-
Articles/Ads
Article Untitled Article ← Page 2 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
in the form and under the style of Dissent , it fails to awaken the sympathies of the majority of the educated classes . The new commandment that was given unto us , " Love one
another , " and formularized as a fundamental canon by Auguste Comte , —Vamour pour base , this is the intrinsic idea ; and the history of antiquity shows us how the idea grew and flourished . Its final triumph is identical with the political establishment of Christianity by Constantino , as the Occidental religion , and in the East with the success of Islam .
It does not follow of necessity , that m history we are able to assign special periods , during which certain manifestations of the religious sentiment were absolute . None ever were absolute . In science , knowledge passes through the supernatural and metaphysical states into the positive state ; but the progress is not in every case similarly rapid . So also in religion , where the divisions are
similar , we can show certain of these manifestations to have been in turn predominant for a season ; but that Eetichism should reign alone to the exclusion of Polytheism , ^ for more than a very brief time ( if at all , for whenever an opinion is asserted , its opponents rise up according to a natural law ) , f or that Monotheism should not possess attributes forming part of the system of Polytheism , £ is quite impossible .
"We find the mixture of Eetichism and Polytheism § in the Egyptian religion , giving a peculiar character to all philosophy and thought in that country . The Eetichistic adoration of certain objects of nature is mingled with a spiritual devotion to various invisible divinities ; still , although the character of the Egyptian religion remains invariable , we shall find certain changes in the course of its long history sufficient to indicate religion as progressive and liberal ,
and to show how such progress was gradually transfusing a purer sentiment into the nation . There was one safeguard in the Egyptian mind which for ever prevented the objects of its civilization being frustrated , according to * I shall only be able , I rejoice in believing , to point out one or two instances in the West ; but , alas ! for our boasted education and enlightenment , in the country of Ireland , wedded to us not only by a common government , but by the telegraph-wire , that has annihilated space and time ; yes , a Fetish stone , wrapped
in flannel , receives from men and women adoration , to be offered only to the Unseen , within a few miles of civilization and tax-gatherers , on a barren little island of the West , belonging to the dominions of our gentle and compassionate Queen . —( See Sir J . Emerson Tennent , in " Notes and Queries , " vol . v . p . 121 . ) At p . 383 of the eighth volume of the same miscellany may be found an account of similar Fetish stones in Scotland . t How magnificently is this law enunciated by a writer in the " Edinburgh Review , " rumoured to be Mr . Macaulay , and lucidly applied to the proof of the
necessity and uses of a Parliamentary opposition ! t Such as saint-worship , itself transferred from Fetichism , and imbued with a * Polytheistic spirit , now part of the system in the West of Roman Catholic worship , and in the East of Buddhistic ritualism . § That there is some Monotheistic germ in the Egyptian faith , I would not deny , but it is so undeveloped as to pass for nothing . —See Dr . Kalisch on Exodus , Introduction , p . xxvi .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
in the form and under the style of Dissent , it fails to awaken the sympathies of the majority of the educated classes . The new commandment that was given unto us , " Love one
another , " and formularized as a fundamental canon by Auguste Comte , —Vamour pour base , this is the intrinsic idea ; and the history of antiquity shows us how the idea grew and flourished . Its final triumph is identical with the political establishment of Christianity by Constantino , as the Occidental religion , and in the East with the success of Islam .
It does not follow of necessity , that m history we are able to assign special periods , during which certain manifestations of the religious sentiment were absolute . None ever were absolute . In science , knowledge passes through the supernatural and metaphysical states into the positive state ; but the progress is not in every case similarly rapid . So also in religion , where the divisions are
similar , we can show certain of these manifestations to have been in turn predominant for a season ; but that Eetichism should reign alone to the exclusion of Polytheism , ^ for more than a very brief time ( if at all , for whenever an opinion is asserted , its opponents rise up according to a natural law ) , f or that Monotheism should not possess attributes forming part of the system of Polytheism , £ is quite impossible .
"We find the mixture of Eetichism and Polytheism § in the Egyptian religion , giving a peculiar character to all philosophy and thought in that country . The Eetichistic adoration of certain objects of nature is mingled with a spiritual devotion to various invisible divinities ; still , although the character of the Egyptian religion remains invariable , we shall find certain changes in the course of its long history sufficient to indicate religion as progressive and liberal ,
and to show how such progress was gradually transfusing a purer sentiment into the nation . There was one safeguard in the Egyptian mind which for ever prevented the objects of its civilization being frustrated , according to * I shall only be able , I rejoice in believing , to point out one or two instances in the West ; but , alas ! for our boasted education and enlightenment , in the country of Ireland , wedded to us not only by a common government , but by the telegraph-wire , that has annihilated space and time ; yes , a Fetish stone , wrapped
in flannel , receives from men and women adoration , to be offered only to the Unseen , within a few miles of civilization and tax-gatherers , on a barren little island of the West , belonging to the dominions of our gentle and compassionate Queen . —( See Sir J . Emerson Tennent , in " Notes and Queries , " vol . v . p . 121 . ) At p . 383 of the eighth volume of the same miscellany may be found an account of similar Fetish stones in Scotland . t How magnificently is this law enunciated by a writer in the " Edinburgh Review , " rumoured to be Mr . Macaulay , and lucidly applied to the proof of the
necessity and uses of a Parliamentary opposition ! t Such as saint-worship , itself transferred from Fetichism , and imbued with a * Polytheistic spirit , now part of the system in the West of Roman Catholic worship , and in the East of Buddhistic ritualism . § That there is some Monotheistic germ in the Egyptian faith , I would not deny , but it is so undeveloped as to pass for nothing . —See Dr . Kalisch on Exodus , Introduction , p . xxvi .