Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
From Assyria Ancl E Gypt To The Favoured...
from Assyria ancl E gypt to the favoured land of Greece were easy , —to that country xvhose architects ancl sculptors of old , Promethean-like , almost kindled into life their creations of Parian marble ; xvho spiritualized in stone the human form ' s ideal beauty , and gave to its most intellectual part the finest ancl most expanded form ; or xve might allude to the Attic
migration into Asia Minor , variousl y stated as 1044 ancl 1076 before Christ ; at xvhich time the Dionysian artificers xvere introduced , ancl the mysteries with which they Avere connected . But enough has alread y been said . to justify the remark Avith Avhich Ave set out . AVe may barely mention the rock city of Petrse ( the Edom of Scri pture ) , the columns of Baalbec , and the
" City , desert-hidden , AVhieh Judaea ' s migh ty king Made the genii , at his bidding , Baise by magic of his ring , " as further illustrations . " As the earthquake ancl the torrentthe august ancl terrible
, ministers of Almighty poAver , have torn the solid earth , and opened the seals of the most ancient records of creation ; " soif we may be allowed to compare great things xvith small—have comparativel y recent discoveries opened new pages in the history
of our species , Avhich , hoAvever unsatisfactory to the ethnologist , still assist to shoxv hoxv indefinite , how difficult of calculation it must be to reach to the time xvhen the " first man of clay received the image of God and the breath of life . " The Noragher of Sardinia , the earthen mounds in the United States , the bxuied cities of Central America , the rock picture-xx'ritings found in
Siberia , ancl Guiana—from the equatorial to the frozen zoneare still mysterious , ancl axvait a solution . "Books , " says Mr . Stephens in his travels , "books , the records of knoxvledge , are silent on the theme . The city xvas desolate . The place xvhere xve sat , xvas it a citadel from xvhich an unknoxx'n people had sounded the trumpet of xvar ? or a temple for the xvorship of the
Gocl of peace ? or did the inhabitants xvorship the idols made xvith their oxvn hands , and offer sacrifices on the stones before them ? All was mystery—dark impenetrable mystery—and ex'ery circumstance increased it . " Must , then , the links of that mi ghty chain , AA'hich girdled the globe Avith the fragile marks of human skillso long buried ancl unknoAvnIIOAV once more
, , brought to li ght , remain for ever dissevered ? Since history is silent , and even the dim light of tradition is xvanting , can it be possible that men have carried to far distant parts of the xvorld , symbols ancl observances common to the human race , previous to the great carlv migrations ; and thus embodied in their cle-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
From Assyria Ancl E Gypt To The Favoured...
from Assyria ancl E gypt to the favoured land of Greece were easy , —to that country xvhose architects ancl sculptors of old , Promethean-like , almost kindled into life their creations of Parian marble ; xvho spiritualized in stone the human form ' s ideal beauty , and gave to its most intellectual part the finest ancl most expanded form ; or xve might allude to the Attic
migration into Asia Minor , variousl y stated as 1044 ancl 1076 before Christ ; at xvhich time the Dionysian artificers xvere introduced , ancl the mysteries with which they Avere connected . But enough has alread y been said . to justify the remark Avith Avhich Ave set out . AVe may barely mention the rock city of Petrse ( the Edom of Scri pture ) , the columns of Baalbec , and the
" City , desert-hidden , AVhieh Judaea ' s migh ty king Made the genii , at his bidding , Baise by magic of his ring , " as further illustrations . " As the earthquake ancl the torrentthe august ancl terrible
, ministers of Almighty poAver , have torn the solid earth , and opened the seals of the most ancient records of creation ; " soif we may be allowed to compare great things xvith small—have comparativel y recent discoveries opened new pages in the history
of our species , Avhich , hoAvever unsatisfactory to the ethnologist , still assist to shoxv hoxv indefinite , how difficult of calculation it must be to reach to the time xvhen the " first man of clay received the image of God and the breath of life . " The Noragher of Sardinia , the earthen mounds in the United States , the bxuied cities of Central America , the rock picture-xx'ritings found in
Siberia , ancl Guiana—from the equatorial to the frozen zoneare still mysterious , ancl axvait a solution . "Books , " says Mr . Stephens in his travels , "books , the records of knoxvledge , are silent on the theme . The city xvas desolate . The place xvhere xve sat , xvas it a citadel from xvhich an unknoxx'n people had sounded the trumpet of xvar ? or a temple for the xvorship of the
Gocl of peace ? or did the inhabitants xvorship the idols made xvith their oxvn hands , and offer sacrifices on the stones before them ? All was mystery—dark impenetrable mystery—and ex'ery circumstance increased it . " Must , then , the links of that mi ghty chain , AA'hich girdled the globe Avith the fragile marks of human skillso long buried ancl unknoAvnIIOAV once more
, , brought to li ght , remain for ever dissevered ? Since history is silent , and even the dim light of tradition is xvanting , can it be possible that men have carried to far distant parts of the xvorld , symbols ancl observances common to the human race , previous to the great carlv migrations ; and thus embodied in their cle-