The universal conscience of mankind is stricken with a sense of guilt Alarmed by an instinctive sense of danger, men have felt the need of reconciliation; and under a sense of His displeasure, have everywhere and in all ages, sought to make their peace with God. For this end altars were raised, and temples were built; sacrifices offered, and penances endured. If the colossal structures of Egypt, and the lovely temples of Greece and Borne, were erected, as well to adorn the state as to please the gods, it was less to please approving, than to appease angry divinities, that their courts resounded with the cries of victims, and smoking altars ran red with blood. So much did the heathen feel their need of peace, such store did they set by it, that many of them sought it at any price. They would buy peace at any cost; nor did they shrink from giving all their fortune, even the fruit of their body, for the sin of their souls. For peace with God, the Hindu walked to his distant temples in sandals that, set with spikes, pierced his flesh at every step, and marked all the long, slow, painful journey with a track of blood; for peace with God, the Syrian led his sweet boy up to the fires of Moloch, and, unmoved in purpose by cries, or curses, or passionate entreaties, cast him shrieking on the burning pile; for peace with God the Indian mother approached the river’s brink with streaming eyes and trembling steps, and tearing the suckling from her bursting heart, kissed it, to turn away her eyes, and fling it into the flood.—GUTHRIE.
