Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Taste In Architecture Governed By. Domestic Manners.
critics and art students of the time , that whatever pleasure we may enjoy from the contemplation of any 2 > articular style of architecture , however gorgeous and superb , the Grecian orders most powerfully command our admiration ; these derive their ori gin from the highest civilization , and were the ornament of those countries most hallowed in
our imaginations ; and it is difficult for us to see them , even in our modern c ^ fies or adaptations , without feeling their influence to operate upon our minds—Avhile Ave regard them as relics of the polished nation by whom they Avere first designed , and of that great people by Avhorn they Avere after-Avards borrowed and modified .
On The Origin And Observance Of Christmas.
ON THE ORIGIN AND OBSERVANCE OF CHRISTMAS .
WHEN the Christian missionaries , advancing toAvards the north , came iu contact with the religious of Thor . and Woden , they found the heathen inhabitants of those regions so firmly fixed in their Avorship and belief in both the above and a crowd of other idols , and so deeply rooted in their ancestral creedsthat a compromise Avas deemed advisable to the
, pave Avay and b y gentle means to Avean them from their abominable superstitions ; it Avas necessary to gild the salutary pill which Avas to turn them from the gods of their forefathers , to forsake their ancient temples , and to cut down the oaks dedicated to Douur the Thunderer . It was thus these pioneers of holy truths may be said to have
"Allured to brighter worlds , and led the way . " Even the highest authority of the church , the papal chair , not only tolerated but inculcated such seductive practices . Venerable Bode , in his Ecclesiastical History ( lib . xxx . ) , has preserved a letter from Popo Gregory the Great to the Abbot Mehtus , going into Britain with information to our earliest
missionary , Augustine , in which appears the following passage : — " When , therefore , Almighty God shall bring you to the most reverend Bishop Augustine our brother , tell liim what I have upon mature deliberation on thc affairs of the English determined upon , viz . . - —that the temples of the idols of that nation ought not to lie destroyedbut let the idols that in them be
, are destroyed ; Jet hol y water be made aud sprinkled in the said temples ; let altars be erected and relics placed . For if these temples arc well built , it is requisite that tiicy be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God : that the nation seeing that their temples tire not destroyed , may remove error from their hearts , and knowing and adoring the true God , may the more familiarly resort to the places to Avhich they have been accustomedAnd because
. they have been used to thc slaughter of many oxen to the sacrifice to devils , some solemnity must be exchanged for them on this account ; so that on the day of the dedication , or the nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited , they may build themselves huts of the boughs of trees about those churches ivhich have been turned to that use Irom temples , and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting ; and offer to the devil
no more , but kill cattle to the praise of God in their eating , and return thanks to the Giver of all things for their sustenance ; to thc end , that whilst some gratifications arc outwardly permitted them , they may the more easily consent to the mirard _ consolations of the grace of God . Eor there is no doubt that it is impossible to efface every thing at once from their obdurate mindsbecausehe who ascends to the hihest daccs
; , g j rises by degrees and steps , and not by leaps . " Thc Hol y Father then dilates upon the toleration in this respect allowed to the Israelites . And then concludes this somewhat desultory epistle
by'' This it behoves your affection , to communicate to our aforesaid brother , that he being there present may consider how he is to order all things . " Though this admonition be especially referable only to . Britain , and principally relates to temples , tho unity of papal policy in all ages would allow its extension to country
every where thc olden faith was too tough immediately to give way ; and with the toleration of the temples AVC must receive as a corollary all the practices and festivals of Avhich they were the scenes ,
The above papal permission must have been a double boon to the missionaries who received it ; it would materially lessen their labours and allow them to parade a greater number of converts ; and it also gave them a decent pretext and jdaiisible reason for converting the glebes and dotations of the olden Druids to the propagation of their own tenets and to their personal maintenance—Avithout augmenting the bitterness of a dereliction of ancient faith to the new
convcrts , or the additional grievance of new pecuniary burthens . This inculcated change of worship , only not of locality but of practice , Avas carried through extensively , much more so than Ave can HOAV conceive . The oldest and most famous of till the Christian edifices through Europe are historically or traditionally the sites of heathen temples . In our country very plausible reasons are adduced for supposing that St .
Paul's Cathedral covers the site of a temple of Diana , and Westminster Abbey one dedicated to A |) ollo ; and Professor Engling , in the Luxemburg Az-elneological publications for 1847 , vol . iii . 2 ' - 188 , g ives us historical data for similar changes in that small duchy , enumerating thirteen localities , in which thc conversion is certain ; aud Dr . William Bell , in
his "Shakespeare ' s Puck , " and his " Polk Lore , " vol . i . p . 268 , used this circumstance as the foundation of a proof that the Pedlar and his Dog , at Lambeth , and at Swtiffham , in Norfolk , as Avell as something similar at Bowness , in Cumberland , were all received as a notification of change of mastersand Avith them the change of faith .
, It is in carrying out this A'ieAv that the rationale of our Christian festivals AVI' 11 be best made plain ; and in giving an account of the highest amongst them , the Yule , Ave shall , iu the first place , point out the existence of the heathen feasts hy Avhich they have been superseded at peculiar seasons , and then SIIOAV how they haA ^ e been appropriated in our present
calendars ; and , secondly , IIOAV utterly impossible it has been entirely to eradicate the ancient practices . In all heathen nations , thc glorious luminary , the sun , Avas a primary and special object of adoration ; the beneficent and cheering effects of the solar rays upon each individual , their vivifying and prolific powers upon all nature , could not
but strike the perceptions of the most obdurate , and aAvaken sentiments of gratitude and thankfulness in CA'ery breast . Hence every phase on the orbit of this luminary , according to thc then prevalent belief that the sun moved round the earth , became an object of deep observation and solicitude . But more especially Avas this the case at tho two great periods Avhenhaving arrived at a certain pointthe great
, , orb Avas supposed for a moment stationary , previous to turning his path in a contrary direction for the next half of his course ; and then , again , when arrived at the opposite jioint , once more to turn in its everlasting rounds . We gain thus two principal periods in the sun ' s supposed careerAvhich we are still accustomed to designate as " solstices "
, , from the above popular view of the sun ' s motion , before the astronomers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries demonstrated the stationary nature of this luminary and the rotary motion of the earth . Upon this notion Ave borrow- tho Roman name of sol stare , the standing of the sun , though the Germans , from a more correct A'iew of the old theory , cull these periods
Sonnen-wenden , or sun ' s changes . One of these solstices we call summer , and fix it on the 21 st of June ; the other Ave call the Avinter solstice , and celebrate it on the 21 st of December . Both , AVC shall find , Avere heathen feasts of the highest solemnity and holiness ; but as tho pleasures and prospects of hope excel always those of possession , the Avinter
change Avas held in hi gher estimation than that of summer . Thc dreary three mouths just passed , Avhen , as it were , all nature Avas torpid or extinct , Avere now to be succeeded by others Avhen the inanimate earth Avas graduall y to put forth till her beauty : — " Wish'd spring returns ; and'fi ' oiulthc lazy south , While dim Aurora slowly moves before
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Taste In Architecture Governed By. Domestic Manners.
critics and art students of the time , that whatever pleasure we may enjoy from the contemplation of any 2 > articular style of architecture , however gorgeous and superb , the Grecian orders most powerfully command our admiration ; these derive their ori gin from the highest civilization , and were the ornament of those countries most hallowed in
our imaginations ; and it is difficult for us to see them , even in our modern c ^ fies or adaptations , without feeling their influence to operate upon our minds—Avhile Ave regard them as relics of the polished nation by whom they Avere first designed , and of that great people by Avhorn they Avere after-Avards borrowed and modified .
On The Origin And Observance Of Christmas.
ON THE ORIGIN AND OBSERVANCE OF CHRISTMAS .
WHEN the Christian missionaries , advancing toAvards the north , came iu contact with the religious of Thor . and Woden , they found the heathen inhabitants of those regions so firmly fixed in their Avorship and belief in both the above and a crowd of other idols , and so deeply rooted in their ancestral creedsthat a compromise Avas deemed advisable to the
, pave Avay and b y gentle means to Avean them from their abominable superstitions ; it Avas necessary to gild the salutary pill which Avas to turn them from the gods of their forefathers , to forsake their ancient temples , and to cut down the oaks dedicated to Douur the Thunderer . It was thus these pioneers of holy truths may be said to have
"Allured to brighter worlds , and led the way . " Even the highest authority of the church , the papal chair , not only tolerated but inculcated such seductive practices . Venerable Bode , in his Ecclesiastical History ( lib . xxx . ) , has preserved a letter from Popo Gregory the Great to the Abbot Mehtus , going into Britain with information to our earliest
missionary , Augustine , in which appears the following passage : — " When , therefore , Almighty God shall bring you to the most reverend Bishop Augustine our brother , tell liim what I have upon mature deliberation on thc affairs of the English determined upon , viz . . - —that the temples of the idols of that nation ought not to lie destroyedbut let the idols that in them be
, are destroyed ; Jet hol y water be made aud sprinkled in the said temples ; let altars be erected and relics placed . For if these temples arc well built , it is requisite that tiicy be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God : that the nation seeing that their temples tire not destroyed , may remove error from their hearts , and knowing and adoring the true God , may the more familiarly resort to the places to Avhich they have been accustomedAnd because
. they have been used to thc slaughter of many oxen to the sacrifice to devils , some solemnity must be exchanged for them on this account ; so that on the day of the dedication , or the nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited , they may build themselves huts of the boughs of trees about those churches ivhich have been turned to that use Irom temples , and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting ; and offer to the devil
no more , but kill cattle to the praise of God in their eating , and return thanks to the Giver of all things for their sustenance ; to thc end , that whilst some gratifications arc outwardly permitted them , they may the more easily consent to the mirard _ consolations of the grace of God . Eor there is no doubt that it is impossible to efface every thing at once from their obdurate mindsbecausehe who ascends to the hihest daccs
; , g j rises by degrees and steps , and not by leaps . " Thc Hol y Father then dilates upon the toleration in this respect allowed to the Israelites . And then concludes this somewhat desultory epistle
by'' This it behoves your affection , to communicate to our aforesaid brother , that he being there present may consider how he is to order all things . " Though this admonition be especially referable only to . Britain , and principally relates to temples , tho unity of papal policy in all ages would allow its extension to country
every where thc olden faith was too tough immediately to give way ; and with the toleration of the temples AVC must receive as a corollary all the practices and festivals of Avhich they were the scenes ,
The above papal permission must have been a double boon to the missionaries who received it ; it would materially lessen their labours and allow them to parade a greater number of converts ; and it also gave them a decent pretext and jdaiisible reason for converting the glebes and dotations of the olden Druids to the propagation of their own tenets and to their personal maintenance—Avithout augmenting the bitterness of a dereliction of ancient faith to the new
convcrts , or the additional grievance of new pecuniary burthens . This inculcated change of worship , only not of locality but of practice , Avas carried through extensively , much more so than Ave can HOAV conceive . The oldest and most famous of till the Christian edifices through Europe are historically or traditionally the sites of heathen temples . In our country very plausible reasons are adduced for supposing that St .
Paul's Cathedral covers the site of a temple of Diana , and Westminster Abbey one dedicated to A |) ollo ; and Professor Engling , in the Luxemburg Az-elneological publications for 1847 , vol . iii . 2 ' - 188 , g ives us historical data for similar changes in that small duchy , enumerating thirteen localities , in which thc conversion is certain ; aud Dr . William Bell , in
his "Shakespeare ' s Puck , " and his " Polk Lore , " vol . i . p . 268 , used this circumstance as the foundation of a proof that the Pedlar and his Dog , at Lambeth , and at Swtiffham , in Norfolk , as Avell as something similar at Bowness , in Cumberland , were all received as a notification of change of mastersand Avith them the change of faith .
, It is in carrying out this A'ieAv that the rationale of our Christian festivals AVI' 11 be best made plain ; and in giving an account of the highest amongst them , the Yule , Ave shall , iu the first place , point out the existence of the heathen feasts hy Avhich they have been superseded at peculiar seasons , and then SIIOAV how they haA ^ e been appropriated in our present
calendars ; and , secondly , IIOAV utterly impossible it has been entirely to eradicate the ancient practices . In all heathen nations , thc glorious luminary , the sun , Avas a primary and special object of adoration ; the beneficent and cheering effects of the solar rays upon each individual , their vivifying and prolific powers upon all nature , could not
but strike the perceptions of the most obdurate , and aAvaken sentiments of gratitude and thankfulness in CA'ery breast . Hence every phase on the orbit of this luminary , according to thc then prevalent belief that the sun moved round the earth , became an object of deep observation and solicitude . But more especially Avas this the case at tho two great periods Avhenhaving arrived at a certain pointthe great
, , orb Avas supposed for a moment stationary , previous to turning his path in a contrary direction for the next half of his course ; and then , again , when arrived at the opposite jioint , once more to turn in its everlasting rounds . We gain thus two principal periods in the sun ' s supposed careerAvhich we are still accustomed to designate as " solstices "
, , from the above popular view of the sun ' s motion , before the astronomers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries demonstrated the stationary nature of this luminary and the rotary motion of the earth . Upon this notion Ave borrow- tho Roman name of sol stare , the standing of the sun , though the Germans , from a more correct A'iew of the old theory , cull these periods
Sonnen-wenden , or sun ' s changes . One of these solstices we call summer , and fix it on the 21 st of June ; the other Ave call the Avinter solstice , and celebrate it on the 21 st of December . Both , AVC shall find , Avere heathen feasts of the highest solemnity and holiness ; but as tho pleasures and prospects of hope excel always those of possession , the Avinter
change Avas held in hi gher estimation than that of summer . Thc dreary three mouths just passed , Avhen , as it were , all nature Avas torpid or extinct , Avere now to be succeeded by others Avhen the inanimate earth Avas graduall y to put forth till her beauty : — " Wish'd spring returns ; and'fi ' oiulthc lazy south , While dim Aurora slowly moves before