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Phallic Worship

<h2>ARCHITECTURAL PILLARS DEVISED FROM THE LOTUS</h2> The earliest capital seems to have been the bell or seed vessel, simply copied without alteration, except a little expansion at the bottom to give it stability. The leaves of some other plant were then added to it, and varied in different capitals according to the different meanings intended to be signified by the accessory symbols. The Greeks decorated it in the same manner, with the foliage of various plants, sometimes of the acanthus and sometimes of the aquatic kind, which are, however, generally so transformed by excessive attention to elegance, that it is difficult to distinguish them. The most usual seems to be the Egyptian acacia, which was probably adopted as a mystic symbol for the same reasons as the olive, it being equally remarkable for its powers of reproduction. Theophrastus mentions a large wood of it in the “Thebaid,” where the olive will not grow, so that we reasonably suppose it to have been employed by the Egyptians in the same symbolical sense. From them the Greeks seem to have borrowed it about the time of the Macedonian conquest, it not occurring in any of their buildings of a much earlier date; and as for the story of the Corinthian architect, who is said to have invented this kind of capital from observing a thorn growing round a basket, it deserved no credit, being fully contradicted by the buildings still remaining in Upper Egypt. The Doric column, which appears to have been the only one known to the very ancient Greeks, was equally derived from the Nelumbo; its capital being the same seed-vessel pressed flat, as it appears when withered and 52dry—the only state probably in which it had been seen in Europe. The flutes in the shaft were made to hold spears and staves, whence a spear-holder is spoken of in the “Odyssey” as part of a column. The triglyphs and blocks of the cornice were also derived from utility, they having been intended to represent the projecting ends of the beams and rafters which formed the roof. The Ionic capital has no bell, but volutes formed in imitation of sea-shells, which have the same symbolical meaning. To them is frequently added the ornament which architects call a honeysuckle, but which seems to be meant for the young petals of the same flower viewed horizontally, before they are opened or expanded. Another ornament is also introduced in this capital, which they call eggs and anchors, but which is, in fact, composed of eggs and spear-heads, the symbols of female generation and male destructive power, or in the language of mythology, of Venus and Mars.—<cite>Payne Knight.</cite> <h2>BELLS IN RELIGIOUS WORSHIP</h2> Stripped, however, of all this splendour and magnificence it was probably nothing more than a symbolical instrument, signifying originally the motion of the elements, like the sistrum of Isis, the cymbals of Cybele, the bells of Bacchus, etc., whence Jupiter is said to have overcome the Titans with his ægis, as Isis drove away Typhon with her sistrum, and the ringing of the bells and clatter of metals were almost universally employed as a means of consecration, and a charm against the 53destroying and inert powers. Even the Jews welcomed the new moon with such noises, which the simplicity of the early ages employed almost everywhere to relieve her during eclipses, supposed then to be morbid affections brought on by the influence of an adverse power. The title Priapus, by which the generative attribute is distinguished, seems to be merely a corruption of Briapuos (clamorous); the beta and pi being commutable letters, and epithets of similar meaning, being continually applied both to Jupiter and Bacchus by the poets. Many Priapic figures, too, still extant, have bells attached to them, as the symbolical statues and temples of the Hindus are; and to wear them was a part of the worship of Bacchus among the Greeks: whence we sometimes find them of extremely small size, evidently meant to be worn as amulets with the phalli, lunulæ, etc. The chief priests of the Egyptians and also the high priests of the Jews, hung them as sacred emblems to their sacerdotal garments; and the Brahmins still continue to ring a small bell at the interval of their prayers, ablutions, and other acts of devotion; which custom is still preserved in the Roman Catholic Church at the elevation of the host. The Lacedæmonians beat upon a brass vessel or pan, on the death of their kings, and we still retain the custom of tolling a bell on such occasions, though the reason of it is not generally known, any more than that of other remnants of ancient ceremonies still existing.[1] It will be observed that the bells used by the Christians very probably came direct from the Buddhists. And from the same source are derived the beads and rosaries of the Roman Catholics, which have been used by the Buddhist 54monks for over 2,000 years. Tinkling bells were suspended before the shrine of Jupiter Ammon, and during the service the gods were invited to descend upon the altars by the ringing of bells; they were likewise sacred to Siva. Bells were used at the worship of Bacchus, and were worn on the garments of the Bacchantes, much in the same manner as they are used at our carnivals and masquerades. <hr class='c007' /> <h2>HINDU PHALLICISM</h2> The following curious fable is given by Sir William Jones, as one of the stories of the Hindus for the origin of Phallic devotion:—“Certain devotees in a remote time had acquired great renown and respect, but the purity of the art was wanting, nor did their motives and secret thoughts correspond with their professions and exterior conduct. They affected poverty, but were attached to the things of this world, and the princes and nobles were constantly sending their offerings. They seemed to sequester themselves from this world; they lived retired from the towns; but their dwellings were commodious, and their women numerous and handsome. But nothing can be hid from their gods, and Sheevah resolved to put them to shame. He desired Prakeety (nature) to accompany him; and assumed the appearance of a Pandaram of a graceful form. Prakeety was herself a damsel of matchless worth. She went before the devotees who were assembled with their disciples, awaiting the rising of the sun, to perform their ablutions and religious ceremonies. As she advanced 55the refreshing breeze moved her flowing robe, showed the exquisite shape which it seemed intended to conceal. With eyes cast down, though sometimes opening with a timid but tender look, she approached them, and with a low enchanting voice desired to be admitted to the sacrifice. The devotees gazed on her with astonishment. The sun appeared, but the purifications were forgotten; the things of the Poojah (worship) lay neglected; nor was any worship thought of but that of her. Quitting the gravity of their manners, they gathered round her as flies round the lamp at night—attracted by its splendour, but consumed by its flame. They asked from whence she came; whither she was going. ‘Be not offended with us for approaching thee, forgive us our importunities. But thou art incapable of anger, thou who art made to convey bliss; to thee, who mayest kill by indifference, indignation and resentment are unknown. But whoever thou mayest be, whatever motive or accident might have brought thee amongst us, admit us into the number of thy slaves; let us at least have the comfort to behold thee.’ Here the words faltered on the lip, and the soul seemed ready to take its flight; the vow was forgotten, and the policy of years destroyed. “Whilst the devotees were lost in their passions, and absent from their homes, Sheevah entered their village with a musical instrument in his hand, playing and singing like some of those who solicit charity. At the sound of his voice, the women immediately quitted their occupation; they ran to see from whom it came. He was as beautiful as Krishen on the plains of Matra. Some dropped their jewels without turning to look for them; others let fall their garments without perceiving that they discovered those abodes of pleasure which jealousy as well as decency 56had ordered to be concealed. All pressed forward with their offerings, all wished to speak, all wished to be taken notice of, and bringing flowers and scattering them before him, said—‘Askest thou alms! thou who are made to govern hearts. Thou whose countenance is as fresh as the morning, whose voice is the voice of pleasure, and they breath like that of Vassant (Spring) in the opening of the rose! Stay with us and we will serve thee; nor will we trouble thy repose, but only be zealous how to please thee.’ The Pandaram continued to play, and sung the loves of Kama (God of Love), of Krishen and the Gopia, and smiling the gentle smiles of fond desire.... “But the desire of repose succeeds the waste of pleasure. Sleep closed the eyes and lulled the senses. In the morning the Pandaram was gone. When they awoke they looked round with astonishment, and again cast their eyes on the ground. Some directed to those who had formerly been remarked for their scrupulous manners, but their faces were covered with their veils. After sitting awhile in silence they arose and went back to their houses, with slow and troubled steps. The devotees returned about the same time from their wanderings after Prakeety. The days that followed were days of embarrassment and shame. If the women had failed in their modesty, the devotees had broken their vows. They were vexed at their weakness, they were sorry for what they had done; yet the tender sigh sometimes broke forth, and the eyes often turned to where the men first saw the maid—the women, the Pandaram. “But the women began to perceive that what the devotees foretold came not to pass. Their disciples, in consequence, neglected to attend them, and the offerings from the princes and nobles became less frequent than 57before. They then performed various penances; they sought for secret places among the woods unfrequented by man; and having at last shut their eyes from the things of this world, retired within themselves in deep meditation, that Sheevah was the author of their misfortunes. Their understanding being imperfect, instead of bowing the head with humility, they were inflamed with anger; instead of contrition for their hypocrisy, they sought for vengeance. They performed new sacrifices and incantations, which were only allowed to have effect in the end, to show the extreme folly of man in not submitting to the will of heaven. “Their incantations produced a tiger, whose mouth was like a cavern and his voice like thunder among the mountains. They sent him against Sheevah, who with Prakeety was amusing himself in the vale. He smiled at their weakness, and killing the tiger at one blow with his club, he covered himself with his skin. Seeing themselves frustrated in this attempt, the devotees had recourse to another, and sent serpents against him of the most deadly kind; but on approaching him they became harmless, and he twisted them round his neck. They then sent their curses and imprecations against him, but they all recoiled upon themselves. Not yet disheartened by all these disappointments, they collected all their prayers, their penances, their charities, and other good works, the most acceptable sacrifices; and demanding in return only vengeance against Sheevah, they sent a fire to destroy his genital parts. Sheevah, incensed at this attempt, turned the fire with indignation against the human race; and mankind would soon have been destroyed, had not Vishnu, alarmed at the danger, implored him to suspend his wrath. At his entreaties 58Sheevah relented; but it was ordained that in his temples those parts should be worshipped, which the false doctrines had impiously attempted to destroy.” <h2>THE CROSS AND ROSARY</h2> The key which is still worn with the Priapic hand, as an amulet, by the women of Italy appears to have been an emblem of the equivocal use of the name, as the language of that country implies. Of the same kind, too, appears to have been the cross in the form of the letter tau, attached to a circle, which many of the figures of Egyptian deities, both male and female, carry in their left hand; and by the Syrians, Phœnicians and other inhabitants of Asia, representing the planet Venus, worshipped by them as the emblem or image of that goddess. The cross in this form is sometimes observable on coins, and several of them were found in a temple of Serapis, demolished at the general destruction of those edifices by the Emperor Theodosius, and were said by the Christian antiquaries of that time to signify the future life. In solemn sacrifices, all the Lapland idols were marked with it from the blood of the victims; and it occurs on many Runic ornaments found in Sweden and Denmark, which are of an age long anterior to the approach of Christianity to those countries, and probably to its appearance in the world. On some of the early coins of the Phœnicians, we find it attached to a chaplet of beads placed in a circle, so as to form a complete rosary, such as the Lamas of Thibet and China, the Hindus, and the Roman Catholics now tell over while they pray. 59 <h2>BEADS</h2> Beads were anciently used to reckon time, and a circle, being a line without termination, was the natural emblem of its perpetual continuity; whence we often find circles of beads upon the heads of deities, and enclosing the sacred symbols upon coins and other monuments. Perforated beads are also frequently found in tombs, both in the northern and southern parts of Europe and Asia, whence are fragments of the chaplets of consecration buried with the deceased. The simple diadem, or fillet, worn round the head as a mark of sovereignty, had a similar meaning, and was originally confined to the statues of deities and deified personages, as we find it upon the most ancient coins. Chryses, the priest of Apollo, in the “Iliad,” brings the diadem, or sacred fillet, of the god upon his sceptre, as the most imposing and invocable emblem of sanctity; but no mention is made of its being worn by kings in either of the Homeric poems, nor of any other ensign of temporal power and command, except the royal staff or sceptre. <h2>THE LOTUS</h2> The double sex typified by the Argha and its contents is by the Hindus represented by the “Mymphœa” or Lotus, floating like a boat on the boundless ocean, where the whole plant signifies both the earth and the two principles of its fecundation. The germ is both Meru and the Linga; the petals and filaments are the mountains 60which encircle Meru, and are also a type of the Yoni; the leaves of the calyx are the four vast regions to the cardinal points of Meru; and the leaves of the plant are the Dwipas or isles round the land of Jambu. As this plant or lily was probably the most celebrated of all the vegetable creation among the mystics of the ancient world, and is to be found in thousands of the most beautiful and sacred paintings of the Christians of this day—I detain my reader with a few observations respecting it. This is the more necessary as it appears that the priests have now lost the meaning of it; at least this is the case with everyone of whom I have made enquiry; but it is like many other very odd things, probably understood in the Vatican, or the crypt of St. Peter’s. Maurice says that among the different plants which ornament our globe, there is not one which has received so much honour from man as the Lotus or Lily, in whose consecrated bosom Brahma was born, and Osiris delighted to float. This is the sublime, the hallowed symbol that eternally occurs in oriental mythology, and in truth not without reason, for it is itself a lovely prodigy. Throughout all the northern hemispheres it was everywhere held in profound veneration, and from Savary we learn that the veneration is yet continued among the modern Egyptians. And we find that it still continues to receive the respect if not the adoration of a great part of the Christian world, unconscious, perhaps, of the original reason of this conduct. <cite>Higgins’s Anacalypsis.</cite> The following is an account given of it by Payne Knight, in his curious dissertation on Phallic Worship:—“The Lotus is the Nelumbo of Linnæus. This plant grows in the water, among its broad leaves puts forth a flower, in the centre of which is formed the seed vessel, 61shaped like a bell or inverted cone, and perforated on the top with little cavities or cells, in which the seeds grow. The orifices of these cells being too small to let the seeds drop out when ripe, they shoot forth into new plants in the places where they are formed: the bulb of the vessel serving as a matrix to nourish them, until they acquire such a degree of magnitude as to burst it open and release themselves, after which, like other aquatic weeds, they take root wherever the current deposits them. This plant, therefore, being thus productive of itself, and vegetating from its own matrix, without being fostered in the earth, was naturally adopted as the symbol of the productive power of the waters, upon which the active spirit of the Creator operated in giving life and vegetation, to matter. We accordingly find it employed in every part of the northern hemisphere, where the symbolical religion, improperly called idolatry, does or ever did prevail. The sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese, and Indians are almost placed upon it, of which numerous instances occur in the publications of Kœmpfer, Sonnerat, etc. The Brahma of India is represented as sitting upon his Lotus throne, and the figure upon the Isaaic table holds the stem of this plant surmounted by the seed vessel in one hand, and the Cross representing the male organs of generation in the other; thus signifying the universal power, both active and passive, attributed to that goddess.” Nimrod says:—“The Lotus is a well-known allegory, of which the expansive calyx represents the ship of the gods floating on the surface of the water; and the erect flower arising out of it, the mast thereof. The one was the galley or cockboat, and the other the mast of cockayne; but as the ship was Isis or Magna Mater, the female principle, and the mast in it the male deity, these parts of 62the flower came to have certain other significations, which seem to have been as well known at Samosata as at Benares. This plant was also used in the sacred offices of the Jewish religion. In the ornaments of the temple of Solomon, the Lotus or lily is often seen.” The figure of Isis is frequently represented holding the stem of the plant in one hand, and the cross and circle in the other. Columns and capitals resembling the plant are still existing among the ruins of Thebes, in Egypt, and the island of Philœ. The Chinese goddess, Pussa, is represented sitting upon the Lotus, called in that country Lin, with many arms, having symbols signifying the various operations of nature, while similar attributes are expressed in the Scandinavian goddess Isa or Disa. The Lotus is also a prominent symbol in Hindu and Egyptian cosmogony. This plant appears to have the same tendency with the Sphinx, of marking the connection between that which produces and that which is produced. The Egyptian Ceres (Virgo) bears in her hand the blue Lotus, which plant is acknowledged to be the emblem of celestial love so frequently seen mounted on the back of Leo in the ancient remains. The following is a translation of the Purana relating to the cosmogony of the Hindus, and will be found interesting as showing the importance attached to the Lotus in the worship of the ancients:—“We find Brahma emerging from the Lotus. The whole universe was dark and covered with water. On this primeval water did Bhagavat (God), in a masculine form, repose for the space of one Calpho (a thousand years); after which period the intention of creating other beings for his own wise purposes became predominant in the mind of the Great Creator. In the first 63place, by his sovereign will was produced the flower of the Lotus, afterwards, by the same will, was brought to light the form of Brahma from the said flower; Brahma, emerging from the cup of the Lotus, looked round on all the four sides, and beheld from the eyes of his four heads an immeasurable expanse of water. Observing the whole world thus involved in darkness and submerged in water, he was stricken with prodigious amazement, and began to consider with himself, ‘Who is it that produced me?’ ‘whence came I?’ ‘and where am I?’ “Brahma, thus kept two hundred years in contemplation, prayers, and devotions, and having pondered in his mind that without connection of male and female an abundant generation could not be effected—again entered into profound meditation on the power of the Supreme, when, on a sudden by the omnipotence of God, was produced from his right side Swayambhuvah Menu, a man of perfect beauty; and from the Brahma’s left side a woman named Satarupa. The prayer of Brahma runs thus:—‘O Bhagavat! since thou broughtest me from nonentity into existence for a particular purpose, accomplish by thy benevolence that purpose.’ In a short time a small white boar appeared, which soon grew to the size of an elephant. He now felt God in all, and that all is from Him, and all in Him. At length the power of the Omnipotent had assumed the body of Vara. He began to use the instinct of that animal. Having divided the water, he saw the earth a mighty barren stratum. He then took up the mighty ponderous globe (freed from the water) and spread the earth like a carpet on the face of the water; Brahma, contemplating the whole earth, performed due reverence, and rejoicing exceedingly, began to consider the means of peopling 64the renovated world.” Pyag, now Allahabad, was the first land said to have appeared, but with the Brahmins it is a disputed point, for many affirm that Casi or Benares was the sacred ground. <h2>MERU</h2> The learned Higgins, an English judge, who for some years spent ten hours a day in antiquarian studies, says that Moriah, of Isaiah and Abraham, is the Meru of the Hindus, and the Olympus of the Greeks. Solomon built high places for Ashtoreth, Astarte, or Venus, which because mounts of Venus, mons veneris—Meru and Mount Calvary—each a slightly skull-shaped mount, that might be represented by a bare head. The Bible translators perpetuate the same idea in the word “calvaria.” Prof. Stanley denies that “Mount Calvary” took its name from its being the place of the crucifixion of Jesus. Looking elsewhere and in earlier times for the bare calvaria, we find among Oriental women, the Mount of Venus, mons veneris, through motives of neatness or religious sentiment, deprived of all hirsute appendage. We see Mount Calvary imitated in the shaved poll of the head of a priest. The priests of China, says Mr. J. M. Peebles, continue to shave the head. To make a place holy, among the Hindus, Tartars, and people of Thibet, it was necessary to have a mount Meru, also a Linga-Yoni, or Arba. 65 <h2>LINGAM IN THE TEMPLE OF ELORA</h2> This marvellous work of excavation by the slow process of the chisel, was visited by Capt. Seeley, who afterwards published a volume describing the temple and its vast statues. The beauty of its architectural ornaments, the innumerable statues or emblems, all hewn out of solid rock, dispute with the Pyramids for the first place among the works undertaken to display power and embody feeling. The stupendous temple is detached from the neighbouring mountain by a spacious area all round, and is nearly 250 feet deep and 150 feet broad, reaching to the height of 100 feet and in length about 145 feet. It has well-formed doorways, windows, staircases, upper floors, containing fine large rooms of a smooth and polished surface, regularly divided by rows of pillars; the whole bulk of this immense block of isolated excavation being upwards of 500 feet in circumference, and having beyond its areas three handsome figure galleries or verandas supported by regular pillars. Outside the temple are two large obelisks or phalli standing, “of quadrangular form, eleven feet square, prettily and variously carved, and are estimated at forty-one feet high; the shaft above the pedestal is seven feet two inches, being larger at the base than Cleopatra’s Needle.” In one of the smaller temples was an image of Lingam, “covered with oil and red ochre, and flowers were daily strewed on its circular top. This Lingam is larger than usual, occupying with the altar, a great part of the room. In most Ling rooms a sufficient space is left for the votaries to walk round whilst making the usual invocations to the deity (Maha Deo). This deity is much frequented by female votaries, who take especial care to keep it clean, 66washed, and often perfume it with oderiferous oils and flowers, whilst the attendant Brahmins sweep the apartment and attend the five oil lights and bell ringing.” This oil vessel resembled the Yoni (circular frame), into which the light itself was placed. No symbol was more venerated or more frequently met with than the altar and Ling, Siva, or Maha Deo. “Barren women constantly resort to it to supplicate for children,” says Seeley. The mysteries attended upon them is not described, but doubtless they were of a very similar character to those described by the author of the “Worship of the Generative Powers of the Western Nations,” showing again the similarity of the custom with those practised by the Catholics in France. The writer says:—“Women sought a remedy for barrenness by kissing the end of the Phallus; sometimes they appear to have placed a part of their body, naked, against the image of the saint, or to have sat upon it. This latter trait was perhaps too bold an adoption of the indecencies of Pagan worship to last long, or to be practised openly; but it appears to have been innocently represented by lying upon the body of the saint, or sitting upon a stone, understood to represent him without the presence of the energetic member. In a corner in the church of the village of St. Fiacre, near Monceaux, in France, there is a stone called the chair of St. Fiacre, which confers fecundity upon women who sit upon it; but it is necessary nothing should intervene between their bare skin and the stone. In the church of Orcival in Auvergne, there was a pillar which barren women kissed for the same purpose and which had perhaps replaced some less equivocal object.” The principal object of worship at Elora is the stone, so frequently spoken of; “the Lingam,” says Seeley, and he apologises for using the word so often, but asks to be 67excused, “is an emblem not generally known, but as frequently met with as the Cross in Catholic worship.” It is the god Siva, a symbol of his generative character, the base of which is usually inserted in the Yoni. The stone is of a conical shape, often black stone, covered with flowers (the Belia and Asuca shrubs). The flowers hang pendant from the crown of the Ling stone to the spout of the Argha or Yoni (mystical matrix); the same as the Phallus of the Greeks. Five lamps are commonly used in the worship at the symbol, or one lamp with five wicks. The Lotus is often seen on the top of the Ling. <h2>VENUS-URANIA.—THE MOTHER GODDESS</h2> The characteristic attribute of the passive generative power was expressed in symbolical writing, by different enigmatical representations of the most distinguished characteristic of the female sex: such as the shell or Concha Veneris, the fig-leaf, barley corn, and the letter Delta, all of which occur very frequently upon coins and other ancient monuments in this sense. The same attribute personified as the goddess of Love, or desire, is usually represented under the voluptuous form of a beautiful woman, frequently distinguished by one of these symbols, and called Venus, Kypris, or Aphrodite, names of rather uncertain mythology. She is said to be the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, that is of the male and female personifications of the all-pervading Spirit of the Universe; Dione being the female Dis or Zeus, and therefore associated with him in the most ancient oracular 68temple of Greece at Dodona. No other genealogy appears to have been known in the Homeric times; though a different one is employed to account for the name of Aphrodite in the “Theogony” attributed to Hesiod. The Genelullides or Genoidai were the original and appropriate ministers or companions of Venus, who was however, afterwards attended by the Graces, the proper and original attendants of Juno; but as both these goddesses were occasionally united and represented in one image, the personifications of their respective subordinate attributes were on other occasions added: whence the symbolical statue of Venus at Paphos had a beard, and other appearances of virility, which seems to have been the most ancient mode of representing the celestial as distinguished from the popular goddess of that name—the one being a personification of a general procreative power, and the other only of animal desire or concupiscence. The refinement of Grecian art, however, when advanced to maturity, contrived more elegant modes of distinguishing them; and, in a celebrated work of Phidias, we find the former represented with her foot upon a tortoise; and in a no less celebrated one of Scopas, the latter sitting upon a goat. The tortoise, being an androgynous animal, was aptly chosen as a symbol of the double power; and the goat was equally appropriate to what was meant to be expressed in the other. The same attribute was on other occasions signified by a dove or pigeon, by the sparrow, and perhaps by the polypus, which often appears upon coins with the head of the goddess, and which was accounted an aphrodisiac, though it is likewise of the androgynous class. The fig was a still more common symbol, the statue of Priapus being made of the tree, and the fruit being carried with the 69Phallus in the ancient processions in honour of Bacchus, and still continuing among the common people of Italy to be an emblem of what it anciently meant: whence we often see portraits of persons of that country painted with it in one hand, to signify their orthodox elevation to the fair sex. Hence, also arose the Italian expression far la fica, which was done by putting the thumb between the middle and fore-fingers, as it appears in many Priapic ornaments extant; or by putting the finger or thumb into the corner of the mouth and drawing it down, of which there is a representation in a small Priapic figure of exquisite sculpture, engraved among the <cite>Antiquities of Herculaneum</cite>. <h2>LIBERALITY AND SAMENESS OF THE WORLD-RELIGIONS</h2> The same liberal and humane spirit still prevails among those nations whose religion is founded on the same principles. “The Siamese,” says a traveller of the seventeenth century, “shun disputes and believe that almost all religions are good” (“Journal du Voyage de Siam”). When the ambassador of Louis XIV asked their king, in his master’s name, to embrace Christianity, he replied, “that it was strange that the king of France should interest himself so much in an affair which concerns only God, whilst He, whom it did concern, seemed to leave it wholly to our discretion. Had it been agreeable to the Creator that all nations should have had the same form of worship, would it not have been as easy to His omnipotence to have created all men with the same sentiments 70and dispositions, and to have inspired them with the same notions of the True Religion, as to endow them with such different tempers and inclinations? Ought they not rather to believe that the true God has as much pleasure in being honoured by a variety of forms and ceremonies, as in being praised and glorified by a number of different creatures? Or why should that beauty and variety, so admirable in the natural order of things, be less admirable or less worthy of the wisdom of God in the supernatural?” The Hindus profess exactly the same opinion. “They would readily admit the truth of the Gospel,” says a very learned writer long resident among them, “but they contend that it is perfectly consistent with their Shastras. The Deity, they say, has appeared innumerable times in many parts of this world and in all worlds, for the salvation of his creatures; and we adore, they say, the same God, to whom our several worships, though different in form, are equally acceptable if they be sincere in substance.” The Chinese sacrifice to the spirits of the air, the mountains and the rivers; while the Emperor himself sacrifices to the sovereign Lord of Heaven, to whom all these spirits are subordinate, and from whom they are derived. The sectaries of Fohi have, indeed, surcharged this primitive elementary worship with some of the allegorical fables of their neighbours; but still as their creed—like that of the Greeks and Romans—remains undefined, it admits of no dogmatical theology, and of course no persecution for opinion. Obscure and sanguinary rites have, indeed, been wisely prescribed on many occasions; but still as actions and not as opinions. Atheism is said to have been punished with death at Athens; but nevertheless it may be reasonably doubted 71whether the atheism, against which the citizens of that republic expressed such fury, consisted in a denial of the existence of the gods; for Diagoras, who was obliged to fly for this crime, was accused of revealing and calumniating the doctrines taught in the Mysteries; and from the opinions ascribed to Socrates, there is reason to believe that his offence was of the same kind, though he had not been initiated. These were the only two martyrs to religion among the ancient Greeks, such as were punished for actively violating or insulting the Mysteries, the only part of their worship which seems to have possessed any vitality; for as to the popular deities, they were publicly ridiculed and censured with impunity by those who dared not utter a word against the populace that worshipped them; and as to the forms and ceremonies of devotion, they were held to be no otherwise important, then as they were constituted a part of civil government of the state; the Pythian priestess having pronounced from the tripod, that whoever performed the rites of his religion according to the laws of his country, performed them in a manner pleasing to the Deity. Hence the Romans made no alterations in the religious institutions of any of the conquered countries; but allowed the inhabitants to be as absurd and extravagant as they pleased, and to enforce their absurdities and extravagances wherever they had any pre-existing laws in their favour. An Egyptian magistrate would put one of his fellow-subjects to death for killing a cat or a monkey; and though the religious fanaticism of the Jews was too sanguinary and too violent to be left entirely free from restraint, a chief of the synagogue could order anyone of his congregation to be whipped for neglecting or violating any part of the Mosaic Ritual. 72The principle underlying the system of emanations was, that all things were of one substance, from which they were fashioned and into which they were again dissolved, by the operation of one plastic spirit universally diffused and expanded. The polytheist of ancient Greece and Rome candidly thought, like the modern Hindu, that all rites of worship and forms of devotion were directed to the same end, though in different modes and through different channels. “Even they who worship other gods,” says Krishna, the incarnate Deity, in an ancient Indian poem (Bhagavat-Gita), “worship me although they know it not.”—<cite>Payne Knight.</cite> THE END. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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