Page:The Archko Volume (1896).djvu/211

Rh among whom Abraham was called to the worship of the true God. Such was the worship of the Chaldeans and Egyptians. It is a record of the Talmud that Abraham, when returning from the grotto where he was born to the city of Babylon, gazed on a certain star, 'Behold,' said he, 'the God, the Lord of the universe.' But as he gazed the star sank away and was gone, and Abraham felt that the Lord was unchangeable, and he was deceived. Again, the full moon appeared, and he said, 'This is our God;' but the moon withdrew and he was deceived. All the rest of the night he spent in profound meditation. At sunrise he stood before the gates of Babylon, and saw all the people prostrate before the rising sun. 'Wondrous orb,' he exclaimed, 'thou surely art the creator and ruler of nations, but thou, like the rest, hasteneth away, so the Creator is somewhere else.' How much more sublime, as well as rational, the doctrine which he orginated, and the sentiments which were afterward expressed by one of his followers, which make these glorious orbs only the manifestations of something far more glorious than they!

"One great source of corruption was the priesthood. It seems natural that men should be chosen to conduct religious service. They became better acquainted with these rites than others, and are more sacred by the power of association which renders their ministration more satisfactory, and, of course, more profitable to those in whose behalf they perform sacred offices. A priesthood seemed to be so necessary, but there is nothing more dangerous to a nation