , Phtah , and Osiris ; Ammon symbolizing the True ; Phtah the Beautiful ; Osiris the Good. The primitive East Indian worshiped the Sun , the Moon , and the Firmament. Later , this triad became the Trinity , Brahma , Siva , and Vishu , illustrative of the powers and processes of Nature. The Buddhistic Trinity consisted of Buddha , Dharma ( the Law ) , Samgha ( the Society of Believers ) . The Chinese Trinity was Heaven , Earth , the Emperor : or , Heaven , Earth , Man. The Babylonian Trinity consisted of Ea , the Father ; Mardno , the Son , and a Fire God , bearing various names ( Gibil , Firru , Nusku. ) and performing the office of a paraclete. Many other primitive peoples , less known to history , held similar ideas re specting the Unseen , ideas either bor rowed from surrounding foreign in fluences or accumulated through indi genous experience. The Hebrews , after many experiments with the cults of neighboring nations and victorious enemies , developed finally a strictly monotheistic religion , to which they have ever since adhered. The Hebrew Scriptures which form the basis of the Jewish and Christian faiths have been proved to be a mass of mingled history and fable , largely bor rowed from the records of older nations , and showing no evidence of super human wisdom in the varied contents. The so-called New Testament , upon which Christianity is built , has been proved to be a collection of writings by unknown authors , not one of whom could have been contemporary with the events narrated , as the works did not appear until many years after the begin ning of the Christian era , and the con tents give evidence of a later origin. Elizabeth E. Evans , In "The Christ Myth. " MODESTY AND TASTE. There is a certain humility that appears at times among some classes of our fellow-citizens , contrasting agree ably with that arrogance which is sup posed to mark us as a nation , which humility leads the citizens referred tote to apply to themselves some unneces sarily harsh or ridiculous name by way of title. As such might be mentioned the term "lunger" which that pathetically cheerful folk , the pulmonary invalids of Colorado , have with one accord adopted as the name of their clan. Or the word ex-tank , " which a society of reformed inebriates in New York City are report ed to have applied to their organization. In so far as this tends to disarm criti cism by anticipating unkind jests on the part of the inconsiderate , it is an im pulse to which one must take off his liat. If the unfortunate choose to make merry over their misfortunes , we who have not that grace can at least rejoice that they can do so. But the thing has a perilously fine edge. It is but a step from this blameless attitude to a gratu itous flaunting in the face of the public of infirmities which the public is pra- pared and would prefer charitably to overlook. To remind people too often of one's personal defects creates disgust in the end : to use them as trademarks in business , as now and then a merchant ( most frequently of Israelitish lineage ) will do , is apt to defeat the object sought. "Trade with the hump-backed grocer" would be a motto of such doubt ful taste that it would be likely to prove but a poor advertisement. There were a class of inhabitants of Nebraska not many years ago who were willing and apparently anxious to be known to the world by the name of "Bug-eaters. " This was a term which they merrily applied to themselves in acknowledgment of the fact that grass hoppers had in some years been found in somewhat excessive numbers within their state. Since the remainder of mankind seems perfectly willing to let bygones be bygones in this painful mat ter , it is a subject for congratulation that these humorists did not succeed in I fastening this appellation upon us and I our successors for all time. How near they came to it appears from the records of the "Nebraska Silver Anniversary" meetings held in the oapitol at Lincoln in May , 1892. It is all a matter of his tory. In volume V of the Historical Society's reports we read as follows : "A banner , 'Bug Eaters , ' with a sample of the bug , which was a grasshopper , hung from the chandelier. The young people wore badges with 'Bug Eater1 in bold , black letters. Professor Taylor , of the state university , addressed the assem blage most felicitously. He said he supposed that this was a meeting of bug-eaters , by bug-eaters and for bug- eaters and that all but bug-eaters had M I
