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Article AN ACCOUNT OF DRUIDISM. ← Page 2 of 8 →
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An Account Of Druidism.
contradictory representations * It is certain , however , that the Druids offered human victims to their gods . And there was ah awful mysteriousness . in the original Druid sacrifice . Having descanted on the human sacrifices of various countries , Mr . Bryant informs us , that among the nations of Canaan the 'victims ivere chosen in a peculiar manner : their own childrenand whatsoever was nearest and dearest to themwere
, , thought the most worthy offerings to their gods ! The Carthaginians , who were a colony from Tyi e , carried with them the reli gion of their mother country , and instituted the same worship in the parts where they settled . It consisted in the adoration of several deities , but particularly of Kronus , to whom they offered human sacrifices , the most beautiful victims they could select . Parents offered up their own
children as dearest to themselves , and therefore the more acceptable to the deity : they sacrificed " the fruit of their body for the sin of " their soul . " Kronus was an oriental divinity—the god of light and fre ; and , therefore , always worshipped with some reference to that element . He was the Moloch of the Tyrians and Canaanites , and tlfe MeUch of the East . Philo-Biblius tells usthat in some of these
sacri-, fices there was a particular mystery , in consequence of an example which bad been set these people by the god K < w > . io ; , who , in a time of distress , offered up his only fan to his father © ugwo . . When a person of distinction brought an only son to the altar , and slaughtered him b y way of atonement , to avert any evil from the people—his was
properly the mystical sacrifice , imitated from K § ovoj , or from Abraham offering up his only son Isaac . Mr . Bryant is of opinon , that this mystical sacrifice was a typical representation of the great vicarial sacrifice that was to come . At first , there is no doubt but the Druids offered up their human victims with the same sublime views . The Druids , maintained , quod pro vita hominis nisi -vita hominis reddatur , nois fosse aliter deorum immortalium numen placarie * . This mysterious
doctrine is not of men , but of God ! It evidently points out THE ONE GREAT SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THii WHOLE WORLD ! But after the Phenician colonies had mixed with the primeval Britons , this degenerated priesthood seem' to have deli g hted in human blood : and their victims , though sometimes beasts , were oftener men : and not only criminals and captives , but their very disciples were
inhumanly sacrificed on their altars ; whilst some transfixed by arrows , others crucified in their temples , some instantly stabbed to the heart , and others impaled in honour of the gods , bespoke , amidst variety of death , the most horrid proficiency in the science of murder . But the Druid holo-canst , that monstrous image of straw , connected and shaped bwicker-work , and promiscuously crouded with wild beasts and
huy man victims , was , doubtless , the most . infernal sacrifice that was ever invented by the human imagination . These cruelties were certainl y not attached to primitive Druidism ; they are to be ascribed to the Phenician colonists of a subsequent period . Among the Druid ceremonies , may be reckoned also the turnings of the bod y during the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Account Of Druidism.
contradictory representations * It is certain , however , that the Druids offered human victims to their gods . And there was ah awful mysteriousness . in the original Druid sacrifice . Having descanted on the human sacrifices of various countries , Mr . Bryant informs us , that among the nations of Canaan the 'victims ivere chosen in a peculiar manner : their own childrenand whatsoever was nearest and dearest to themwere
, , thought the most worthy offerings to their gods ! The Carthaginians , who were a colony from Tyi e , carried with them the reli gion of their mother country , and instituted the same worship in the parts where they settled . It consisted in the adoration of several deities , but particularly of Kronus , to whom they offered human sacrifices , the most beautiful victims they could select . Parents offered up their own
children as dearest to themselves , and therefore the more acceptable to the deity : they sacrificed " the fruit of their body for the sin of " their soul . " Kronus was an oriental divinity—the god of light and fre ; and , therefore , always worshipped with some reference to that element . He was the Moloch of the Tyrians and Canaanites , and tlfe MeUch of the East . Philo-Biblius tells usthat in some of these
sacri-, fices there was a particular mystery , in consequence of an example which bad been set these people by the god K < w > . io ; , who , in a time of distress , offered up his only fan to his father © ugwo . . When a person of distinction brought an only son to the altar , and slaughtered him b y way of atonement , to avert any evil from the people—his was
properly the mystical sacrifice , imitated from K § ovoj , or from Abraham offering up his only son Isaac . Mr . Bryant is of opinon , that this mystical sacrifice was a typical representation of the great vicarial sacrifice that was to come . At first , there is no doubt but the Druids offered up their human victims with the same sublime views . The Druids , maintained , quod pro vita hominis nisi -vita hominis reddatur , nois fosse aliter deorum immortalium numen placarie * . This mysterious
doctrine is not of men , but of God ! It evidently points out THE ONE GREAT SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THii WHOLE WORLD ! But after the Phenician colonies had mixed with the primeval Britons , this degenerated priesthood seem' to have deli g hted in human blood : and their victims , though sometimes beasts , were oftener men : and not only criminals and captives , but their very disciples were
inhumanly sacrificed on their altars ; whilst some transfixed by arrows , others crucified in their temples , some instantly stabbed to the heart , and others impaled in honour of the gods , bespoke , amidst variety of death , the most horrid proficiency in the science of murder . But the Druid holo-canst , that monstrous image of straw , connected and shaped bwicker-work , and promiscuously crouded with wild beasts and
huy man victims , was , doubtless , the most . infernal sacrifice that was ever invented by the human imagination . These cruelties were certainl y not attached to primitive Druidism ; they are to be ascribed to the Phenician colonists of a subsequent period . Among the Druid ceremonies , may be reckoned also the turnings of the bod y during the