There existed many places of worship in the country, which were at first
used indiscriminately by Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Wesleyans,
Presbyterians, Quakers, and a host of other sects whose varied religious
beliefs were so perplexing and confusing, and provocative of so many
quarrels and discussions, that sectarianism was soon recognized as the
rock upon which the nation was likely to founder, unless prompt
legislation was brought to bear upon the situation.
Some believed in a Trinity of Gods, some in a Unity. Others looked
forward to the coming of a Redeemer, others worshipped Jesus Christ, as
the Redeemer of souls. Some denied a God altogether, and asserted that
all the higher forms of life were the outcome of evolution. Others,
again, worshipped a goddess called Humanity, and all were more or less
in fear of a mythical Being to whom all the untold millions born into
the world were supposed to be turned over for everlasting punishment in
the event of their not having been fortunate enough to meet with all the
requirements of creeds formulated by men.
Thus, one portion of the community had been taught that tiny babes,
dying before they had been sprinkled with water by a priest, and had a
certain formula of words uttered over them, would be consigned to
everlasting perdition, and debarred from all the joys of a future life.
Others would have been brought up to believe that all the untold
millions of people who had, by force of circumstances, over which they
had not the slightest control, never had Christianity preached to them,
would also be delivered into the hands of Satan!
Could anything be more blasphemously opposed to the character of a
merciful Creative Being, than to suppose it capable of producing myriads
of human beings, simply that they might be consigned to never-ending
torture such as only fiends could sanction?
Bigotry, Sectarianism, and Dogmatic Obstinacy had taken the place of a
true and simple worship of the Creator. So rank did the strife become
that certain sects actually maintained it to be wicked to enter a place
of worship patronised by a rival sect. So truly religious were the
majority of Christians that they only used the various churches as a
means of advancing their temporal power, and statistics from all the
world will prove that more lives have been lost, and more crimes
committed, in the name of Religion, than from any other cause. Strange
that what should be regarded as the greatest bond of unity upon earth
should be so abused as to become one of its greatest powers for evil!
Yet so it was when our forerunners peopled this land, and they were
compelled to adopt stringent methods of grappling with the most serious
evil in their midst.
The earth was too beautiful, and life itself was too great a mystery for
the doctrine of a bounteous Creator to be entirely abandoned, so worship
was offered, and temples dedicated, to the service of “The Giver of
Life,” who was always pictured as loving and beneficent, and to whom no
fearful qualities were attributed such as for ages made professing
Christians live a life of fear lest they should really not be saved, and
caused those who were taught to regard themselves as transgressors to
die a death of horror and despair.
The doctrines preached henceforth were “Gratitude” to the “Giver of
Life,” and the “Duty” to others of leading a pure and moral existence. A
simple creed this, but one which all were ultimately able to adopt, and
the worship of Morality never had any other effect upon the worship of
“Life-Giver” than to render it all the more sincere and heartfelt.
All fear of a future state is banished from the minds of New Amazonians,
who refuse to believe in a Prince of Darkness, and discard the doctrine
of everlasting punishment entirely. A continuance of life hereafter is
firmly believed in, the goal of bliss being supposed to be the ultimate
perfection which will make the soul so glorious in knowledge and purity
as to bring it near to “Life-Giver” herself, and enable it to revel in
the supreme happiness afforded to all who have left ignorance and
imperfection behind.
A priesthood was established after a time in New Amazonia, but was
bereft of the especial privileges hitherto deemed inseparable from that
holy office, but which were now regarded as the principal causes of the
corruption, perversion of truth, and immorality which prevailed in the
churches of Teuto-Scotland and other countries. No salary was attached
to the office whatever, and thus religion was deprived of its chief
means of abuse, for formerly disreputable persons who could command
influence were not debarred from choosing the sacred office of priest,
and from drawing the large profits which in many cases were derivable
from their appointment.
In Teuto-Scotland the Church was simply regarded as an easy and
lucrative profession. In New Amazonia it is an honour only bestowed upon
capable people, who already possess a sufficient income to enable them
to dispense with a further addition to it.
The doctrines they have to expound are simple, and their principal duty
consists in providing Professors, each of high repute in their various
professions, to lecture at different periods of that day, which is
still, in accordance with ancient usage, set apart as the day of general
cessation from ordinary toil.
Since it is not given one soul to be perfect in everything, and since
the attempted study of everything would result in perfection in nothing,
each individual hopes to become more speedily sure of final perfection
by using all available means of improvement in what is at present the
chief business of life, and by attending the lectures provided by the
Guardian for the purpose of elucidating the most intricate
technicalities of each trade and profession in existence.
The Lecturers are chosen by the State, and are all paid a uniform
salary. As many places would be too small to repay for the domiciling of
a complete staff of Lecturers in their midst, a system of travelling
prevails, whereby the Lecturers travel from one place to another, so
that each member of the community may have opportunities of attaining
individual perfection by receiving public instruction in her or his
special vocation.
All railways, water companies, and similar great undertakings are in the
hands of the State, which receives all surplus profits, and pays its
employés more liberally than private companies ever did in former days.
A fixed percentage is always taken by the State. Should the proceeds be
more than the State percentage, the surplus becomes the perquisite of
the working staff, who thus receive a graduated addition to their
income. Should bad work or bad management reduce the profits, the State
still takes its fixed percentage, and it is thus made the individual
interest of all persons employed by the State to do their best to
promote the success of whatever department of State labour is entrusted
to them.
The Teuto-Scots were guilty of many practices which are rigorously
prohibited in New Amazonia. One of these was the use of the dried leaves
of a plant called tobacco; by some it was put in the mouth, and the
juice masticated out of it. By the majority of users it was slowly
burnt, and the resulting smoke allowed to pass into the mouth, to be
emitted immediately after in clouds of an unpleasant, choking nature.
The practice is in many old works described as dirty and offensive; yet
it is an undoubted fact that the discontinuance of the use of tobacco
was so rebelled against, and so distasteful to many New Amazonian women,
that frequent expulsions from the country took place before the custom
was stamped out.
In all times there have been many vices attributed to the habit of
imbibing fluids, which were so remarkable in their effects, that the
users of them were deprived of both sense and motion, besides suffering
bodily illness. It is the boast of New Amazonia that an intoxicant
cannot be procured in the island, and that all existing establishments
for the manufacture of these dangerous compounds were devoted to more
noble uses.
The majority of Teuto-Scots were carnivorous, like dogs, cats, and birds
of prey. Flesh eating is a habit which induces coarseness of mind and
body, and robs both of the true beauty, and vigour furnished by a
vegetable diet. That Life-Giver never intended the human animal to be
carnivorous is proved by the anatomy of the human frame.
It is, however, probable that New Amazonia became a vegetarian nation in
consequence of the repugnance or inability of the first women who came
over from Teuto-Scotland to kill the animals from whose carcases the
beef, pork, and mutton they had hitherto consumed was obtained. They
probably found it a great deprivation to subsist without a large
proportion of animal food at first, and it was for a time extensively
imported. Vegetarian and Humanitarian doctrines were extensively
preached, and in course of time, as the art of cookery was more
carefully cultivated, the trade in meat carcases ceased entirely, to the
ultimate permanent advantage of the nation, than which no finer race
exists in the world at this moment.
It is on record that the ancients paid great attention to the diet and
housing of the animals intended either for slaughter, for beasts of
burden, or for the chase, and that they knew exactly what food would
produce the most coveted results. Thus they would subject their animals
to one kind of treatment calculated to produce fat, while a change of
diet would be productive of lean flesh. Any other results aimed at would
be treated with corresponding acumen.
They even were able to produce a cruel disease in geese, whereby their
livers were inordinately enlarged. These diseased livers were used in
the construction of certain pies called _pâtés-de-fois-gras_, which were
consumed in large quantities by those who could afford the high prices
charged for them.
And yet, incredible as it may seem, these people had scarcely the most
elementary knowledge of the necessary means of preserving the lives of
their children, and rearing them in a methodical or scientific manner.
No restraints were placed upon the people relative to the number of
their offspring, for thousands of children died daily through the
ignorance and incapacity of those who were entrusted with the rearing of
them, thus partially counteracting one evil by the infliction of
another, incalculable suffering being the invariable accompaniment of
such mal-administration of mundane affairs.
If the offspring of the Teuto-Scots attained maturity, they were the
subjects of such miseries as make New Amazonians often wonder how they
supported life’s burden. Their social pleasures were perpetually ruined
by their inability to understand the signs of the weather until a
tempest was upon them. Such a thing as altering the direction of a
steady wind, and thereby producing either wet or fine weather, by means
of a huge artificially created vacuum, had never been thought of.
Neither had they attained the scientific knowledge which enables us to
prevent disastrous thunderstorms by utilising all superfluous
electricity, that would otherwise accumulate and work mischief.
So much was the life of the ancients dominated by the perpetual changes
of weather in the British Islands, that it is said that no conversation
ever took place in their day without some allusion to the weather being
made in it.
Their lives were rendered unbearable by constant troubles which
innumerable diseases wrought on their frames, and by the ever-recurring
removal of some dear friend by death.
The advance of age was not looked for with delight and eagerness, as
with us, for it brought with it an appalling train of evils. The body
waxed feeble and bent. The eyes grew dim and often sightless. The senses
of taste, smell, and hearing became impaired. The voice cracked, and
made the speech harsh and shaky. The teeth fell out, after gradually and
painfully decaying in the mouth. The gait became unsteady. The mind grew
feeble, and the whole body was transformed into a pitiable spectacle of
ruin and misery, soon to fall into the grave, unless one of the fell
diseases to which these our ancestors were subjected swept them out of
life long ere this.
Science was then in its infancy, and transfusion of blood was scouted as
useless and impracticable, or many of the troubles of those days might
have been avoided.
All these things were bad enough to endure, but when we remember that
the greater part of the human race was led to expect nothing better
after bodily death than a continuance of the spiritual ego in a state of
horrible and never-ending torture, then indeed we may be thankful that
we are free from so many of the ills to which it was then popularly
believed all human flesh was heir.