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Article THE UNIVERSALITY OF SUPERSTITION. Page 1 of 20 →
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The Universality Of Superstition.
THE UNIVERSALITY OF SUPERSTITION .
" In old time ofthe king Artour , Of which that Bretons spoken groat honour , All was this land fulfilled of Faerie ; The Elf-Queen , with her joly company , Danced full oft in many a green mead . This was the old opinion , as I rede , — I speke of many hundred years ago , But now can no man see no elves eno . " ' Wife of Bath's tale . —CHAUCER .
• '• ' The eye works Unto the timid thought , —aud the thoxight paints Forms from the mire of conscience , will-o ' -wisps To dazzle sober reason . " OLD PLAT . THE intrinsic unity and identity of the tendencies of the
human mind is in no way better exemplified than by the universality of superstition . From the infancy of creation to our OAA ' era , mankind has been found straining after things not seen , and a compound exertion of curiosity ancl credulity has given rise in all ages to a constant development of the marvellous . Superstition appears in eA'ery country , clime , and nation ;
and though to a casual observer its external aspect may vary Avith time , place , and people , the attentive inquirer into the annals of past ages , as he brings doxvn his researches to modern date , finds that there has been not only an universal tendency , but also a traditionary creed as to the unseen world—varied , no doubtby exterior causesbnational characterclimate , and
, , y , peculiar natural scenery—weakened , doubtless by the influence of civilization , of education , ancl of revealed truth—but still , though uneven in its course and xveakened in xigour , essentiall y the same stream that sprung from the mental constitution of the primseval xvorld .
Credulity xvas instrumental in bringing about the fall ot mankind—ancl coulcl we peruse a record of the outcast first-born and his posterity , xx'hat extravagance of delusion might xve not expect it to detail ? In the absence of such account , knoxving nothing more definitively , than that corruption at length xvrought the destruction of the antediluvian world , xve turn to the superstitions of a people described to us xvith much minuteness , and xvhose customs and mode of life , illustrated as they are
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Universality Of Superstition.
THE UNIVERSALITY OF SUPERSTITION .
" In old time ofthe king Artour , Of which that Bretons spoken groat honour , All was this land fulfilled of Faerie ; The Elf-Queen , with her joly company , Danced full oft in many a green mead . This was the old opinion , as I rede , — I speke of many hundred years ago , But now can no man see no elves eno . " ' Wife of Bath's tale . —CHAUCER .
• '• ' The eye works Unto the timid thought , —aud the thoxight paints Forms from the mire of conscience , will-o ' -wisps To dazzle sober reason . " OLD PLAT . THE intrinsic unity and identity of the tendencies of the
human mind is in no way better exemplified than by the universality of superstition . From the infancy of creation to our OAA ' era , mankind has been found straining after things not seen , and a compound exertion of curiosity ancl credulity has given rise in all ages to a constant development of the marvellous . Superstition appears in eA'ery country , clime , and nation ;
and though to a casual observer its external aspect may vary Avith time , place , and people , the attentive inquirer into the annals of past ages , as he brings doxvn his researches to modern date , finds that there has been not only an universal tendency , but also a traditionary creed as to the unseen world—varied , no doubtby exterior causesbnational characterclimate , and
, , y , peculiar natural scenery—weakened , doubtless by the influence of civilization , of education , ancl of revealed truth—but still , though uneven in its course and xveakened in xigour , essentiall y the same stream that sprung from the mental constitution of the primseval xvorld .
Credulity xvas instrumental in bringing about the fall ot mankind—ancl coulcl we peruse a record of the outcast first-born and his posterity , xx'hat extravagance of delusion might xve not expect it to detail ? In the absence of such account , knoxving nothing more definitively , than that corruption at length xvrought the destruction of the antediluvian world , xve turn to the superstitions of a people described to us xvith much minuteness , and xvhose customs and mode of life , illustrated as they are