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Article ACCOUNT OF DRUIDISM. ← Page 4 of 6 →
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Account Of Druidism.
Dr . Borlase , however , is by no means satisfied with this argument ; but , too timid to divest himself of the opinions which he had long ; taken upon trust , lie makes still another effort to account for a likeness so embarrassing . " Whence , " says he , " this surprising confor" mity in their priests , doctrines , worship , and temples , between two " such distant nations as the Persians and Britons proceededit is
dif-, " ficult to say . There never appears to have been the least migration" any accidental or meditated intercourse betwixt them , after the one "" people was settled in Persia and the other in Britain . " This strict agreement was too obvious to escape the notice of the judicious Peloutier . - Dr . Borlase attempts a solution of the difficulty in the following manner : " The Phenicians were very conversant with the
" Persians for the sake of eastern trade ; and nothing is more likely " than that the Phenicians , and after them the Greeks , finding the " Druids devoted beyond-all others to superstition , should make their " court to that powerful order , by bringing them contijiual notices of
" oriental superstitions , in order to promote and engross the lucrative " trade which they carried on in Britain for so many ages . And the " same channel that imported the Persian , mig ht also introduce some " Jewish and / Egyptian rites . The Phenicians traded with . / Egypt , " and had Judea at their own doors ; and from the Phenicians the " Druids mig ht learn some few . / Egyptian and Jewish rites , and inter" weave them among their own . " That the Phenician merchants
should have taught our- Druids the Persian , Jewish , and / Egyptian reli gion is too absurd a supposition . to require a formal refutation . Admitting that these merchants were in the habit of retailing religion , and bartering it with the Britons for tin ; can we think that these rer ligious tenets and ceremonies could . be . imported in such excellent preservation as we find them in this island orif so importedwould
; , , be , at once , honoured by our Druids with a distinguished place , among their old religious possessions ? It is singular that Dr . Borlase , who was so near the truth , should have wandered from it , immediately oa the point of approaching it . Dr . Borlase , however , is remarkable
for his fairness in stating every question ; tnough the conclusions he draws from his premises are not always the most obvious . Others have attempted to get rid of the question in a more general way . To account for this similarity in the opinions and institutions of our Druids , and all the oriental priests , it is said that they were derived from one common fountain—from Noah himself , who set apart an order of . men for the purpose of preserving those doctrinesthrough
, successive ages , and in ' various countries , wherever this order might be dispersed . But the descendants of those who travelled West from Mount Ararat are not supposed to have reached Britain , by travelling overland , till after many generations . Their progress must have been necessaril y slow , and discontinuous , and variously interrupted . In this case they must have lost the character of their oriinal country ,
g before they could have settled in Britain . And the spirit of their religion must have evaporated in . the same proportion : we should expect , therefore , to find fainter traces of it the further we pursued k ¦ from . its fountain-head . We , have observed , however , the contrary
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of Druidism.
Dr . Borlase , however , is by no means satisfied with this argument ; but , too timid to divest himself of the opinions which he had long ; taken upon trust , lie makes still another effort to account for a likeness so embarrassing . " Whence , " says he , " this surprising confor" mity in their priests , doctrines , worship , and temples , between two " such distant nations as the Persians and Britons proceededit is
dif-, " ficult to say . There never appears to have been the least migration" any accidental or meditated intercourse betwixt them , after the one "" people was settled in Persia and the other in Britain . " This strict agreement was too obvious to escape the notice of the judicious Peloutier . - Dr . Borlase attempts a solution of the difficulty in the following manner : " The Phenicians were very conversant with the
" Persians for the sake of eastern trade ; and nothing is more likely " than that the Phenicians , and after them the Greeks , finding the " Druids devoted beyond-all others to superstition , should make their " court to that powerful order , by bringing them contijiual notices of
" oriental superstitions , in order to promote and engross the lucrative " trade which they carried on in Britain for so many ages . And the " same channel that imported the Persian , mig ht also introduce some " Jewish and / Egyptian rites . The Phenicians traded with . / Egypt , " and had Judea at their own doors ; and from the Phenicians the " Druids mig ht learn some few . / Egyptian and Jewish rites , and inter" weave them among their own . " That the Phenician merchants
should have taught our- Druids the Persian , Jewish , and / Egyptian reli gion is too absurd a supposition . to require a formal refutation . Admitting that these merchants were in the habit of retailing religion , and bartering it with the Britons for tin ; can we think that these rer ligious tenets and ceremonies could . be . imported in such excellent preservation as we find them in this island orif so importedwould
; , , be , at once , honoured by our Druids with a distinguished place , among their old religious possessions ? It is singular that Dr . Borlase , who was so near the truth , should have wandered from it , immediately oa the point of approaching it . Dr . Borlase , however , is remarkable
for his fairness in stating every question ; tnough the conclusions he draws from his premises are not always the most obvious . Others have attempted to get rid of the question in a more general way . To account for this similarity in the opinions and institutions of our Druids , and all the oriental priests , it is said that they were derived from one common fountain—from Noah himself , who set apart an order of . men for the purpose of preserving those doctrinesthrough
, successive ages , and in ' various countries , wherever this order might be dispersed . But the descendants of those who travelled West from Mount Ararat are not supposed to have reached Britain , by travelling overland , till after many generations . Their progress must have been necessaril y slow , and discontinuous , and variously interrupted . In this case they must have lost the character of their oriinal country ,
g before they could have settled in Britain . And the spirit of their religion must have evaporated in . the same proportion : we should expect , therefore , to find fainter traces of it the further we pursued k ¦ from . its fountain-head . We , have observed , however , the contrary