s, remind me of a very learned
gentleman with whom I was once walking around an oat field, when he
remarked, "_there_ is a very fine piece of wheat." The man had been
brought up in an eastern city, and was unable to distinguish between oats
and wheat. I knew a gentleman who asked a man, standing by the side of an
old-fashioned flax-break, what he thought it was used for? The man took
hold of the handle, lifted it up and let it down a few times, and said:
"It looks like it might be used to chop up sausage meat." It is very
natural for us to draw comparisons, and when we do not make ourselves
familiar with things and their uses, we are very liable to be led into
error by a few points of similitude. All the infidels with whom I have
become acquainted look upon the Bible like the man looked upon the
flax-break, and like the man looked upon the oat field. If one had looked
upon the flax-break who was familiar with it, he never could have dreamed
of chopping sausage meat; and if the other had been familiar with wheat
and oats, as they present themselves to the eye in the field in the month
of June, he never would have called the oats wheat. And if any sane man
will make himself familiar with both the Bible and the old system of myths
and mythical worship, he will never confound the two. There are a thousand
things, very different in character and origin, which have points of
similitude. But similitude never proves identity short of completeness.
While the analogy between the ancient mythical system of gods and their
worship and the true God and His worship is restricted to power and
intelligence, there exists a contrast between them deep as heaven is high
and broad as the earth in point of moral character, virtue, and every
ennobling and lovable attribute.

There is an old myth in the Vedas--a god called "Chrishna." The Vedas claim
that he is in the form of a man; that he is black; that he is dressed in
flowers and ribbons; that he is the father of a great many gods. It is
surprising to see the eagerness with which some men bring up "Chrishna" in
comparison with the Greek term "Christos"--Christ, and confound the two.
The words are entirely different, save in a jingle of sound. They are no
more alike than the terms _catechist_--one who instructs by questions and
answers, and the term catechu--a dry, brown astringent extract. We could
give many such examples in the history of unbelievers and their war upon
the Bible, but this m