P R E FA C E .

Tw o main schools of religious thinking exist in our

midst at the present day : the school of humanists an d
the school of animists This work is to so me extent an
.

attempt to reconcil e them I t contains I believe the first

.
, ,

extended e ffort that has yet b een made to trace the genesis
of the belief in a God from its earliest origin in the mind
of primitive man up to its fullest development in advanced
and etherealised Christian theology My method is there
.

fore constructive not destructive I nstead of setting o ut

, .

to argue away or demolish a deep seated and ancestr al ~

element in our complex nature this book merely posits

,

for itself the psychological question By what successive

,

steps did men come to frame for thems elves the c o n c ep

tion of a deity —o r if the reader so prefers it H ow
, ,

di d we arrive at our knowledge of God I t seeks p ro

visionally to answer these profoun d and important ques
tions by reference to the earliest b eliefs of savages past ,

o r pres ent
,
and to the testi mony of historical documents
and ancient monuments I t does not concern itself at
.

all with the validity or invalidity of the ideas in them

selves it does but endeavour to show how inevitable they
were an d how man s relation with the external universe
,
’

was certain a pr ior i to beget them as of necessity .

I n so vast a synthesis it woul d b e absurd to pretend

,
’
at the present day that on e approached one s subj ect e m
t ir ely de novo
. E very enquirer must needs depend much
upon the various researches of his predecessors in variou s
iv P R EF A CE .

parts of his field of enquiry The problem b efore us .

divides itself into three main portions first how did men ,

co me to b elieve in many go ds— the origin of polytheism

second how by elimination of most of these gods did cer
, , ,

tain races of men come to b eli eve i n o ne single supreme

an d omnip otent God— the origin of monotheis m ; thir d
how havin g arrived at that concept did the most a d
, ,

v a n c e d races an d civilisations come to conceive of that

Go d as Triune and to identify one of his Persons with a

,

particular divine an d human incarnation— the origin of

Christianity I n considering each of these thre e main
.

problems I have be en greatly guided and assisted by

three previous enquirers or s ets of en quirers .

As to the or igin of polytheis m I have ado pted i n the ,

’
main M r H erbert S pencer s remarkabl e ghost theo ry
.
,

though with certain important mo difications an d a d

d itio n s I n this part of my work I have also b een largely
.

aided by materials derived from Mr Du ff M acdonald the .

,

able author of A fr ica na from M r Turner the well — ,

known .
,

Samoan missionary an d fro m several other writers sup

, ,

p le m e n t e d as they are by my own researches among the

works of explorers and ethnologists i n general O n the .

whol e I have here accepted the theory which traces the

,

origin of the beli ef in gods to primeval an cestor — worshi p ,

or rather corps e worship as against the rival theory which

-
,

traces its origin to a supposed primitive animism .

As to the r ise of m onotheism I have b een influence d in ,

no small degree by K u e n e n and the Teutonic school of

O l d Testament criticism whose ideas have been supple ,

m e n te d by later concepts derived from Professor Robert

s on Smith s admirable work The R eligion o f th e S em
’
,

ites . B ut here on th e whol e th e central explanation I

, ,

have to o ffer is I venture to think new and original the

, ,

theory goo d or bad of the circu mstances which le d to

, ,

the elevation of the ethnical H ebrew God fa h we h ab ove , ,

all his rivals and his final reco gnition as the only tru e
,
’
an d living god is my own an d no one else s
,
.
 P REF A CE .

As to the origin o f Chr is tia nity and its relations to the ,

p receding cults of corn and wine gods I have b een gui ded ,

to a great extent by Mr J G F razer an d M annhardt. . .

,

t hough I do not suppose that either the living or the dead

a nthropologist would wholly acquiesce in the us e I have

made of their splendi d materials M r F razer the author . .

,

o f that learned work Th e G old en B ough has profoundly in

, ,
'

fl ue n ce d the opinions of all serious workers a t anthro

p o lo gy and the science of religi on and I cannot too often ,

a cknowledge the deep obligations under which I lie to his

profoun d and able treatises At the same time I have so.

,

t ransformed the material derived from him and from Dr .

Robertson Smith as to have made it in many ways p ra cti

cally my own and I have supplemented it by several new
examples and ideas suggested in the course of my own
,

tolerably wide reading .

Throughout the book as a whole I also owe a consider ,

a ble debt to Dr . E B Tylor from who m I have bor

. .
,
’
r owed mu ch valuabl e matter to M r Sidney H artland s .

L egen d o f P erseus to M r Lawrence Gomme who has .

,

come n earer at times than anyone else to the special views

a n d theories here promulgate d and to Mr William .

Simpson of the Illus tr a ted L on don News an unobtrusive ,

schol ar W hose excellent monographs on The Wor ship of

D ea th and kindred subj ects have n ever yet received the
attention they deserve at the hands of unprej udiced
,

students of religion My other obligations to Dr

.
, .

M ommsen to my friends M r E dward C lo d d Professor

, .
,

Iohn Rhys an d Professor Y ork Powell as well as to

, ,

numerous travellers missionaries historians an d classi

, , ,

cists are t oo frequ ent to specify

, .

Looking at the subj ect broadly I woul d presume to say ,

once more that my general conclusions may be regarde d

as representing to some extent a reconciliation b etween
the conflicting s chools of humanists and animists headed ,

respectively by M r Spencer and M r F razer though with

. .
,

a leaning rather to the former than the latter .

vi P R EF A CE .

At the same time it would b e a great mistake to look

U pon my book as in any sense a mere eirenicon or com

pro mis e O n the contrary it is in every part a n ew an d

.
,

personal work containing whatever its value a fresh an d

, , ,

original synthesis of the subj ect I would venture to .

poin t out as especially n ovel the two following points

the complete demarcation of religion from mythology as ,

practice from mere explanatory gloss or guesswork an d

the important share assigned in the gen esis of most ex
istin g religious systems to the deliberat e manufacture of
gods by killing This doctrin e of the manufactured god
.
,

t o which nearly half my book is devoted seems to me t o ,

be a notion of cardinal valu e Among other new i deas of .

secondary rank I woul d b e bold enough to enumerat e

,

the following the establishment of thre e successive

stages in the conception of the Life of the D ead which ,

might be summed up as C orpse worship Ghost worship -

,
-
,

an d Shade worship an d which answer to the three stages

-
,

of preservation or m u m m ifi c a tio n burial an d cre mation , ,

the recognitio n of the high place to b e assigne d to the

safe keeping of the oracular head in the growth of i dol
-

worship ; the imp ortance attached to the sacred ston e ,

the sacre d stake and the sacred tre e and the provisiona l
, ,

proof of their close connection with the graves of the d ead

the entirely new conception of the d evelop ment of mono
th eism among the Jews from the exclusive cult of the j e a l
ous go d the hypothesis of the origin of cultivation fro m
tumulus o fferings and its connection with the growth o f
-
,

gods of cultivation ; th e Wide expansion given to the

an cient notion of the divin e human victim ; the recog -

n i t io n of the worl d wi de prevalence

-
of the fi v e —
day festival
of the corn or wine god and of th e close similarity which
,

marks its rites throu ghout all the continents in cludin g ,

America the suggested evolution of the g o d e a tin g sac ~

ra m e n t s of lower religi ons from the cannibal practice of

eati g on e s d ead rel ’

ation s *
h o n o r ifi ca lly n ; an d the evidence
Wh i l t h i w o k w s p i n g t h u g h t h p s a i m i l t h y h
e s r a ass ro e re s s ar eor as
 P R EFA CE .

of the wide survival of primitive corpse worship down -

to our own times in civilised E urope I coul d largely .

increase this rapid list of what I b elieve to be the new con

trib u tio n s here made to the philosophy of religious evo
lutio n ; but I purposely refrain I think it will be a l .

lowed that if even a few of these ideas turn out on ex

amination to be both new and true my book will have ,

succeeded in j ustifying its existence .

I put forth this work with the utmost diffid e nce The .

harvest is vast and the labourers are few I have b een .

engaged upon collecting and comparing materials for

m ore than twenty years I have b een engaged in writin g
.

my book for more than ten As I explain i n the last .

chapter the present first sketch of the conclusions at which

,

I have at last arrived is littl e more than provisional I .

desire in my present essay m erely to lay down the lines

of the general theory which after so many years of study
I incline to accept If my attempt succee ds in attracting
.

public attention I hope to follow it up by several other

,

volumes in which the main O pinions or suggestions here

set forth may be reinforce d and expanded by copious col
l ections of evi dence and illustrations If it fails to arouse .

publi c attention however I must perforce be satisfie d with

, ,

this very inadequate preliminary statement I shoul d .

also like to add here what I point out at greater length

,

in t he body of the work that I do not hol d dogmatically ,

to all or to a sin gle on e of the i deas I have now expressed .

They are merely conceptions forced upo n my min d by

the present stat e of the evidence ; and I recognise the
fact that in so vast and varied a province where almost ,

encyclop aedic knowledge woul d b e necessary in order to

enable one to reach a decided conclusion every singl e ,

one or all together of these conceptions are liable to b e

“
upset by further research I merely say This is how .
,

. i
b e e n p ro p o u n d e d b y M r Fl n d e r s P e t r i e in an i
a r t cle on i
Ea t e n w t h
”
i vi
H o n o u r , i n w h c h h e r e e w s b r e fl y i th e e vi d e n ce fo r t h e c u st o m in
Eg yp t a n d e l s e w h e re .
V iii P REFA CE .

the matter figures itself to me at present o n the strengt h ,

”
of the facts now and here known to us .

A few chapters of the book were separately publishe d

in various reviews at the time they were first written .

They were co mposed however fro m the outset as part s

, , ,

of this book which does not therefore consist of discon

,

n ec te d essays thrown into line in an artificial unity E ach .

occupies the precise place in the argument for which it was

first intended The chapters in question are thos e o n
.

”
Religion an d Mythology an d The Life of the D ead , ,
”
contributed under the titles of Practi cal Religion an d
“
I mmortality and Resurrection to the For tnigh tly R e
“
v iew that on Sacred Ston es contribute d under th e ,
“
s a me n ame to the same perio dical and th at on Th e
Go ds of E g ypt which originally appeared in the Univer
,

s a l R ev iew .I have to thank the proprietors an d e ditors

of those maga z ines for p ermission to print them in th eir
proper place h ere They have all been altered an d
.

brought up as far as I could bring them to the existin g

state of our knowledge with regard t o th e subj ects o f
which they treat .

I n dealing with so large a variety of mat erials drawn ,

from all times and places races an d lan g uages it would

, ,

be well nigh impossible to avoi d errors Such as my own

-
.

care could discover I have of course correcte d : for th e

rest I must ask on this groun d the indul genc e of those
,

who may happen to not e them .

I have en deavoured to write without favour or prej udice ,

animated by a single desire to d iscover the truth .

Whether I have succeeded in that attempt or not I trust ,

my book may b e received in the same spirit in which it has

been written — a spirit of earn est anxiety to learn all that
,

’
can be learnt by enquiry and investigation of man s con
n e ct io n with his Go d in the past and the present I n
, .

this hope I co mmit it to the kindly consideration of that

small se ction of the reading public which takes a livin g
interest in religi ous questions .
 CONTENTS .

C HAPTE R

I . CH R I ST I ANI T Y L
As A R E I G I O U S ST AN D A D R .

II . RE LI G I O N AN D

III . T H E LI FE O F TH E D E AD
IV . TH E O RI G I N OF G OD S .

V . SAC R ED S T O NE S

VI . SAC R ED ST AKE S

VI I . SAC R ED T R E ES

VI I I . TH E G OD S OF EG Y P T

IX . T H E G OD S OF I S R AE L
X . TH E R I S E OF

XI . H UM AN G O D S
XII . T H E M ANU FACT U R E OF G OD S

XI I I . G O DS OF

X IV . CO R N- AND W N I E

XV . SAC RI F CE AN
I D

X VI . T H E D CT R I N O T H
O E F E

XV I I . TH E W RLD OR CH R T B E FO E IS

X VI I I . TH E G R OW H C H R TI AN
T OF IS ITY

X IX . SU R V VAL S N
I I

XX .
THE EVO LUTION O F THE IDEA O F G O D

C HAPT E R I

C H R I STI AN I T Y A S A R E L I G I O U S ST A N D A R D .

I in this work to trace out i n rough outline

P R O P O SE

the evolution o f the idea of God from its earliest and

crudest beginnings in the savage mind of primitive man
to that highly evolved an d abstract form which it finally
assumes in contemporary philosophical and theological
thinking .

I n the eyes of the modern evolutionary enquirer the

interest of the origin and history of this widespread
i dea is mainly psychological We have before us a vast
.

and pervasive group of human opinions true or false , ,

which have exercised and still exercise an immense in

fl u e n c e upon the development of mankin d an d of civili
sation the question arises Why di d human b eings ever
,

come to hol d these opinions at all and how did they

,

arrive at them ? What was there in the conditions of

early man whi ch led him to frame to himself such a b
stract notions of one or more great supernatural agents ,

of whose obj ective existence he had certainly in nature

n o clear or obvious evidence ? Regarding the problem
in this light as essentially a problem of the processes of
,

t h e human mind I set aside from th e outset as foreign

, ,

to my purpose any kind of enqui ry into the obj ective

,

validity of any on e among the religious b eliefs thus set

2 CH R I S TI A N I T Y AS A R ELI GI O U S S TA N DARD .

before us as subj ect matter The question whether

-
.

there may be a God or gods an d if so what may b e his , , ,

or their substance an d attributes do not here conc ern ,

us All we have to do in our present capacity is to ask

.

ourselves strictly What first suggeste d to the min d of

,

man the notion of deity in the abstract at all ? An d

how from the early multiplicity of d eiti es which we fin d
,

to have prevailed in all primitive times among all human

races did the conception of a singl e great an d u nlimited
,

deity first take its ris e ? I n oth er words why did men ,

ever believe there were go ds at all and why fro m many ,

gods di d they arrive at o ne Why fro m polytheism

have the most advanced nations pro ceede d to mono
theism
To put the question in this form is to leave entirely
out of consideration th e obj ective reality or otherwis e of
the idea itself To analyse the origin of a concept is not
.

to attack the validity of the b elief it encloses The idea of .

gravitati on for example arose by slow degrees in human

, ,

minds an d reached at last its final expression in N ewton s

,
’

l aw B ut to trace the steps by which that idea was gradu

.

ally reached is not in any way to disprove or to discr edit

it The Chri stian b eliever may similarly hol d that men
.

arrived by natural stages at the kn owle dge of the on e tru e

God ; h e is not boun d to rej ect the final conception as fals e
merely becaus e of the steps by which it was Slowly evolved .

A creative God it is true might prefer to make a sudd en

, ,

revelation of himself t o some chosen body of men ; but an

evolution ary God we may well believe migh t prefer in his
, ,

inscrutabl e wisdom to reveal his own existence and quali

ties to his creatures by means of the same slow and tenta
tive int ell ectual gropings as those by whi ch he reveale d
t o th em the physical truths of nature I wish my enqui ry .
,

therefore to b e regard ed not as destru ctive but as rec o n

, , ,

st ructive I t only attempts to recover and follow o ut the

.

vari ous pl an es in the evolution of th e idea of God rather ,

than t o cast d oubt u pon the truth of the evolved concept .

 H UM A N O RI GI N OF GODS
3
.

In investigating any abstruse and di ffi cult subj ect it is ,

O ften b est to procee d from the known to the unknown ,

even although the unknown itself may happ en to co m e

first in the order of nature an d of logical development .

F or this reason it may be advisable to b egin here with

,

a brief preliminary examination of Christianity which is ,

n ot only the most familiar of all religions to us C hristian

nation s but also the b est known in its origin s and then
,

to show how far we may safely use i t as a Stan d ard of

Reference i n explainin g the less obvious an d certain fea
tures of earlier or collateral cults .

C hristianity then viewed as a religious standard has

, , ,

thi s clear and undeniable advantage over almost every

other known form of faith—that i t quite frankly and con
fe sse dly sets out in its d evelopment with the worship of a
particular D eifi ed M an .

This point in its history cann ot I think b e overrate d

, ,

in importance because in that single indubitabl e central

,

fact it gives us the key to much that is cardinal in all other

religions every on e of which as I hope hereafter to Show
, ,

equally Springs directly or indirectly fro m the worshi p

, ,

O f a single D e ifi e d Man or of many D e ifi e d M en more

, ,

or less etherealised .

Whatever else may b e said about the ori gin of C hri s

t ia n ity it is at least fairly agree d on either Si d e both by
, ,

friends an d foes that this great religion took its rise

,

aroun d the personality of a certain particul ar Galilean

teacher by name J esus concerning whom if we know
, , ,

anything at all with any approach to certainty we know at ,

l east that he was a man of the peopl e hung on a cross in ,

J erusalem un der the pro curatorship of C aius Pontius

P ilatus That kernel of fact— a man an d his d eath ,

J esus Christ and hi m cru c ifi e d—is the on e almost u n

.

doubted historical nu cleus round which all the rest of a

vast E uropean an d A siati c system of thought an d belief
has Slowly crystallised .

Let us figure cl early to ourselves the full i m port of these

 CH R I S TI A NI T Y AS A R ELI GI O U S S TA NDARD
4 .

truths A D e ifi e d M an is the central figure in the faith of

.

C hristendom .

F rom the very b eginning however a legend tru e or , , ,

false ( but whose truth or falsity has no relation whatever

to our present subj ect ) gathered about the p ersonality
,

of this particular Galilean peasant reformer Reveren ced .

at first by a small body of disciples of his own race an d

caste he grew gradually in their min ds into a divin e per
,

s o n a g e O f whom strange stories were tol d an d a strange

, ,

history b elieve d by a grou p of ever increasing adherents -

i n all parts of the G r aec o Roman M editerran ean civilisa

-

tion Th e earliest of these stories in all prob ability —

. cer ,

t a in ly the on e to which most importance was attached by

the pion eers of the faith—clustered about his death an d its
immediate sequence Jesus we are told was crucified
.
, , ,

d ead an d buried B ut at th e en d of three days if we may

,
.
,

credit the early documents of our Christian faith hi s bo dy ,

was no longer to b e foun d in the sepulchre where it had

b een laid by friendly hands an d the report spread abroad
that he had risen again from the d ead and live d on ce ,

more a somewhat phantasmal life among the living in his

province Supernatural messengers announ ced his resur
.

rection to the women who had loved him he was s een

in the flesh from time to ti me for very short periods by on e
or other among the faithful who sti ll revered his memory .

At last after many such appearances more or less fully

, ,

describ ed in the crude existing narratives he was suddenly ,

carrie d u p to the sky b efore the eyes of his followers ,

wh ere as one of the versions authoritatively remarks he

, ,

was receive d into heaven and sat on the right han d of ,

Go d — that is to say of Jahweh the ethnical deity of th e

, ,

H ebrew peopl e .

Such in its kern el was th e original C hristian do ctrin e

as handed down to us amid a mist of miracle in four or ,

five documents of doubtful age and uncertain auth enti city .

E ven this central i dea do es not fully app ear i n the P aulin e
e pistl es beli eved to b e the ol dest in date of all our C hris
,
 TH E C UL T OF TH E CH RI S T .

tian writings : it first takes full shape in the somewhat

later Gospels and Acts of the Apostles I n the simplest .

an d perhaps the earliest of these definite accounts we are

merely told the story of the death and resurrection the ,

latter fact being vouched for on the dubious testi mony of

”
a young man clothed in a long white garment supple ,

m e n t e d ( apparently at a later perio d ) by subsequ e n t ap

p e ara n c e s to various beli evers With the controversies .

which have raged ab out these di fferent stories how ,

ever the broad anthropological enquiry into the e v o lu

,

tion of God has no concern I t is enough for us here to .

admit what the evidence probably warrants us in con

,

cluding that a real historical man of the name of Jesus

,

di d once exist in Lower Syria and that his disciples at ,

a p eriod very shortly after his execution b elieved him

to have actually risen from the dead and in du e time t o ,

have ascended into heaven .

At a very early date too it was further asserted that

, ,

Jesus was in some unnatural or supernatural sense the

son of Go d — that is to say once more the son of Jahweh , , ,

the local an d national deity of the Jewish peopl e I n .

other words his worship was a ffiliated upon the earli er

,

histori cal worship of the people in whose midst h e lived ,

and from whom his first disciples were exclusively gath

ered I t was not as we shall more fully s ee hereafter
.
, ,

a revolutionary or purely destructive system I t based .

itself upon the co m mon conceptions of the S emitic com

munity The handful of Jews an d Galileans who accepted
.

Jesus as a divine figure di d not think it n ecessary in ,

adopting hi m as a god to get ri d of their own p re c o n

,

c e iv e d religious opinions They b elieved rather in his

.

prior existence as a part of Jahweh and in his incarnation

, ,

in a human bo dy for the purpose of redemption An d .

when his cult spread aroun d into neighboring countries

( chiefly it would seem through the instrumentality of
, ,

on e Paul of Tarsus who had n ever seen him or had b e

, ,

held him only in what is vaguely called a vision the

6 CH R I S TI A NI T Y AS A RELI GI O U S S TA N DA RD .

cult of J ahweh went hand in han d with it so t hat a s ort ,

of modified mystic monotheism based o n J udaism b e , ,

ca m e the early creed of the new cosmo politan C hristian

church .

O ther legends of a sort fam iliar i n the lives of the

,

founders of creeds an d churches elsewhere grew up about ,

the life of the C hristi an leader or at any rate inci dents ,

of a typical kind were narrate d by his disciples as part of

his history That a go d or a godlike person shoul d be
.

born of a woman by the ordinary physi ological processes

of humanity s eems derogator y to his dignity— perhaps
fatal to his go dhead therefore it was asserted—w e
know not whether truly or otherwise—that th e fo under
of C hristianity by some mysterious a ffl a t u s was b orn of
, ,

a virgin Though described at times as the son of one

.

Joseph a carp enter of N azareth a nd o f M ary his b e

, , , ,

trothed wife he was also regarded in an alternative way

,

as the son of the H ebrew god Jahweh j ust as Alexan der , ,

though known t o b e the son of Phili p was also consi dere d ,

to b e the o ffspring of Amon R a or Zeus Ammon ) W e -

.

are told in order to lessen this discrepancy ( on the slen der

,
’
authority of a dream of Joseph s ) how Jesus was m ira c u ,

lo u sly conceived by the H oly Spirit of Jahweh in M ary s

’

womb H e was further provided with a royal p edigre e

.

from the house of David a real or mythical early H ebrew ,

king and prophecies from the H ebrew sacre d books were

foun d to b e fulfilled in his most chil dish adventures I n on e .

of the existin g biographies commonly ascrib ed to Luke , ,

the companion of Paul but suppos ed t o b ear traces of ,

much later authorship many such marvellous stories are ,

re counted of his infantile adventures an d in all our do cu

ments miracles attest his supernatural p o wers while a p
, ,

p eal is constantly made to the fulfilment of suppose d pre

dictions ( all o f ol d H ebrew origin ) as a test an d credenti al
o f th e reality of his divine mission .

*O u t h i s u b j e c t e e M r S id n e y H
s st l a nd s L g n d f P
. ol i ar
’
e e o er s eu s , v .
, ,

pa ss i m .
 I DEN TI FI CA TI ON WI TH TH E H EB RE W G OD .

We shall see hereafter that these two points—the grad

ual growth of a myth or legend and a ffiliation u pon earlier ,

local religious ideas—are common features in the ev o lu

tion of gods in general an d of the Go d of monotheism ,

in particular I n almost every case where we can d e fi

.

n ite ly track him to his ris e the deity thus b egins with a ,

D e ifi e d M an elevated by his worshippers to divine rank

, ,

and provided with a history of miraculous incident often ,

connected with the personality of preexistent deities .

I n the earlier stages it seems pretty clear that the r e

,

la tio n s of nascent C hristianity to Judaism were vague and

undefined the C hristian s regarded themselves as a mere
sect of the Jews who pai d sp ecial reverence to a particular
,

dead teacher now raised to heaven by a s pecial apotheosis

,

of a kin d with which everyone was then familiar B ut .

as the Christian church spread to other lands by the great ,

seaports it b ecame on the on e han d more distinct an d

,

exclusive while on the other han d it became more d e fi

,

n ite ly dogmatic and theological I t was in E y g p t it .

,

would seem that the C hristian Pantheon ( if I may b e a l

,

lowed the expression in the case of a religion nominally

monotheistic ) first took its definite Trinitarian shape .

U nder the influence of the old E gyptian love for Triads

or Trinities of gods a sort of mystical triune deity was
,

at last erected out of the H ebrew Jahweh and the man

Jesus with the aid of the H oly Spirit or Wisdom of Jah
,

weh which had come to be regarde d by early C hristian

,

minds ( under the influence of direct divine inspiration

or otherwise ) as a separate and coordinate person of this
composite godhead H ow far the familiar E gyptian
.

Trinity of O siris I sis and H orus may have influenced

, ,

the conception of the Christian Trinity thus finally ,

made up of F ather Son and H oly Ghost we shall dis cuss

, , ,

at a later stage of our enquiry ; for the present it may ,

su ffice t o point out that the G r aec o E gyptian Athanasius -

was the great upholder of the definite dogma of th e

Trinity against opposing ( heretical ) Christian thinkers ;
8 CH R IS TI A NI T Y AS A RELI GI O US S TA N DA RD .

an d that the hymn or so — called creed kn own by his n ame

( though not i n all probability of his own composition )
bears the i mpress of the mysti cal E gyptian spirit tempered ,

by the Alexandrian Greek delight in d e fi n ite n e s s and

minuten ess of philosophical distinction .

I n this respect too we shall observe in th e s equel that

, ,

t he history of C hristianity the most known among the ,

religions was exactly parallel t o that of earlier and o b

,

sc u re r creeds At first the relations of th e go ds to on e

.
,

another are vagu e an d undetermined their pedigre e is

often confuse d and even contradictory an d the pantheon
lacks anythin g like due hierarchical system or subordina
tion of persons B ut as time goes on an d qu estions of
.
,

theolo gy or mythology are debated among the priests an d

other intereste d parties details of this sort get settled in
,

the form of rigid dogmas while subtl e distin ctions of a ,

philosophical or metaphysical sort ten d to b e importe d by

more civilise d men into th e crude primitive faith The .

belief that b egan with frank acceptance of Judaism plus ,

a personal worship of the D e ifi e d M an Jesus crystallise d , ,

at last into the C atholic F aith in one God of three p ersons , ,

th e F ather the Son and the H oly Ghost

, , .

Q uibbles are even made and discussions raised at last ,

as to the question whether F ather and Son are of on e

” “
substance or only of like substance ; whether th e
H oly Ghost pro ce eds fro m the F ather an d the S on or ,

from the F ather only an d so on a d infi niturn .

I t was largely in other countries than Ju d aea and e s ,

p e c ia lly i n Gaul Rome an d E gypt t oo as I believe that

, , , , ,

symb olism came to the aid of mysti cism that the cross ,

the tau th e labarum the fish the Alpha an d O mega an d

, , , ,

all the other early Christian emblems were evolve d an d

perfected and that the b eginnings of C hristi an art took
their first definite forms Such forms were esp ecially to .

a great ext ent evolved in the Roman cataco mbs C hris .

t ia n ity being a universal not a local or national religion

, , , ,
10 CH R I S TI A N I T Y AS A R ELI GI O US S TA N DARD .

superior to it The Virgin an d C hild in pictorial rep re

.
,

s e n t a t io n grew to b e the favourite subj ect o f C hristian

,

art H ow far this parti cular development of the C hris

.

tian spirit had its origin in E gypt an d was relate d to the ,

well — known E gyptian figures of the goddess I sis with the

child H orus in her lap is a questi on which may de mand ,

consideration i n some future treatis e F or the present .

,

it will b e enough to call attenti on in passing to th e fact

that in this secondary rank of deities or semi — divin e per
sons the saints an d martyrs all alike fro m the B l essed
, , ,

Virgin M ary down t o the newest canonis e d amon g

Roman C atholi c prelates were at one time or another ,

Livin g M en and Women I n other words besides the .

,

on e D e ifi e d M an Jesus roun d who m the entire system of

, ,

C hristianity c entres the C hurch now worships also in the

,

secon d degree a whole host of minor D ead M en an d

Women bishops priests virgin s and confessors
, , , , .

F rom the earliest to the latest ages of the C hurch the ,

complexity thus lon g ago introduc ed into her practice has

gon e on increasing with every generation No m in a llv .

from the very outset a monotheisti c religion C hristianity ,

gave up its strict monotheis m almost at the first start by

admitting th e existence of three persons in the godhead ,

whom it vainly endeavoured to unify by its mystic but con

fe sse dly in comprehensible Athanasian dogma The M a .

donna ( with the C hild ) rose in time practically to the

rank of an in dependent go ddess ( in all but esoteric C a
t h o lic theory ) whil e St Seba s tian St George St John .
, .
, .

B aptist St C atherine and even St Thomas of C anter

,
.
, .

bury himself b ecame as important obj ects of worship in

,

c ertain places as the deity in person At Milan for ex .

,

ampl e San C arl o Borromeo at C o m p o ste lla Santiago

, , , ,

at Venice St M ark usurped to a great extent the place

,
.
,

of the ori ginal God As m ore and more saints died in .

each gen eration while the cult of the ol der saints still
,

lin gered on everywhere more or less locally the second ary ,

panth eon grew ever fuller and fuller O bscure person .

 TEM P LES AND P R I E S TH OO D S .
I I

ages like St C rispin and St Cosmas St C had and St

, . .
, . .

C uthbert rose to the rank of departmental or local p a

trons like the d epartmental an d lo cal gods of earlier re
,

lig io n s .E very trade every guild every nation every

, , ,

province had its p eculiar saint And at the same time

, .
,

the theory of the C hurch underwent a constant evolution .

C reed was adde d to creed— Apostles N icene Athanasian

’

, , ,

an d so forth each embodying some new and often subtle

,

increment to the whole mass of accepted dogma C ouncil .

after council mad e fresh addition s of articles of faith—the

U nity of Substance the D octrine of the Atone ment the
, ,

I mmaculate C onception the Authority of the C hurch the

, ,

I nfallibility of the Pope in his spiritual capacity And all .

these also are well known incidents of every evolving cult

-

constant increase in the number of divin e beings ; con

stant refinements in the articles of religion under the in ,

fl u e n ce of priestly o r scholasti c metaphysics .

Two or three other points must still b e n ote d in this

hasty review of the evolution of C hristianity regarded as ,

a standard of religion and thes e I will now procee d to

consider with all possibl e brevity .

I n the matter of ceremonial and certain other important

accessori es of religi on it must frankly be admitted that
C hristianity rather borrowed from the ol der cults than
underwent a natural and original development on its own
account A priesthood as such does not seem to have
.
, ,

formed any integral or n ecessary part of the earliest C hris

t e n d o m : and when the orders of bishops priests and , ,

deacons were introduced into the new creed the i dea ,

seems to have been derived rather from the existin g

priesthoods of anterior religions than from any organic
conn exion with the central facts of the new worshi p .

F rom the very nature of the circumstances this would

inevitably result F or the primitive temple ( as we shall
.

’
see hereafter ) was the Dead M an s tomb the altar was his
gravestone and the priest was th e relative or represe m
tat iv e who continued for him the customary gifts to the
12 CH R I S TI A NI T Y AS A R ELI GI O U S S TA N DARD .

ghost at the grave B ut the case of Jesus di ffers fro m

.

almost every other case on record of a D e ifi e d M an in this

— that his body seems to have disappeare d at an early
date an d that in asmu ch as his resurrection and a sce n
,

sion into heaven were made the corner stone of the new -

faith it was impossibl e for worship of his remains to take

,

the same form as had b een t aken in the in stances of a l

most all previously deified D ead Persons Thus the ma .
,

t e r ia ls out of which the Temple the Altar Sacrifices

, , ,

Pri esthood are usually evolved ( as we shall hereafter see )

,

were here t o a very l arge extent necessarily wanting .

N evertheless so essential t o religion in the minds of its

,

foll owers are all these imp osing an d wonted accessories

that our cult did actually man age to borrow them ready
mad e fro m the great religions that went b efore it an d to ,

brin g them into some sort of artificial relation with its

own system Y ou cann ot revolutioni ze the human min d
.

at on e bl ow The pagans had been accustomed to all

.

these i deas as int egral parts of religion as they understoo d

it : an d they proceeded as Christians to accommo date
them by side — issu es to the n ew faith in which thes e ele
,

m ents had n o such natural place as in the older cree ds .

N ot only did sacre d places arise at the graves or places of

m artyrdom of the saints ; n ot only was worship perfo rmed

b eside the bones of the holy dead in the catacombs an d

,

elsewhere but even a mode of sacrifice an d of sacrifici al

communion was invented in the mass — a somewhat arti ,

fi c ia l devel opment from th e possibly unsacerdotal Agape

feasts of the primitive C hristians Gradually churches
.
,

gathere d around the relics of the martyr saints and i n

time it became a principl e of usage that every church must
contain an altar—made of stones on the analogy of the
O l d sacred stones contai ning the bones or other relics
of a saint like all earlier shrines ; consecrated by th e
,

pouring on of oil after the antique fashion an d devoted

to the cel ebrati on of the sacrifice of th e mass whi ch b e ,

came by degrees more an d more expiat ory and sacerdotal

 TH E S A C R ED B OO KS .
1 3

in character As the saints increased in importance new

.
,

holy places spran g up around their bodies an d some of

these holy places containing their tombs b ecame centres
, ,

of pilgrimage for the most distant parts of C hristendom

as did also in particul ar the empty tomb of Christ him
self the H oly S epulchre at J erusalem
, .

The growth of the priesthoo d kept pace with the growth

of ceremonial in gen eral till at last it culminated in the ,

med iaeval papacy with its hierarchy of cardinals arch

, ,

bishops bishops priests and other endless functionaries

, , ,
.

Vestments incense and like accompaniments of sacer

, ,

d o t a lism also rapidly gained ground All this too is a .

, ,

common trait of higher religi o us evolution everywhere .

S o likewise are fasting vigils an d the ecstatic condition

, , .

B ut asceticism monasticism celibacy and other forms of

, , ,

morbi d abstinence are peculiarly rife in the east an d foun d ,

their highest expression in the life of the Syrian an d

E gyptian hermits .

Lastly a few words must b e devoted in passing to the

,

rise and development of the Sacred B ooks now e x c e s

s iv e ly venerated in N orth —
,

western C hristendom These .

consisted in the first instance of genuine or spurious let

ters of the apostl es to the various local churches ( the so
called E pistles ) some of which would no doubt be pre
,

served with considerable reverenc e an d later of lives or

l egends of Jesus and his immediate successors ( the so
called Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ) F urther .

more as C hristianity adopted from Judaism the cult o f

,

its one supreme divine figure now no longer envisage d ,

as Jahweh the national deity of the H ebrews but as a

, ,

universal cosmopolitan Go d and F ather it followed natu ,

rally that the sacred books o f the Jewish people the litera ,

ture of Jahweh worship should also receive considerable

-
,

attenti o n at the hands of the new priestho o d By a gra .

dual process o f sel ecti o n a n d elimination the canon of ,

scripture was evolved from these heterogeneous mate

rials the historical or quasi historical and prophetic H e -
1 CH R I S TI A N I T Y AS A RELI GI O US S TA N DA RD
4 .

brew tracts were adopted by the C hurch with a fe w a d ,

d itio n s of later date such as the B ook of D aniel und e r

, ,

the style and titl e of the O l d Testament The more gen .

e ra lly accepte d lives of C hrist again known as E vangel s

, ,

or Gospels the Acts of the Apostles th e epistles to the

churches an d that curious mystical allego y of the r

N eronian persecutio n kn own as the Apo calypse were ,

chosen out of the mass of early C hristian literature to form

the authoritative collection of inspired writing which w e
call the N ew Testament The importance of this hetero
.

g e n e o u s anthology of works b elongin g to all a g es an d

systems b ut confounded together in popular fancy under
,

the name of the B ooks or more recently still as a singular

,

noun the B ibl e grew apace with the growth of the

, ,

C hurch though the extreme and superstiti ons adoration

of their m ere verbal contents has only been reache d in the
debased and reactionary forms of C hristianity followed at
the present day by our half educate d E nglish and Ameri
-

can Protestant dissenters .

F rom this very bri ef review of the most essential factors

in the development of the C hristian religion as a system ,

strun g loosely together with a single eye to the require

ments of our present investigati on it will b e obvious at ,

on ce to every intelligent reader that C hristianity cannot

po ssibly throw for us any direct or i mmediate light o n the
probl em of the evoluti on of the idea of God N ot only .

did the concept of a god and gods exist full fl e d g e d l on g -

before C hristianity took its ris e at all but also the purely ,

monotheisti c conception of a singl e supreme God the ,

cre ator an d uphol der of all things had b een reache d in all,

its sublime simplicity by the Jewish t eachers centuries b e

fore the bi rth o f the man Jesus C hristianity b orrowe d .

fro m Judaism this magnificent concept and humanly , ,

speaking proceeded to spoil it by its addition of the Son

,

an d the H oly Ghost who mar the complete unity of the

,

gran d H ebrew ideal E ven outside J u daism the s elf

.
,

same notion had already b een arrived at in a certain mys

 CH RI S TI A NI T Y A N D O TH E R C UL TS 1 5
.

tical form as the esoteric doctrine of the E gyptian

priesthood fro m whom with their peculiar views as to ,

emanations and Triads the C hristian dogmas of the Trin

,

ity the Logos the I ncarnation an d the H oly Ghost were

, , ,

in large part borrowed The Jews of Alexandria that .

,

eastern London formed the connecting link b etween

,

E gyptian heathenism H elleni c philosophy and early

, ,

C hristianity an d their half philosophical half religious -

,
-

i deas may b e found permeating the first writings and the

first systematic thought of the nascent church I n n one of .

these ways therefore can we regard Christianity as a fford

, ,

ing us any direct or immediate guidance in our search for

the origin and evolution of the con cepts of many go ds ,

and of one Go d the creator .

Still in a certain secondary an d illustrative s ense I think

, ,

we are fully j ustified in saying that the history of C hris

t ia n ity the religion whose beginnings are most surely
,

known to us forms a standard of reference for all the

,

other religions of the worl d an d helps us indirectly to u n ,

d e rst a n d an d explain the origi n and evolution of thes e

deep est among our fundamental spiritual conceptions .

I ts value in this respect may b est b e understood if I

point out bri efly in two contrasted statements the p oints
i n which it may and the points in which it may not b e
fairly accepted as a typical religion .

Let us begin first with the points in which it may .

I n the first place C hristianity is thoroughly typical in

,

the fact that beyond all doubt its most central divine figure
was at first by common consent of orthodox and heterodox
,

alike nothing other than a particular D e ifi e d M an All

else that has b een ass erted about this particular M an—that
.
,

he was the Son of God that he was the incarnation of the

,

Logos that he existed previously from all eternity that he

sits now on the right hand of the F ather—all the rest of
, ,

thes e theological stori es d o n othing i n any way to ob

scure the plain and universally admitted historical fact that
this Divine Person the Very God of Very God b ein g of
, ,
1 6 CH R I S TI A NI T Y AS A R ELI GI O US S TA NDARD .

one substance with the F ather b egotten of the F ather ,

b efore all worlds was yet at the moment when we first

, ,

catch a glimps e o f him in the writings of his followers a ,

M an recently deceased respected reverenced an d p er , , ,

haps worshippe d by a littl e group of fellow peasants who -

had once known him as Jesus the son of the carpenter , .

O n that unassailabl e Rock of soli d historical fact we may

well b e cont ent to foun d our argument i n this volume .

H ere at least n obo dy can accuse us o f cru de an d gross

E uhemerism O r rather the crude an d gross E u h e m e r
.

ism is here known to repres ent the soli d truth Jesus an d .

hi s saints— Dominic F rancis C atherine of Sien a— are

, ,

n o mere verb al myths no allegorical concepts no personi

, ,

fi ca tio n s of the Sun the D awn the Storm -cloud

, Leav , .

in g asid e for the present from our purview of the F aith

that on e element of the O lder supreme God— the H ebrew
J ahweh — who m Christianity borrowed from th e earlier
,

J ewish religion we can say at l east with p erfect certainty

,

that every singl e member of the Christian pantheon

Jesus the M adonna St John B aptist St P eter th e Apos
, .
, .
,

tl es the E vangelists—were j ust as much as San C arlo

,

, ,

B orromeo or St Tho mas of C ant erbury or St Theresa

. .
,

D ead M en or Women worshippe d after their death with ,

divin e or quasi divine honours I n this the b est —kn own

- .

of all human religions the on e that has grown up under ,

the full eye of history the one whose gods and saints are
,

most distinctly traceabl e every obj ect of worship save , ,

only the sin gle early and as yet unresolved deity of the H e
brew c u lt whose ori gin is lost for us in the mist of ages
, ,

turns o ut o n enquiry to b e indee d a purely E uhemeristic

god or saint — in ultimate analysis a Real M an or Wo man
, , .

That point alon e I hol d t o b e of cardinal i mportance ,

an d of immense or al most inestimabl e illustrative value ,

i n seekin g for the origin of the idea of a god in earlier

epochs .

I n the s econ d place C hristianity i s thoroughly typical

,

in all t h at concerns its sub sequent course of evolution the

1 8 CH R I S TI A N I T Y A S A R ELI GI O U S S TA N DARD .

gle step t o the very origin of go dhead yet in the strengt h

with w hich it asserts for the other half of its supreme d eity
( the F ather with his shadowy satellite th e H oly Ghost ) an
,

immemorial antiquity and a complete severance fro m h u

man life it is the least anthropo morphic an d the most a b
,

stract of creeds I n order t o track the idea of Go d to its

.

very s ource then we must apply in the last resort to this

, ,

unresolved element of C hristianity— the H ebrew Jahweh

— the same sort of treat ment which we apply to the con
ce p t io n of Jesus or B u ddha — w e must Show it to b e also
the immens ely tr a n sfi g u r e d and magnified ghost of a H u
man B eing in the simple an d forcibl e language of Swi m
”
burn e The shade cast by the soul of man
, .

F urth ermore C hristianity fails to b e typical in that it

,

borrows also from pre existing religion s to a great ext ent

-

th e i deas of pri esthoo d sacrifice the temple the altar

, , , ,

which owing to the curious disapp earance or at least u n

,

recognisability of the body of its founder ( or rather its , ,

central obj ect of worship ) have a less natural plac e in our

,

C hristian system than in any other known form of relig

ious practice I t is quite tru e that magnificent churches
.
,

a highly evolve d sacerdotalism the sacrifice of the mass

-
, ,

the altar an d the relics have all b een imported in their

, ,

fullest shape into developed C hristianity esp ecially in its ,

central or Roman form B ut every one of these things is

.

partly borrowed almost as a survival or even as an alien

,

feature from earlier religions an d partly grew up abo ut

, ,

the seco ndary worship of saints and martyrs their bones , ,

their to mbs their catacombs and their reli quaries C hri s

, , .

t ia n ity itself particularly when vi ewed as the worship of

,

C hrist ( to which it has b een largely reduced in Teutonic

E urope ) does not so n aturally lend itself to th ese
,

secondary ceremoni es ; an d in those debased schismati c

forms of the C hurch which confin e themselves most strictly
t o the worship of J esus and of the supreme God sa ce rd o ,

t a lis m and sacramentalism have b een brought d own to a

 P EC ULI AR I TI ES OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y .
19

minimum so that the t empl e and the altar have lost the
greater part of their sacrificial importance .

I propose then in subsequent chapters to trace the

, , ,

growth of the idea of a God from the most p rim it iv e o rig in s

to the most highly evolved forms b eginning with the
ghost and the early undeveloped deity : continuing
,

thro u gh polytheism to the ris e of monotheism ; an d then

returning at last once more to the full C hristian co n ce p
tion which we shall understand far b etter in detail after
,

we have explained the nature of the yet unresolve d or but

provisionally resolved Jehovistic element I shall try to .

show in short the evolution Of God by starting with the

, , ,

evolution of gods in general and coming down by gradual

,

stages through various races to the evolution of the H e

brew C hristian and M oslem Go d in particular An d the
, , .

goal towards which I shall move will b e the one already

foreshadowed in this introductory chapter — the proof that,

in its origin the concept of a god is nothing more than

that of a Dead Man regarded as a still su rviving ghost or
,

Spirit and endowed with increas ed or supernatural powers

,

and qualities .
20 R ELI GI ON A ND M Y TH O LO G Y .

C HAPT E R I I .

R EL I G I ON AN D M YTH O L O G Y .

AT the very o utset of the profoun d enquiry on which we

are now ab out to embark we are met by a di fficulty of
,

considerabl e magnitu de I n the opinion of most mo der n

.

mythologists mythology is the result of a disease of lan

”
guage . We are assured by many eminent men that the
origin of religion is to b e sought n ot in savage i deas about
,

ghosts an d spirits th e D ead M an an d his bo dy or his sur

,

v iv in g double but in primitive mis con ceptions of the

,

m eaning of words whi ch had reference to the app earanc e

of the Sun and the C louds the Wind and the Rain the , ,

D awn an d the Dusk the various phenomena of meteor

,

ology in general If this be so then our attempt to d erive

.
,

th e evolution of go ds from the cru de ideas of early men

about their dead is cl early incorre ct the analo g y of C hris
’
t ia n it y which we have already alleged is a mere will 0 the
wisp an d the historical Jesus himself may prove in the
last resort to b e an alias of the sun — go d or an e m b o di
m ent of the vine spirit - .

I do not b eli eve thes e suggestions are correct I t seems .

to me that the worship of the sun moon an d stars in , , ,

stead O i b eing an element in primitive religion is really ,

a lat e an d derivative typ e of adoratio n an d that myth

ol ogy is mistaken in th e claims it makes fo r its own i mp o r
tance in th e genesis of the idea o f a God or g o ds I n order .
,

however t o cl ear the groun d for a fair start i n this d ir e c

,

tion we ought I think to b egin by enquiri ng into the

, , ,

relative position s of mytholo gy an d religion I shall th e re .

 RELI GI ON IS P RA C TI CE .
21

fore devote a preliminary chapter to the consideration o f

this important subj ect .

Religion says another group o f modern thinkers of

, ,

whom M r E dward Clo dd is perhaps the most abl e E n g

.

” ’
lish exponent grew out of fear
,
I t is born of man s .

terror of the great an d mysterious natural agenci es by

which he is surroun ded N ow I am n ot concerned to .

deny that many mythological b eings of vario u s terrible

forms do really so originate I woul d readily accept som e .

such vague genesis for many of the dragons and monsters

which abound in all savage or barbaric imaginings—for
Gorgon s and Hydras and C him aeras dire and other mani ,

fold shapes o f the superstitiously appalling I would give .

u p to M r Clo dd the E truscan devils an d the H ebrew

.

Satan the G re n d e ls and the F ire drakes the whol e broo d

,
-
,

of C erberus Briareus the C yclops the C entaurs N one

, , , .

of these however is a god or anything like on e They

, , .

have no more to do with religion properly so called than , ,

the unicorn of the royal arms has to do with British C hris

t ia n ity A god as I understand the word an d as the vast
.
, ,

mass of mankind has always un derstood it is a s upe r , _

natural being to be r ever ed a nd w ors h ipped H e stands to

his votaries on the whole as Dr Robertson Smith has well
, , .

pointed out in a kindly and protecting relation H e may

, .

be angry with them at times to be sure b u t his anger ,

is temporary an d paternal alone his permanent attitude

towards his peopl e is on e of friendly concern he is
worshipped as a b e n e fi ce n t and generous F ather I t is .

the origin of gods in this stri ctest sense that concerns us

here not the origin of those vague and forml ess creatures
,

which are dreaded not worshipped by primitive humani t y

, , .

B earing this distinction carefully in mind l et us pro ,

cee d to consider the essential s of religion I f you were .

to ask almost any intelligent and unsophisticat ed child ,

What is religion he woul d answer o ffhand with the ,

’
Clear vision of youth O h it s saying your prayers an d
, , ,

reading your Bible and singing h ymns a nd going to

, ,
22 R ELI GI ON A ND M Y TH O L O G Y .

church o r to chapel on Sundays If you were to ask any .

intelligent and unsophisticated H indu peasant the same

question he would answer in almost the self same Spirit
,
-
,

O h it is doing pooj ah regularly and paying your dues

, ,

every day to M ahadeo I f you were to ask any simple

.

minded African savage he woul d similarly re ply ,

I t is ,

giving the go ds flour and oil and native beer and goat
, , ,

mutton . An d finally if you were t o ask a d evou t I talian

contadino he woul d instantly say
,
I t is o ffering up can ,

dles and prayers to the M adonna attending mass and re , ,

”
m e m b e rin g the saints on every festa .

And they woul d all b e quite right This in its essence .

, ,

i s precis ely what we call religion Apart fro m the special .

refinements of the higher minds in particular creeds which ,

strive to import into it all according to their sp ecial tastes ,

or fancies a larger or smaller dose of philoso phy or of

, ,

metaphysics or of ethics or of mysticism this is j ust what

, , ,

religion means and has always meant to the vast maj ority
o f the hu man speci es What is co mmon to it throughout
.

is C usto m or Practice a certain set of more or less si milar

O bservances propitiation prayer praise o fferings the , , ,

request for divine favours the deprecati on of divin e anger ,

or other misfortunes and as the outward an d visible a d

j u n c t s of all these the altar the sacrifice the templ e the
, , , ,

church priesthood services vestments ceremonial

, , , .

What is not at all essential to religion in its wi der aspect

— taking the worl d roun d b oth past and pres ent Pagan , , ,

B uddhist M ohammadan C hristian savage and civilis ed

, , , ,

is the ethical e le m e n t p ro pe rly so calle d An d what is very

,
.

little essenti al i ndeed is the philosophical el ement theo ,

logy o r mythology the abstract theory of spiritual exist

,

e n ce s
. This theory to b e sure is in each country or race
, ,

closely related with religion under certain asp ects an d

the stories tol d about the gods or Go d are much mixed u p
with the cult itself in the minds of worship pers but
they are no proper part of religion strictly so called I n , .

a single word I c onten d that religion as such is essen

, , ,
 T WO C ONF LI C TI N G S CH OO L S OF TH O UGH T .
23

t ia lly practical theology or mythology as such is essen , ,

t ia lly theoretical .

M oreover I also believe an d shall attempt to Show

, , ,

that the two have to a l arge extent distinct origins an d

roots that the union between them is in great part
adventitious and that therefore to account for or ex , ,

plain the one is by no means equivalent to accounting for

and explaining the other .

F rank recognition of this di fference of origin b etwe en

religion an d mythology would I imagine largely recon , ,

cile the two conflicting schools of thought which at pre

sent divide opinion between them o n this interesting pro
blem in the evolution of human ideas O n th e on e side .
,

we have the mythological school of interpreters whether ,

narrowly linguistic like Professor M ax M uller or broadly

, ,

anthropological like M r Andrew Lang attacking the

, .
,

problem from the point of vi ew of myth or theory alone .

O n the other side we have the truly religious school of

,

interpreters like M r H erbert Spencer an d to so me extent

,
.
,

M r Tylor attacking the problem from the point of vie w

.
,

of practice or real religion The former school it se ems to .

,

me has failed to perceive that wh at it is accounting for

,

is not the origin of religion at all Of w o r ship which is the -

,

central root idea of all religious observance or of the

-
,

temple the altar the priest and the o ffering which are its
, , , ,

outer expression—but merely the origin of myth or fable ,

the mass of story and l egend about various beings real or ,

imaginary human or divine which naturally grows up

, ,

in every primitive community The latter school on the .

,

other hand whil e correctly interpretin g the origin of all

,

that is essential and central in religion have perhaps u n ,

’
d ere stim a t e d the value of their opp o nents work through
regarding it as really oppose d to their own instead of a c ,

c e p tin g what part of it may b e true in the light of a con

trib u tio n to an independent but allie d branch of the same

enquiry .

I n short if the view here suggested b e correct Sp encer

, ,
24 RELI GI ON A ND M Y TH O L O G Y .

an d Tylor have pave d the way to a tru e theory of th e

O rigin of Religion : M ax M iille r Lang and the othe r
, ,

mythologists have thrown out hints of varying valu e to

wards a true theory of the O rigin of Mythology or o f its ,

more mo dern equivalent and successor Theology ,

.

A bri ef outline of facts will serve t o brin g into clearer

relief this vi ew of religion as essentially practical—a set o f
O bs ervances rendered in evitable by the pri mitive data o f
,

human psychology I t will th en b e seen that what i s

.

fundamental an d essential in religion is the bo dy of pra c

tices remaining throughout all stages of human develop
,

ment the same or nearly the same in spite of change s

, ,

of mythologi cal or theological theory an d that what is

accidental an d variable is the particular verb al explanatio n
or philosophical reason assign ed for the diverse rites and
ceremonies .

I n its simpl est surviving savage typ e religion c onsist s ,

wholly an d solely in certain acts of deference pai d by the

living to the p ersons of th e dead I shall try t o Show in
.

the sequel that down to its most highly evolved mo dern

type in the most cultivated societi es precisely similar acts
,

of deference either directly to corpses or ghosts as such

, ,

or indirectly to gods who were once ghosts o r were de ,

v e lo p e d from ghosts form its essence still

, B ut to b egin .

with I wi ll try t o bring a few simpl e instances of the pre

cise nature of religion in its lowest existing savage mo de .

I might i f I chose take my little collection of illustrativ e

facts from some theoretical writer like M r H erbert Spe n
, .

c er who has collected enough instances in all conscienc e

,

to prove thi s point ; but I prefer to go straight to an

original observer of savage life an d habit a Presbyterian ,

mission ary in C entral Africa — the Rev D u ff M ac donal d .

,

author O f A fr ica na —who had abundant o pportunities at

the Blantyre Mission for learning the ideas an d practic e
of the Soudanese natives and who certainly had no theo
,

r e tic predisposition towards resolving all religi ous not ion s

26 R ELI GI ON A ND M Y TH O LO G Y .

o nly when they have t o lay another sleep er b eside his fore
fathers that they will go there Their go d is not th e bo dy .

in the grave but the spirit an d they seek this spirit at the
, ,

place where their departe d kinsman last live d among the m .

I t is t h e gre at tree at the veran dah of the dead m an s hous e

’

that is their temple an d if n o tre e grow here they ere ct

a little Sha d e and there perform thei r Simpl e rit es I f
, .

this spot b eco me too public the o fferings m ay b e d e file d , ,

an d the sanctuary will b e removed to a carefully — s el ecte d

spot under so me beautiful tree Very frequently a man .

pres ents an o ffering a t the top of his own b ed b eside his

head H e wishes his go d to come t o h im and whisp er
.

”
in his ear as he sl eeps .

An d here again we get the origin of nature worship

, ,
-

The spirit of an old chief may have a whole mountain

for his resi dence but he dwells chiefly o n the cloudy su m
,

mit There h e Sits to receive the worship of his votari es

.
,

an d to sen d d own the refreshing Showers in answer t o their

”
prayers .

Almost as essential to religion as thes e prime factors in

its evolution—the god worship o fferings presents holy
places temples—is the existence of a priesthoo d H ere
, , , ,

.
,

is how the C entral A fricans arrive at that spe ci al

fun ction
A certain amount of etiqu ette is obs e rved in approach
ing the gods I n no case can a littl e boy or girl approach
.

thes e deities neither can anyone that has not be en at the

,

mysteri es The common qualification is that a pers on has

.

a ttaine d a certain age about twelve or fourteen years an d

, ,

has a hous e of his own Slaves sel dom pray exce pt when . ,

they have had a dream C hildren that have had a dream .

tell their mother who approaches the deity o n their b e

,

half ( A present for the go d is necessary an d the slave

. ,

or chil d may not have it ) .

Apart fro m the cas e of dreams an d a few such privat e

m atters it i s not usual for anyone to approach the gods
,

except the chief of the village H e is the recognised high .

 D EA D CH IEF S AS G O D S .
27

priest who presents prayers an d o fferings on b ehalf of all

that live in his village I f the chief i s from home his wi fe
.

will act and if both are abs ent his younger brother The
, , .

natives worship not so much indivi dually as in villages or

communities Their religion is more a public than a pri
.

”
vate matter .

B ut there are also fu rther reasons why pri ests are m eces
sary Relationship forms always a goo d ground for inter
.

cession A mediator is needed

. .

“
The chief of a village says M r M acdonald ,
has .
,

another titl e to the priesthoo d I t is his relatives that are .

the village gods E veryone that lives in the village recog

.

n ise s these gods but if anyone remove to another vil

lage he changes his gods H e recognises now the gods of.

his new chief O ne wishing to pray to the go d ( or gods )

.

of any village naturally desires to have his prayers pre

sented through the village chief b ecaus e the latter is ,

n early related to the village god and may b e expected ,

to b e better listened to than a stranger .

A little further on Mr M acdonald says .

O n the subj ect of the village gods opinions di ffer .

Some say that every one in the village whether a relative ,

o f the chief or not must worship the forefathers of the

,

chief O thers say that a person n ot related to the chief

.

must worship his own forefathers otherwise their spirits ,

will bring troubl e upon him To reconcile these author .

ities we may mention that nearly everyone in the village is

related to its chi ef or if not rela ted is in courtesy con
, , ,

s id e re d so Any person n ot relate d to the village chi ef

.

would b e polite enough on all public occasions to recog

nise the village go d o n occasions of private prayer ( which
are not so numerous as in C hristendom ) he woul d a p
proach the Spirits of his own forefathers .

B esides there might b e a god of the land The chief

,
.

Kapeni prays to his own relatives and also to the old go ds ,

of the place His own relatives he approaches himself

.

the other deities he may also approach himself but he ,

28 RELI GI ON A ND M Y TH O L O G Y .

often finds peopl e more clos ely relate d an d consequently

”
m ore acc eptable to the ol d gods of the lan d .

The African pantheon is thus wi dely p eople d Elim i .

n ation an d n atural sel ecti on n ext give on e the transition

from th e ghost to the god properly so called , .

The gods of the n atives then are n early as num erou s

as t heir dead I t is imp ossibl e to worship all a sele ctio n
.

must b e made and as we have indicated each worshipp er

, , ,

turns most n aturally to the Spirits of his own d eparted

relatives but his gods are to o many still and in farthe r ,

s electin g he turns to those that have lived n earest his own

time Thu s the chi ef of a village will n ot troubl e himself
.

about his great — great —grandfather he will present his o f

fe rin g to his own immedi ate predecessor an d say O , ,

father I do n ot know all your rel atives you know them all
, , ,
’
invit e them to feast with you The o ffering is not simply .

”
for himself but for himself and all his rel atives
, .

O rdinary ghosts are soon forgotten with the generatio n

that knew them N ot so a few select Spirits the Caesars
.
,

an d N apoleons th e Charl emagnes an d Timurs of savage

,

empires .

A great chi ef that has b een successful in his wars doe s

n ot pass out of memory so soon H e m ay b ecome th e .

go d o f a mountain or a l ake an d may rec eive ho mage as a ,

l ocal deity long after his own descendants have b een driven
from the spot When there is a suppli cation for rain t h e
.

inhabitants of the c ountry pray not so much to thei r own

forefathers as t o the god of yond er mountain on whos e
shoulders the great rain cl ou ds repose ( Smaller hills a r e
-
.

seldom honoured with a

W ell in all this we get it seems to me th e very essenti al s
, , ,

an d universals of religion gen erally — the things without ,

which n o religion coul d exist— the vital part without th e ,

ever varying an d changeable additions of mere gossipin g

-

’
mythology I n the presents brought t o the d ead man s
.

grave to app eas e the ghost we have the central element o f ,

all worship the practical key of all cults p ast or pres ent
, , .
 S A CR I FI CE AND RELI GI ON .
29

O n the other hand mythologists tell us n othing ab out the

,

o rigin of prayer and sacrifice they put us o ff with stories

of particular go ds without explainin g to us how those
,

go ds ever came to b e worshippe d N ow mythology is a .

,

very interesting study in its own way but to treat as re

lig io n a mass of s tories an d legends about go d s or saints ,

with hardly a single living element of practice or sacrifice ,

s eems to me simply to confuse two totally distinct branches

of human enquiry The O rigin of Tales has nothing at

.

all to do with the O rigin of Worship .

’
When we come t o read M r M acdonald s account of a
.

native funeral on the other hand we are at onc e on a

, ,

t otally di fferent tack we can understand as by an electric ,

flash the genesis of the primitive acts of sacrifice and re

,

l ig io n .

Along with the deceased is buri ed a considerabl e part

o f his property We have already seen that his b ed is
.

buried with him so also are all his clothes I f he pos .

sesses several tusks of ivory one tusk or more is groun d

,

to a powder b etween two stones and put b eside him .

B eads are also groun d down in the same way These .

precautions are taken to prevent the witch ( who is su p

p osed t o be answerabl e for his death ) from making any use
of the ivory or b eads .

I f the deceased owned several Slaves an enormous ,

hol e i s d ug for a grave The Slaves are n ow brought for

.

ward They may b e either cast into the pit alive or the
.
,

undertakers may cut all their throats The bo dy of their .

m aster or their mistress i s then laid down to rest above

theirs and the grave is covere d in

, .

A fter this the women come forward with the o fferings

of food and place them at the head of the grave The
, .

dishes in which the food was brought are left behind The .

pot that h el d the drinking— water o f the deceased an d his

drinking-cup are also left with him These too might be .
, ,

coveted by the witch but a hol e is pierce d in the pot and

, ,

the d rinking calabash is broken .

30 RELIGI ON A ND M Y TH O L O G Y .

Th e man has now gone fro m the so ci ety of the living ,

an d he is expected to share the meal thus left at his grave

with thos e that have gone before him The funeral part y .

breaks up they do not want t o visit the grave of their

fri en d again without a very goo d reason Anyone found .

amon g the graves may b e taken for a cannibal Their .

friend has bec ome a citizen of a di fferent village H e is .

with all his relatives of the past H e is entitled to o ffer .

in gs or presents which may come t o him individu ally o r

thro u gh his chief These o fferings in most cases he will
.

share with others j ust as he used to do when alive

, .

So metimes the man may b e b uri ed in his own hut .

I n this cas e the house is n ot taken down but is gener ,

ally covere d with cloth an d the verandah b ecomes the

,

place for pres enting o fferings His old house thus b e .

comes a kind of temple The decease d is now in the

.

spirit world an d receives o fferings and adoration H e is

-
,
.

addressed as O ur great Spirit that has gone b efore If .

’

anyon e dream of him it is at once con cluded that the

,
’
spirit is u p to so mething Very likely he wants to have
.

some of the su rvivors for his companions The dreamer .

hasten s t o appeas e the spirit by an o ffering .

So real is this society o f the dead that M r M acdon ald .

says :
“
The practice of s ending messengers to the world b e
yond the grave is found on the West C oast A chi ef sum .

mons a slave delivers to him a message an d then cuts o ff

, ,

his head I f the chief forget anything that he wanted to

.

”
s ay he s ends another slave as a postscript
,
.

I have quoted at such length from this recent an d ex

t r e m e ly abl e work because I want t o brin g into stron g
relief the fact that we have here going on un der our very '

eyes from day to day de n ovo the entire genesis of new

, , ,

gods and go ddesses an d of all that is most central an d e s

,

se n t ia l to religion — worship prayer the t empl e the altar, , , ,

priestho o d sacrifice N othing that the mythologists can

,
.

tell us ab out the Sun or the M oon the Dawn or the Storm ,
 TH E WO R SH IP OF A N CES T O R S .

31

cloud Little Red Riding Hood or Ci nderella an d the

,

Glass Slipper comes anywhere near the O rigin of Religion

,

in these its central an d universal elements Thos e stories .

or guesses may be of immense interest an d importance as

contributions to the histo ry of i deas in our race but no
thing we can learn about the savage su rvival in the myth
of C upid or Psyche or about the primitive cosmology in
,

the myth of the children of Kronos helps us to get one ,

inch nearer the origin of Go d or of prayer of worship of , ,

religious ceremonial of the temple the church the sac

, , ,

r ifi ce the mass or any other component part of what we

, ,

really know as Religion in the concrete These myths .

may be sometimes philosophic guesses sometimes primi ,

tive folk — tales but they certainly are not the truths of R e
,

l ig io n. O n the other hand the living facts here so simply

, ,

detailed by a careful accurate an d unassuming O bserver

, , ,

strengthened by the hundreds of similar facts collected by

Tylor Sp encer and others do help us at once to under
, , ,

stand the origin o i the central core and kern el of religion

as universally practised all the world over .

F or omitting for the present the mythological and cos

,

m o lo g i ca l factor which so often comes in to obscure the

,

plain religious facts in missionary narrative or highly — col

o u r e d E uropean accounts of n ative beliefs what do we ,

really find as the underlying truths of all religion That

all the world over practices essentially similar to thos e of
these savage C entral Africans prevail among mankind ;
practices whose a ffiliation upon the same primitive ideas
has been abundantly proved by Mr H erb ert Spencer ; .

practices which have for their essence the propitiation or

adulation of a spiritual b eing or b eings derived from ,

ghosts and conceived of as similar in all except the great

, ,

ness of the connoted attribu t es to the souls of men , .

“
Whenever the [I ndian ! villagers are questioned about
”
their creed says Sir William H unter
,
the same answer ,

is invariably given The common people have no idea of

32 R ELI GI ON A N D M Y TH O L O G Y .

religion but to do right [cerem o nially ! and to worship th e

,

village go d .
’

I n short I maintain that religion is not mainly as the

, ,

mistaken analogy of C hristian usage makes us erron eously

call it F aith or C ree d but simply and solely C ere mony
, , ,

C ustom or Practice
, An d I am glad to say that for e arly
.
,

S emitic times at least Professor Robertson S mith is of

,

the same opinion .

If one looks at the vast mass of the worl d an cient an d ,

mo dern it is quite clear that religion consists an d has

, ,

always consiste d of O bservan ces essentially Similar to thos e

,

j ust describ ed amon g th e C entral African tribes I ts core .

is worship I t s centre is the Go d— that is t o say the

.
,

D ead Ancestor or Relative The religion of C hina is to .

thi s day almost entirely on e of pure ancestor cult The -

.

making of o fferings an d burnin g of j oss — paper b efore the

F amily D ead form its principal ceremoni es I n I n dia .
,

while the three great gods of the mystical Brahmanist

philosophy are hardly worshipped in actual practic e at all ,

every community an d every hous e has its own particular

gods and its own special cult of its littl e domesti c altar .

The first E n glishman says Sir Willi am H unter , ,

who tri ed to study the natives as they actually are an d ,

n ot as the B rahmans describe d them was stru ck by the ,

universal prevalence of a worshi p quite distinct fro m that

of the H indu deiti es A B engal village has usually its
.

local go d which it adores either in the form of a ru de u m

,

hewn ston e or a stump or a tre e marked with red l ead

, ,
-
.

S ometimes a lump of clay placed under a tre e do es duty

for a deity an d the att endant priest when there is on e
, , ,

generally b elongs to on e of the half Hinduised l ow — castes -

.

The ru de ston e represents the n on — Aryan fetish and th e

tree seems to owe its san ctity t o the n on A ryan b elief that -

it forms the abo de of the ghosts or go ds of the village , , .

O mitting th e mere guesswork about the fetish an d the

gratuitous supposition made out of deferen ce t o th e dying
,

creed of M ax — M ii lle rism that ancestor worshi p must

,
-
34 RELI GI ON A ND M Y TH O L O G Y .

hints says the R e v George Turner with pleasing frank

, .
,

n ess, alike at the origin an d nature of their religious

”
worship . When the chief prayed he o ffered u p yam an d ,
“
fruits saying, C ompassi onate father here is so me food
, ,
”
for you eat it B e kin d to us on account of it
. Those .

who wish to see the whole of the eviden ce on this matter

marshalled in battl e array have only to turn to the first
volume of Mr H erb ert Spencer s P r inciples of S ociology
.
’

where th ey will fin d abun dant examples fro m all times

an d places gathere d together in a vast an d overwhel ming
phalanx .

What concerns us in this chapter a littl e more is to call

att ention by anticipation to the fact that even in C hris
t ia n it y itself the same primitive ele ment survives as the
centre of all that is mo st distinctively religious as oppose d ,

t o theological i n the C hristian religion An d I mak e

, .

these remarks provisionally here in order that the reader

may the b etter un derstan d to what ultimate goal our in
v e stig a t i o n will l ead him .

I t is the universal C atholi c custom to place the relics

of saints or martyrs under the altars in church es Thu s .

the body of St M ark t he E vangelist li es und er the high

.

altar of St M ark s at Venice and in every other I talian

.
’

cathedral or chapel a reliqu ary is deposite d withi n the

, ,

altar itself So well understood is this principl e in the

.

Latin C hurch that it has harden ed into the saying N o

, ,

reli c no altar
,
The sacrifice of the mass takes place at
.

such an altar and is performed by a pri est in sacrificial

,

robes The entire Roman C atholic ritual is a ritual de

.

rived from the earlier sacerdotal ideas of minist ry at an

altar and its connection with the primitive form is still
,

kept u p by the necessary presenc e of human remains in its

holy plac es .

F urthermore the very idea o f a church itself is de

,

s cende d fro m the early C hristian meeting places in the -

cataco mbs or at the tombs of the martyrs whi ch are uni ,

v e rsa lly allowe d to have b een th e primitive C hristi an

 E SSEN TI A L S OF RELI GI ON .

35

altars We know now that the cruciform do me covered

.
-

plan of Christian churches is derived from these early

meeting places at the j unction of lanes or alleys in the
-

catacombs that the nave chancel an d transepts indicat e , ,

the crossing of the alleys while the dome represents the ,

hollowed out portion or rudely circular vault where the

-

two lines of archway intersect The earli est dome c o v .

-

ered churches were attempts as it were to construct a cat , ,

acomb above ground for the reception of the altar tomb of -

a saint or martyr Similarly with the chapels that op en

.

out at t h e side from the ai sles or transepts E ty m o lo .

g ic a lly the word chapel i s the m o dernised form of ca pella

, ,

the arched sepulchre excavated in the walls of the cata

combs before the tomb a t which it was usual to o ffer u p
,

prayer and praise The chapels built out from the aisles
.

in Roman churches each with its own altar and its own
,

saintly relics are attempts to reproduce above ground in

,

the same way the original sacred places in the early Chris
tian excavated cemeteries We will recur to this subj ect .

at much greater length in subsequent chapters .

Thus Christianity itself is linked on to the very antique

custom of worship at tombs and the habi t of ancestor ,

worship by altars relics an d invocati on of saints even

, , ,

revolutionary Protestantism still retaining some last faint

marks of its origin in the dedication of churches to par
t ic u l a r evangelists or martyrs and in the more or l ess dis ,

guised survival of altar priesthood sacrifice and vest

, , ,

ments .

N ow I do not say ancestor worship gives us the whole

,
-

origin of everything that is included in Christian E nglish

minds in the idea of religion I do n ot say it accounts for .

all the cosmologies and cosmogonies of savage barbaric , ,

or civilised tribes Those for the most part are pure

.
, ,

mythological pro ducts explicable mainly I believe by

, , ,

means of the key with which mythology supplies us and

one of them adopted int o Genesis from an alien source
, ,

has come to b e accepted by modern Christendom as part

36 R ELI GI ON A N D M Y TH O LO G Y .

o f that organised body of b elief which forms the C hristia n

cree d though not in any true s ense the Christian religion
, .

N or do I say that ancestor worship gives u s the origin -

of thos e ontological metaphysical or mystical c o n ce p, ,

tions whi ch form part of the philosophy or theology of

many pri esthoo ds Religi ons as we generally get them
.
,

envisaged for u s n owadays are held to inclu de the m y ,

t h o l o gy the cosmo gony th e ontology an d even the ethi cs

, , ,

of the race that practises them These extraneous de .

v e lo p m e n t s however I hol d to spring from di fferent roots

, ,

an d to have n othing n ecessarily in common with religion

p roper The go d is the tru e crux I f we have onc e
. .

accounte d for the origin of ghosts gods to mbs altars , , , ,

t empl es churches worship sacrific e priesthoo ds an d

, , , , ,

c eremonies then we have accounte d fo r all that is ess en

,

tial an d central in religion and may hand over the rest ,

the tales stories and piou s l egends— to the accoun t of

, ,

co mparative mythology or of the yet unfounde d sci en ce

of co mparative i dealogy .

O nce more I do n ot wish to insist either that every

, , ,

particul ar an d in divi dual god n ational or naturalisti c , ,

must n ecessarily represent a particular ghost— the dead

—
S pirit of a single definite once living person I t is enough .

to Show as M r Spencer has shown t hat the id ea of the

,
.
,

go d an d the worship paid to a go d are directly d erive d

, ,

from the idea of the ghost an d th e o fferings made to the ,

ghost without n ecessarily holding as M r Spen cer s eems

, ,
.

to hol d that every god is an d must b e in ultimate analysi s

,

th e ghost of a particular human being O nce the con .

c e p t io n of gods had b een evolved by humanity and had ,

’
become a common part of every man s imagine d univers e
—o f the worl d as it present ed itself to the min d of the p er

c ip ie n t— then it was natural enough that new gods shoul d

be made from time to time out of abstractions or special

asp ects an d powers of n ature and that the same worshi p ,

S houl d b e pai d t o such new —

made an d purely imaginary
gods as had previously b een pai d to the whol e host of
 M Y TH O LO G Y UNESSEN TI A L 37
.

gods evolved from personal an d tribal ancestors I t is .

the first step that costs once you have got the idea of a
god fairly evolved any number of extra gods may b e in
,

vented o r introduce d from all quarters A great p an .

theon readily admits new memb ers to its ranks fro m many
strange sources F amiliar instances in one of the best
.

known pantheons are those of C on cordia Pecunia A iu s , ,

L o c u t iu s R e d ic u l u s T u t a n u s
,
The Romans indeed
.
, ,

deified every conceivable operation of nature or of human

life they had gods or goddesses for the minutest det a ils
of agri culture of social relations of the first years of chil d
, ,

hood o i marriage and domestic arrangements generally

,
.

M any of their deities as we shall see here a fter were o b

, ,

v io u sly manufactured to meet a Special demand on special

occasions But at the same time non e of these gods so

.
, ,

far as we can j udge could ever have come to exist at all

,

if the ghost theory and ancestor worship had not already

- -

made familiar to the human min d the principles and p r a c

tice of religion generally The very idea of a god coul d
.

not otherwise have been evolved ; though when once ,

evolved any numb er of new beings coul d readily b e a f

,

fi lia te d upon it by the human imaginati on .

Still to admit that other elements have afterwards come

,

in to confuse religion is quite a di fferent thing from a d

mitting that religion itself has more than one origin .

Whatever gives us the key to the practice of worship give s

us the key to all real religion No w one may read .
,

through almost any books of the mythological school

without ever coming upon a single word that throws on e
ray of light upon the origin of religion itself thus properly
called To trace the devel opment of this th a t or the
.
, .

other story or episo de in a religious myth is in itself a very

valuabl e stu dy in human evolution : but no amount of
tracin g such stories ever gives us the fa intest clue to the
question why men worshipped O siris Z eus Siva or , , ,

Venus why they o ffered up prayer and praise to I sis or t o ,

Artemis wh y th ey made sacrifices of oxen to C apitolian

38 RELI GI ON A N D M Y TH O L O G Y .

J ove at Rom e or slew turtle — doves on the altar of Jahweh

, ,

go d of I srael at Je r usalem The ghost theory an d the

, .
-

practice of an cestor— worship show us a natural basis and

genesis for all these cu stoms and explain them i n a way ,

to which n o mythological enquiry can add a singl e item

of fundamental interest .

I t may b e well at this point to attempt b eforehand some

slight provisional disentangl ement of the various extra
m eous elements whi ch interweave themselves at last with

the simple primitive fabri c of practical religion .

I n the first place there is the mythological element

, .

The mythop oeic faculty is a reality in mankind Stori es .

arise grow gather episodes with movement transform an d

, , ,

transmute themselves wan der far in S pace get corrupted

, ,

by time in ten thousand ways su ffer change and m o difi c a

,

tion N ow such stories sometimes connect themselves

.
,

with living men an d women E verybody knows how many .

myths exist even in our own day ab out every promin ent
or p eculiar person They also gather more parti cularly
.

roun d the memory of the dead and especially of any very ,

distinguished dead man or woman Sometimes t hey take .

their rise in genuine tradition so metimes they are pure ,

fetches of fan cy or of the romancing fa culty The ghosts .

or the gods are no l ess exempt from thes e mythop oei c

freaks than other people and as gods go on living in
definitely they have pl enty of time for myths t o gather
,

about them M ost often a myth is invent ed to account

.
,

for some parti cular religious ceremony Again myths .

,

demonstrably older than a particular human b ein g— s ay

C aesar Virgil Arthur C harlemagn e— may get fitte d by
. , ,

l ater ages to those special personalities The same thing .

often happens also with gods Myth comes at last in .

,

short to b e the history o f the gods ; and a personage

,

about wh o m many myths exist whether real or i maginary , ,

a personification of nature or an abstract quality may ,

grow in time t o b e practically a divin e bein g an d even ,

perhaps to receive worship the final test of divinity , .

 RELI GI ON A N D T
E H I CS UNRELA TED .

39

Again myths about the gods come in the long run in

, ,

many cases to be written down especially by the priests

, , ,

and themselves acquire a considerable degree of a dve n t i

tious holiness Thus we get Sacred B ooks an d in most
.

advance d races the sacred books ten d to become an im

,

portant integral part of religion and a test of the purity ,

of ten ets or ceremonial But sacre d books almost always .

contain rude cosmological guesses an d a supernatural cos

m o g o n y as well as tales about the doings relationshi ps
, , ,

an d prerogatives of the gods Such early philosophical .

conj ectures come then to b e intimate ly bound up with the

i dea of religion and in many cases even to supers ede in
,

certain minds its true practical central kernel The ex , , .

treme of this tendency is seen in E nglish Protestant D is

senting Bibliolatry .

Rationalistic and reconciliatory glosses tend to arise

with advancing culture Attempts are made to trace the .

pedigree and mutual relati ons of the gods and to get ri d ,

o f discrepancies in earlier legends The Theogony of .

H esiod is a definite e ffort undertaken in this direction for

the Greek pantheon O ften the attempt is made by the
.

most learned and philosophically min ded among the -

priests and results in a quasi philosophical mythology like

,
-

that of the B rahmans I n the monotheisti c or half mono

.
-

theistic religions this becomes theolo gy I n proportion

, .

as it grows more and more l aboured and definite the a t

tention of the learned an d the priestly class is more an d
more directed to dogma creed faith abstract formul ae of , , ,

philosophical or intellectual b elief whil e insisting also ,

upon ritual or practice B ut the popular religion remains .

usually as in I n dia a religion of practical custom an d o b

, .

s e rv a n c e s alone having very little relation to the highly

,

abstract theological ideas of the learne d or th e pri estly .

Lastly in the highest religions a large element of ethics

, , ,

of sentiment of broad humanitarianism of adventitious

, ,

emotion is allowed to come in often to the extent of O b

, ,

s c u rin g the original factors of practic e and observanc e .

40 R ELI GI ON A N D M Y TH O L O G Y .

We are constantly taught that real religion means

many thin gs which have nothing on earth to d o with re
lig io n proper in any sens e but are merely high morality
, , ,

tinctured by emotional devotion towards a spiritual b eing

or set Of beings .

O wing to all these causes modern investigators in , ,

s earching for the origin of religion are apt to mix up with ,

it even when dealing with savage tribes many extraneous

, ,

questions of cosmolo g y cosmogony philosophy meta , , ,

physics ethics an d mythology They do not su fficiently

, , .

see that the true question narrows itself down at last to

two prime factors — worship an d sacrifice I n all early re .

lig io n s the practice is at a maxi mum and the creed at a

, ,

minimum We n owadays look back upon these early

.
, ,

cults which were cults an d littl e else with min ds warpe d

, ,

by mo dern theological prej udices— b y constant wrang

ling over dogmas clauses definitions an d formularies
, , , .

We talk glibly of the Hin du faith or the C hin ese b elief ,

when we ought rather to talk of the H in du practi ce or the

C hinese O bservan ces B y thus wrongly conceiving the
.

n ature of religion we go astray as to its origin We Shall

, .

only get ri ght again when we learn to separate mythology

entirely fro m religion and when we recognis e that the
,

growth an d development of th e myth have nothing at all

t o do with the b eginnings of worship The scien c e of .

comparative mythology and folk lore is a valuabl e an d -

light — bearing study in its own way but it has no more to

do with the ori gin of religion than the sci ence of ethi cs or
the science of geology There are ethical rul es in most .

advanced cults there are geological surmises in mo st

sacred books but n either on e nor the other is on that
account religion any more than the history of Jehoshaphat
,

or th e l egen d of Samson .

What I want to suggest in the present chapter sums it

self u p in a few s entences thus Religion is practice m y ,

t h o lo g y i s sto ry telling E very religion has myths that

- .

acc ompany it but the myths do n ot give rise to the re

42 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EA D .

C HAPT E R I I I .

TH E L I F E OF T H E D EAD .

TH E obj ect of this book we saw at the beginning is to

, ,

trace the evolution of the idea of God B ut the solution .

of that problem implies two separate questions — fi r st how ,

di d men b egin to frame the idea of a god at all ; and

secon d how did they progress from the conception of
,

man y distinct gods to the conception of a single suprem e

God like the central d eity of C hristi anity and of I sl am
, .

I n other words we have first to enquire into the origin o f

,

polytheism and next into its gradual sup ersession by

,

monotheism Those are the main lin es of enquiry I pro

.

pose to foll o w out in the present volu me .

Religion however has one el ement within it still older

, , ,

more fundamental an d more persistent than any mere b e

,

lief in a god or go ds— n a y even than the custom or p ra c

,

tic e of supplicating an d appeasin g ghosts or go ds by gifts

and O bservances That element is the conce ption of th e Life
.

of the D ead O n the primitive belief in such life all reli

.
,

gion ultimately bases itself The b elief is in fact the earli est
.

thing to appear in reli gion for there are savage tribes who
,

have nothin g worth calling gods but have still a religion ,

or cult o f their dead relatives I t is also the latest thin g .

to survive in religion ; for many modern spiritualists who ,

have cease d to b e theists or to accept any other form of

,

the supern atural nevertheless go on believing in the con

,

t in u e d existen ce of the dead and in the possibility of inter.

communication between them an d the living This .

,

therefore which is the earliest manifestation of religious

,
 TH R EE S TA GES IN TH E B ELI E F .

43

thou ght and which p ersists throughout as one of its most

,

salient and irrepressible features must engage our atten ,

tion for a littl e time before we pass on to the genesis of

polytheism .

But the belief in continued life itself like all other h u ,

m a n ideas has naturally undergone various stages of

,

e volution . The stages glide imperceptibly into one

a nother of course
,
but I think we can on the whole dis
t in g u is h with tolerable accuracy between three main layers
or strata of opinion with regard to the continu ed existence
o f th e dead I n the first or lowest strat u m the di fference
.
,

b etween life and death themselves is but ill or inadequately

p erceived ; the dead are thought of as yet bodily living .

I n the second stratum de a th is recognised as a physical

,

fa ct but is reg a rded as only temporary ; at this stage men

, .

look forward to the Resurrection of the B ody and expect ,

the Life of the World to C ome I n the third stratu m the

.
,

s oul is regarded as a distinct entity from the body ; it sur

vives it in a separate and somewhat Shadowy form : so that

the opini o n a s to the future proper to this stage is not a
b elief in the Resurrection of the Bo dy but a belief in the ,

I m mortality of the Soul These two concepts have often

.

b een confoun ded to gether by loos e and semi philosophical -

C hristian thinkers but in their essence they are wholly

d istinct and irreconcilable .

I shall examine each of these three strat a separately .

And first as to that early savage level of thought where

the ideas of life and death are very ill demarcated To us .

a t the present day it seems a curious notion that peo ple

should not possess the conception of death as a necessary

e vent in every individual human history B ut that is .

b ecause we cannot e a sily unread all our previous thinking ,

cannot throw ourselves frankly b a ck into the state of the

s avage . We a re accustomed to living in l a rge and p o p u
ous communities where deaths are frequent and where
, ,

natural death in particular is an every day occurrence We -

.

h ave behind us a vast and lon g history of previous ages

44 TH E LI E F OF TH E D EA D .

an d w e know that historical time was occupied by the live s

of many succ essive generations all of whi ch are now dead , ,

an d non e of which on the average exceeded a certain

fix ed limit of seve nty or eighty o dd years To us the con .
,

ce p t i o n of human li fe as a relatively short perio d boun de d ,

by a kn own duration and n aturally terminating at a rela

,

t iv e ly fixe d end is a co mmon an d familiar one

. .

W e forget however that to th e savage all thi s is quit e

, ,

otherwise H e lives in a small an d scattered co mmunity

.
,

where deaths are rare an d where natural death in p a rticu

,

lar is comparatively infrequent M ost of his p eopl e are .

kille d in war or devoure d by wild beasts or destroyed

, ,

by accidents in the chase o r by thirst or starvation ,

.

Some are drowned in rapi d rivers ; some crushed by falling

trees or ston es ; some poisoned by deadly fruits or bitten ,

by ven omous snakes ; some massacred by chiefs or mur ,

dered in quarrels with their own tribesmen I n a larg e .

maj ority of in stan ces there is some o pen an d obvious

,

caus e of death ; and this cause is generally du e either t o

th e han d of man or to some other animal ; or failin g that ,

to some apparently active e ffort of external nature such a s ,

flood or lightning or forest fires or landslip an d earth

, , ,

quake D eath by diseas e is comparatively rare ; deat h by

.

natural decay almost unknown or unrecognised .

N or has the savage a great historic past behind hi m .

H e knows few but his tribesmen an d little of their a n ,

ce st o rs save those whom his parents can rememb er before

them His perspective o f the past is extremely limited

. .

N othing enables him to form that w id e idea of the n e c e s

s ity an d invariability of death which to us is so familiar .

That all men are mortal is to civilised man a truism ;

t o very early savages it woul d necessarily have seemed
a startlin g paradox N o man ever dies within his own
.

experienc e ; ever Sin ce he can remember h e has continue d ,

t o exist as a permanent part of all his adventures M ost .

of the savage s family have gon e o n continuously livin g

’

wit h him A death has been a rare an d startlin g occur

.
 P RI M I TI VE M AN A N D DEA TH .

45

r ence Thus the notion of death as an inevitable end

.

never arises at all the notion of death as due to natural

causes seems quite untenable When a savage dies the first .
,

question that arises is Who has killed hi m If he is

s lain in war or devoured by a tiger or ripped u p by an ele
, ,

phant or drowned by a stream in spate or murdered by a

, ,

tribesman the caus e is obvious I f none of these then

,
.
,

the death is usually set down to witchcraft .

F urthermore the mere fact of death is much less ce rtain

,

among primitive or savage men than in civilise d communi

ties We know as a rule with almost absolute certainty
.

whether at a given moment a sick or wounde d m a n is dead

or living N evertheless even among ourselves cases of
.
, ,

doubt not infrequently occur At times we hesitate .

whether a man or woman is dead or has fainted I f the .

hea r t continues to beat we c o nsider them still living ; if

,

not the slightest flutter of the pulse can be p erceived we ,

consider them dead E ven our advanced medical s ci ence

.
,

however is often perpl exed in very obs cure cases of cata

,
~

lepsy ; an d mistakes have occurred from time to time t e ,

s ul tin g in occasional premature burials The discrimina .

tion of true from apparent death is not always easy Vesa .

lius the eminent anat o mist opened a supposed corpse in

, ,

which the heart was seen to b e still beating ; and the Abb é
Pr evost who had been struck by apoplexy was regarded as
, ,

dead but recovered consciousness once more under the

,

surgeon s scalpel N aturally among savages such cases

’
.
, ,

o f doubt are far more lik ely to occur than amon g civilised

p eople ; or rather to put it as the savage would think of it

, ,

there is often no knowing when a person who is lying sti ff

a n d lifeless may happen to get up again an d resume his

usual activity The savage is accustomed to seeing his

.

fellows stunned or rendered unconscious by blows ,

wounds and other accidents inflicted either by the enemy

, , ,

by wild b easts by natural agencies or by the wrath of

, ,

his tribesmen ; and he never knows how soon the e ff ect

of such acci dents may pass away and the man may recover ,
46 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EA D .

his ordinary vitality As a rul e he k eeps an d t ends th e

.
,

bodies of his friends as long a s any chanc e remain s of thei r

ultimate recovery and often ( as we Shall see in the sequel )
,

much longer .

Again in order to understand this attitu de of early man

.

towards his wounded his stricken and hi s dead we must

, , ,

glance aside for a mo m ent at the primitive psychology .

Very e a r lv indeed in the hi story of the human mind I ,

believe some vague adumbration of the notion of a soul

,

began to pervade humanity We now kn ow that conscious .

n ess is a fun ction of the brain ; that it is intermitted during

sleep when the brain rests an d a l so durin g times of grave
, ,

d erangement of the n ervous o r circulatory syst e m s a s w h e n ,

we faint or assume the comatose con dition or are stunne d ,

by a blow or fall into catalepsy or epilepsy

, We als o .

know that consciousness ceases altogeth er at death when ,

the brain no longer functions ; an d that the possibility of

its further continuance is absolutely cut o ff by the fact of
decomposition B ut these truths still imperfectly un der
.
,

stood or rashly rej ected by many amon g ourselves were ,

wholly unknown to early men Th ey had to frame fo r .

themselves as best they could some vagu e working h y

p o t h e s is of the human min d from data which suggeste d ,

themselves in the ordinary course of life ; an d the h y po th e

sis which they framed was more or less roughly that of
the soul or Spirit still implicitly accepted by a large maj o
,

rit y of the human Species .

According to this hypothesis every man consists of two

halves or parts one materi a l or bodily the other i mma
, ,

t e r ia l or spiritual The first half called th e b ody is visibl e

.
, ,

and tangibl e the secon d half called the soul dwells , ,

within it an d is more or less invisibl e or shadowy I t is t o

,
.

a l arge extent identified with the breath an d like t he

breath it is often b elieved t o quit the body at death an d ,

even t o go o ff in a free form an d live its own life elsewhere .

A s this su pposed ind ependen ce of the soul from the b o dy

lies at the ve ry basi s of all ghosts and go ds an d therefore ,
 S A VA GE C ON CEP TI ON OF DEA TH .

47

of religion itself I may be excused for going at some ,

length into the question of its origin .

Actually SO far as we know by direct an d trustworthy

,

evidence the existence of a mind conscio u sness or

, , ,

”
“
soul apart from a body has never yet been sa t isfa c t o
, ,

rily demonstrated B ut the savage derived the belief a p .

,

p a re n tly from a large numb er of con current hints an d

,

suggestions of which such a hypothesis seemed to him the

,

inevitable result During the d a ytime he was awake ; at

.

night he slept ; yet even in his sleep while his body lay ,

curled on the ground beside the camp fi re he seemed to -

,

hunt or to fight to make love or to feast in some other

, ,

region What was this part of him that wandered fro m

the body in dreams —what if not the soul or breath
.

which he naturally regarded as something distinct an d

separate ? And when a man died did not the soul or ,

breath go from him When he was badly wounded di d ,

it not disappear for a time and then return again In ,

fainting fits in catalepsy and in other ab n ormal states di d

, , ,

it not leave the body or even play strange tricks with it ,

I need not pursue this lin e of thought already fully worked ,

out by M r H erbert Spencer an d Dr Tylor I t is enough

. . .

to say that from a very early date primitive man b egan to ,

regard the soul or life as something boun d up with th e

breath something which could go away from the body at
,

will and return to it again somethin g separable and dis ,

tinct yet essential to the person very vaguely conceived

, ,

as immaterial or Shadowy but more so at a l ater than at ,

an earlier period * .

Moreover these souls or spirits ( which quitted the body

,

in sleep or trance ) outlived death an d appeared again to ,

survivors I n dreams we often see the shapes of livin g

.
,

men but we also se e with peculiar vividness the i mages

of the departed E verybo dy is familiar with the frequent
.

*T h e qu e st o n i o f th e Se p a r a t e S o u l h a s r e c e n t l y re ce iv ed ve ry f u ll
t re a t m e n t fr o m M r Fra ze r i n T h e G old en B oug h ,
. a nd Mr . i
S d ne y
H a r t l a n d in T h e L eg e n d of P e r s e u s .
48 TH E LI FE OF TH E DEA D .

reap pearance in sle ep of intimate friends or relations

lately decease d Thes e appearances I fancy are espe
.
, ,

cia lly frequent durin g the first few months of b ere avement ,

and gradually weaken in frequen cy an d vividness as time

goes on The reason for both s ets of phenomena I take
.

to b e this the n ervous structures accu sto med to b e ,

stimulat ed in particular combinations by intercourse with

th e dead friend miss automatically their wonte d stimul a
,

tion ; an d being therefore i n a highly n ourished an d u n

stable stat e are p eculiarly ready to undergo i deal stimula
,

tion in Sl eep as we know to b e the cas e with other well

,

nurture d and underworke d nerve centres O r to put it -

.
,

less materially the brain falls readily into a familiar

,

rhythm B ut in course of time the c h a n n e ls a t ro ph y by

.

'

disuse ; the habit is lost ; an d the dream ap pearanc es of the -

dead frien d grow more an d more infrequ ent The savage .

,

however accepts the dream world as almost equally real

,
-

with the worl d of s ens e presentation As he envis ages the

-
.

matter to himself his soul has b een away on its travels

,

without its bo dy an d there has met and converse d with

,

the souls of dead friends or relations .

W e must remember also that in savage life o ccasions

for trance for fainting and for other abn ormal or comatose
, ,

n ervous conditions o ccur far more frequently than in civi

l ise d life. The savage is often woun de d and fails fro m loss
of blood ; he cuts his foot against a stone or i s half kill ed ,

by a wild b east ; he fasts long and oft en perforce or is r e , ,

d u ce d to the very verge of starvation ; and he is therefore

familiar b oth in his own case and in the cas e of others
, ,

with every variety of unconsci ousn ess and of d eliriu m or

delusion All thes e facts figure themselves to his mind as
.

absences of the soul from th e bod y which is thus to him a ,

familiar an d almost every day exp erience -

.

M oreover it will hence result that the savage can hardly

,

gain any clear conception of D eath and esp ecially of ,

d eath from n atural causes When a trib esman is brought .

home severely wounded an d un conscious the spectator s ,

’
50 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EAD .

thu s kept her husb and s bo dy in her b ut till it drie d u p o f

’

itself an d Sh e kisse d it and o ffered it foo d every day a s

, ,

though i t were living M any Similar cases are rep orted .

from elsewhere H ut preservation is common in the very

.

l owest races M ore frequently however owing to the

.
, ,

obvious disco mfort of living in too close proximity to a

dead body the corpse at this stage of thought is expos ed
,

op enly in a tree or on a platform or under some other

circumstances where no harm can come to it A mong th e .

Australians an d Andaman I sl anders who like the N egri , ,

to es of N ew Guinea preserve for us a very early type of

.

human customs th e corpse is often exposed on a rough

,

raised sca ffold Some of the Polynesian and M elanesian

.

p eoples follow the sam e practice The Dyaks an d Kya n s .

expose their dead in tre es B ut it is in America says .

,

M r H erb ert S pencer

. that exposure on raise d stages is
,

common est The D a k o t a h s adopt this method ; at one

.

time it was the practice of the I riq u o is ; C atlin describing ,

the M andans as having sca ffolds on which their dea d live

’
as they term it remarks that they are thus kept out of
,

the way of wolves and dogs and School craft s ays the
”
same of the C hippewas Generally speaking at the low.
,

est grades of culture savages pres erve the actual bo dies of

,

their dead above groun d either in th e home itself or in , ,

clos e proximity to it We shall recur later on to this sin

.

gular practice .

A Slight variant on this method p eculiar to a very mari ,

ti me race is that described by M r H O F orb es among

,
. . .

the natives of Tim u rla u t :

The dead bo dy is placed in a portion o f a pra i i fitte d
to the l ength of the individual or within strips O f g a ba ,

a ba or stems of the sago p alm pinned together I f it is a

-
g ,
.

pers on of some consequ ence such as an Or ang Kayo an , ,

ornate an d deco-rated pr a i i —
shape d co ffin is specially mad e .

This is then enveloped in calico and placed either on the ,

top of a rock b y the m argin of the sea at a Short di stan ce

from the village or on a high pile platform erected on th e
,
-
 IM P O R TA N CE OF TH E S K ULL .

51

shore about low — ti de mark O n the top of the co ffi n li d

.
-

are erected tall flags and the figures of men playing

,

gongs shooting guns and gesticulating wildly to frighten

, ,

away evil influences from the Sleeper S ometimes the .

platform is erected on the shore above high — water mark ,

and near it is stu ck in the ground a tall bamb oo full of

palm wine -
and suspended over a b amboo rail are
’
bunches of sweet potatoes for the use of the dead man s
Ni tn . When the body is quit e decomposed his so n or one ,

o f the family disinters the skull and deposits it on a little

platform in his house in the gable opposite the fireplace
, ,

while to ward o ff evil from himself he carries about with

him the atlas and axis bones of its neck in his lnon or sir i ,
”
holder .

This interesting account is full of implications whos e

fuller meaning we will perceive hereafter The use of th e .

S kull and of the talisman bon e shoul d especially be noted

for their later importance F or skulls are fundamental in

.

the history of religion .

C ases like these readily p ass into the practice of M um

m ify in g more especially in dry or desert climates
, E ven .

in so damp a tropical country as N ew Guinea however , ,

D Alb e r tis found in a shed on the banks of the F ly River

’

two mummies artificially prepared as he thought by r e

, , ,

moval of the flesh the bones alone b eing prese rved with t h e
,

skin to cover them H ere we have evidently a clear con

.

c e pti o n of death as a serious change of a di fferent charac ,

ter from a mere t emporary absence So too M r C hal .

, , .

mers says of the Koiari people in the same island They ,

treat their dead after this fashion A fire is kept burning .

day and night at the head and feet for months The e n .

tire Skin is removed by m eans of the thumb an d forefinger ,

an d the j uices plastered all over the face and body of th e

operator ( parent husband or wife of the deceased ) The
, , .

fire gradually desiccates the fl esh so that little more tha n ,

”
the skeleton is left B ut m u m m ifi ca tio n for the most
.
'

part is confined t o drier climates where it is artificiall y ,

52 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EA D .

p erformed down to a very evolve d stage of civilisation as ,

we know well in Peru an d E gypt .

O ne word must b e said in passing as to the frequent

habit of specially p reserving an d even carrying ab out the ,

p erson the h ead or han d of a d ecease d relative This has

,
.

b een already mentione d in the case of T im u rla u t an d it

oc curs frequently elsewhere Thus M r C halmers says of . .

a N ew Guinea baby : I t will b e covered with two inches

of soil the friends watching beside the grave ; but e v e nt u
,

ally th e skull an d smaller bon es will be preserve d an d

”
worn by the mother Similarly in the An daman I slands
.
, ,

where we touch perhaps the lowest existing stratum of

savage feeling wi dows may b e seen with the skulls of
,
”
their deceas ed partners suspen ded roun d their n ecks .

The special preservation of th e head even when the rest ,

of the b ody is eaten or burie d will engage our attention at ,

a later perio d : heads so preserve d are usually resorted to

as oracles an d are often treate d as the home of the spirit
, .

M r H erbert S pencer has colle cted m a n v similar instances

.
,

su ch as that of the Tasmanians who wore a b one fro m the

skull or arm of a dead relation H e rightly notes too .
, ,

that throughout the N ew World the primitive co n ce p

tion of death as a long— suspende d animation seems to have
”
b een especially vivid ; an d we find accordingly that cus
toms o i this character are particularly frequ ent among
Am erican savages Thus to draw once more fro m his
.
,

great storehouse the Crees carried bones and hair of dead

,

relations about for three years whil e the C aribs and

s everal Guiana trib es distribute d the clean b ones amon g
the kin smen of t he deceased I n the San dwich I slan ds .
,

also bon es of kings and chiefs were carried about by their

,

d escendants under the i mpression that the dead exercise d

,

guardianship over them .

At this stage of thought it seems to m e it is the actual

, ,

corpse that is still thought to b e alive ; the actual corpse

that appears in dreams ; and th e actual corpse that is fe d
a n d worshipped and propitiate d with presents .
 CA VE-B UR I A L .

53

C eremonial cannibalism , which will b e more fully co n

sid e re d hereafter , appears in this stratu m and survives ,

from it into higher levels The body is eaten entire an d . ,

the bones preserved ; or the flesh an d fat are removed an d ,

the skin left ; or a portion only is sacramentally and reve

r e n t ly eaten by the surviving rel ations These processes .

also will be more minutely described in the sequ el .

The first stage merges by gradual degre es into the

second which is that of B urial or its equivalent C ave
,
.

burial of mummies o r of corpses forms the transitional

link I ndee d inasmuch as many races of primitive men
.
,

lived habitually in caves the pl acing or leaving the corpse

,

in a cave seems much t h e same thing as the placing or

leaving it in a shed hut or shelter , The cave —
,dwellin g .

Veddahs simply left the dead man in the cave where he

died an d themselves migrated to some other cavern
,
.

Still cave burial lingered on late with many tribes or

,
-

nations which had for ages outlived the habit of cave-dwell

ing Among the South American I ndians c ave b u rial
.
,
-

was c o mmon ; and in Peru it a ssumed high developments

of m u m m ifi ca t io n The making of an artificial cave or
.

vault for the dead is but a slight vari ant on this custom ;
it was frequent in E gypt the other dry country where the
,

making of mummies was carried t o a high pitch of pe rfe c

tion The Tombs of the Kings at Thebes are splendi d
.

instances of such artificial caves elaborated into stately ,

palaces with painted walls where the dead monarchs ,

might pass their underground life in state and dignity .

C ave tombs natural or artificial are also common in Asia

-
, ,

M inor I taly an d elsewhere

, , .

During the first stage it may b e n oted the attitude of

, ,

man towards his dead is chiefly one of a ffectionate regard .

The corpse is kept at home an d fed or t ended ; the skull ,

is carried about as a b eloved obj ect But in the second .

stage which induces the practice of burial a certain F ear

, ,

of the D ead b ecomes more obviously apparent M en .

dread the return of the corpse or the ghost and strive to ,

54 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EA D .

keep it within prescrib ed limits I n this stage the b elief .

,

in the Resurrection of the B o dy is the ap propriat e cree d ;

an d though at first the actual corpse is r egarded as likely
to return to plague survivors that ide a gives pl ace a little
,

l ater I believe to the conception of a less material double

, ,

o r spirit .

And here let us begin by discriminating carefully b e

tween the Resurrection of the B ody and the I mmortality
o f the Soul .

The idea of Resurrection arose from and is clos ely

bound u p with the practice o f burial the secon d an d sim ,

p le r mod e o f disposing of the remains of t h e dead The .

idea of I mmortality aros e fro m and is closely boun d up

with the practice of burning a later and better innovation
, ,

invent ed at th e third stage of human culture D uring the .

e arly historical p eriod all the most advance d and cultivate d

nations burnt their dead and in consequence accepted
, , ,

the more i deal and refined notion of I mmortality But .

mo dern E uropean nations bury their dead and in co u se , ,

q u e n ce acc ept nominally at least the cruder an d grosser

, , ,

notion of Resurrection N ominally I say b ecause in

.
, , ,

spit e of creeds and formularies the influence of Pl ato an d ,

other an cient thinkers as well as of surviving ancestral

,

i deas has made most educated E uropeans really believe in

,

I mmortality even when they imagin e themselves to b e b e

,

lievin g in Resurrection N evertheless the belief in Resur

.
,

rection is the avowed an d authoritative beli ef of the C hris

tian world which thus pro claims itself as on a lower l evel
,

in this respect than the civilise d peoples of antiquity .

The earliest of these two ways of disposing of the bo dies

of the dead is certainly by burial As this fact has recently .

b een call ed in question I will venture to enlarge a littl e

,

u pon the ev i den ce in its favour I n point of time burial .

,

goes b ack with certainty to the neolithic age and with ,

some probability to t h e pal aeolithic S everal true inter .

ments in caves have be en attributed by co mpetent g eo lo

gists to the earlier of these two periods the first for whic h ,
 TH E C U S T O M OF BU I R AL
'

55
.

we
’
have any sure warranty of man s existence on e a rth .

B ut as I do not desire to introduce controversial matter of

,

a n y sort into this exposition I wi ll w ai ve the evidenc e for ,

burial in the pal ae olithic age as doubtful and will merely ,

mention that in the M entone caves according to M r ,

.

Arthur E vans a most com petent authority we have a

, ,

c ase of true burial accompanied by neolithic remains of a

grade of culture earlier and simpler than any known to us

elsewhere I n other words from the very earliest b egin
.
,

ning o f the neolithic age men buried their dead ; and they
continued to bury them in caves or tumuli down to the , ,

end of neolithic culture They buried them in the Long .

B arrows in England they buried them in the O hio

mounds ; they buried them in the shadowy forests of N ew
Z ealand ; they buried them in the heart of darkest Africa .

I know of no case of burning or any means of disposal of

the de a d otherwise than by burial or its earlier equivalent
, ,

m u m m ifi ca tio n among people in the stone age of culture

,

i n E urope I t is only when bron z e and other metals are

.

introduced that races advance to the third stage the stage ,

o f cremation I n America however the M exicans were

.
, ,

cremationists .

The wide diffu sa l of burial over the globe is al so a strong

a rgument for its relatively primitive origin I n all parts .

o f the world men now bury their dead or did once bury ,

t hem . F rom the Tombs of the Kings at Pekin to the

Pyramids o f M emphis from the Peruvian caves to the
Samoyed graveyards we find most early peoples most
, ,

savage peoples most primitive peoples once or still e n

, ,

gaged in one or other form of burying B urial is the .

common and universal mode ; burning exposure throw , ,

i n g into a sacred river and so forth are sporadic an d ex

,

c e p tio n a l and in many cases

, as among the Hindus are , ,

demonstrably of l ate origin and connected with cert ain ,

r elatively modern refinements of religion .

O nce more in many or m ost cases we have positive

, ,

e vidence that where a race now burns its dead it use d ,

56 TH E LI FE OF TH E DEA D .

once to bury them B urial preceded burning in preheroi c

.

Greece as it also did in E truria and in early Latium The

,
.

p eople of the Long B arrows in we stern E uro pe generally

, ,

buri ed their dead ; the people of the Roun d B arrows wh o

succeeded them an d who possessed a fa r higher grade of
,

culture almost always cremated I t has b een assume d

,
.

that burning is primordial in I n dia ; but M r William .

Simpson the well known artist of the Illus tr a ted London

,
-

N ew s calls my attention to the fact that the Vedas S peak

,

with great clearness of burial as the usual mo de of dispos

ing of th e corpse and even allude to the tumulus the
, ,

circle of stones aroun d it and the sacred ternenos which

,

they enclose Acco rding t o R aj e n d r a la la Mitra whose

.
,

high authority on the subj ect is universally acknowle dged ,

burial was th e rule in I ndia till about the thirt eenth or four
t e e n t h century b efore the C hristi an era ; then c ame in cre
mation with burial of the ashes an d this continu ed till
, ,

about the time of C hrist when burial was dispensed with

, ,

an d the ashes were thrown into some sacre d river I .

think therefore until som e more positive evidenc e is

, ,

adduced on the other Side we may rest content with our

,

gen eral conclusi on that burial is the oldest most universal , ,

and most savage mode of disposing of the remains of the

dead among humanity after the general recognition o f
d eath as a positive con dition I t probably took its rise in
.

an early perio d while mankind was still one homogeneou s

,

speci es ; and it has been dispersed accordingly over t h e , ,

whole world even to the most remote oceanic islands

, .

What is the origin of this barbaric an d disgusting cus

tom so repugnant to all the more delicate sen timents o f
,

human nature I think M r F ra z er is ri ght in attributin g

.

it to the t error felt by the living for the ghosts ( or rather , ,

at first the corpses ) of the dead and the fear that they may,

return to plague or alarm their surviving fellow tribesmen .

I n his admirabl e paper on C ertain B urial C ustoms as

”
I llustrative of th e Primitive Theory of the S oul Mr , .

F razer points out that certain tribes o f early men pai d

58 TH E LI F E OF TH E D EA D .

backwards and forwards over the grave to ke ep the de

ceased from rising o ut of it I n America the Tupis tied .
,

fast all the limbs of the corpse that the d ead man might ,
”
n ot b e abl e to get up an d infest his frien ds with his visits
,
.

Y ou may even divert a river fro m its course as M r F razer , .

n otes bury your dead man securely in its b ed

,
an d then ,

a llow the stream to return to its channel I t was thus that .

A laric was kept in his grave from further plaguing human

ity ; and thus C aptain C ameron foun d a trib e of C entral
Africans compell ed their dece ase d chiefs to cease from
”
troubling Sometimes again the grave is enclos ed by
.
, ,

a fence too high for th e dead man to clear even with a run
n ing j ump ; and sometimes the su rvivors t ake the prudent

precaution of nailing the body s ecurely to the co ffin or of ,

breaking their frien d s spine or even—b ut this is an ex

’

treme case— o i hacking hi m to pieces I n C hristian En g .

lan d the poor wretch whom misery had driven to suicide

w a s prevente d fro m roaming about to the disco mfort of
t he lieges by being buried with a stake driven barbarously
through him The Australians in like mann er use d to
.
, ,

cut o ff the thumb of a slain enemy that he might b e u n

able to draw the bow ; an d the Gre eks were wont to h a ck
o ff the extremiti es o f their victims in order to incapacitate

them for further fighting Thes e cases will b e seen to be

.

very luminiferous when we come to examin e the origin

a n d meaning of cremation .

B urial then I take it is simply by origin a means

, , ,

adopted by the living to protect themselves against the

vagrant t en dencies of th e actual dead F or some o ccult .

reason th e vast maj ority of men in all ages have b een

,

fo olishly afraid of meeting wit h the spirits of th e departe d .

Their great desire has been not to see but to avoi d seeing, ,

these singular visitants ; an d for that purpos e they in

ve n ted first o f all burial an d afterwards cremation
, , , .

The common mo dern conception of the ghost is cer

t a in ly that of an i mmaterial or shadowy form whi ch can ,

b e seen but not touched and which preserves an outer

,
 G H O S T -BELI EF S .

59

s emblance of the human figure B ut that idea itself .

,

which has been impo rted into all our descriptions and rea
s o n in g s about the ghost beliefs of primitive man -
is I , ,

incline to think very far from primitive an d has been

, ,

largely influence d by quite late conceptions derived from

the cre m a tio na l rather than the burial level of religious
philosophy I n other words though in accordance with
.
, ,

universal usage an d M r F razer s precedent I have use d

.
’
,
”
the word ghost above in referring to these s u pe rst i
tious terrors of early man I believe it is far less the spirit
,

t han the actual corpse itself that early men even in this
s econd stage were really afraid of I t is the corpse that .

m a y come back a n d do harm to survivors I t is the corpse .

that must be kept down by physical means that must b e ,

covered with earth pressed flat beneath a big and ponder

,

ous stone deprived of its thumbs its hands its eyes its
, , , ,

members True I believe the savage also thinks of the

.
,

ghost or doubl e a s returning to earth ; but his psychology ,

I fancy is not so definite as to distinguish very accurately

,

between corpse and spirit The accurate di fferentiation .

o f the two belongs rather it seems to me to the post , ,

c re m a tio n a l and more spiritual philosophy than to the

primary or preservative and the secondary or inhuma ,

t io n a l .Anybody who looks at the evidence collected by

M r F raz er will see for himself that precautions are taken
.

r ather against the return of the actual physical body than

against the return of the ghost or spirit O r perhaps .

,

to be more precise the two are hardly thought Of at this

,

e arly stage in sep aration or antithesis .

I f we look at the means taken to preserve the body

a fter death among the maj ority of primitive peoples above ,

the Tasmanian level this truth of the corpse b eing itself

,

immortal becomes clearer an d clearer We are still in .

,

fact at a level where ghost and dead man are insu fficiently
,

d i fferentiated I n all these cases it is b elieved that the

.

dead body continues to live in the grave the same sort of

life that i t led above groun d an d for this purpose it is
60 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EA D .

provided with weapons implements utensils food vessels

, , , , ,

an d all the necessari es of life for its new mansion Co n .

t in u e d sentient existence of the bo dy after death is th e

keynote of the earli est level of psychical philosophy .

F irst the corpse lives in the b ut with its family : l ater it

, ,

lives in the grave with its forefathers .

B ut Side by Side with this n ai ve b eli ef in th e continue d

existence of the bo dy after death whi ch survives into t h e ,

in h u m a t io n a l stage of evolution goes another and appa ,

r e n t ly irreconcilabl e b elief in a future resurrection Strictly .

sp eaking of course if the b ody is still alive there is no

, , ,

nee d for any su ch special re v iv ifi ca t io n B ut religiou s .

thought as we all know does not always pri de itself upon

, ,

the temp oral virtu es of logic or consistency ; an d the

savage in particular is n ot in th e l east staggere d at being
ask e d t o conceive of one and the same subj ect in two o p
p o sit e and contradictory manners H e does n ot bring .

the two incongruities into thought together ; he thinks

'

them alternately sometimes on e sometimes the other

, , .

E ven C hristian sv st e m a t ist s are quite accustomed to com

bin e the incon gruous beli efs in a future resurrection and in
the continue d exi stence of the soul after death by suppos ,

ing that the soul remains meanwhil e i n s ome nondescript

limbo apart fro m its bo d y —some uncertain Sheol som e
, ,
“ ”
d im hades or purgatory or plac e of departed spirits .

Th e savage is scarcely likely t o b e more exacting in this

matter than our doctors of divinity .

I t is the common belief of the secon d or in h u m a t io n al

st age th en that there will be at so me time or oth er a
, ,
”
Gen eral Resurrection N o doubt this General Resur
.

rection has b een slowly developed out of the b elief in and

expectati on of many partial resurrections I t is under .

stoo d that each in dividual corpse will o r may resurge at , ,

som e time : therefore it is b elieve d that all corpses to gethe r

w ill resurge at a singl e particular moment So long a s .

burial persists the belief in the Resurrection persists b e

,
 TH E G ENE RA L RES URREC TI ON .
61

s ide it and forms a main feature in the current conception

,

o f the future life among the people who practise it .

H ow then do we progress from this second or inhuma

, ,

t io na l stage to the third stage with its practice of burning ,

and its correlated dogm a of the I mmortality of the Soul

I n this way as it seems to me ,B esides keeping down .

the ghost ( or corpse ) with clods and stones it was usual ,

in many cas es to adopt other still stronger persuasives

a n d dissuasives in the same direction Sometimes the .

persuasives were of the gentlest type for example the ,

dead man was often politely requested and adj ured to re

main quiet in the grave and to give no trouble B ut .

sometimes they were less bland ; the corpse was often

pelted with sticks stones and hot coals in order to show
, , ,

him that his visits at home would not in future b e a p

p r e cia te d The ordina ry stake and mutilation treatment
.

g oes it is clear upon the same principl e ; if the man has

, ,

no feet or legs of his own he cannot very well walk back ,

again B ut further developments of the like crude i dea

.

a re to cut o ff the head to tear out the heart to hack the , ,

body in pieces to pour boiling water and vinegar over the

,

dangerous place where the corpse lies buried N ow burn .

ing I take it belonged originally to the same category o f

, ,

strong measures against refractory ghosts or corpses ; and

this is the more probabl e owing to the fact that it is m en
t io n e d by M r F razer amon g the remedies recommended
.

for use in the extreme case of vampires I ts original .

o bj ect was no doubt to prevent the corpse from returning

, ,

in any way to the homes of the living .

O nce any peopl e adopted burning as a regular custom ,

however the chances are that cceter is pa r ibus it would

, , ,

continue and spread F or the practice of cremation is .

so much more wholesome and sanitary than the practice

of burial that it would give a d oubl e advantage in the
struggl e for existence to any race that adopted it in peace ,

a n d in war H ence it is quite natural that when at a cer

.

t ain grade of culture certain races happened to light upon

62 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EA D .

it in this superstitious way those races woul d b e likely ,

to thrive and to tak e the l ead in culture as long as no a d

verse circumstances counteracted the advantage .

B ut the sup erstitions an d the fals e psychology whic h

gave rise at first to the notion of a continu ed life afte r
death would not of cours e disapp ear with the in tro d u c
, ,

tion of burning The primitive cremationists may hav e

.

hop ed by re ducing to ashes the bo dies of their dead to

, ,

prevent the recurrence of the corpse to the pres ence of t h e

living ; b ut they could not prevent the recurrence of th e
ghost in the dreams of the survivors ; they could not pre
’
vent the wind that sighed about the dead man s grave ,

the bats that fl itt e d the vague noises that t errifie d th e

, ,
’
abi ding sense o f the corpse s presence All the factors .

that go t o make up the ghost or the r evena n t ( to use a safe

word less liabl e to misinterpretation ) still remained a s
active as ever H ence I b elieve with the introduction of
.
, ,

cremation the conception of th e ghost merely su ffered an

airy change H e grew more shadowy more immaterial
.
, ,

more light more S piritual I n one word he b ecame

, .
, ,

strictly S peaking a ghost as we now un derstan d the word

, ,

not a returni n g dead man This conception o f the ghost .

as essentially a shade or shadow b elongs p eculiarly it ,

seems to me to the cremating peopl es I can answer for

, .

it that among negro es for example the duppy is con , ,

c e iv e d as quite a material obj e ct I t is classical literature .

,

th e literature of the cremating Greeks an d Romans that ,

has familiarised us most with the i dea of the ghost a s

shadowy and intangibl e B urying races have more soli d .

doubles When Peter escap ed fro m priso n in Jerusalem

.
,

the assembled brethren were of opinion that it must b e

”
his angel The white woman who lived for years in a
.

native Australian trib e was always spoken of by her host s

as a ghost I n on e word at a low stage of culture the
. ,

r evena nt is conceived of as material an d earthly ; at a

higher stage he is conceived of as immaterial an d
,

shadowy .
 TH E C U S T O M OF R
C EM A TI ON .
63

N ow when peopl e take to burning their dead it is c lear ,

they will no longer be abl e to believe in the Resurrection

of the B ody I ndeed if I am right in the theory here set
.
,

forth it is j ust in order to prevent the Resurrection of the

,

Body at inconvenient moments that they take to burning .

To b e sure civilised nations with their develope d power

, ,

of believing in miracles are capabl e of supposing not o nly

, ,

that the sea will yield up its dead but also that burnt , ,

mangled or dispersed bodies will be collected from all

,

parts to be put together again at the Resurrection This .

,

however is not the na i ve belief of simple and n atural men

,
.

To them when you have burnt a body you have utterly

,

destroyed it here and hereafter ; and we know that mutila

,

tion and burning were employed for this very purpose in

the case of vampires and other corpses whose total sup
pression was desirable Sepoys were blown from th e
.

guns in the I ndian mutiny for the express reason that ,

according to the Hindu belief that metho d of disposing ,

of them destroyed not only the body but the soul as well
got rid of them entirely The ordinary human idea is that
.

when you burn a body you simply annihilate it ; and on

that very account early C hristians preferred burial to cre
mation because they thought they stood thereby a better
,

chance at the Resurrection I t is true they allowed that.

the divine omnipotence could make new bodies for the

martyrs who were burnt ; but for themselves they seem ,

to have preferred on the average to go on afresh with their

old familiar ones .

N aturally therefore among cremating p eoples the

, , ,

doctrine of the Resurrection of the B ody tended to go out ,

and what replaced it was the doctrine of the I mmortality

of the Soul Y ou may burn the body but the spirit still
.
,

survives and the survival gives origin to a new philo

sophy of ghosts an d r evena n ts a n ew idea o f the inner ,

nature of ghosthood Gradually the Spirit gets to b e con

.

ce iv e d as diviner essence entangled and imprisoned as it

, ,

w ere in the meshes of the flesh and only to b e set fre e by

, ,
64 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EA D .

means of fire which thus b ecomes envisaged at last as

,

friendly rather than destructive in its acti o n on t h e d ead

bo dy Wh at was at first a precaution against the return of
.

the corpse becomes in the end a pious duty ; j ust as burial

itself originally a selfish precaution against the pranks
,

and tricks of returning corpses becom es in the en d so ,

sacred and imperative that unburi ed ghosts are conceived

as wandering about Archytas — wise b egging for the favour
, ,

O f a han dful of sand to prevent them from homel ess vaga

bondage for ever N ations who burn come to regard the

.

act of burning as the appointe d means for freeing the

ghost from the confining meshes of the bo dy and regard it ,

rather as a solemn duty to the dead than as a p ersonal pre

c aution .

N ot only so but there arises among the m a vague and

,

fanciful conception of the world of Shades very di fferent

indeed from the definite and material conc eptio n of the
two earlier stages The mu mmy was looked upon as in
.

habiting the tomb which was furnished an d decorated fo r

,

its reception like a house ; and it was provid ed with every

ne edful article for use an d comfort E ven the burie d bo dy .

was supplie d with tools and impl ements for the ghost .

Th e necessities of the shade are quite di fferent an d more

shadowy H e has no need of earthly tools or imple ments
. .

The obj ects found in the Long B arrows of the bu rying

folk and the Round B arrows of the cremationists well illus
trat e this primordial an d far reaching di fference -
The .

Long B arrows of the Stone Age people are piled above an

interment they contain a chambered tomb which is ,

really the subterranean ho me or palace of the bo dy b uried

in it The wives an d slaves of the decease d were killed
.

an d interred with him to keep him company in his n ew l ife

in the grave ; and impl ements weapons drinking — cu ps
, , ,

gam es trinkets and ornaments were burie d with their

, ,

own ers The life in t h e grave was all as material and real
.

as this on e ; th e same obj ects that served the warrior in

this world woul d equally serve him in the same form i n the
66 TH E LI FE OF TH E D EAD .

b urying or burnin g your dead so that they may not b e abl e

to return or to molest you and second of worship ping a t
,

their graves or making o fferings t o their disemb odie d

Spirits B ut to the savage min d these two con ception s
.

are by no means irreconcilabl e While he j umps u pon th e .

corpse of his frien d or his father t o keep it in the n arrow

pit h e has digged for it he yet brings it presents of foo d
,

and drink or slays animals at the to mb that the ghost may

, ,

b e refreshe d by the bloo d that trickl es down to it I n .

deed several interme diat e customs occur whi ch help u s

, ,

to bridge over the apparent gulf between reverential pre

s ervation of the mummified bo dy an d the coarse p re ca u ,

tions of burial or burning Thus in many cas es so me of

.
, ,

whi ch we shall ex a min e in the next chapter after the ,

bo dy has b een for some time burie d the head is d isin ,

t e rr e d an d treasured with care in the family oratory where

, ,

it i s worshipp ed an d t ended an d where it oft en gives ,

oracles to th e memb ers of the hous ehol d A ceremonial .

washing is almost always a feature in this reception of t h e

head ; it recurs again and again in various cases down t o ,

the enshrinement of the head of H oseyn at C airo and that ,

of St D enis at th e abb ey of the sam e n ame to b oth o f

.
,

which we shall allude once more at a far later stage of o ur

enquiry F or the pres ent it must su ffice to say that the
.
,

ceremonial an d o racular preservation of the head— th e

part which sees and Speaks and eats an d drinks an d
, , , ,

listens— is a common feature in all religious usages ; that

it gives rise apparently to the collections of family skulls
which adorn so many savage huts and oratories ; that it
may b e answerable ult imately for th e Roman bus ta a n d
many other imitative images of the dead in which the ,

h ead al one is represented ; an d that when transferre d t o

the sacred human or animal victim ( himself as we shall ,

hereafter see a sl ain god ) it seems to ac count for t h e

, ,

human h eads hun g up by the Dyaks an d other savages

abo u t th eir houses as also for the Skulls of oxen an d othe r
,

sacred animal s habitually displaye d on the front of place s .

 A L UE OF
V TH E H E AD O R S K U LL .
67

’
of worship whose last relic is the sculptured oxen s heads
,

w hich fill the metopes in so me Greek and most Roman

templ es M uch of this I admit will b e little c o m p r e h e n
.
, ,

sibl e to the reader at the present stage of our argument :

but I beg him to bear in mind provisionally this oracular
an d representative valu e of the head or skull from this
point forth ; he will find as he proceeds its meaning will
, ,

become cle a rer and ever clearer at each successive st a ge

of our exposition .

I o u ght also to add that b etween complete preservation

of the corpse and the practi ce of burial there seems to have
gone another intermediate stage now comparatively rare , ,

but once very general if we may j udge from the traces it

,

has left behind it—a stage when all the body or part of it
was sacramentally eaten by the survivors as an act of de
v o t io n
. We will consider this curious and revolting pra c
tice more fully when we reach the abstruse problem of
sacrifice an d sacrament ; for the present it will su ffice to
say that in many instances in Australia South America , , ,

and elsewhere the body is eaten whil e only the bones are
, ,

burned or buried Among these savages again it usually

.
, ,

happens that the head is clean ed of its fl esh by cooking ,

while th e Skull is ceremonially washed and preserved as an ,

obj ect of household veneration and an oracular deity I n .

stances w ill be quoted in succeeding chapt ers .

Thus between the care taken to prevent returns of the

,

corpse an d th e worship pai d to the ghost or shade primi

, ,

tive races feel no such sense of discrepancy or incongruity

as would instantly occur to civilised people .

The three stages in human ideas with which this chapter

deals may b e shortly summed up as corpse — worship ghos t ,

w orship an d shade worship

,
-
.
68 TH E O R I GI N OF G O D S .

C H APT E R IV .

TH E OR I G I N OF G OD S .

M R H E R B E R T S P E N C E R has trac ed so admirably in his

.

P r inciples of S oci ology

the progress o f development fro m
the Ghost t o the Go d that I do not propose in this chapter
to att empt much more than a brief recapitulation o f his
main propositions which however I shall supplement
, , ,

with fresh examples an d adapt at the same time to the

,

c onception of three successive stages in human i deas about

t h e Life of the D ead as s et forth in the prece ding argu

,
’

m ent B ut the hasty r es um e which I shall give a t pres ent

’

w ill be fl eshe d out inci dentally at a later point by consider

a tion of several national religions .

I n th e earliest stage of all— th e stage where the actual

b odies of the dead are prese rve d — Gods as such are ,

for the most part unknown it is the c orpses of friends

an d ancestors that are worshipp e d and reverenced F or .

example E llis says of the corpse of a Tahitian chief

,

that i t was placed in a sitting posture under a prote cting

s he d a small altar was erected b efore it an d o fferings ,

o f fruit foo d and fl owers were daily presente d by the

, ,
”
r elatives or the priest appoint ed to atten d the b o dy
,
.

( This point about the pri est is of ess ential i mportance ) .

The C entral A mericans again as M r Sp encer notes , , .

,

perform ed similar rit es before bo dies dried by artificial

h eat . Th e N ew Guin ea p eo ple as D Alb e rtis found ,
’

worship th e dri ed mummies of their fathers an d husban d s .

A little higher in the scale we get the develop ed mummy ,

w orship of E gypt and P eru which survives even after th e ,

 FR O M GH O S T TO GOD .
69

evolution of greater gods from powerful kings or chief ,

tains O ther evidence in abundance has b een adduce d

.

from Polynesia and from Africa Wherever the actual .

bodies of the dead are preserved there also worship an d ,

o fferings are pai d to them .

O ften however as already noted it is not the whole

, , ,

body but the head alon e that is specially kept an d wor

shipped Thus M r H O F orbes says of the peopl e of
. . . .

Buru The dead are buried in the forest in some s e

cluded spot marked often by a ni er a ng or grave p ole ;
,
-

over which at certain intervals the relatives pla ce tobacco ,

cigarettes and various o fferings When the body is de

, .

composed the son or nearest relative disinters the head

, ,

wraps a new cloth about it and places it in the M at a ka n ,

at the back of his house or in a little hut erected for it ,

near the grave I t is the representative of his forefathers

.
,

whose behests he holds in the greatest respect .

Two points are worthy of notice in thi s interesting a c

count as giving u s an anticipatory hint of two further a c
,

ce sso rie s whose evolution we must trace hereafter first

the grave stake which is probably th e origin o f the
-
,

wooden idol and second the littl e b u t erected over th e ,

head by the side of the grave which is undoubtedly one of ,

the origins of the temple or praying house O bserve als o -

.

the ceremonial wrapping of the Skull in cloth and it s ,

oracular functions .

Similarly Mr Wyatt Gill the well —

,
known missionary
.
, ,

writes of a dead baby at B oera in N ew Guinea I t will ,

b e covered with two inches of soil th e friends watc h ing ,

beside the grave ; but eventually the skull and smaller

bones will b e preserved and worn by the mother An d .

of the Suau people he says E nquiring the use of several

small houses I learned that it i s to cover grave pits All
,
-
.

the me m bers of a family at death occupy the same grav e ,

the earth that thinly covered the last occupant b ein g

scooped out to admit the n ewcomer Thes e graves are .

s h all ow the dead are b u ried in a sitti n g posture hand s ,

70 TH E O R I GI N OF G O D S .

folded The earth is thrown in up to the mo uth only

. .

An earthen pot covers the head After a time the pot is

taken o ff the perfect skull removed an d cleans ed — even
.

t u a lly to be hung up in a basket or net insid e the dwelling

of the deceased over the fire to blacken in the smoke , .

I n Africa again the skull is frequ ently preserved in such

, ,

a p ot and prayed to I n America earthenware pots have

.
,

b e en foun d moulded roun d human skulls in mounds at

N ew M adri d an d elsewhere the Skull cannot b e removed
without breakin g the vessel I n deed this curious method
.
,

of preservation i n pots seems t o b e very wi despread we

get p erhaps a vague hint or reminiscenc e of its former pre
valen ce in E urope i n the story of I sabella an d th e pot Of
basil .

The special sel ecti on and preservation of the head as an

obj ect of worshi p thus not ed in N ew Guinea and the
M alay Archipelago is also still found among many other
pri mitive peoples F or instance the An damanese wi dows
.
,

keep the Skulls of their husbands as a precious possession

an d the N ew C aledonians in case of sickn ess or calamities
, ,
”
present o fferings of foo d to the skulls of the departed .

M r S pencer quotes several si milar examples a few of

.
,

whi ch alon e I extract fro m his pages .

I n the private fetish hut of King Ad Ole e at B adagry

-
, ,

’
the skull of that monarch s father i s pres erved in a clay
’
vessel placed i n the earth H e gently rebukes it if his
.

’
suc cess do es not happen to answer his expectati ons .

Similarly among the M an dans who place the Skulls of their

,

dead in a circle each wife knows the skull of her former

,

husband or chil d and there seldom passes a day that Sh e

,

does n ot visit it with a dish of the b est cooke d foo d

, .

There is scarcely an hour in a pleasant day bu t more or ,

less o f these wo men may b e s een Sitting or lying by the

skull of their child or husban d—talking to it i n the most
pleasant and endearin g language that they can u se ( as
they were wont to do in former days ) and seemingly get ,

’
tin g a n answer back .
 A N CES T O R WO R SH I P
-
.

71

This a ffectionate type of converse with the dead almost ,

free from fear is especially characteristic of the first or

,

c orpse preserving stage of human death conceptions

- It -
.

s eldom survives where burial has made the feeling toward

the corps e a painful or loathsome one and it is then con ,

fined to the head alone while the grave itself with the ,

body it encloses is rather shunned and dreaded .

A little above this level M r Du Ch a illu notes th at some

, .

of his West African followers when going on an e x p e ,

dition brought out the Skulls of their ancestors ( which

,

they religiously preserved ) and scraped o ff small portions

of the bone which they mixed with water and drank ;
,

g iving as a reason for this conduct that their ancestors

were brave and that by drinking a port ion of them they
,

t oo became brave and fearless like their ancestors H ere .

we have a simple an d early case of that habit of eating

”
the god to whose universality and importance M r .

F razer has so forcibly called attention and which we must ,

examine at full in a subsequent chapter .

Throughout the earlier and ruder phases of human evo

l u tio n this primitive conception of ancestors or dead rela
,

t iv e s as the chief known obj ects of worship survives u n

d iluted : and ancestor worship remains to this day the
-

principal religio n of the C hinese and of several other peo ,

ples Go ds as such are practically unknown in C hina

.
, , .

Ancestor worship also survives in many other races as on e

-

o f the main cults even after other elements of later r e

,

lig io n have been superimposed upon it I n Gre ece and .

Rome it remained to the last an important part of do

,

m es tic ritual B ut in most cases a gradual di fferentiation

.
,

is set up in time between various classes of ghosts or dead

p ersons some ghosts b eing considered of more i mpor
,

t ance and power than others and out of these last it is that
gods as a rule are finally developed A god in fact is in .
, ,

t h e b eginning at least an exceptionally powerful an d

frien dly ghost—a ghost abl e to help an d from whose help ,

g reat things may reasonably b e expected .

72 TH E O RI GI N OF GODS .

A gain the rise of chi eftainship an d kingship has much

,

to do with the growth of a hi gher conception of go dhead

a dead king of any great power or authority is sure to b e
thought of in time as a god of considerabl e i mportance .

W e shall trace out this idea more fully hereafter i n th e

religion o f E gypt for the present it must su ffice to say
that the supposed power of the go ds in each pantheon
has regularly in crease d in proporti on to th e in crease d
p ower of kings or emperors .

When w e pass fr o m th e first pl a n e o f co rpse preser vation -

and m u m m ifi c a tio n to the secon d plane where burial is

habitual it might seem at a hasty glan ce as thou gh con
,

t in u e d worship of the dead and their el evation into gods

, ,

woul d n o longer be possibl e F or w e saw that burial is

.

pro mpted by a deadly fear lest the corps e o r ghost should

return t o plague the living N everthel ess natural a ffe c
.
,

tion for parents or friend s and the desire to ensure their

,

go od will an d aid make these seemingly contrary ideas

,

recon cilable As a matter of fact we fin d that even when

.
,

m en bury or burn their dead they contin u e to worship ,

them : while as we Shall Show i n the sequel even the

, ,

great stones which they roll on top of the grave to preven t

the d ead from rising again b ecome in ti me altars on which
sacrifices are o ffered t o the spirit .

I n these two later stages o f thought with regard to th e

dead which a cc o m pa nv burial an d cremation the go ds , ,

indee d grow more and more distin ct fro m min or ghosts

,

with an accelerate d rapi dity of evolution They grow .

greater in proportion to the rise of t empl es and hierarchies .

F urthermore the very in d e fi n it e n e ss of the b o diless ghost

,

tells i n favour of an enlarged godship The gods are .

thought of as m ore and more aerial an d i mmaterial less .

d efinitely human in form and nature ; they are clothe d

with mi ghty attributes they assume col ossal siz e they
are even i d entified with the sun the mo on the great , ,

p owers of n ature B ut they are n ever quit e omnipotent

.

during the polytheist i c stage b ecause in a pantheon the y

,
74 TH E O RI GI N OF GODS .

sets a final seal o n the godhead an d might of great early

ancestors Among very pri mitive tribes indeed we find
.
, ,

as a rule only very domesti c and recent obj ects of w o rship .

The chief prays fo r the most part to his own father an d his
immedi ate predecessors The more anci ent ancestors as .
,

M r D u ff M acdonal d has so well pointe d out gro w rapidly

.
,

into oblivi on B ut with more advanced races various

.
,

agencies arise which help to keep in mind the early dead

and in very evolve d co mmunities these a g e n cie s re a ch in g a ,

hi gh pitch of evolution make the recent go ds or kings or

,

ghosts se em comparatively unimportant by the sid e of the

very an ci ent and very long— worshipped ones M ore than .

of any other thing it may be sai d of a go d vi res a cquirit

, ,

eu n d o Thus in advanced types of society saints or gods

.
, ,

of recent origin assume but secon dary or minor impor

tance whil e the highest and greatest go ds of all are those
o f t h e rem o test antiquity whos e human history is lost ,

from our view in the di m mist of ages .

Three such agenci es of prime i mportanc e in the tran

s i t io n from th e mere ghost to the fully d evelope d god must

here b e mentioned They are the rise of temples of idols

.
, ,

an d ab ove all of priesthoo ds E ach of these we must

, , .

now consider briefly but separately .

The origin of the Temple is various but all temples

may n evertheless be redu ced in the last resort either into
graves of the dead or into places where worship is
,

specially o ffered up to them This truth which M r H er .

, .

b ert Spencer arrive d at by examin ation of th e reports of

travellers or historians an d worked u p in connection with
,

his P r inciples o f S ociology was independently arrived at ,

throu gh quite a di fferent line of observation and reasoning

by M r William Simpson the well known artist of the
.
,
-

I llus tr a ted L on don N ews M r Simpson has probably . .

visit ed a larger number of places of worshi p all over the

worl d than any other traveller of any generation an d he
was early impressed by the fact which force d its el f upon his
eyes that almost every on e of the m where its origin could
, ,
 O R I GI N OF TEM PLES .

75

be traced turne d out to be a to mb in on e form or a n

,

other H e has set forth the results of his researches in

.

this direction in s everal admirable pap ers all of which but , ,

e specially the one entitled Th e Wors hip o f D ea th I can ,

c onfidently recommend to the serious attention of students

o f religion They contain the largest collection of in

.

s tances i n this matter ever yet made and they show b e

y o u n d a doubt the a ffiliation of the very idea of a t emple
o n the tomb or grave of some distinguished dead person ,

famous for his power his courage or his saintliness

, , .

The cave is probably the first form of the Templ e .

S ometimes the dead man is left in the cave which he in

habited when living ; an instance o f which we have a l
r eady noticed among the Veddahs of C eylon I n other .

cases where races have outgrown the custom of cave

,

d welling the habit of cave burial or rather of l aying the

,
-
,

dea d in caves or in artificial grottoes still contin u es ,

through the usual conservatism of religious feeling O i .

fe r in g s are made to the dead in all these various caves

a n d here we get the beginnings of cave temples Such -
.

temples are at first of course either natural or extremely

rude ; but they soon begin to b e d ecorated with rough
frescoes as is done for exampl e by the South African
, , ,

Bushmen These frescoes again give rise in time by slow

.

d egrees to such gorgeous works as those of the Tombs of

the Kings at Thebes each of which has attached to it a
magnificent temple as its mortuary chapel Sculpture i s .

similarly employed on the decoration of cave temples ; -

and we get the final result of such artisti c ornament in

splendid cave temples like those of E llora B oth arts
-
.

were employed together in the b eautiful an d interesting

E truscan tomb — temples .

I n another class of cases the hut w h ere the dead man

,

lived is abandon ed at his death by his living relations an d ,

thus becomes a rudimentary Temple where o fferings are

m ade to him This is the case with the H ottentots to take
. ,

an instance at a very low grade of culture O f a N ew .

76 TH E O R I GI N OF G O D S .

G uinea hut burial M r C halmers says

- The chi ef is b u
, .

rie d i n the centre a mat was spread over the grave o n ,

”
whi ch I was aske d to Sit until they had a we eping This .

weeping i s gen erally performed by women—a touch whic h

l eads u s on to Adonis an d O siris rites an d to the Chris ,

ti an Piet a M r Spen cer has collecte d several o ther

. .

excell ent examples Thu s th e Arawaks place the corpse .

,

in a smal l bo at and bury i t in the hut ; among the

C reeks the habitation of the dead b ecom es his plac e
,

of interment ; the F antees likewise b ury the dead person

in his own house and t he Y u ca ta n e se as a rule
ab ando n ed the hous e an d l eft it uninhabite d after t h e
,
”
burial .I will not multiply qu otations i t will b e better
’
t o refer the reader to M r S pen cer s own pages wher e .
,

a su fli c ie n t number of confirmatory exampl es are col

le ct e d t o sati sfy any bu t the m ost prej u dice d critic .

As repeated suppli es of foo d are taken to the abandone d

”
hous e says M r Sp encer
, an d as alon g with making
.
.

o fferings there go other propiti atory acts the deserted ,

dwelling house turne d into a mortuary hous e acquire s

, ,
”
the attributes of a templ e .

A third origin for Temples is foun d in th e she d hut or , ,

shelter erected over the grave either for the protection

, ,

of the dead or for the conveni enc e of the livin g who bring
their o fferin gs Thus in parts of N ew Guin ea according
.
, ,

t o M r C hal m ers The natives bury their dead in the front

.
,

of their dwellings and cover the grave with a small house

, ,
”
in which the near relatives sle ep for several months .

”
“
Where house burial is not practised says M r Speu
-
, .

c er o nce more the sheltering structure rais ed above the

, ,

grave or above the stage bearing the c orpse b ecomes

, ,

the germ of th e sacre d building By some of the New .

Guinea p eopl e there is a roof of atap erect ed over the ’

’
burial pl ace I n C ook s time the Tahiti an s plac ed th e
-
.

b ody of a dead p erson u p on a kind of bi er supported by

sti cks an d under a roof S o t oo in Sumatra wh ere a .
, , .

Sh ed is built over the grave an d so too in Tonga Of , , .

 VAR I O US T YPES OF TEM P LES 77
.

c ourse this shed admits of enlargement an d finish The .

Dyaks in some places b uild mausoleums like houses I 8 ,

feet high ornamentally carve d containing the goo ds of

, ,

t h e departed— sword Shield paddle etc ,

When we read , ,
.

that the F ij ia n s deposit the bo dies of their chiefs in small

e n bur es or temples we may fairly conclude that these so
,

c alled temples are simply more developed sheltering str uc -

tures Still more clearly did the customs of the Peruvians

.

S how that the structure erecte d over the dead body de

v e lo p s into a templ e Acosta tells us that every one of

.

these kings Y n ca s left all his treasure and revenues to e n

t e rt a in e the place of w o rsh ipp e where his body was layed ,

a n d there were many ministers with all their familie dedi

’
ca t e d to his service .

N ote in the last touch by anticipation one origin of , ,

pri esthood .

O n the other hand we saw in Mr D u ff Macdonald s

, .
’

a ccount of the C entral African natives that thos e s avages

d o not worship at the actual grave itself I n this case .

,

terror of the r ev ena nt seems to prevent the usual forms of

homage at the tomb of the deceased M oreover the .
,

g host being now conceived as more or less freely separable

from the corpse it will b e possible to worship it in so me
,

place remote from the dreaded cemetery H ence these .

Africans seek the spirit at the place where their departed

kinsman last lived among them I t is the great tree at .

’
the verandah of the dead man s hous e that is their temple
a n d if no tree grow here they erect a little shade and
, ,

there perform their Simpl e rites ”

We have in this cas e .

yet another possibl e origin for certain temples an d also , ,

I will add by anticipation of a future chapter for the ,

s acred tree which is so common an obj ect of pious adora

,

tion in many countries .

B eginning with such n atural caves or such humble huts ,

the Temple assumes larger proportions and more b eauti

ful decorations with the increase of art an d the growth of
k ingdoms . E specially as we see in the tomb temples an d
,
-
78 TH E O R I GI N OF G OD S .

pyramids of E gypt an d Peru does it assume great siz e

,

and acquire costly ornaments when it is built by a power

ful king for himself during his own lifeti me Templ e .

to mbs of this descripti on reach a high point of artistic

d evel opm ent in such a b uildin g as the so — calle d Treasury
of Atreus at Mycen ae which is really the sepulchre o f
,

some namel ess prehistoric m onarch I t is admirably re .

constructe d in Perrot and C hipi ez .

O bviously the importance an d magnificen ce of the tem

,

pl e will react upon the p opular con ception of the impor

tance an d magnificenc e of the go d who inhabits it And .

conversely as the go ds grow great er an d greater mor e

, ,

art and m ore constructive skill will constantly b e devoted

to the building and de corati o n of their permanent homes .

Thus i n E gypt the t omb was o ften more carefully built

an d splendidly de corated than the hous e ; b ecause the
hous e was inhabite d for a Short time only b ut the tomb ,

for eternity M oreover as kings grew more powerful

.
, ,

they often adorne d the t empl es of their an cestors with

emulous pride to Show their own greatness I n E gypt
, .
,

onc e more the original part of all the more important

,

temples is but a small dark cell of early origin to which

, ,

on e su ccessive king after an other in later dynasti es added

statelier an d ever stateli er antech amb ers or p orches so ,

that at last the building assumed the gigantic siz e and

noble proportions of Karnak an d Luxor This access .

of i mportance to the temple cannot have failed to add cor

r e sp o n d in g ly to the dignity of the god so that as tim e ,

went on instead of the early kings being forgott en an d

,

no longer worshipp ed they assumed ever greater an d

,

greater importance from the magnificence of th e works in

whi ch their memory was enshrin ed To the very en d .
,

the go d dep ends largely on his house for impressiveness .

H ow mu ch di d not H ell enic religion its elf owe to the Par

thenon and the templ e of O lympian Z eus H ow much
d o es not Christi anity itself owe to Lincoln and D urham ,

to Ami ens an d Chartres to M il an an d Pisa to St M ark s

, , .
’
 O RI GI N OF I D O L S .

79

and St Peter s
.
’
M en cannot believe that the deities
worshipped in such noble and dimly reli gious shrines were
once human like themselves compact of the same bodies
, ,

parts and passions Y et in the l ast instance at least we

, .

know the great works t o be raised in honour of a singl e

Lower Syrian peasant .

With this bri ef an d imperfect notic e of the origin of

temples which will indirectly be expanded in later portions
,

of my work I pass on from the consideration of the sacre d

,

building itself to that of the I dol who usually dwells within

it
.

Where burial prevails and where arts are at a low

,

stage of development the memory of the dead is not likely

,

to survive b eyond two or three generations B ut where .

m u m m ifi c a ti o n is the rule there is no reason why deceased

,

persons should not be preserved and worshipped fo r an

indefinite period ; and we know that in E gypt at le ast
the cult of kings who died in the most remote times of
the E arly E mpire was carried on regularly down to the
days of the Ptolemies I n such a cas e as this there is a b
.
,

so lu t e ly no need for idols to arise the corpse itself is the

chief obj ect of worship We do fin d accordingly that b oth
.

in E gypt and in Peru the worship of th e mummy playe d

a large part in the local religions though sometimes it
alternated with the worship of other holy obj ects such as ,

the image or the sacred ston e which we shall see hereafter

,

to have had a like origin B ut in many other countries

.
,

where bodies were less visibly and obviously preserved ,

the worship due to the ghost or god was often paid to a

“
simulacrum or idol so much so that i dolatry has b e
come in C hristian parlanc e the common term for most
forms of worship other than monotheistic .

N ow what is the origin and meaning of I dols and how ,

can they b e a ffiliate d upon primitive corps e or ghost

worship
Like the temple the I dol I b elieve has many separate
, , ,

origins several of which have b een n oted by M r H erb ert

,
.
80 TH E O R I GI N OF GODS .

Sp encer while others it seems to me have escaped the

, , ,

notic e even of that profoun d an d acute observer .

The earliest I dols if I may b e allowe d the contradictory

expressi on are not idols at all—n ot images or representa
,

tions of the dead p erson but actual bo dies preserved and , ,

mummified These pass readily however into various

.
, ,

types of repres entative figures F or in the first place the .

mummy itself is usually wrapped roun d in swathing cloths -

which obscure its features an d in the second place it is

frequently encl osed i n a woo den mummy cas e which is -
,

itself most often ru dely human in form an d which has ,

un doubtedly given ris e to c ertain forms of idols Thus .

,

the images of Amun Khem O siris an d Ptah among , , ,

E gyptian go ds are frequently or habitually thos e of a

mummy in a mummy case B ut furthermore the mummy -
.
,

itself is seldo m or never the entire man the int estines at

least have b een removed or even as in N ew Guinea the , , ,

entire mass of fl esh l eaving only the Skin and the skeleton
, .

The eyes again are often replac ed as i n P eru by some

, , , ,

other i mitative obj ect s o as t o keep u p th e lifelike a p

,

p e a r a n ce.C ases like these l ead on to others where the ,

i mage or i dol gradually supersedes altogether the corpse

or mummy .

M r H O F orb es gives an interestin g instance of such

. . .

a transitional stage in Timor —laut The b o dies of those .

”
who die in war or by a violent death are buri ed he says ,

and if the head has b een captured [by the en emy ! a ,

co co anut is place d in the grave to repres ent the missing

memb er an d t o deceive an d satisfy his Spirit
,
There is .

abun dant evidence that such makeshift li mbs o r b odies

amply su ffic e for the use of the soul when the actu al corpse ,

has been destroyed or mutilated So meti mes indeed .

, ,

th e substitution of pa rts is deliberat e an d intentional .

Landa says of the Y u ca ta n ese that th ey cut o ff the heads

of th e ancient lor d s of C oco m when they died and cl eare d ,

th em from flesh by cooking th em ( very probably to eat

at a sacrificial feast of which more hereafter) th en they
,
82 TH E O R I GI N OF GOD S .

or con e which says Dr I saac Taylor

, , .is manifestly a ,
”
su rvival o f the tumulu s ; the other th e rock cut chamber ,
-
,
”
which is a survival of the cave Thes e lordly grave s .

are no mere cheerless s epulchres they are abo des for the
dead constructed o n the mo del of th e homes of the living
, .

They contain furniture an d pottery an d their walls are

decorated with costly mural paintings They are als o .

usually provide d with an antechamber where the family ,

could assembl e at the annual feast to do ho mage to the

spirits of depart e d ancestors who share d in the meal from
,

their sculpture d sarcophagus lids .

At a further stage of distance from the primitiv e

mummy idol we come upon the image pure an d simpl e
-
.

The M exicans for exampl e as we have seen were cre

, , ,

m a t io n ist s and when men kill ed in battle were missing ,

they made wood en figures of them which they honoured , ,

an d then burnt them in place of the bo di es I n so mewhat .

the same spirit the E gyptians us e d t o place b eside the

mu mmy its elf an image of the dead t o act as a refuge o r ,

“
receptacle for the soul in case o f the accidental d e str uc
,

tion of the actual b ody S o th e M exi cans once more if

.
,

one of their merchants die d on a j o urney were accustomed ,

to make a statue of woo d in th e shape of the deceased ,

to which they pai d all th e honours they would have done

to his actual corpse b efore b urnin g it I n Africa whil e .
,

a king of C ongo is being emb almed a figure is set up in ,

the palace to represent him an d is daily furnishe d with ,

fo od and drink M r Spen cer has collected several similar

. .

instances of idols substituted for th e b o di es of the d ead .

Th e Roman im a g ines wore masks of wax which preserve d ,

in lik e manner the features of ancest ors P erhaps t h e .

most curious mo dern survival of this custo m o f doubl e

representation s is to b e foun d in the e ffi g ie s of our kings
a n d qu eens still preserved in Westminster Abb ey

There are two other sources of idol —

.

worship however , ,

which as it seems to me have hardly receive d su ffi cient

, ,

’
attention at M r Spencer s hands Those two are the stak e
.
.
 O U TI ON OF
EV L TH E S T ONE S TA T UE .
83

w hich marks the grave an d the standing stone or tomb

,

stone By far the larger number of idols I venture t o

.
,

believe are descended from one or other of these two

,

originals both of which I shall examine hereaft er i n far

,

greater detail There is indeed no greater lacuna I fancy

.
, ,
’
in Mr Spencer s monumental work than that produce d
.

by the insu fficient consideration of these two fruitful

sources of worshipful obj ects I shall therefore devote a .

considerable space to their consideration in subsequent

Chapters for the present it will su ffice to remark that the
wooden stake seems often to form the origin or point of
departure for the carved wooden image as well as for ,

such ruder obj ects of reverence as the cones and woo den
pillars so widely reverenced among the Semitic tribes ;
while the rough boulder standing stone or tombstone , ,

seems to form the origin or point of departure for the

stone or marble statue the commonest typ e of idol the
,

whole world over in all advance d and cultivat ed communi

ties Such stones were at first mere rude blocks or u n
.

hewn masses the descendants of those which were roll ed

,

over the grave in primitive times in order to keep down

the corpse of the dead man and prevent him from return ,

ing to disturb the living B ut in time they grew to b e

.

roughly dressed into slabs or squares and finally to be ,

decorated with a rude representation of a human head an d

shoul ders F rom thi s stage they readily progressed to
.

that of the Greek H e rm ze We now know that this was .

the early Shape of most H ell enic gods and goddesses and
we can trace their evolution onward from this point to the
wholly anthropomorphic Aphro dite or H ere The well .

known figure of the E phesian Artemis is an intermediate

case which will occur at once t o every classical reader .

Starting from such shapeless beginnings we progress at ,

last to the artistic and Splendid bronz e and marble statues

of H ellas E truria and Rome to th e many han ded deiti es
, , ,
-

of modern I ndia and t o the sculptured M adonnas and

,

Piet as of Renaissance I taly .

84, TH E O R I GI N OF G O D S .

N aturally as the gods grow more b eautiful and more

,

a rtistically finished in workmanship the popular i dea of ,

their power an d dignity must increase pa r i passu I n .

E gypt this increase took chiefly the form of colossal size

,

and fin e mani pul ation of hard granitic materials The so .

called M emnon an d the S phinx are familiar instances of

the first the P a sh t s of Syenite the black basalt gods so , ,

well kn own at the Louvre and th e B ritish M useum are ,

examples of the sec ond I n Greece e ffect was sought .

,

rather by i deal beauty as i n the Aphrodites and Apollos

, ,

or by costlin ess of material as in the chryselephantine ,

Z eus an d the Athene of the Parthenon B ut we must .

always rememb er that in H ellas itself these glorious gods

were developed in a comparatively Short space of time
from the shapeless blocks or standing ston es o f the ruder
religion indeed we have still many curious intermediate
,

forms between the extremely grot esque an d hardly human

Mycen ae an types an d the exquisite imaginings of Myron
,

or Phidias The earliest H ellenic i dols en grave d by

.

M essrs Perrot and C hipi e z in their great work on Ar t in

.

P r im itive G r eece do not rise in any respect sup erior to the

Polynesian l evel ; while the s o calle d A pollos of later -

archaic workmanship rigi dly erect with their arms at their

,

si des recall in many respects the straight u p—

,
and —down
outline of the standing ston e from which they are de
l
v e o pe d .

I should add that in an i mmense numb er of instances

the ru de stone image or idol an d at a still lower grade ,

th e unwrought sacred stone stan ds as the central obj ect ,

un der a shed or shelter which develo ps by degrees into

,

the st ately temple The advance in both is generally

.

m ore or less parallel thou gh sometim es as in historical ,

Greece a t empl e of the nobl est architecture encloses as its

,

central and princi pal obj ect of venerati on the rough u n

hewn stone of early barbaric worship S o even in Chris .

t e n d o m great churches and cathedral s oft en hol d as their

,

m ost preci ous possessi on some rude and antique image

 M UL TI P LI CA TI ON OF IM A GE S .
85

like th e sacred B ambino of Santa M aria in Ara Coeli at

Rome or the Black M adonnas which are revered by
,

the people at so many famous I talian places of pilgrimage .

N or do I mean to say that every I dol is necessarily it

self a funereal relic When once the idea of go dship has
.

been thoroughly developed and when men have grown ,

accustomed to regard an image or i dol as the representa

tive or dwelling place o f their god it is easy to multiply
-
,

such images indefinitely Hundreds of repres entations

.

may exist of the self same Apollo or Aphrodite or M a

-

don n a or St S ebastian At the s a me time it is quite clear

. .
,

that for most worshippers the divine being is more or less

,

a ct u a llv confused with the image ; a particular Artemis

or a particular N otre Dame is thought of as more power

ful or more friendly than another I have known women .

in Southern E urope go to pray at the Shrin e of a distant

M adonna ,
“
because she is greater than our own M a
”
donna . Moreover it is probable that in many cases
,

images or sacred stones once funereal in origin an d r e ,

presenting particular gods o r ghosts have b een swallowed ,

up at last by other and more powerful deiti es so as to los e ,

in the end their primitive distinctness Thus there were .

,

many Baals and many Ash t e ro th s probably there were

many Apollos many Ar t e m ise s many Aphro dites I t i s
, , .

almost certain that there were many distinct H erm ae .

The progress of research tends to make us realise that

n umberless deities onc e considered unique an d individual
. ,

m a y be resolved into a whole host of l o cal gods after ,

wards identified with some powerful deity on the merest

external resemblances of image name or attribute I n , , .

E gypt at least this process of i dentification and centrali

sation was common F urthermore we know that each
.
,

n ew religion tends to swallow up a n d assimilate to itself

all possibl e elements of older cults just as H ebrew
J a h w e h ism tried to adopt the sacred stones of early
Semitic heathenism by associating them with episodes in
the history of the patriarchs and j ust as C hristianity has
86 TH E O R I GI N OF G O D S .

sanctifie d such stones in its own area by using them some

times as the bas e o f a cross or by consecrating them at ,

others with the name of some saint or martyr .

B ut even more than the evolution of the Temple an d the

I dol the evolution of the Priesthood has given dignity
, ,

i mportan ce an d power to the go ds F or the priests are

. .

a class whose direct interest it is to mak e the most of the

greatness an d maj esty of the deities they t en d or worship .

Pri esthood again has probably at least two distinct

. ,

origins The o ne is quasi royal

. the other is quasi -

s ervil e .

I b egin with th e first We saw that the chief of an.

African village as the son an d representative of the chief

,

ghosts who are the tribal gods has alone the right to ap
,
,

proach them directly with o fferings The inferior V illager .

,

who desi res to ask anything of the gods asks through ,

the chief who is a kinsman and frien d of the divin e spirits

, ,

and who therefore naturally un derstands their i deas an d

habits Such chi efs are thus also naturally priests They
. .

are sacre d by family they an d their children stand i n a

special relation to the go ds of th e tribe quite di fferent ,

from th e relation in which th e common p eople stand ;

they are of the blood of the d eiti es This typ e of relation .

i s common i n many countries the chi efs in such instances

”
are kings and priests after the order of M elchize dek
, .

To put it briefly in the earli est or domestic form of r e

,

lig io n the gods of each littl e group or family are its own
,

dead an cestors and especi a lly ( whil e the hi storic m emory

,

is still but weak ) its immediate predecessors I n this .

stage the head of the hou sehold naturally discharges the

,

fun cti on s o f pri est ; it is he who approaches the family

ghosts or go ds on b ehalf of his wives hi s sons his de , ,

pen dants To the last indeed the father of each family

. , ,

retai n s this p rie stlv function as regards the more restri cted
family rites he I S pr i est of the worshi p of the la r es and
pena tes ; h e o ffers the family sacrific e to the family go ds ;
h e reads family prayers in the C hristian househol d B ut .
 TH E KI NG AS P R IES T .
87

as the tribe or nati on arises and chieftainshi p grow s ,

g reater it is the ghosts or ancestors of the chiefly or kingl y

,

family who develop most into gods an d the living chief

a n d his kin are thei r natural representatives Thus in .
,

m ost cases the priestly o ffice co mes to b e associated with

,

that of king or chief I ndeed we shall see hereafter i n .

,

a subsequent chapter that many kings being the descen d ,

ants o i gods are gods themselves an d that this union

,

o f the kingly and divine characters has much to do with

the growth of the dignity of godhead H ere however .

, ,

I waive this point for the present it will su ffice for us

to note at the present stage of our argument that in a large
n umber of instan ces the priesthood and the kingshi p were

i nherent and hereditary in the self same families -

.

“
The union of a royal titl e with priestly duties says ,

M r F ra z er in The G olden B ough was common in ancient

.
,

I taly and Greece At Rome an d in other I talian cities

.

there was a priest called the Sa cr ifi c ia l King or King o f

the sacred rites ( R ex S a cr ificu lus or R ex S a cr or u ni ) and his ,

wife bore the title of Q ueen of the Sacred Rites I n re .

publican Athens the secon d magistrate of the state was

,

called the King and his wife the Q ueen the functions of
,

both were religious M any other Greek democracies had

.

titular kings whose duties s o far as they are known s eem

, , ,

t o have been priestly At Rome the tradition was that the

.

Sac r ifi cia l King had b een appointed after the expulsion

o f the kings in order to o ffer the sacrifices which had b een

previously o ffered by the kin gs I n Greece a similar view .

appears to have prevailed as to the origin of the pri estly

k ings I n itself the view is not improbabl e and it is born e
.
,

out by the example of Sparta the only purely Greek state ,

w hich retained the kingly form of government in h ist o ri

cal times F or in Sparta all state sacrifices were o ffere d
.

by the kings as descendants of th e god This combina .

tion of pri estly functions with royal authority is familiar

t o every one Asi a M inor for exampl e was the seat of
.
, ,

various great religious capital s peopled by thousands of ,

88 TH E O RI GI N OF G O D S .

S acred slaves and ruled by ponti ffs who wiel de d at once

,
’

te mporal and spiritual authority like the popes of medi ae ,

v a l Rome Such pri est ridden citi es were Z ela and Pes
.
-

sinus Teutonic Kings again in th e ol d heathe n days

.
, ,

s eem to have stoo d in the position an d ex ercised the

p owers of high priests The E mp erors of C hina o ffer .

public sacrifices the d etails of which are regulated by the

,

ri tual books I t is needless however to multiply exam

.
, ,

ples of what is the rul e rather than the exc eption in the
”
early history of th e kingship .

We will return hereafter in another connexion to this

ancient rel ation of kingship with pri es t h o od which arises ,

naturally fro m the still more ancient relation of the king to

the go d .

Where priesthood originates in this particular way little ,

di fferentiati on is likely to o ccur b etween the temporal and

the e cclesiasti cal power B ut there is a second an d far .

more potent origin of priesthoo d less distinguished in its ,

b eginnings yet more really pregnant of great results in the

,

end F or where the king is a pri est and the descen dant
.
,

of th e go ds as in Peru an d E gypt his immediate and

, ,

human power s eems to overshadow an d as it were to b e

little the power o i his divin e ancestors N o statue of .

O siris for example is half so big in siz e as the colossal

, ,

figure of Rameses I I which lies broken in huge pieces .

outside the mortuary templ e of the king it commemorates ,

among the ruins of Theb es B ut where a separat e an d .

distinct pri esthoo d gets th e management of sacred rites

entirely into its own hands we find the authority of th e ,

gods often rising superior to that of th e kings who are ,

only their vice gerents till at last we get Popes di ctatin g

to emperors an d powerful monarchs d oin g humbl e
,

penance before the c ostly shrin es of murdered archbishops .

Th e origin of independ ent or quasi — servil e priesthoo d

”— “
is t o b e foun d in th e institution of temple slaves th e ,

attendants told o ff as we have already seen to do duty

at th e grave of th e chi ef or dead warrior E gypt agai n .
,
90 TH E O R I GI N OF G OD S .

sacred Without them no votary can rightly approach

.
,

the shrine of his patron Thus at last they rise into im .

p ortance far above their origin priestcraft comes into b e

ing an d by magnifyin g their g od the members of th e ,

hi erarchy magnify at the same ti me their own o ffice an d

fun ction .

Y et another contributing cause must b e briefly noted .

Picture writing and hieroglyphics take their rise more

-

especially in connexion with tombs an d temples Th e .

priests in particular hold as a rul e the key to this know

l edge I n ancien t E gypt to take a well —
. known instance , ,

they were th e l earned class ; they became the learned class

again under other circumstances in m edi aeval E urope .

E verywhere we come upon sacred mysteries that the

priests alon e kno w ; and where hieroglyphics exist these ,

mysteries committe d to writing b ecome the peculiar

, ,

pro perty of the priests in a m ore spe cial sense Where .

writin g is further di fferentiated into hierati c and demotic ,

the gulf b etween l aity and priesthood grows still wider ;

the priests possess a special key to knowledge denied to .

the commonalty The recognition of Sacre d B ooks has

.

often the same result ; of these the priests are naturally ,

the guardians and expon ents I need hardly add that .

side by Side with the increase of archit ectural grandeur in

the t emple an d the in crease of arti stic b eauty and c o stli
,

n ess in the idols or statues and pictures of the gods goes ,

increase in the stateliness of the priestly rob es the pri estly ,

surroundings the priestly ritual ,

F inally we get cere .
,

monies o f th e most di gnified character adorn ed with all ,

the accessories of painting and sculpture of candles and ,

flowers of incense an d music of rich mitres an d j ewelled

, ,

palls ceremonies performed in the dim shade of lofty

,

te m ples or mosques or churches in honour of god or

, , ,

gods of infinite might power an d maj esty who must yet, , ,

in th e l ast resort b e traced back to some historic or pre

historic D ead M an or at l east t o some sacre d stone or
,

stake or image his relic and representative

,
.
 A P O TI—
I EOSI S OF TH E D EAD M AN .

91

Thus by convergence of all these streams the primitive

, ,

m ummy or ghost or spirit passes gradually into a deity of

unbounded glory and greatness and sanctity The bo di .

l ess soul released from necessary limits of Space and time

, ,

e nvisaged as a god is pictured as ever more and mo re

,

s uperhuman till all memory of its origin is entirely for

,

g otten. B ut to the last observe this curious point : all

,

new gods or saints or divine persons are each as they crop ,

up first of demonstrably human origin Whenever we

, .

find a n ew god added from known sources to a familiar

p antheon we find without exception that he turns out to
b e—a human being
,

Whenever we go back to very

.

p rimitive religions we find all men s gods are the corps es

,

or ghosts of their ancestors I t is only when we take

.

relatively advanced races with unknown early histories

that we find them worshipping a certain numb er of gods
who cannot be easily and immediately resolved into dead
m e n or spirits U nfortun a tely students of religion have
.
,

oftenest pai d the closest attention to those historical r e

l ig io n s which lie furthest away from the primitive type ,

a n d in which at their first appearance b efore us we come

upon the complex idea of godhead already fully developed .

Hence they are too much inclined like Professor Robert ,

son Smith and even sometimes M r F razer ( whose name

, .
,

however I cannot mention in passing without the pro

,

foundest respect ) to regard the idea of a godship as

,

primordial not derivative ; and to neglect the obvious

,

derivati on of godhead as a whole from the cult an d reve

ren ce of the deified ancestor Y et th e m oment we get .

away from these advanced and too overlaid historical re

lig io n s to the early conceptions of simpl e savages we se e ,

at once that no gods exist for them save the ancestral

corpses or ghosts ; that religion means th e performance
of certain rites and o fferings to these corpses or ghosts
and that higher elemental o r depart mental deities are
wholly wanting E ven in the great historical religions
.

themselves the further b ack we go an d the lower down

, ,
92 TH E O R I GI N OF G O D S .

we prob e the closer do we come to the foundatio n stratum

,
-

of ghosts or ancestor— go ds An d where as in E gypt t h e

.
, ,

evi denc e is oldest an d most complete throughout th e ,

more do we obse r ve how the mysti c n ature gods of the -

later pri estly conceptions yiel d as we go back age by a g e

,

in time to the Simpler an d more purely hu man ancestral

,

gods of the earli est do cum ents .

I t will b e our task in the succeedin g chapters of this

work to do even more than this— to Show that the a p
p a re n t ly unresolvable ele ment in l ater religions in cluding ,

the H ebrew go d Jahweh himself can b e similarly affiliated

,

by no uncertai n evi dence upon th e primitive con ception

of a g host or ancestor .
94 S A CR ED S T ON ES .

examples ) long described by antiquaries as

, druidical
remains an d certainly regarded by the ancient in h a bi
,

tants o f B ritain with an i mmense amount of resp ect and

reverence I n F rance we have the endless avenues of
.

C arnac an d L o c m a r ia k e r ; in Sardinia the curious conical ,

S hafts known to the lo cal peasants as sepoltur e d ei

giga nti
the tombs of the giants I n Syri a M aj or Conder has de
.
,

scribed Similar monuments in H eth and M oab at Gilboa ,

an d at H eshbon I n I ndia five ston es are s et up at the cor

.
,

ner of a field painted red and worship ped by the natives as

, ,

the F ive Pan davas Theophrastus tells us as one of the ch a

.

r a c t e rist ic s of the superstitious man that he anoints with oil

the sacred stones at the stre et corners ; and from an a n

cient tradition embe dded in the H ebrew scriptures we
l earn how the patri arch Jacob set up a stone at B ethel for
” ”
a pillar and poured oil u pon th e top of it as a like act
, ,

of worship E ven in our own day there is a c ertain En g

.

lish hun dre d where the ol d op en — air court of the manor is

inaugurated by the c eremony of breaking a b ottle of wine
over a standing stone which tops a tu mulus ; and the
sovereign s of th e U nite d Kingdom are still crown ed in a
chair which en closes un der its seat th e ancestral sacred
ston e of their heathen S cottish an d I rish predecessors .

N ow what is the share of such sacre d ston es in the ris e

,

an d growth of the religious habit

I t is hardly n ecessary I suppose to give formal proof
, ,

of th e familiar fact that an u pri ght slab is on e of the c o m

mon est mo des of marking the place where a person is
b uri ed F rom the anci ent pillar that prehistoric savage s
.

set u p over the tumulus of their dead chief t o the head ,

ston e that marks the dwarfed an d stunte d b arrow in our

own E nglish cemet eries the practice of mankin d has been
,

on e an d contin uous Sometimes the stone is a rough

.

boulder from the fields ; a representative of the bi g block

whi ch savages place on the grave to k eep the corpse from
rising : sometim es it is an oblong slab of Slate or marble
sometimes an d especially among the more advanc ed races
, ,
 E AR L Y T OM B S T ONE S .

95

it is a shapely cross or sculptured monu ment B ut where .

ever on earth interment is practised there stones of some ,

sort solitary or in heaps almost invariably mark the place

, ,

of burial .

Again as presents and sacrifices are o ffered at graves to

,

the spirits of the dead it is at the stone which records the ,

last resting— place of the deceased that they will oftenest

be presented As a matter of fact we know that all the
. ,

world over o fferings of wine oil rice ghee corn an d

, , , , , ,

meat are continually made at the graves of chiefs or rel a

tions Victims both human and otherwise are sacrifice d
.
, ,

at the tomb and their blood is constantly smeared on the

,

headstone or boulder that marks the spot I ndeed after .

,
"
a time the grave and the stone get to be confounded to
,

gether and the place itself comes to have a ce rtain sacred

,

ness derived fro m the ghost which haunts and inhabits it

,
-
.

F our well marked varieties of early tombstone are

-

recognised in the eastern continent at least and their dis ,

t ri b u tio n and nature is thus described by M aj or C onder :

Rude stone monuments b earing a strong family re ,

semblance in their mode of construction and dimensions ,

have been found distributed over all parts of E u rope and

Western Asia and occur also in I ndia I n some cases they
, .

are attributable to early Aryan tribes ; in others they seem

to be of Semitic origin They include m enhirs or stand .
,

ing stones which were erected as memorials an d wor

, ,

shipped as deities with libati ons of blood milk honey or , , , ,

water poured upon the stones : dolm ens or stone tables , ,

free standing that is not covere d by any mound or s u

-
,

p e rst r u ct u r e which may be consi dered without doubt to

,

have been used as altars on which victims ( often human )

were immolated : ( a im s also memorial and sometimes . ,

surrounding menhirs these were m a de by the co n tr ib u

tions of numerous visitors or pilgrims each adding a stone ,

as witness of his presence finally cr om lechs or stone ,

circles used as sacred enclosures or early hypaethral tem

,
96 S A CR ED S T ONES .

ples often with a central menhir or dolmen as statue or

,
”
altar .

There can be very littl e doubt that every one of these

monuments is essentially se pul chral in character The .

menhir or standin g stone is the ordinary gravestone still

in use among us : the dolmen is a chamb ered tomb once ,

covere d by a tumulus but now bare an d op en : the cairn

,

is a he a p of stones piled above the d ead body : the stone

circl e is apparently a later t empl e built aroun d a tomb ,

whose position is marked by the menhir or altar stone in -

its centre An d each has b een the parent of a numerous

.

O ffspring The menhir gi ves ris e to the obelisk the stone

.
,

cross an d th e statu e or i dol ; the dolmen to the sarco

, ,
!

p h a g u s th e altar tomb an d the high a ltar ; the cairn

-
, , ,

t o th e t o p e an d als o t o the pyramid ; th e cromlech or ,

ston e circle to the temple or church in one at least of its

,

many developments .

E ach of these classes of monu ments M aj or C onder ob ,

serves has its distinctive nam e in th e Semitic languages

, ,

an d is frequently mentioned in the early H ebrew litera

ture Th e m en hir is the pillar of ou r Authorised Ver
.

sion of the O ld Testament ; the dolm en is the altar the

ca ir n is the heap an d the ston e circle appears under
the n ames Gilgal and H a z or The significance of these .

facts will appear a littl e later on when I reach a more a d

—
v a n c e d stage in the evoluti on o f ston e worship .

I n the simplest and most primitive stage of religion ,

su ch as that pure ancestor cult still survivin g unmixed -

among th e people of N ew Guinea or the African tribes

whose practice Mr Du ff M acdonald has so admirably de
.

scribed for us it is the corpse or ghost itself not the stone

, ,

to mark its dwellin g which comes in for all the ven eration
,

an d all the gifts of the reverent survivors B ut we must .

rememb er that every existing religion however primitive ,

in type is n ow very ancient ; and it i s quite natural that

,

in many cases the stone should thus come itself to b e re

garded as the ghost or god the obj ect to whi ch venerati on ,
98 SA CR ED S T ONE S .

stone . O fferings of food were tak en to the temples ,

that the gods might first partake b efore anyon e else ate
anything H uske d cocoanuts were laid down one ,
”
before each Skull .

An d of St Augustin e I sland he writes : At the Templ e

.

of M aumau there stoo d a nin e feet high coral san dstone

slab from the beach M eat o fferings were lai d on the
.

altars accompanied by songs and dances in honour of the

,
”
go d .

Similarly about on e of the Gilbert Group M r Turner

, , .

says :
They had other go ds an d goddess es and as was com , ,

mon in this group had san dston e Slabs or pillars s et u p

,

here an d there amon g the houses B efore thes e Shrine s .

o fferings of foo d were laid durin g the day which th e ,

pri ests took away stealthily by night an d made the cre d u

lous b elieve that go ds an d not mortals had done it If .

t he ston e slab re presented a godd ess it was n ot placed

erect but laid down on the ground B eing a la dy they
, .

thought it would be cruel to make her stan d so long .

I n these cases and in many others it seems to me clear

, ,

that the original graveston e or menhir its elf is the obj ect
of worship vi ewed as the residence of the ghost or god in
,

whos e honour it was erected F or in S amo a we kno w .

“
that the grave was marked by a little heap of stones a ,
” ’
foot or two high an d at D e P ey st e r s I sland a stone
,

was raised at the head of the grave an d a hu man head ,

carve d on it —a first step as we have already se en to , ,

wards the evolution o f one form of idol .

Si milar instances ab ound everywhere Among the .

Khonds of I n dia every village has its local go d r e pre

, ,

sented by an upright stone un der the bi g tre e on t h e

green to us e frankly an E nglish equivalent ( The full im
,
.

portance O f this common combination of sacred stone an d

sacred tree will only come out at a later stage of our e n
quiry ) I n Peru worship was paid to stan ding stone s
.
,

w hich says Dr Tylor

,
represented the penates of house
.
,
 DERI VA TI VE S A CR ED N ES S .

99

holds and the patron deities of villages —in other words -

,

the ghosts of ancestors and of tribal chiefs N ear .

”
Acora says the M arquis de N adaill ac
,
the bodies were ,

placed under megalithic stones reminding us of the dol ,

mens and cromlechs of E urope O ne vast plain is covere d .

with erect stones so me forming circles some squares an d

, , ,

often covered in with large slabs which entirely closed

round the sepulchral chamber I n F ij i the gods an d .

goddesses had their abodes or shrines in black stones

like smooth round milestones and there received their ,

o fferings of food An immense number of similar in .

stances have been collected by Dr Tylor an d other a n .

th r o p o lo g ists .

But when once the idea of the sacredness of stones had

thus got firmly fixed in the savage mind it was natural ,

enough that other stones resembling those which were ,

already recognised as gods should come to be regarded ,

as themselves divine or as containing an indwelling ghost ,

or deity O f this stage M r Turner s S a ni oa again a ffords

.
, .
’

us some curious instances .

Smooth stones apparently picked u p out of the bed of

the river were regarded as representatives of certain gods ,

and wherever the stone was there the god was suppose d ,

to be O ne resembling a fish would b e prayed to as the

.

’
fi sh e r m a n s god Another resembling a yarn would b e
.
, ,

the yam god A third round like a breadfruit the bread

.
,

fruit g o d— and so on .

N ow the word apparently use d by this very cautious

,

observer in this passage shows clearly that he had never of

his own knowledge seen a stone thus selected at random
worshipped or deified and it is therefore possible that in ,

all such cases the stone may really have been one of se p u l
chral ori gin Still I agree with M r Spencer that when
.
,
.

once the idea of a ghost or go d is well develop ed the ,

notion of such a spirit as animating any remarkable o r

—
O dd looking obj ect is a natural transition
* H ence I in .

Th wh l s u b j ct i d m i r b ly w k d u t in Th P i ip l
e o e e s
f a a or e o e r nc es o

S oci ology , 1 59 .
I OO S A CR ED S T ONE S .

C lin e to believe M r Turn er is right and that these stones

.
,

may really have b een picked out and worshipp ed merely ,

for their oddity but always as he correctly infers from the

, , ,

belief in their connexion with some go d or spirit .

H ere is another case also from Polynesia where no im

, ,

mediate connexion with any particular grave seems

definitely implied :
Two unchiselled smooth ston es of the stream were
kept in a temple at one of the villages and guarded with ,

great care N o stranger or over —

. curious person was al
lowed to go near the place un der penalty of a b eating ,

from the custo dians of these gods They represented .

go o d an d not m alicious death — causin g gods The one .

made the yams breadfruit and cocoanuts and the other

, , ,

s ent fish to the nets .

Another stone was ca r e fu llv housed in another village

a s the representative of a rain making god When there -
.

was overmuch rain the ston e was laid by the fire and kept
,
”
heated till fin e weather set in .

F urther i n stances ( if fairly reported ) occur elsewhere .

Among the l ower r a ces of America says Dr Tylor , .

,

summarising Schoolcraft the D a ko t a h s would pick up a ,

round boul der paint it and then ad dressing it as grand

, , ,

father make o fferings to it an d pray it to deliver them

, ,

”
from danger B ut here th e very fact that the stone is
.

worshipped and treated as an an cestor shows how deriva

tive is the d e ifi ca t io n— how depend ent upon the prior
association of su ch stones with the tomb of a forefather
a n d its indwelling spirit Just in the same way we know.

th ere are countries where a grave is more generally

mark ed not by a ston e but by a wo oden stake
, a n d in
,

th ese countries as for instanc e among the Samoyedes of

,

S ib eria sticks not stones are the most common obj ects of
, , ,

reverenc e ( Thu s again stick worship is found among

. , ,
-

the D amaras of South Africa whose ancestors are r e pre ,

s ented at the sacrificial feasts by stakes cut from trees or

bushes consecrated to them to whi ch stakes the meat is ,
1 02 S A CR ED S T ONES .

Such a surviving tradition as to the human sacrifices in ,

an island so little sophisti cated as Sardinia has al most cer ,

t a in ly come down to us unbroken from a very early age .

I have already stated that the i dol is prob ably in many

cases deri v ed from the gravestone or other sacred stone .

I beli eve that in an immens e numb er of cases it is simply

the original pillar more o r l ess ru dely carve d into the
,

semblance of a human figure .

H o w this comes about we can readily un derstan d if we

recollect that by a gradual transferen ce of sentiment the
stone its elf is at last identified with the associated spirit .

H ere once more is a transitional instan ce from our Poly

, ,

m esian storehouse .

The great god of B owditch I sland was sup pos ed to b e

embo died in a stone which was carefully wrapped u p with
,
”
fine mats an d never seen by any one but the king ( note
,

this characteristic t ouch of kingly priesthood ) and that ,

only once a year when the decayed mats were stripped

,

o ff and thrown away I n sickness o fferings of fine mats

.
,

were taken an d rolled round the sacred stone and thus it ,

got busked up t o a prodigious si z e ; but as the idol was

exposed to the weather out of doors ni ght and day the , ,

mats soon rotted N o on e dared to appropriate what had

.

been o ffered to the god an d hence the ol d mats as they

, ,

were taken O ff were heape d in a place by themselves and

allowed to rot .

N ow the reasonableness of all this is immediately a p

parent if we remember that the stones which stan d on
graves are habitually worshipped an d anointed with oil , ,

milk and blood I t is but a slight further step to regard

,
.

the ston e not only as eatin g an d drinking but also as

, ,

needing warmth and clothing As an admi rable example .

of the same train of thought working out the same result

,

el sewhere compare this curious account of a ston e idol at

,

I n n isk e a ( a rocky islet o ff the M ayo coast ) given by the ,

E arl of Roden as late as 1 8 5 1 in his P r ogr ess o f the

, ,

R e form a tion in I r ela nd :

 TH E S T ONE AS I D O L .
1 03

I n the south island in the house of a man named

,

M o n ig a n a stone idol called in the I rish Ne e v o u g i has

, , ,
’

been from time immemorial religiously preserved and wor

s hipped This god resembles in appearance a thick roll
.

of home Spun fl a nnel which arises from the custom of

-
,

d edicating a dress of that material to it whenever its aid

is sought ; this is sewn on by an old woman its priestess , ,

w hose peculiar care it is O f the early history of this idol

.

n o authentic inform a tion can be procured but its power is ,

believed to be immense ; they pray to it in ti me of sick

ness ; it is invoked when a storm is desired to dash some
h apless ship upon their coast ; and again the exercise of, ,

i t s power is solicited in calming the a ngry w a ves to admit ,

”
o f fishing or visiting the m a inland .

N or is this a solitary instance in modern E urope In .

c ertain mountain districts of N o rw a y says Dr Tylor , .

,

“
up to the end of the last century the peasants use d to ,

prese rve roun d stones washed them every Thursday eve

,

ning , smeared them with butter before the fire ,

l a id th em in the seat of honour on fresh str a w and at cer ,

tain times of the year steeped them in ale that they might ,

b ring luck and comfort to the h o use .

The first transitional step towards the idol proper is

g iven in some rude a ttempt to make the standing stone at
the grave roughly resemble a human figure I n the later .

Sardinian examples two conical lumps representing the

, ,

breasts seem to mark that the figure is inten ded to b e

,

female —either becaus e a woman is buried there o r to

~
,

place the Spot under the protection of a goddess F ro m .

this rude beginning we get every transitional form like ,

the H erm ae and the archaic Apollos till we arrive at the ,

p erfect freedom and beauty of H ellenic sculpture Says .

“
Grote in speaking of Greek worship
,
their primitive ,

memorial erected to a god did not even pretend to be an

i mage but was often nothing more than a pillar a board
, , ,

a shapeless ston e or a post [notice the res emblance to o r

,

d in a ry grave marks ! receiving care and decoration fro m

-
1 04 S A CR ED S T ONE S .

the neighbourhoo d as well as worship Dr Tylor to . .

,

whos e great collection of instances I owe many acknow

l e d g m e n ts says in comment on this passage
,
Su ch wer e ,

th e log that stood for Artemis in E uboea ; the stake that

‘
represented Pallas Athene sine e ffi g ie ru dis palus et ,

informe lignu m th e unwrought stone (M 190 5 a p y OS)

at H ye t h o s which after the an cient manner represented
,

H eracles ; the thirty su ch stones whi ch the P h a raea n s in

lik e fashion worship ped for the go ds ; an d that one which
received such h onour in B oeotian festivals as representing
”
the Thespian E ros . Such also was the conical pillar o f
Asiati c typ e whi ch stood instead of an image of th e
Paphian Aphro dite and the conical ston e worshipped in
,

Attica under the n ame of Apollo A sacred boulder lay .

in front of the temple of the Troezenians while another ,

in Argos b ore the Significant name of Z eus Ka p p o ta s .

“
Amon g all the Greeks says Pausanias ,
rude stones ,
”
were worshipped before the images of the go ds Among .

the Semites in like manner M el carth was reverence d at

, ,

Tyre under th e form of two ston e pillars .

I nterme diate forms in which the stone takes succes

,

s iv e ly a face a head arms legs a shapely an d well moulded

-
, , , ,

b ody are familiar to all of us in existing remains The

,
.

well — known figures of Priapus form a goo d transitional ex

”
ample At Tabala in Arabia says Professor Robert
, ,

son S mith a sort of crown was s culptured on the stone

,
”
of a l Lat to mark her head
- I n deed to the last th e
.
, ,

pillar or monolithic type is constantly suggest ed in the

erect attitude an d the proportions of the statu e among all
except the hi ghest H ellenic examples I may add that .
,

even in I slam itself whi ch so sternly forbi ds images of any

,

sort so me traces of such anthropomorphi c gravestone s

,

may still be found I n oticed in th e mosque of M e h e m et

.

Ali at C airo that the headstones of the Vice regal family -

were each adorned with a fez an d tassel .

I t is worth noting that the obelisk also doubtless owes , ,

its origin to the monolith or stan ding ston e Whateve r .

1 06 S A CR ED S T NES .

upon whose arrival on the scen e the rude blu e ston e

gives place to a carved i mage At th e pres ent hour in .
,

every hamlet of O rissa this twofol d worship coexis ts

, .

The common people h a ve their shapel ess stone or block ,

which they adore with simpl e rites in the open air ; while
S i de by side with it stan ds a temple to one of the A ryan
”
go ds with its carved i dol and elaborate rites
,
.

Where many sacred stones exist all round marking the ,

graves of the dead or inhabited by their spirits it is not

, ,

surprising once more that a gen eral feeling of reverence

, ,

towards all stones should begin to aris e— that the stone

per se esp ecially if large odd o r conspicuous Should b e
, , , ,

credite d to some extent with indwelling divinity N or is .

it astonishing that the id ea of men b eing descen de d from

ston es Should be rife among p eople who must often when ,

young have b een shown headston es monoliths boulders

, , , ,

or cromlechs and be en tol d that the o fferings made upon

,

them were gifts to their an cestors They woul d accept .

the idea as readily as our own children accept the H ebrew

myth of the creation of Adam our prime ancestor from , ,

the dust o f the groun d — a far l ess prom ising material

than a block of marbl e or sandston e I n this way it .
,

s eems to me we can most readily understan d the nu me

,

rous stories of men b ecoming stones and stones becoming ,

men which are rife among the myths o f savage or barb a

,

rous peoples .

F ernandez de Piedrahita says that the Laches wor

shippe d every stone as a god as they sai d they had all ,

”
b een men Arriaga tells us the Peruvians paid honour
.

”
to very large stones saying that they were onc e men
, .

I n the American R epor t o f the B ur ea u o f E th n ology for

1 8 80 several stories are told of metamorphosis of men into
,

ston es from the I roquois legends Accordin g to D orman .

,

the O n ei das and D a ko ta h s clai m des cent fr o m stones to ,

which they ascrib e animation An interesting interme di .

at e form which Shows the growth of this idea is given in

, ,

Arr ia g a s statement that the M arcayoc or i dol worshippe d

’
,
 M E TA M O R P H O S I S OF M EN I N T O S T O NE S .
1 07

in Peru as the patron of the village i s sometimes a stone ,

and sometimes a mummy in other words it depended ,

upon circumstances whether they reverenced the bo dy

itself or the graveston e that covered it Among the .

C oast N egroes when a person dies a stone is taken to a

, ,

c ertain house— the village V alhalla— to represent his

g host ; and a mong the B ulloms women make occasional ,

sacrifices an d o ffe rings of rice to the stones which are

”
preserved in memory of the dead At Tanna in the N ew .
,

Hebri des M r Gray a mission a ry found

, .
,a piece of ,
“

sacred ground on which were deposited the stones in

,

which they supposed the spirits of their departed relatives

to reside and Co mmander H enderson co mmenting ,

upon a similar c a se from Vati I sland says these were the ,

only form of gods the natives possessed and into them ,

they supposed the souls of their departed friends and

”
r elatives to enter Some of them had a small piece “
.

c hipped out o n one Side by means of which the indwelling ,

ghost or spirit was supposed to have ingress or egress .

O f a third sort rudely fashioned by han d Captain H ender

, ,

s o n says acutely these it seemed to me were the begin

, , ,

n in g s of a graven image— a common stone sacred as the ,

”
dwelling place of a n ancestral ghost
-
.

Classical and H ebrew literature are full of examples of

such stones believed to have been once human N iob e
,
.

and Lot s wife are instances that will at once occur to

’

eve ry reader I n B oeotia Pausanias tells us peopl e b e

.
, ,

lie v e d Alkmene the mother o f H erakles was changed

, ,
’
into a stone Perseus a n d the Gorgon s head is another
.

e xample parall eled by th e B reton idea that their great

,

stone circles were people who in the modern C hristian , ,

ised version of the story were turned into stone for danc ,

ing on a Sun day ( About this C hristianisation I shall

.

h ave a word to say further on ; me a nwhile observe the ,

similar name of the Giant s Dance given to the great ’

I w th i s n d v l th M Sp n App nd i x
’

o e a f n se t e ra o e r re e re ce s o r . e ce r s e ,

a s I d
o so m f m y pr v i u ly it d
e o t eM L g o D
o T yl o
s c e ca s e s o r. an r r. r .
1 08 S A CR ED S T ONES .

Stonehenge of I reland ) I n the sa m e w a y there is 3

.

Stan ding Rock on the up per M issou ri which parallels the

sto ry of N iob e— it was once a woman who became petri ,

fi e d with grief when h er husband took a second wife .

“
S ome Samoan go ds ( or ancestral ghosts ) were changed
”
into stones says M r Turn er
,
. an d now stan d up in a
,

rocky part of the lagoon on the north side of U polu .

O n the other hand if men b ecome stones stones also

, ,

b ecome men or at least give birth to men We get a good

, .

instan ce of this in the legend of D eucalion Again by the .

,

roadside n ear the city of the P a n o p oea n s lay the stones

, ,

out of which Pro metheus made men M anke the first .

,

man in M itchell I slan d came out of a ston e , The in .

h abit ants of the N ew H ebri des say that the human race
”
sprang from stones and the ea rt h O n F rancis I sland .
,

says M r Turner. clos e by the t empl e there was a seven

,

feet long beach sandston e slab erected b efore which o ff er

-
,

ings were lai d as the peopl e united for prayer and the
natives here told him that one of their go ds had made
” “
stones become m e n I n M elanesia
. says M r Lang , .
,
“
matters are so mixe d that it is not easy to decide
’
whethe r a worshipful ston e is the dwelling of a dead man s
soul or is of spiritual merit in itself or whether the ston e
,

is the Spirit s outward part or organ

’
And in deed a sort .
, ,

o f gen eral confusion b etween the stone the ghost the , ,

ancestor and the god at l ast pervades the min d of the

, ,

ston e worshipper everywhere

-
The curious anthro.

p o m o r p h ic id ea of ston es b eing husbands an d wives a n d ,

even having chil dren ”

as D r Tylor calls it—a n idea
, .

familiar to the F ij ians as to the Peruvians an d Lapps— i s

surely explicable at once by the existenc e of headston e s
either to men or women an d the confusion between the ,

mark an d the ghost it commemorates .

An interesting si de — point in this gradual mixing up of

the ghost and th e stone the god and the image is shown
, ,

in a gradu al change of detail as to th e mode o f making

o fferings at the tomb or Sh rine O n the great trilithon in .
I IO S A CR ED S T ONE S .

practice says D r Tylor

, to daub e ach sto ne with re d
.
,

paint forming as it were a great blood Sp ot where t h e

.
, ,
-

”
face would be if it were a shaped idol M r S pencer I . .
,

think hits the key —note of this practice in an instructiv e

,

passage . A D a k o ta h he says before praying to a , ,

ston e fo r su ccou r paints it with some re d pigment such as ,

re d ochre N ow when we read that along with o fferings

.
,

of milk hon ey fruit flour etc the B odo an d D h im als

, , , , .
,
’
O ff er red lead or co chineal we may susp ect that these ,

three colouring matters havin g re d as their common cha ,

r a ct e r ,are substitutes for blood The su ppose d resident .

ghost was at first propitiated by anointing the stone wit h

human bloo d ; an d then in default of this red pigment , ,

was used ghosts and gods being supposed by primitive

,
”
men to b e easily deceived by Shams I t is possibl e too .
, ,

that with the pro cess of idealisation an d Spiritu alisation it

might b e sup posed a substitute woul d please the god s
equally well or that redness generally was th e equivalent
,

of bloo d in the same way as the C hines e burn paper

,

mon ey an d ut ensils to set free their ghosts for th e use of

an cestral spirits .

I n any case it is interesting to note that the faces of

,

many Hindu go ds are habitually painte d red And that .

this is the survival of the same ancient custom we see in

the case of Sh a sh ti protectress of chil dre n whose proper , ,

’
repres entative is a rough ston e as big as a man s head ,

smeared with red paint an d set at the foot of the sacred ,

vata— tree Like customs surv ived in Greece down to the

cl assical p erio d The faces of the anci ent gil ded D io nysi
.

” “
at C orinth says M r Lang quotin g Pausanias
,
were .
, ,

smudge d al l over with C innab ar like fetish — stones in I ndia ,

”
or Africa I n early South I taly too the Priapus H ermes
.
, ,
-
,

who protected th e fields had his face similarly daubed ,

with minium I s it possibl e to dissever these facts from

.

the cannibal b a n qu ets of the Aztec gods wh ere the images ,

had lumps of palpitating human fl esh thrust into their

 M I GRA TI ON OF S A CRE D S T ONE S .
1 1 1

lips an d where their faces were smeared with the warm

,

blood of the helpless vi ctims

O nly in one instance however have I been able to trace
, ,

the custom o f p ainting with red directly b ack t o cannibal

ism and that is among the man eaters of th e N ew
,
-

H ebrides where when a m a n died and his b ody was lai d

, , ,

out in a piece of thick native cloth the face was kept ,

“

”
expose d and painted red I b elieve with this practice
.

must ultimately b e correlated the re d painted faces of the -

Corinthian D io n ysi .

Another point of considerable interest and importanc e in

the evolution of ston e worship is connecte d with the migra
tion of sacred stones When the I sraelites left E gypt a c
.
,

cording to the narrative in E xodus they carried the bones ,

of Joseph with them When Rachel l eft her father s tent

.
’

she stole the family teraphim to accompany her on her

wanderings When ZEn e a s flew from burning Troy he
.
,
’
bore away to his Ships his country s gods his Lares an d ,

Penates All of these tal es no doubt are equally u n his

.
, ,

to rica l but they represent what to the people who frame d

, ,

the legends seemed perfectly natural and prob able con

,

duct Just in the same way when stone worshippers

.
,
-

migrate from one country t o another they are likely t o ,

carry with them their sacred stones or at least the most ,

portable or holiest of the number .

H ere is a very good illustrative case once more from ,

that most valuabl e storehouse Turn er s S a m oa The ,

’
.

F ij ian gods and goddesses we saw according to Tylor , ,

had their abodes or shrines in black stones like smooth

round millston es and there received their o fferings of
,

food . B ut on a certain Samoan islan d says M r Turner , .

,
“
I n a district sai d to have been early popul ated by
settlers fro m F ij i a number O f fancy F ijian stones were
,

kept in a temple an d worshipped in time of war The

,
.

priest in consulting them built them up in the form of a

, ,

wall and then watched t o see how they fell I f they fell
,
.

to th e westward it w as a Sign that the enemy there was to

,
1 12 S A CR ED S T ONES .

b e driven ; but if they fell to eastward that was a warning ,

of defeat and delay in making an attack was ordered

,
”
accordingly .

I canot fin d room here for many detail e d instances of

similar migrations ; but there are two examples in B ritain
so exceedingly interesting that even in so hasty a notice I
cannot pass them by without a bri ef mention The inner .

or smaller ston es at Ston ehenge are known to b e of remote

origin belon ging to rocks not found n earer Salisbury
,

Plain than C umberlan d in on e direction or B elgium in the

other They are surrounded by a group of much larger
.

stones arrange d as trilithons but ca r ved out of the com

, ,

mon sarsen blocks distributed over the neighbouring

country I have tried to Show elsewhere that these
.

smaller igneous ro cks untouched by the tool * were the

, ,

ancient sacred stones of an immigrant trib e that came into

Britain from th e Continent probably over a b road land
,

belt which then existe d where the Straits of D over now

fl ow ; and that the stran gers on their arrival in B ritain
erecte d these their ancestral gods on the Plain of Ames
bury an d further contributed to th ei r imp ortance and
,

ap pearance by su rrounding them with a circle of the

biggest an d most imposing grey— wethers that the new
country in which they had settled could easily a ff ord .

The other case is that of the S con e stone This sacred .

block according to the accredited legend was o riginally

, ,

th e ancestral god of the I rish S cots on whose royal ,

tumulus at Tara it on ce stood I t was carrie d by them to .

Argyllshire on their first invasion and placed in a cranny ,

of the wall ( say mo dern versions ) at D un st a ffn a g e C astl e .

When the S cotch kings remove d to S con e Kenn eth I I , .

took the ston e to his new lowland residenc e Thence .

i
S O M o s e s i n t h e l e g e n d c o m m a n d e d t h e c h ld re n o f I s ra e l t o b u l d i
v
a n a l t a r o f w h o l e s t o n e s , o e r w h i c h n o m a n h a t h l ft u p a n y i
ro n i
i
a n d s o o f t h e b o u l d e r s c o m p o s n g t h e a l t a r o n M o u n t E b a l it w a s s a d , i
i
T h o u s h a l t n o t l ft u p a n y iro n t o o l u p o n t h e m
”
T h e co n se r a t s m
. v i
i i
o f re l g o n k i i
e p t u p t h e a r c h a c fa s h o n fo r s a c r e d p u r p o s e s .
I I4 S A CR ED S T ONE S .

red sandston e broken o ff the rock of that district of Scot

land E ven Professor Rhys ( who gives a most interesting
.

account of the Tara Ston e ) seems to have doubts as to the

migration B ut true or n ot the story will amply serve
.
, ,

my purpose here ; for I use it only to illustrate the equally

dubious wanderings of a H ebrew sacred stone at which ,

we will arrive in du e time ; and one legen d is surely alway s

the best possible parallel of another .

I n th e cours e of ages as religions develop and espe , ,

c ia lly as a few great gods grow to overshadow the mino r

ancestral Lares and spirits it often comes about that ,

sacred stones of the older faith have a n ew religious sig

n ifi ca n ce given the m in the later syst e m Thus we hav e .

s een th e Argives worship pe d their ol d sacred stone unde r

the name o f Z eus K a ppo t a s ; the Thespians i dentified
theirs with the later H ellenic E ros ; an d the M egarians
c onsidered a third as the representative of Ph oebus The .

original lo cal sacred ston e of D elos has b een foun d on t h e

spot where it originally stood b eneath the feet of the ,

statu e of the D elian Apollo And this I am glad to se e .

, ,
’
is M r An drew Lan g s view also ; for he remarks of the
.

Greek unwrought ston es They were blocks which bore ,

th e names o f gods H era or Apollo names perh aps given

, , , ,

as D e B rosses says to the ol d fetishistic obj ects of wor

,

ship a fter the anthrop omorphic gods entered [I shoul d

,
”
say were developed in ! H ellas
,
S o too in I ndia the .
, , ,

local sacred stones have been identified with the deities of

th e H indu pantheon ; Mr H islop remarks that i n every .

part of the D eccan ( where Hinduism is of comparatively

l ate intro duction ) four or five stones may often b e seen
in the ryot s field placed in a row and daub ed with re d
’

paint which the peasants call th e F ive Pandavas

,
but ,

says Dr Tylor he reasonably takes these H in du names

.
,
“

”
to have su perseded more ancient ap pellations I slam in .
,

like m ann er has adopted the Kaaba the great black ston e
, ,

o f the H oly Place at M ecca ; an d the E gyptian religion

CH R I S TI A NI S A TI ON OF M EGALI TTRI C M ON UM EN T S 1 1 5
.

gave a n ew meaning to the pillar or monolith by shaping ,

it as an obelisk to represent a ray of the rising sun — god .

Som etimes the sanctity of the antique stones was se

cure d in the later faith by connectin g them with some
legen d or episode of the o rthodox reli gion Thus the .

ancient sacred ston e kept at Delphi— no doubt the original

oracle of that great Shrine as the rude D elian block was
,

the precursor of the D elian Apollo—was explained with

reference to the later H ellenic belief by the myth that it
was the stone which Kronos swallowed in mistake for
Zeus : an explanation doubtless due to the fact that this
boulder was kept like M o n ig a n s I rish idol an d the
,
’

Samoan god wrapped up in flannel

, and in the myth ,

Rhea deceive d Kron o s by o ffering him instead of Zeus , ,

a stone wrapped in swaddling bands There is here in - .

deed food for much refl ection The sacred stone of the .

Tr oezenians in like manner lay in front of the temple ; but

, ,

it was H ellenised so to speak by the story that on it the

, ,

Tr oezenian elders sat when they purified O restes from the

murder of his mother .

I n modern E urope as everybody knows a S imilar C hris

, ,

tian isa t io n of holy wells holy ston es an d holy places has

, ,

been managed by connecting them with legends of saints ,

or by the still simpler device of marking a cross upon them .

The cross has a threefol d valu e : in the first place it drive s ,

away fro-m their accustomed haunts the ancient gods or

spirits always envisaged in early C hristian and medi aev a l
,

thought as devils or demons ; in the second pl a ce it asserts ,

the supremacy of the new faith ; and in the third place b y ,

conferring a fresh sanctity u pon the old holy place or o b

j c e t it induces the people to worship the cross by the mere
.

habit of resorting to the shrin e at which their ancestors so

long worshipped Gregory s well known advice to St
.
’
-
.

Augustine on this matter is but a single example of what

went on over all Christendom I n many cases crosses in
.
,

B ritain are still found firmly fixed in old sacred stones ,

usually recognisabl e by their unwrought condition Th e .

I I 6 S A CR ED S T ONES .

fin est exampl e in E urope is probably the giganti c mono

lith of F lumen in B rittany topp ed by an insignificant little
,

cross an d still resorted to by the peasants ( esp eci ally the

,

childless ) as a great place of worship The prehistoric .

monuments o f Na rv ia in th e I sle of M an have b een C h ris

t ia n ise d by having crosses deeply incised upon them .

O ther cases like the B lack Stones of I on a which gave

, ,

sanctity to that H oly I sle lon g b efore th e time of C olumba ,

will doubtless occur at once to every reader With many .

of the S cotch sculptured ston es it is di fficult to decide ,

wheth er they were originally erected as crosses or are ,

prehistori c monuments externally C hristianised .

I have thus en deavoured briefly to suggest the ultimate

derivation of all sacred ston es from sepulchral monuments ,

an d to point out the very large part which they b ear in the
essential of religion— that is to say worship— everywhere ,
.

There is however one parti cular application t o which I

, ,

wish to call special attention because of its peculiar inter

,

e st as regards the origin o f the monotheisti c go d of

Judaism and C hristianity H itherto in this chapter I h ave
.
,

intentionally mad e but very few allusions to the faith and

the sacred ston es of the H ebrews b ecaus e I wishe d first to ,

give a general view of the whole ramifications an d m o d ifi

c ations of stone worship before co min g down to the par
-

t ic u la r instan ce in which we modern E uropeans are most

deeply interested I will now howeve r give a brief sum
.
, ,

mary of what seems to m e most suggestive an d important

in the early S emitic stone cult These results are n o doubt
-
.

alread y familiar in outlin e to most cultivate d readers but ,

it is possibl e they may appear in a somewhat new light

whe n regarde d in connexion with the general histo ry of
ston e worship as here e lu cid at d
- .

T h at the Semites as well as other early nations were

, ,

stone — worshippers we know from a great numb er of po si

tive instances The ston e pillars of B aal and the woo den
.

Ashera cones were th e chi ef obj ects of adoration in th e

Ph oe n ician religion The Stone of B ethel was ap parently
.
1 1 8 S A CR ED S T ON ES .

the more cultivated S emites grew Whatever els e w as .

d one in connexion with a sacrifice the primitive rite of ,

s prinkling or dashing the blood against the altar or allow ,

ing it to flow down on the ground at its b as e was hardly ,

ever omitted ; an d this practice was not pe culiar to the

S emites but was equally the rule with the Greeks and R o
,

mans and in dee d with the ancient nations gen erally

, .

I t is certain says Professor Smith again

, that the ,

original altar among the N orthern Semites as well as ,

among the Arabs was a great ston e or cairn at which the

, ,

bloo d of the vi ctim was shed There is no di fference he .

,

declares between the H ebrew altar and the Arabian stand

.

ing ston e M onolithic pillars o r cairns of ston e are fre

.

q uently m entioned in the more ancient parts of the O ld

Testament as standing at Sanctuaries generally in connex ,

i on with a sacred legend about the o ccasion on which

they were set up by some famous patriarch or hero I n .

the biblical story they usually appear as mere memorial

,

structures without any definite ritual significance ; but the

pentateuchal law l ooks on the use of sacre d pillars as
i dolatrous This is the best evidence that such pillars held
.

an important pl ace among the appurte n ances of C anaanite

temples an d as H osea speaks of the pillar as an indis
pensable feature in the sanctuaries of N orthern I srael in his
time we may be sure that by the mass of the H ebrews the
,

pillars of Shechem B ethel Gilgal an d other Shrines were

, , ,

looke d upon not as mere memorials of historical events

, ,

but as n ecessar y parts of the ritual apparatus of a plac e of

worshi p .F rom these evidences an d especially fro m ,

the fact that libations of the same kin d are ap plie d to

b oth it seems clear that the altar is a di fferentiate d form of
,

the primitive rude stone pillar But the sacred stone is .

more than an altar for in H ebrew and C anaanite sa n ct u

,

ari es the altar in its developed form as a table or hearth

, ,

does not supersede the pillar ; the two are found sid e by
si de at the same sanctuary the altar as a piece of sacrificial
,

a pparatus an d the pillar as a visible symbol or embo diment

.
 S A CR ED S T ONES OF R WS
TH E H EB E .
1 19

of the presenc e of the deity which in process of time ,

c omes to be fashioned and ca rved in various ways till ulti ,

mately it b ecomes a statue or anthropomorphic i dol of

stone j ust as the sacred tree or post was ultimately de
,

”
l
v e o p e d into an image of woo d .

I n spite of much obvious groping in the dark in this

and other passages of the R eligion o f th e S em ites it is clear ,

that the learned p rofessor recognised at least one central

fact the sacred ston e at Semitic sanctuaries was from
the first an obj ect o f w o r sh ip a sort of ru de idol in which
’

the divinity was somehow supp o sed to be present .

Again h e n otes that J a cob s pillar is more than a mere

,
’

l an dmark for it is anointed j ust as idols were in a n

, ,

t iq u it y and the pillar itsel f not the S pot o n which it stood

, , ,

is called the house of God as if the deity were conceived

,
’

a ctually to dwell in th e stone or manifest himself therein ,

to his worshippers An d this is the conception which a p

.

p ears to have been associated with sacre d stones every

where . When the Arab daubed bl ood on the u os b his ,

o bj ect was to bring the o ffering into direct contact with

the deity ; and in like manner the practice o f stroking the

sacred stone with the han d is identical with t h e practic e
of touching or stroking the garments or beard of a man in
a cts of supplication before him E lsewhere he says : So .

fa r as evidence from tradition and ritual goes we can only ,

think of the sacred stone as consecrate d by the actual

presence of the godhead so th a t whatever touched it was
,

brought into immediate contact with the deity And he .

q uotes a lin e fr o m an Arab poet in which the Arabian gods

”
are expressly described as gods of stone .

I t is thus clear that sacred stones were common o b

j e ct s of worship with the S emites in general and also with ,

the H ebrew peopl e in particular B ut a fter the exclusive .

w orship of Jahweh the local Jewish god had grown

, ,

o bligatory among the Jews it became the policy o f the

,

Jehovist priests to J e h o v ise and to consecrate the

s acre d ston es of Palestine by bringing them into connex
1 20 S A CR E D S T ONE S .

ion with t he J ehovistic l egen d and the tales of th e Patri

archs Thus Professor C heyne co mments as follows upo n
.

the passage in I saiah where the prophet mocks the p ar

tizan of the old polytheistic creed as a stone worshipp er -

Among the smooth ston es of the valley is thy portion :

They they are thy lot : E ven to them hast thou poured a
,

drink o ffering : Thou hast o ffere d a meat o ffering :

The large smooth stones referred t o above were th e
fetishes o f the pri mitive S emitic races an d anoi nted with oil , ,

according to a widely Spre ad cust om I t was such a ston e .

which Jacob took for a pillow an d afterwards consecrate d ,

by pouring oil upon it The early S emites and reaction

.

ary idolatrous I sraelites calle d such stones B ethels .

i e houses of El ( the early S emiti c word for

. .
,

I n spite of the e fforts of the J ehovist who desired t o

‘ ’

convert these ancient fetishes into memorials of patriarchal “

history the old heathenish use of them seems to have con

,
”
tin n ed esp ecially in s ecluded places .

B esi des the case of the stone at B ethel there is the later ,

on e ( in our n arrative ) when Jacob and Lab an made a cove

nant ,
and J acob took a ston e and set it up for a pillar
“
, .

And Jacob sai d unto his brethren Gather stones and ,

they took stones an d made an heap and they di d

eat there u pon the heap So on ce more at Shal em
.
, , ,

he erects an altar called El—E lo h e —I srael he sets a

pillar upon the grave of Rachel and another at the plac e ,

at Luz where God appeared to him O f like i mport is .

the story of the twelve stones which the twelve men tak e
out of Jordan t o commemorate the passage of th e trib es .

All are cl early attempts to J e h o v ise these early sacre d

stones or local gods by connecting them with incidents
in th e Jehovistic versi on of the ancient H ebrew legen ds .

That such ston es however w e re worshipped as deities in

, ,

early times b efore the cult of Jahweh had become an ex

,

c l u siv e one among his devotees is evi dent fro m the Jeho ,

“
Sa y ra t h e r , fo r a god .
1 22 S A CR ED S T ON ES .

B ethel evi dently to sacrifice

, one carrying three kids , ,

and another carrying thre e loaves of bread and another ,

carrying a b ottl e of win e These and many other like

memorials of stone worship lie thickly scattered throu gh
-

the early books of the H ebrew Scriptures sometimes ,

openly avowed and sometimes cloaked under a thin veil of

,

J ehovism .

O n the other hand at the present day the Pal estine ex

, ,

ploration has shown that no ru de stone monu ments exist

in Palestin e proper though east of the Jordan they are
,

common in all parts of the country How then are we to .

, ,

ex plain their disap pearance M aj or C onder thinks that

when pure Jehovism finally triu mphe d un der H ezekiah
an d Josi ah the Jehovists destroyed all these idolatrous
,

stones throughout the Jewish dominions in accordance ,

with the inj uncti ons in the B ook of D euteronomy to de

m o lish the religious emblems of the C anaanites Jahweh .
,

the go d of the H ebrews was a j ealous Go d and he would , ,

t ol erate no alien sacred stones within his own j u ris d ic

tion .

An d who or what was this Jahweh himself this local an d ,

ethnic go d of the I sraelites who would su ffer no other go d ,

or sacre d mon olith to live near h im

I will not lay stress u pon the point that when Joshua
w a s dying according to the legend he
,
took a great ,

stone an d set it up by an oak that was by the sanctuary

of Jahweh s a ying that it had heard all the words of
.

J ahweh That document is too doubtful in te r ms to a fford

.

us much authority B ut I will merely point out that at

.

the tim e when we first seem to catch clear historic

gli m pses of true Jahweh worship we find Jahweh who ever , ,

o r whatever that mystic obj ect might have b een locate d ,

with his ark at the Twelve Stones at Gilgal I t is quite .

”
clear that in th e camp at Gilgal as the later compilers
“
,

b eli eved Jahweh god of I srael who had b ro ught his

, , ,

peopl e up out of E gypt remained till the conqu est of the,

l an d was com pl eted But after the en d of the conquest

.
,
 TH E NA T URE OF I AH WEH .
1 23

the tent in which he dwelt was removed to Shiloh ; and th a t

J ahweh went with it is clear from the fact that Joshua cast
”
lots for the land there before Jahweh our Go d “
He , .

was there still when Hannah an d her husband went up to

S hiloh to sacrifice unto Jahweh ; and when Samuel min
ist e re d unt o Jahweh before Eli the priest That Jahweh .

made a long stay at Shiloh is therefore it would seem a , , ,

true ol d tradition a tradition of the age j ust before the

-

historical b eginnings of the H ebrew annals .

But J ahweh was an obj ect of portable siz e for omitting , ,

fo r the present the descriptions in the Pentateuch which ,

s eem likely to b e of lat e date and not to o trustworthy , ,

through t heir strenuous Jehovistic editing he was carri ed ,

from Shiloh in his a r k to the front during the great battle

with the Philistines at E b ene z er and the Philistines
”
were afraid for they said A go d is come into the camp
, , .

B ut when the Philistines captured the ark the rival go d , ,

Dagon fell down an d broke in pieces— so H ebrew legend

,

d e cla re d — b efore the face of Jahweh After the Philistines

w
.

restored the sacred obj ect it rested for a time at Kirj ath
,

j earim till Davi d on the capture of Jerusalem from the

, ,

J ebusites went down to that place to bring up from thence

,

the ark of the god ; an d as it went on a n e w cart they , ,

“
played before Jahweh on all manner of instruments ,
”
and D avi d himself danced before Jahweh Jahweh .

was then placed in the tent or tabernacle that David had

p repared for him till Solomon built the first temple
,
the ,

house of Jahweh an d Jah w eh s ark was set up in it

,
in ’
,

the oracle of the house the m ost holy place even under
, ,

”
the wings of the cherubim Just so Mr C halmers tells us . .

t hat when he was at Peran in N ew Guinea the peculiarly , ,

s haped holy ston e Ra y ai an d the two wooden idols E p e

, , ,
”
a n d K iv a v a made long ago and considered very sacred
, ,

were for the moment located in an old hous e until all

“
,

the arran gements necessary for their removal to the splen

”
did new dubu prepared for them are completed And .

s o too at the opposite end of the scale of civilisation

, ,
as ,
1 24 SA CR ED S T ONE S .

M r Lang puts it
. the fetish —
,
stones of Greece were thos e
which occupie d the holy of holies of the most ancient
temples the mysterious fan es within dark cedar or cypres s
,

groves to which men were hardly admitted

, .

That Jahweh himself in th e most anci ent traditions of

,

the race was similarly conceal ed within his chest or ark in

,

the holy o f holies is evi dent I think to any attentiv e

, , ,

reader I t is true the later Jehovistic glosses of E xodus

.
,

an d D euterono my composed after the Jehovisti c worship

,

had b ecome purified and spiritualised do their best to ,

darken the comprehension of this matter by making t h e

presenc e of Jahweh s eem always in corporeal ; and even in
the earlier traditions the phrase the ark of the covenant
,

o f Jahweh is often substituted for th e simpler and olde r

”
one ,the ark o f Jahweh B ut through all the d isfi g u re
.

m ents with which the priestly scribes of the age of J osiah

an d the sacerdotalists of t h e return from the captivity
have overlaid the primitive story we can still see clearly in
,

many places that Jahweh himself was at first personally

present in the ark that covered him An d though the .

scribes ( evidently ashamed of the early worship they had

outlived ) protest somewhat vehemently more than once ,

There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of ston e
which M oses put there at H oreb when Jahweh made a ,

covenant with the children of I srael when they came out ,

of the lan d of E gypt yet this mu ch at least even they

,

ad mit —that the obj ect or obj ects conceal ed in the ark con
sisted of a sculptured stone or ston es ; and that to danc e or
sin g b efore this ston e or these stones was equivalent t o
dancing or singing b efore the face of Jahweh .

The question whether the mysterious body con cealed in

th e ark was or was not a lingam or other phallic obj ect I
purposely o mit to discuss here as not cognate t o o u r ,

present enqui ry I t is su fficient to insist that fro m the

.

evidence be fore us first it w as Jahweh himself an d

, , ,

second it was an obj ect made of ston e F urther than that

,
.
1 26 S A CRED S T ONE S
.

Go d of Christianity in origin nothing more n o r

less t han th e ancestral sacre d ston e of the people of I srael
however sc ulptured and p erhaps in the very last reso rt of
, ,

all the unhewn monu mental pillar o f some early Semiti c

,

sheikh or C hieftain.
 O R I GI NA LL Y GRA VE-M ARKS .
1 27

C HAPT E R V I .

SA C R E D ST A K E S .

M I L T O N Speaks in a famous sonnet of the tim e when

”
all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones That i a .

miliar an d bri efly cont emptuous phrase of the P uritan

poet does really cover the vast maj ority of obj ects of
worship for the human race at all times an d in all places .

W e have examined the stones the sto cks must now come
in for their fair share of attention They n eed not .
,

however d elay us quit e so long as their sister deities both

, ,

because they are on the whole less important in them

selves an d b ecause their development from grave —
, marks
into gods an d idols is almost absolutely parallel to that
which we have already followed out in detail in the case
of the standing stone or megalithic monument .

Stakes or wooden posts are often use d all the world

over as marks of an interment Like other grave —
. marks ,

they also share naturally in the honours pai d to the ghost

or n ascent god B ut they are less important as el ements
.

in the growth of religion than stan ding stones for two

distinct reasons I n the first place a stake or post most
.
,

often marks the interment O f a person of little social con

si deration C hiefs and great men have usually stone
monuments erected in their honour the commonalty
have to be satisfied with woo den marks as one may o b ,

serve to this day at P ere Lachais e or any other great

,

Christian cemetery . I n the second place the stone monu ,

ment is far more lasting and perman ent than the wooden
one E ach of these points counts for something F or it
. .
1 28 S A CR ED S TA KES .

is chiefs an d great men whose ghosts most often grow into

go ds an d it is the oldest ghosts the oldest go ds the Old , ,

est monuments that are always the most sacred F or b oth .

these reasons then the stake i s less critical than the stone
, ,

in the history of religion .

N evertheless it has its own Sp ecial imp ortance As the

, .

sacred ston e derives ultimately fro m the great boulder

pil e d above the grave to keep down the corps e so the ,

stak e I beli eve derives fro m the sharp pointed stick

, ,
-

driven through the bo dy to pin it down as we saw in the

third chapter an d still so employe d in C hristi an E ngland
,

to prevent suicides from walking Such a stake or pole .

is u sually permitted to protru de from the groun d so as to ,

warn living men of the neighbourhoo d of a Spirit .

At a very early date however the stake I fan cy b e, , , ,

came a m ere grave — mark an d though owing to its com ,

p a r a t iv e in conspicuousness it obtains relatively littl e no

,

tice it is n ow an d always has been by far the most com

,

m on mode of preserving the memory of th e spot wh ere a

person lies burie d A goo d example which will throw
.
,

light upon many subsequent modifications is given by ,

M r Wyatt Gill from Port M oresby in N ew Guinea

. The .

”
body he says ,
was buried At the side was set up a
,
.

stake to which were ti ed the spear club bow and arrow

, , ,

of the decease d but broken to prevent theft A littl e

, , .

b eyon d was the grave of a woman her cooking utensils ,

”
grass p etticoats etc hung u p on th e stake
,
.
,
Similar .

cu sto ms he adds are almost universal in Polynesia

, ,
.

Though worship of stakes or wooden posts is common

all over the world I can give but few quite unequivocal
,

instances of such worship being paid to a post actually

known t o surmount an un doubt ed grave Al most the .

b est direct eviden ce I can obtain is the cas e of the grave

pole in Bu ru already quoted from M r H O F o rb es
,
. . . .

B ut th e foll owing account of a Samoyed place of sacri

fi ce extract ed from B aron No rd e n skiOld S Voya ge o f th e
’

Vega is certainly suggestive

, On a hillo ck on Va yg a t s .
1 S A CR ED S TAKE S
30 .

tery z but I beli eve this to b e the case p artly fro m analogy , ,

and partly becaus e N o r d e n skiOld mentions elsewhere that

an upturne d sled is a frequent Sign of a Samoyed grave .

C ompare also the following account of a graveyard

amon g n ominally C hristian O styak Siberians also fro m ,

N o r de n s kiOld “
The corpses were place d in large co ffin s
ab ove ground at which almost always a cross was
,

erect ed [The acco mpanying woodcut shews that thes e

.

crosses were ru de woo den stakes with one or two cross

bars ! .
“
I n on e of the crosses a sacred pi cture was in
se r t e d which must be considere d a further proof that a

C hristian reste d in the co ffin N otwithstanding this we .

,

foun d some clothes which had belonged to the departed

, ,

hanging on a bush b esid e the grave together with a bundl e ,

containin g foo d prin cip ally drie d fish At the graves of

,
.

the richer natives the survivors are even said to plac e

alon g with food some rouble notes in order that the de ,

part e d may not be altogether without ready money on his

”
entrance into the other world .

To complete the parall el I ought to add that mone y ,

was also deposited on the sacrificial place on V a yg a ts

I slan d .O f another su ch sacrificial place on Y alm a l ,

No r d e n sk iOld says after describing a pil e of bones rein

, ,

de er skulls an d walrus j aws

,
I n the middle of the hea p
of bon es st oo d four erect pieces of wood Two consist ed .

of sticks a metre in len gth with notches cut in them , .

The two others which clearly were the proper idols o f

,

this pl ac e of sacrifice consisted of driftwoo d roots on

, ,

which some carvings had been made to distinguish t h e

eyes mouth an d nose The parts o f the pi eces of wo o d
, ,
.
,

intende d to represent the eyes an d mouth had recently ,

b een b esmeare d with bl oo d and there still lay at th e hea p

,
”
of b ones th e entrails of a n ewly killed reindeer .

I n deed I l earn from another source that

,
the Sa
m o y e d e s fee d th e wooden images of the dead while an
in stance from E rman helps further to confirm the same
conclusion According to that acute writer among th e
. ,
 FR OM S TAKE TO IVOODEN I D OL .
1 31

O styaks of E astern Siberia there is found a most in

t e r e st in g custom in which says Dr Tylor
, ,
we see the
.
,

transition from the image of the dead man to the actual

”
idol. When a man dies they set up a rud e woo den
,

image of hi m in the yurt which receives o fferings at every

,

meal and has honours paid to it while the wi dow continu

,

ally embraces and caresses it As a general rule these

.
,

images are burie d at the end of three years or so but

sometimes the image of a shaman ( native
says Tylor is set up permanently and remains as a saint
, ,
”
for ever F or saint I shoul d say go d
.
“
and we see “

the transformation at once completed I ndeed E rman .

,

adds acutely ab out the greater gods o f t h e O st y aks

That these latter also have a historical origin that they ,

were originally monuments of distinguished men to which ,

prescription an d the interest of the Shamans gave by de

grees an arbitrary meaning and importance seems to me ,
”
not liable to doubt .

With regard to the bloo d smeared upon such Siberian

wooden idols it must b e remembere d that bowls of bloo d
,

are common o fferings to the dead ; and Dr Robertson .

Smith himself no frien dly witness in this matter has com

, ,

pared the blood — o fferings to ghosts with those to deities .

I n the eleventh bo o k of the O dyssey for ex a mpl e the , ,

ghosts drink greedily of the sacrificial bloo d and libations

of gore form a special feature in Greek o fferings to heroes .

That bloo d was o ffered to the sacred stones we have a l

ready seen ; and we noticed that there as here it was
specially smeared upon the parts representing the mouth .

O fferings of blood to gods or pouring of blood on altars

, ,

are too common to demand particul ar notice ; and we

shall also recur to that part of the subj ect when we come to
consider the important qu estions of sacrifice and sacra
ment I will only add here that according to Maimonides
.

the Sabians looked on bloo d as the nourishment of the

gods while th e H ebrew Jahweh asks in dignantly in the
I 32 S A CR E D S TAKE S .

fiftieth Psalm Will I eat the fl esh of bulls or drink th e

, ,

bloo d of goats
To pass on to more un equivocal cases of stake — worship ,

where w e can hardly doubt that the stake represents a

d ead man C aptain C ook notice d that in the Society I s
,
“
l ands t he carved woo den images a t burial places were -

n ot co nsidered mere memorials but abo des into which the ,

souls of the depart ed retire d So E llis observes of .

Polynesians generally that the sacred obj ects might b e

either mere stocks an d stones or carved woo den images , ,

from six to eight feet long down to as many inches Some .

of thes e were to represent tii divine man es or spirits ,

”
of the dead ; while others were to represent tu or “
,

d eiti es of higher rank an d power To my min d this is .

,

almost a di stinction without a di fference the first being

ghosts of recently decease d ancestors the s econ d ghosts ,

o f re moter progenitors The ancient Araucanians again

.

fixed over a tomb an u pright log rudely carved to rep ,

”
resent the human frame Aft er the death o f N ew Zea
.

lan d chi efs wooden images 20 to 40 feet high were

, , ,

erect ed as monuments I might easily multiply instance s ;

.

b ut I refrain lest the list grow tedious .

D r C o drington notes that the large mouths an d lollin g

.

tongues of many N ew Zealand and Polynesian gods are

du e to the habit of smearing the mouth with blood and
other o fferings .

Where m en preserve the corpses of their dead images ,

are not so likely to grow u p but where fear of the de ad

has brought about the practice of burial or burning it is ,

reasonabl e that the feelings of a ffection which pro mpted

gifts and en dearments to the mummy in the first stage of
thought shoul d seek some similar material outlet under
the altered circumstances Among ourselves a ph oto .
,

graph a portrait the toys of a dead child are preserved

, , ,

and cherishe d A mong savages ruder representations

. ,

b ecom e necessary They bury th e actual corpse safely

.

o u t of sight b ut make some rough woo den i mitation to

,
I 34 S A CR ED S TAKES .

makes a littl e i mage of her lost darling out of a gour d o r

calabash wraps it in skins an d feeds it or puts it to sle ep
, ,

like a living baby B astian saw I n dian wo men in P eru

.
,

who had lost an infant carryin g about on their backs a

,

woo den doll to represent it At a somewh at higher level .

,
”
the Spiritual b eings of the Al gonquins says D r Tylor , .
,

t o whom I owe n ot a few of these instances were repre ,

s ented by and in language compl etely identified with th e

, ,

carved wooden heads ( note this point ) or more com

”
p le t e images to which worship and sacrifice were o ffered
, .

I n all thes e in stances we s ee clearly I think the course , ,

o f the gen esis of househol d deities I n Si am the ashes .

,

of the d ead are similarly moulde d into B uddhist images ,

which are aft erwards worshipp ed as household gods .

M r H erbert Spencer has collected several interesting

.

examples some of which I will b orrow as showing inci ,

d entally how much the growth of th e i dol or i mage de

p ends upon such abstraction o f the real bo dy for burial or
its equivalent W hil e a decease d king of C ongo is b ein g
.

emb almed a figure is set up in th e palace to represent him

, ,

an d i s daily furnished with meat and drink W hen .

C harles V I of F rance was buried

. over the co ffin was an ,

image of the late king bearing a rich crown of gold an d

,

diamonds and hol ding two shields

,
This image was .

dressed with cloth of gol d I n this state was h e.

”
solem n ly carri ed to the church of N otre D ame Ma .

dame d e M otteville says of the father of the great C on d é ,

The e ffi gy of this prince was waited u pon for three days ,

as was customary — forty days having been the original

time durin g which food was supplied to such e ffi g ie s at
the usual hours M o n stre le t describes a like figure use d
.

at the burial of H enry V of E ngland : and the West .

minst er A bb ey images already notice d belong to the same

c ategory .

As in the case of sacred stones once more I am quite , ,

ready to a d mit that when once th e sanctity of certai n

stakes or wo oden poles came to b e generally recognise d ,
 TH E SEM I TI C A SH ERA .
1 35

it woul d be a simple t ransference of feeling to suppose

that any stake arbitrarily set up might become the shrine
, ,

o r ho me of an indwelling spirit Thus we are told that .

the Brazilian tribes set up stakes in the ground an d ,

m ake o fferings b efore them to appease their deities or

d emons So also we are assured that amon g the D inkas

.

of the White N ile the missionaries saw an old woman

,
“

in her hut o fferin g the first of her food before a short thick
”
s ta ff planted in the ground B ut in neither of these cases
.

is there necessarily anything to Show that the spot where

the sta ff was set up was not a pl a ce of burial while in
t he second instance this is even prob a ble as b ut inte r ments ,

a r e extremely common in Africa I will quote one other .

instance only for its illustrative value in a subsequent con

,

n e x io n .I n the Society I slands rude logs are clothed in ,

native cloth ( like M o n ig a n s idol ) and anointed with oil

’

receiving adoration an d sacrifice as the dwelling place of -

a deity This custom is parallel to that of the Caribs who

.
,

took a bon e of a dead frien d from the grave wrapped it u p ,

in cotton an d enquired of it for oracles

, .

M r Savage Landor in his interesting work Th e H a iry

.
,

A inu figures and describes some curious grave —

,
stakes of
those Jap a nese aborigines The stakes on the men s .
’

g raves are provi ded with a phallic protuberance thos e on

the women s with an equ a lly phallic perforation This
’
.

fact helps to illustrate the phallicism of sacred stones in

Syria and elsewhere .

Among the S emitic peoples alwa ys specially interesting ,

to us from their gen etic connexion with Judaism an d

C hristianity the worship of stakes usually took the form
,

of adoration pai d to the curi ous log of wood describ ed as

a n a s h era What kin d of obj e ct an a s h era was we learn
.

“
from the inj unction in D euteronomy Thou shalt not .

plant an as her a of any kind of wo o d beside the altar of

”
J ahweh This prohibition is clearly parallel to that
.

” “
against any hewn stone or graven image B ut th e .

S emites in general worshipped as a rule at a rude st on e

 S A CR ED S TAKE S
1 36 .

altar besi de which stoo d an a s h er a under a gree n tree

, , ,

all three of the great sacre d obj ects of humanity b eing thu s
present together A similar combination is not u n c o m
.

mon in I n di a where sacred stone and woo den i mage stan d

,

often under the shade of the same holy peepul tree Th e .

”
a s h er a says Professor Rob ertson Smith
,
is a sacre d ,

symbol the seat of the deity an d p erhaps the name itself

, , ,

as G H o ffmann has suggested means nothing more than

.
,
‘ ’ ”
the mark of the divine presence Those w h o have .

follow ed me so far in the present work however will b e , ,

more likely to conclud e that it meant originally the mark

of a place where an ancestor lay buried E very altar .
,

says Pro fessor Smith again had its as her a even such
, , ,

altars as in the popular prepropheti c forms of the H ebrew

”
religion were dedicated to Jehovah .

The S emitic sacred pol e was treate d in most resp ects

like the other grave stakes and idols we have hitherto co n
-

s id e re d for an Assyrian monument fro m Kh o rsa b a d ,

figured by Rawlinson represents an orn amental pole , ,

planted b eside an altar priests stand before it engaged

in an act of worship an d touch the pol e with their hands
, ,

”
or perhaps says Professor Smith .
anoint it with som e ,
”
liqui d subst ance That the as h er a was also draped lik e
. ,

the logs of the Society I slanders or M o n ig a n s I rish i dol

’

, ,

we learn from the famous passage in Secon d Kings

where it is s aid that the wo men wove h ang ings
( xxiii 7 )
.

”
for the a s her a D r Rob ertson Smith illustrates this
. .

p assage by the parallel of the sacred er ica at By b lu s which ,

was a mere dead stump for it was cut down by I sis an d ,

pres ented to the B yb lia n s wrapped in a linen cloth an d

anointe d with m y rrh lik e a corps e I t therefore re p r e .

sent ed the d ead god ( O siris or rather in its origin ,

Adoni s) B ut as a mere stump it also resembles the H e

. ,

brew as her a So near may a man come to the perception

.

of a truth a n d yet so utterly may he miss its actual import

,
.

I will dwell no longer upon these more or l ess remot e

d erivatives of the grave —stake I will only say briefly that .
1 38 S A CR ED TREES .

C HAPT E R V I I .

SA C R E D TR EES .

TH Esacred tree stan ds less obviously in the direct lin e

of an cestry of gods and of God than the sacre d stone an d
th e sacred stake whic h we have j ust consi dered I would .

willingly pass it over therefore in this long preliminary

, ,

inquisition could I safely do so in order to progress at

, ,

on ce to the specific considerati on of th e Go d of I srael an d

the rise of M onotheism B ut the tre e is nevertheless so
.

closely linked with the two other main obj ects of hum a n
worship that I hardly see how I can avoid considering it
here in the same connexion : especially as in the end it has
important i mplications with regard to the tree of the cross ,

as well as to the Tru e Vine an d many other el ements of

,

C hristian faith and C hristian symbolism I shall therefore .

give it a short chapter as I pass premising that I have ,

already entered into the subj ect at greater l ength in my

excursus O n the O rigin of Tree — Worship appended to ,

my vers e translation of the A ttis of C atullu s .

The worship of sacred trees is almost as widely di ffus ed

over the whole world as the worship o f dead bodies mum ,

mies relics graves sacred stones sacred stakes an d stone

, , , , ,

or wooden idols The great authorities on the subj ect of

.

Tree Worship are M a n nh a rd t s B a u ni ku ltus an d M r J G

-
’
. . .

F raz er s Th e G olden B ough N either of those learn ed and

’
.

acut e writers however has fully seen the true origin of

, ,

worship from funeral practices : an d therefore it becomes

necessary to go over the same ground again briefly here
from th e point of vi ew a fforded us by the corpse— theory
 TH E TREE IN M Y TH .
1 39

a nd ghost — theory o f the basis of religion I shall hope to .

a dd something to their valuable results and also incident ,

ally to Show that all the main obj ects of worship together
leads us back unanimously to the Cult of the D ead as their
c ommon starting point -
.

Let us begin in this instance ( contrary to our previous

practice ) by examining and endeavouring to understand
a few cases of the behaviour of tree —spirits in various
mythologies Virgil tells us in the Third ZE n e id how on
.
,

a certain occasion fE n e a s was o ffering a sacrifice on a

,

tumulus crown ed with dogwood an d myrtl e bushes H e .

e ndeavoured to pluck up some of these by the roots in ,

o rder to cover the altar as was customary with l eaf cl a d

, ,
-

branches As he did so the first bush which he tore u p

.
,

a stonished him by exuding drops of liquid blood which ,

trickl ed and fell upon the soil beneath H e tried agai n .

,

a n d ag a in the tree bled human gore O n the third trial .

,

a groan was heard pr o ceedin g from the tumulus and a ,

voice assured ZE n e a s that the barrow on which h e stoo d

I

c overed th e murdered remains of his fri en d Polydorus .

N ow in this typical an d highly illustrative myth— no

,

d oubt an ancient and well —known story incorporated by

Virgil in his great poem — w e see that the tree which grows
upon a barrow is itself reg a rded as the representative and
e mbodiment of the dead man s soul j ust as elsewhere the
’

snake which glides from the tomb of Anchises is regarded

a s the embodied spirit of the hero and j ust as the owls and ,

bats which haunt sepulchral caves are often i dentified in

a ll parts of the worl d with the souls of the departed .

Similar stories of bleeding or speaking trees or bushes

o ccur abundantly els ewhere When the oak is b eing.
“

”
felled ,
says Aubrey in his R em a ins of G e ntilism e
,
it ,
“

gives a kin d of sh r ie ke s an d g ro a n e s that may be heard a

mil e o ff as if it were the genius of the oak lamenting E
,
. .

”
Wyl d E s q hath b eared it several ! times
, ,
C ertai n I n .

d ians says B astian d are not cut a particular plant because

, , ,

t here comes out of it a red j uice which they take for its
1 40 S A CR ED TREE S .

blo od I myself rememb er hearing as a boy in Canad a

.

that wherever S a nguina r ia Ca n a dens is the common Amer ,

ican bloodroot grew in th e woods an I ndian had onc e

, ,

be en buried an d that the red dro ps of j uice which exuded

,

from the stem when one picke d the flowers were the dead
’
man s blood I n Samoa says Mr Turner the sp ecial
.
, .
,

abo de of T u ifi ti King of F ij i was a grove of large an d

, ,

durable afzeli a trees N o one dared cut that timber . .

A story is told of a party fro m U polu who once attempte d

it an d the consequence w as that blood flowed fr o m t h e
,

tree an d that the sacrilegious strangers all took ill a n d

,

”
die d Till 1 8 5 5 says M annhardt there was a sacred
.
, ,

larch tree at N a u d e rs in the Tyrol which was thought to

-
,

blee d whenever it was cut I n some of these cases it is . .

tru e we do n ot actually kno w that the trees grew on

,
’
tumuli b ut this point is specially noti ced about Polydorus s
,

dogwoo d and is probably implied in the Samoan case a s

, ,

I gather from the titl e given to the Spirit as kin g of F ij i .

I n other inst ances however such a doubt does not ex , ,

ist We are expressly told that it is the souls of the dead

.

which are believe d to animate the sp eaking or bleeding

”
trees The Dieyerie trib e of S outh Australia says M r , .

F razer regard as very sacred certain trees which are sup

,

p ose d to b e their fathers transformed ; hence they will not

”
cut the trees down an d protest against settlers doing so ,
.

S ome of th e Philippine I slanders beli eve that the souls o f

their forefathers inhabit certain trees which they therefor e .

s pare I f oblige d to fell on e of thes e sacred trunks they

. ,

excus e themselves by sayin g that it was the priests w h o

made them fell it .

N ow h ow did this connexion between th e tree and th e

,

ghost or an cestor grow up I n much the same w ay I ,

imagine as th e connexion between the sacred stone or th e

,

sacred stake an d th e dead chief who lies buried b eneath

it Whatever grows or stands upon the grave is sure to
.

share the hon ours pai d to the spirit that dwells within it .

Thus a snake or other animal seen t o glide out of a tom b

1 42 S A CR ED TREES .

ph ag u s from which an acacia em erges with the na i v e ,

”
motto O siris springs forth
, .

An incident which oc curred during the recent Sino

Japanese war shows how easily points of this sort may b e
overlooked by hasty writers in formal descriptions O ne .

of the Lon don illustrated p apers printed an account of t h e

burial of the Japanese dead at Port Arthur an d after men ,

t io n in g the simple headstone erecte d at each grave v o lu n

t eered th e further statement that n othing else marked
the pl ace of interment B ut th e en graving which a cco m
.

p a n ie d it taken from a photograph showed on the con

, ,

t r a r y that a little tre e had also been planted on each tiny

tu mulus .

I learn fro m M r William Simpson that th e To mbs of

.

the Kings near Pekin are conspicuous from afar by th e ir

lofty groves of pine trees .

E vergreens I believe are specially planted upon grave s

, ,

or tumuli because they retain their greenness throughout

th e entire winter and thus as it were give continuous evi
,

dence of the vitality and activity of the indwelling spirit .

M r F ra z er has shown in Th e G olden B ough that mistl etoe

.

similarly owes its special sanctity to the fact that it visibly

holds the soul of the tree uninj ured in itself while all th e ,

surrounding branches stan d b are and lifeless Accord .

i n g ly tumuli are very frequ ently crowned by evergreens

,
.

Al most all the round barrows in southern E nglan d for ,

exampl e are topp ed by ve ry ancient Scotch firs ; and as the

,

S cotch fir is not an indigenous tree south of the Tweed ,

it is practically certain that these old pines are the d e sc e n

dants of ancestors put in by human han ds when the bar
rows were first raised over the cremate d an d buried bodies
of prehistoric C hieftains I n short the Scotch fir is in
.
,

E ngland the sacred tree of the barrows As a rule how .

,

ever in N orthern E urope the ye w is the species specially

, ,

plant ed in graveyards an d several such yews in various

,

parts of E nglan d an d Germany are held to possess a

peculiar sanctity The great clump of very ancient yew s
.
 OFFERI N GS TO TR EE S .
1 43

’
in N orbury Park near Dorking known as the Druids ,

Grove has long been considered a holy wood of remote

,

antiquity I n southern E urope the cypress replaces the

.
,

yew as the evergreen most closely connected with tombs

and cemeteries I n Provence and I taly however the ever
.
, ,

green holme oak is almost equally a conventional denizen

-

of places of interment M L a j a r d in his able essay S u r le

. .

Cu lte du Cypr es has brought together much evidence of

this worship of evergreens among the Greeks E truscans , , ,

Romans Ph oenicians Arabs Persians Hindus Chines e

, , , , , ,

and American nations .

Sacred trees especially when standing alone are treated

, ,

in many respects with the same ceremonial as is employed

towards dead bodies mummies graves sacred stones
, , , ,

sacred stakes and carved idols or statues

, I n other .

words the o fferings to the ghost or god may b e made to

,

the tree that grows on the grave j ust as well as to any

other of the recognised embodiments of the indwelling
spirit Da rwin in the Voya ge of the B ea g le describes how
.

the I ndians of South A m erica would greet with loud

shouts some sacred tree standing solit a ry on some high
,

part of the Pampas ; libations o f brand y and m a te were

poured into a hole at its b ase to gratify the soul of the deity
who dwelt there O ne of thes e tree gods had a name
.
-
,

Wa lle ec h u The Congo people again put calabashes of

.
, ,

palm wine at the foot of trees treate d as idols

-
I n other .

cases blood is smeared on th e tree ; or oil is o ffered to it

, .

’
Mr Du ff M acdonald s C entral Africans kill chickens at
.

the foot of the prayer tree and let its bl o o d trickle ,

down to the roots O ldfiel d saw at Add a co o d a h fowls an d

.

many other articles of food suspende d as o fferings to a

gig a ntic tree Sir William Hunter mentions that once a
.

year at B e e r b h o o m the Santals make Simple o fferings

”
to a ghost who dwells in a B ela tree I n Tonga the .
,

natives lay presents of food at the foot of particular trees

w hich they believe to be inhabited by S pirits I need not .
1 44 S A CR ED TR EES .

multiply in stances ; they may be foun d by the hundre d in

Dr Tylor and other great anthropological collections
. .

F urthermore the sacred tree is found in the closest pos

,

sible connection with the other in dubitably ancestral

monuments th e sacre d stone and the idol
,
A B engal .

”
village says Si r William Hunter
,
has usually its local ,

go d which it adores either in the form of a rude unhewn

,

”
ston e or a stu mp or a tree mark ed with red l ead ; th e
, ,

last b eing probably a substitut e for the blood of human or

animal victims with whi ch it was once watered Some .

ti mes a lump of clay placed under a tree does duty for a

deity ; and the att en dant priest when there is one gene , ,

rally belon gs to one of the half—Hinduised low castes The .

rud e ston e represents the n on Aryan fetish ; an d the tree -

seems to owe its sanctity to the non Aryan belief that it -

”
forms the abode of th e ghosts or go ds of the village .

That i s to say we have here ancestor worship in its undis

,
-

guised early native development .

I may mention here in bri ef that as we Shall hereafter ,

see this triple combination of stone log and tre e forms

, , ,

almost the n ormal or invariable composition of the pri mi

tive shrine th e whole worl d over .

The association of the sacred tree with actual idols or

images of deceased ancestors is well seen in the followin g
passage which I quote from D r Tylor : A clump of .

larches on a Siberian st eppe a grove in the recesses of a ,

forest is the sanctu ary of a Turanian trib e Gaily decke d

,
.
-

idols in their warm fur coats each set u p b eneath its great
,

tree swathed with cl oth or tinplate endless reindeer hides ,

-

an d peltry hanging to the trees around kettles and spoons ,

and snu ff horns an d househol d valuables strewn as o ffer

-

in gs before the gods — such is the description of a Siberian

holy grove at the stage when the contact of foreign civi
,

l isa t io n has b egun by ornamenting the rude old cere

m o n ial it must end by abolishing A race ethnologically .

alli ed t o thes e trib es though risen to higher culture k e pt

, ,

u p remarkable relics of tree worship in N orthern E urope

-
.
1 46 S A CR E D TREE S .

venerated by the ancient Prussians which was hung wit h ,

drapery like the a s h er a an d decked with little hangin g ,

images of the gods The holy trees of I reland are still

.

covered with rag o fferings O ther cases will b e notice d .

in other connexions hereafter .

O nce more j ust as stones com e to b e regarded as a u ces

,

tors so by a like pro cess do sacre d tre es Thus Galton

, .

“
says in South Africa We passed a magnificent tree I t
, .

was the paren t o f a ll the Damaras Th e savage s .

”
dan ced roun d it in great delight S everal I ndian tribes .

beli eve themselves t o be the sons of trees M any other .

cas es are noted by M r H erbert Spencer and Dr Tylor . . .

I do not think it is n ecessary for our argument to repeat

them here So m etimes however especially in late r
.
, ,

rationalising ti mes the sacred tree is merely said to have

,

b een pl anted by the god or hero whom it commemorates .

Thus the cypresses of H erakles at Daphn e were believe d

t o have b een s et on the spot by that deity while the ,

tamarisk at B eersheba was supposed to have been place d

there by Abraham .

’ ’

I hop e it i s clear from this rapid r es u m e that all th e facts

about the worship of sacred tre es stan d exactly parallel
t o thos e with regard to the worship of graves mummies , ,

idols sacre d ston es sacred stakes and other signs o f de

, , ,

parte d spirits I ndeed we have sometimes direct evidence

.
,

of such a ffiliation Thus M r Turn er says of a sacred tre e

. .

on a c ertain spot in th e islan d of Savaii which enj oyed ,

rights of sanctuary like the cities o f refuge or a medi aeval

cathedral I t is said that the king of a divisi on of U polu ,

called Atua once lived at that spot After he died the

,
.
,

hous e fell into decay but the tree was fixe d on as r e pre
sentin g the depart ed kin g and out of resp ect for h is ,

memory it was made the substitute of a livin g an d royal

protector By the light of this remark we may surely
.

interpret in a similar sense such oth er statements of M r .

Turn er s as that a sweet scented tree in another place was

’ -

h eld to b e the habitat of a househol d god and anythin g ,

 FA M IL Y TR EES .
1 47

a romati c which the family happened to get was presented

t o it as an o ffering ; or again a family god was supposed ,
”
to live in another tree and henc e no on e dared to
“

”
pluck a l eaf or break a branch F or family gods as we .
,

saw in a previous chapter are really family ghosts pro , ,

moted to be deiti es .

I n modern accounts of sacred trees much stress is

usually laid upon the fact that they are large and well
grown often ve ry conspicuous an d occupying a height
, , ,

where they serve as landmarks H ence it has frequently .

been taken for granted that they have b een selected for
worship on account of their si z e and comman ding posi
tion This however I think is a case of putting the cart
.
, , ,
’
b efore the horse as though one were to say that St Peter s
,
.

and Westminster Abbey the Temple of Karnak or the ,

M osque of O mar owed their sanctity to their imposing

,

dimensions There is every reason why a sacre d tree

.

should grow to b e exceptionally large and conspicuous .

B arrows are usually built on more or less commanding

heights where they may attract gen eral attention The
, .

ground is laboured piled high freed from weeds and e n

, , ,

riched by bloo d and other o fferings The tree b eing .

,

sacred is tended and cared for I t is n ever cut down and

,
.
,

so naturally on the average of instances grows to b e a big

and well — developed specimen H ence I hold the tree is .

usually big because it is sacred not sacred b ecause it is big , .

O n the other han d where a tree already full —

, grown is
chosen for a place of burial it would no doubt b e natural ,

to choose a large and conspicuous one Thus I read of .

’
the tree under which Dr Livingstone s heart was burie d
.

by his native servant I t is the largest in the neighbour

,

h oo df
’

Looking at the question broadly the case stands thus , .

We know that in many instances savages inter their dead

under the shade of big trees We know that such trees .

are thereafter considered sacred and worshipped with ,

blood clothes drapery o fferings We know that young

, , ,
.
1 48 S A CR E D TR EES .

shrubs or trees are frequently plant ed on graves in all

co untri es We know that whatever comes up on or out of
.

a grave is counted as represent ative of the ghost within it .

The presumption is therefore in favour of any parti cular

sacred tree b eing of funereal origin and the onus of prov
ing the opp osite lies with the p erson who asserts some
more occult and l ess obvious explanation .

At the same time I am quite ready t o allow here as in ,

previous instances when once the idea of certain trees

,

b eing sacred has grown common among men many tre es ,

may co me to poss ess by pure association a san ctity of their

own This is doubtless the case in I ndia with the peepul
.
,

an d in various other countri es with various other trees .

E xactly the same thing has happ ened to ston es And so .

,

again though I b elieve the temple to have been devel ope d

,

out of the tomb or its covering I do not deny that ,

churches are n ow built apart from tombs though a l ,

w a y s dedicat ed to the worship of a Go d who is demonstra

bly a particular deified personage .

Another point on which I must touch bri efly is that of

the sacred grove or cluster of trees These often re pre .

sent I take it the trees planted in the tem enos or sacred

, ,

tab ooed space which surrounds the primitive t omb or

te mple The kou bba s or little dome —shaped tombs of
.

M ahomme dan saints so co mmo n in N orth Africa are all

surrounded by such a walled enclosure within which orna ,

mental o r other trees are habitually planted I n many .

cases these are pal ms— the familiar sacred tre e of M eso
p otami a about which more must b e sai d hereafter in a
,

l ater chapter Th e well —know n bois s a cr é at B lid a h is a

.

c onsi derabl e grove with a kou bba in its mi dst A si milar

,
.

tem enos frequently surrounded th e E gyptian an d the Greek

temple I do not assert that these were always of n e ce s
.

s ity actu al to mb s but they were at any rate cenotaphs .

When once p eopl e had got accusto med to the idea that
certain tre es were sacre d to the memory of their ancestors
o r their gods it would b e but a slight step to plant such
,
 S A CR ED TR EES
1 50 .

ally and hung upon it weapons garments ostrich eggs

, , , ,

and other o fferings I n a sacre d acacia at N akla a go d .

dess was supposed to live The mo dern Arabs still hang .

pieces of fl esh on such sacred tre es honour them with ,

sacrifices an d present them with rags of calico and

,

coloured b eads .

As regards the Ph oenicians and Canaanites Philo ,

B y b liu s says that plants were in ancient times revered as

gods and honoured with libations and sacrifices Dr
, . .

Robertson Smith gives several instances Christianity has .

n ot extinguished the veneration for sacred trees in Syria ,

where they are still prayed to in sickness and hung with

rags The M oslems o f Pal estine also venerate the sacred
.

tre es of immemorial antiquity .

I n the H ebrew scriptures tree worship constantly a p -

pears an d is frankly dwelt with by Professor Robe rts o n

,

Smith who does not refuse to connect with this set of b e

,

liefs the l egend of Jahweh in the burning bush The local .

altars of early H ebrew cult were habitually set up under

green trees O n thi s subj ect I would refer the reader to
.

Dr S mith s own interesting disquisition on p 1 9 3 of

.
’
.

Th e R eligion of th e S em ites .

With regard to the general sacredness of vegetation an d ,

especially of food pl ants su ch as corn the vine and the -

, , ,

date palm I postpone that important subj ect for the pre
-
,

sent till we come t o consider the gods of cultivation an d

, ,

the curious set of i deas which gradually led up to sacra

mental go d eating I n a theme so vast an d s o involve d
-
.

as that of human religion it becomes necessary to take ,

on e point at a time and to deal with the various parts in ,

analyti c isolation .

W e have now examined briefly almost all the principal

sacre d obj ects of the world according to classes— th e ,

corpse the mummy the idol the sacred stone th e sacred

, , , ,

stake the sacre d tree or grove there remains but on e

,

other group of holy things very generally recognised , ,

which I do not propos e to examine separately but to ,

 S A CR ED WELLS .
1 51

which a fe w words may yet be devoted at the end of a

chapter I mean the sacred wells I t might seem at first
.
, .

s ight as if these could have no possibl e connection with

d eath or burial but that expectation is strange to say , ,

d elusive There appears to be some reason for bringing

.

w ells too into the widening category of funereal obj ects

,
.

The oxen 5 well at Acre for example was visited by C hris

, ,

tian Jewish and M oslem pilgrims ; it was therefore an

, ,

o bj ect of great ancient sanctity but observe this p oint

there is a m a s hh ed or sacred tomb beside it perhaps t he ,
”
m odern representative of the ancient M emnonium .

E very E gyptian temple had in like manner its sacred lake .

I n modern Syri a cisterns are always found b eside the

,

grave of saints and are believed to be inhabited by a sort

,

of fairy A pining child is thought to be a fairy change

.

l ing and must be lowered into the cistern

,
The simi .

l a r ity of the belief ab out holy wells in E ngland and I re

land an d their frequent association with the name of a
,

saint would seem to suggest for them a like origin

, .

S acred rivers usually rise from sacred springs near which ,

stands a templ e The river Adonis took its origin at the

.

shrine of Aphaca and the grave of Adonis about who m ,

much more must be sai d here a fter stood n ear the mouth ,

o f the holy stream that was reddened by his blood The .

sacred river B elus had also its peculiar M emnonium or

Adonis tomb But I must add that sacred rivers had like
.

wise their annual god victims about whom we shall have a

-
,

g reat deal to say a t a later stage of our enqui ry an d fro m ,

whom in part they prob ably derived their sanctity Still .

,

that their holiness was also due in part and originally to , ,

tombs at their sources I think admits of no reasonable ,

d oub t
The equivalence of the holy well and the holy stone is
s hown by the fact that while a woman whos e chastity was

suspected had to drink water of a sacred spring to prove

h e r innocence at M ecca Sh e had to swear seventy oaths
,

b y the Kaaba .
 S A CR ED TREES
52 .

Again sacred wells an d fountains were and are wor

,

shippe d with j ust the same acts of sacrifice as ghosts and

i mages At Aphaca the pilgrims cast into the holy pool
.
,

j ewel s of gol d and silver with webs of linen and other ,

precious stu ffs A holy grove was an adj un ct of the hol y

.

spring in Greece according to B Ottich e r they were sel

, ,

dom separated At the annual fair of the Sacred Tere

.

b in t h or tree and well of Abraham at M amre the heathe n

, ,

V i sitors o ffered sacrifices b eside the tree an d cast into th e ,

w el l libations of wine with cakes coins myrrh an d in , , , ,

c ense all of whi ch we may compare with the O styak o f

fe r in g s t o ancestral grave stakes At the holy waters of -
.

K arwa bread fruit and other foods were laid b eside th e

, , ,

fount ain At M ecca and at the Stygian Waters in the

.
,

Syrian desert si milar gifts were cast into the holy source
,

I n on e of these instances at least we know that th e holy

well was associated with an actual burial for at Aphaca ,

the holi est shrine of Syria the tomb of the l ocal B aal o r ,
“
go d was Shown beside the sacred fountain A burie d .

”
go d says D r Robertson Smith quaintly in commentin g
,
.
,
”
on this fact is a god that dwells under groun d It
“
.
,

woul d b e far truer and more philosophical to say that a

go d who dwells un dergroun d is a buri ed man .

I n e ed not recall the o fferings to C ornish an d I rish well

spirits which have now degenerated for the most part int o
,

pins and n eedles .

O n the whol e though it is impossibl e to understan d the

,

entire gen esis of sacred founts an d rivers without previou s

con sideration of delib erate god — making a subj ect whi ch I ,

reserve for a later portion of our exposi ti on I do not think ,

we shall go far wron g in supposing that the sacred well

most often occurs in company with the sacre d tree t h e ,

sacred ston e or altar and the sacred tomb and that it ,

owes its san ctity in the last resort originally at least to , ,

a burial by its si de ; though I do not doubt that thi s

s anctity was in many cases kept up by the annual immo
lation of a fresh victim god of a typ e whos e genesis will -
,
 TH E G O D S OF E G YP T
1 54 .

C H APT E R VII I .

TH E G OD S OF EG YP T .

WE have now co mpleted our preliminary su rvey of the

nature an d origin of God s in gen eral We have seen how .

men first cam e to believe in the obj ective existence of

these powerful and invisible beings how they learnt to ,

invest them with maj estic attributes and how they grew ,

to worship them under the vari ous forms of mummies or

b oulders stone or wood en i dols trees or stu mps wells
, , , ,

rivers an d fountains I n short we have bri efly arrived

,
.
,

at the origin of Polytheism We have now to go o n to

.

our second question— H ow from the belief in many go ds

di d men progress to th e belief in one singl e God the ,

creator and u phol der of all things O ur task is now to

reconstruct the origin of M onotheism .

But M onotheism bases itself entirely upon the great

Go d of the H ebrews To him therefore we must next
.
, ,

address ourselves I s he too resoluble as I hinte d b e

.
,

fore into a Sacred Stone the monu ment and repres enta
, ,

tive of some prehistori c C hi eftain ? C a n we trace th e

o ri gin of the D eity of C hristendom till we fin d him at last

in a forgotten S emitic ghost of the earliest perio d

The chief H ebrew go d Jahweh when we first catch a ,

passin g gl impse of his primitive worshi p by his own peo

ple was but on e among a numb er of comp eting deiti es
, ,

mostly it would appear embo died by their votaries in the

, ,

visibl e form of ston e or wooden pillars and adored by a ,

small group of loosely connected tribes amon g the moun

-

tain region in the southwest of Syria The confederacy .

 IS RA EL I N EG YP T .
1
55

a mong whom he dwelt knew themselves as the Sons of

I srael they regarded Jahweh as their principal god much ,

as the Greeks did Zeus or the early Teutons their n ational

,

h ero Wode n B ut a universal tradition among them bore

.

witness to the fact that they had once lived in a subj ect
con dition in E gypt the hous e of bondage and that their
, ,

g o d Jahweh had b een instrumental in leading them thenc e

into the rugged land they inhabited throughout the whole
h istorical p eriod between the valley of Jordan an d th e
,

M editerranean coast . So consistent and so definit e was

this traditi onal belief that we can hardly reg a rd it other
wise than as enclosing a kernel of truth and not only do
K u e n e n and other Semitic scholars of the present day
a dmit it as genuine but the E gyptologists also seem gen
,

e r a l ly to allow its substantial accuracy a n d full accord with

h ieroglyphic literature This soj ourn in E gypt cannot

.

have failed to influence to some extent the Semitic stran

gers therefore I sh a ll b egin my quest of the H ebrew go d
a mong the E gyptian monuments Admitting that h e was
.

essentially in a ll respects a deity of the true Semitic pat

tern I think it will do us good to learn a little b eforehand
,

about the people among whom his votaries dwelt so long ,

e specially as the history of the E gyptian cults a ffords us

perhaps the best historical example of th e growth and de

v e lo p m e n t of a great national religion .

A peculiar in terest indeed attaches in the history of

, ,

t h e human mind to the evolution of the gods of E g ypt .

N owhere else in the world can we trace so well such a con

t in u o u s development from the very simplest beginnings
o f religious ideas to the very highest planes of mysticism

and philosophic theology There are savage cults it is

.
,

t rue which Show us more clearly the earliest st a ges in the

,

p rocess whereby the simpl e an cestral ghost passes im

perceptibl y into the more powerful form of a supernatural
d eity : there are elevated civilised creeds whi ch Show us
m ore grandly in its evolved shape the final con ception of a

s ingle supreme Ruler of the C osmos But there is n o

.
1 56 TH E G O D S OF EG YP T .

other reli gi ous system known to us in whi ch we can follo w

so readily without a single break the whole evolutionar y
, ,

movement whereby th e earlier i deas get gradually ex

p a n d e d and etherealised into the later The origin of t h e .

other great historical reli gions is lost from our eyes amon g
dim mists of fabl e in E gypt alo ne of all civilised coun ,

tries do es our record go b ack t o the remote period when

,

the religi ous conc eption was still at the co mmon savage
l evel an d follow it forward continuously to the advance d
,

p oint where it had all but achieved in its syn cretic move ,

m ent the ultimate goal of pure monotheism

, .

I woul d wish however to b egin my review of this singu

, ,

lar history by sayi ng once for all that while I make n o pre
, ,

t ension s to special E g y ptological knowledge I must never ,

t h e l ess dissent on gen eral anthropological groun ds from

the attitu de taken up by M r Le Page Renouf in his .

L ectu res on the R eligion o f A ncien t Egypt That learned .

’
writer s work indeed is sci entifically Speaking half a cen
, , , ,

tury behin d its time I t is written as though the doctrin e

.

of evolution had never be en promulgat ed an d every page

contains glarin g contradictions of the most el ementary
principl es of human development M r Renouf still a d . .

heres to the discredited id eas that polytheism grew out o f

an antecedent mon otheism that animal —worship and
other low forms of adorati on are symbolical in origin
an d that the sublimer portions of the E gyptian religion
“

are not the comparatively late result of a pro cess of de

v e l o p m e n t or elimination from the grosser Such theo
ri es woul d of themselves b e extrem ely improbable even on ,

the fullest an d best evidence but the evi dence which Mr .

Renouf bri n gs forward to support them is of the fl im sie st

d escriptio n A pl ain survey of th e E gyptian monument s
.

in the N ile valle y and of the known facts ab out E gyptian

,

religion will l ead any unbiassed mind fre e from the warp
, ,

in g influence of preconcepti on and accustomed to wi d e ,

anthropologi cal enquiry to precisely opposit e an d more ,

probabl e c on clusi ons F or it must b e carefully born e in

.
1 58 TH E G O DS OF E G YP T .

c e st o r or kinsman sometimes the greater deified mum

,

mies of immemori al antiquity bl en ded in the later syn ,

creti c mysticism with th e sun go d an d other all egorical -

d eities but represente d to the very last in all ages of a rt

,

o n the shattere d Rameseum at Thebes or the Ptolemaic

pillars of still unshaken D end erah— as always u n m ist a k a
bl e an d obvious mummies I f ever there was a country
.

where the \Vo r sh ip of the D ead was pu shed to an extreme ,

that country was distinctly and decisively E gypt .

Th e oldest sculptures show u s no acts of adorati on o r

of sacrifice says M r L o ftie
, except those of worship at
.
,

”
the shrine of a deceas ed ancestor or relative This is .

fully in keepin g with what we know of the dawn of religion

elsewhere an d with th e immens e importance always a t
,

t a ch e d t o the preservation of the mummy intact through

out the whole long course of E gypti an history Th e .

E gyptian in spite of his high civilisation remaine d alway s

, ,

at the first or corpse —pres erving stage of custom as re

gards the dead To him therefore the life after death
.
, ,

was far more serious than th e life on e arth he realised it

so fully that he made en dless prep arations for it durin g his
days above an d built himself a tomb as an eternal man
,

sion The grave was a place of abo de where the mummy

.
,

was to pass the greater part of his existence an d even

in the case of private persons ( like that famous Tih whos e
pai nted sepulchre at Sa kk a r a h every tou rist to C airo
makes a point of visiting) it was sumptuously decorate d
with paintin g an d scul pture I n the mortua ry chamb ers
.

or chapels attached to the tombs th e relations of the d e ,

c ease d an d the pri ests of the cemet ery celebrate d on cer

tain fixed dates various ceremonies in honour of the dead ,

an d o ffere d appropriate gifts to th e mummy within .

“
The tables of o fferings which n o d oubt formed part o f
,

the furniture of the chambers are depicted o n the walls , ,

covered with the gifts of meat fruits bread an d win e , , ,

”
whi ch had to be presented in kind These pa renta lia u n .

doubtedly forme d the main feature of the practical re

 TH E T OM B A TEM P LE .
1 59

lig io n of early E gypt as exhibited to us on all the monu

,

ments except the late tomb — caves of royal personages d e ,

voted to the worship of the equally mummified great gods .

The E gyptian tomb was usually a survival of the cave

artificiall y imitated The outer chamb er in which the
.
,

ceremon i es of the o ffe rtory took place was the only part ,

accessible after the interment had been completed to the

, ,

feet o f survivors The m u mmy itself conceal ed in its

.
,

sarcophagus lay at the bottom of a deep pit b eyond by

, ,

the en d of a corridor often containing statues or idols of

the deceased These idols says M M aspero were in d e fi
.
, .
,

n it e ly multiplied in case the mummy itself should be a c

,

c id e n t a lly destro y ed in order that the Ka ( the ghost or

,

double ) might find a safe dwelling place C ompare -

.

the numerous little im a ges placed upon the grave by the

C oast N egroes I t was the outer chamber however that
.
, ,

sheltered the s tele or pillar which bore the epitaph as well ,

as the altar or table for o fferings the smoke from which ,

was conveyed to the statues in the corridor through a

small aperture in the wall of partition Down th e well .

b eyond the mummy in person reposed in its eternal dwel

, ,

ling place free from all chance of violation or outrage

-
,
.

“
The greatest i mportance says M r Renouf was a t ,
’
.
,

t a c h e d to the permanence of the tomb to the continuanc e ,

of the religious ceremonies an d to the prayers of passers ,

“
by . Again there is a very common formula stating
,

that the person who raised the tablet made it as a memo ~

rial to his fathers who are in the nether world built up ,

what he found was imperfect and renewed what was foun d ,

out of repair I n the inscription on on e of the great

.
’

tombs at B eni — H assan the founder says I made to fl o u

rish the name of m y father and I bu i lt chapels for his ka ,

[or ghost ! I caused statu es to b e conveyed to the holy

.

dwelling and distributed to them their o fferings in pure

,

gifts I instituted th e o fficiating priest to whom I gave

.
,

d onations in l and and presents I ordered funeral o ffer .

ings for all the feasts of the n ether world [which are then
1 60 TH E G O D S OF EG YP T .

enumerated at consi derabl e length ! I f it happen that t h e .

pri est or any other cease to do this may he not exist an d , ,

”
may his so n n ot Sit in his s eat All this is highly in .

stru ctive from the point of vi ew of the origin of pri esthoo d .

H ow lon g these early religious endowments con tinu ed

to b e resp ected is shown by M r Renouf himself in one .

instru ctive passage The kings who built the P y ramids

.

i n the E arly E mpire en dowe d a priestly o ffice for the

purpose of cel ebrating the p eriodical rites of o ffering to
their ghosts or mu mmi es N ow a tablet in the Louvre .
,

shows that a certain person who live d under the Twenty

sixth Dyn asty was priest of Khufu th e builder of the ,

Great Pyramid who had en dowed the o ffice two thousan d

,

years b efore his time We have actually the to mbs of

.

some of his predecessors who fill ed the sam e o ffice imme

d ia t e ly after K h u fu s death
’
So that i n this instanc e at.

least the worship of the decease d monarch continu ed for

,

a couple of thousand years without interruption If in

the case of private int erments says M M aspero we , .
,

find n o proof of so persistent a ven eration that is b ecaus e ,

in ordinary tombs the ceremonies were performed not by

Sp ecial priests but by the chil dren or descen dants of th e
,

deceased p erson O ften at the en d of a few generations

.
, ,

eith er through negligence removal s ruin or extinctio n , , ,

of the family th e cult was suspen ded and the memory of

, ,
”
th e dead died out altogether .

F or this reason as everywhere els e among an cestor

,

worshipp ers immense importance was attache d by the

,

E gypti ans to the begetting of a son who should p erform

th e du e family rites or see that they were performed by
,

others after him The duty of un dertaking these rites is

.

thorou ghly insisted upon in all the maxims or moral texts

while on the oth er hand the wish that a man may not have
,

a son to p erform them for him is the most terribl e of all

ancien t E gyptian imprecations M any c enturies after .

the constru ction of a tomb E gyptian travellers have l eft ,

a record upon its walls of th e spl endour of the sacre d

1 62 TH E G O D S OF E G YP T .

o ffi cers of state still destined to att en d u pon their sove

,

reign in the n ether worl d Some of the mural p ai ntings .

would even seem to suggest that slaves or captives were

sacrifice d at the tomb to se r ve their lord in his eternal ,

home as his courtiers had s erved him in the te m poral

,

palaces o f M edinet —H abu or the corridors of Luxor .

M M ariette has further shown that the huge Th eb an

.

templ es which skirt in long line the edge of the dese rt near
the Valley of Tombs were really cenotaphs where the
m emory of the kings buried hard by was pres erved an d
worshipp ed Thus the Rameseum was the m a s ta ba h o r
.

mortuary chap el for the tomb and ghost of Rameses I I .

the templ e of M edinet H abu fulfilled the same purpose for

-

Ram eses I II ; the t emple of Ku r n e h for Rameses I ;

. .

an d so forth throughout the whole long series of thos e

gigantic ruins with their correlated group of subterranean
,

excavations .

At any rate it is quite impossible for any impartial p er

,

son to examine the existing monuments which lin e th e

grey desert hills of the N il e without seeing for himself
that the mummy is everywhere the central obj ect of
worship— that the entire practical religion of the peopl e
was based upon this all pe rvading sens e of the continuity -

o f life b ey o nd the grave and upon the necessity for pay ,

ing due reverence and funereal o fferings to the m anes of

an cestors E verything in E gypt points to this on e con
.

c lu s io n E ven the great sacred ritual is the B ook of th e

.

D ead : and the very word by which the dep arted are
”
often est described means itself the living from the firm ,

b eli ef of the p eopl e that they were really enj oying ever
lastin g life M ors j a nu a vi ta is the short sum m ing —
.
u p of ’

E gyptian religiou s n otions D eath was the great begin .

ning for whi ch they all prepared and the dead were th e ,

real obj ects of their most assiduous publi c and privat e

worship .

M oreover in the tombs themselves we can trace a

,

gradual devel opment of the religious sentiment fro m .

 TH E G E R AT GO D S .
1 63

Corpse Worship to God Worship

-
Thus in the to mb s
-
.
,

of Sa kk ara h b elonging to the O ld E mpire

, ( F ifth D y
n asty ) all those s y mbolical representations of the life b e
,

yon d th e tomb which came in with the later mysticism are

a lmost wholly wanting The quotations from ( or antici
.

p a t io n s of ) the B ook of t h e D ead are few and short The .

great gods are rarely alluded to Again in the grottos .

,

of B eni H assan ( of the Twelfth Dynasty ) the paintings

-

mostl y represent scenes from the life of the deceased and ,

the mystic Signs and deities are still absent The doctrine .

of rewards and punishments remains as yet comparatively

in abeyance I t is only at the To mbs of the Kings at
.

Thebes ( o f the E ighteenth Dynasty ) that entire chapt ers

of the B ook of the Dead are transcribed at l ength an d the ,

walls are covered with a whole army of grotesqu e and

”
fantastic divinities .

“
But the E gyptians it will be obj ected had also
, ,

great gods disti n ct from their ancestors— national or

,

local or common gods —

,

, whose n ames and figures have

”
come down to us inscribed upon all th e monuments .

Quite true th a t is t o say there are gods who are n ot ,

immediately or certainly resolvabl e into deified ancestors

—gods whose power and might were at last widely ex
tended and who became tra n sfi g u r e d by degrees b eyon d
,

all recognition in the latest ages B ut it is by no means .

certain even so that we cannot trace these greater go ds

. , [

themselves back in the last resort to deifie d ancestors of

various ruling famili es or dominant cities and in one or
two of the most important cases the suggestions of such
an origin are far from scant y .

I will take to begin with one typical exampl e

, There , .

is no single go d in the E g yptian pantheon more important

or more universally di ffused than O siris I n later forms .

of the national religion he is el evated into the j udge of ,

the departed an d king of th e nether worl d to b e j usti

”
fi e d by O siris or as later interpreters say
, ,
a j ustifie d ,

O siris is t h e prayer of every corpse as set forth in his

,
1 64 TH E G O DS OF E G YP T .

funeral inscription and i dentification with O siris is

looke d upon as the reward of all the happy and faithful
dead N ow O siris in every one of his representations
.
,

and mo des is simply— a M ummy H is myth to b e sur e

,
.
, ,

assumed at last immense proportions and his relations

with I sis an d H orus form the centre o f an endl ess series
of irreconcilabl e tales rep eate d over an d over agai n in
,

art and literature If we t ook mythology as our guide

.
,

instead of the monu ments we should b e tempted to give ,

him far other origin s H e is i dentified often with other

.

g ods especially with Amen

,
and the d isentanglement of
his personality in the monuments of the newer empir e ,

when Ra the sun go d got mixe d up inextricably with so

,
-
,

many other deiti es is parti cularly di fficult B ut if we

, .

neglect thes e later complications of a very an cient cult ,

an d go back to the simpl est ori gin of E gyptian history an d

religion we shall I think se e that this mystic go d s o
, , , ,

often explained away by elemental symbolism into the sun

o r the home of the d ead was in his first beginnings n othing ,

more or l ess than what all his pictures and statues sh o w

him to b e a revere d an d worshippe d M ummy a very
-
,

a ncient chief or king of the town or little district of This

by Abydos .

I do not deny that in later ages O siris b ecame much

more than this N or do I deny that his name was a c
.

c e p t e d as a symbol for all th e happy an d pious dead .

F urthermore we shall find at a later stage that he was

,

i dentified in the en d with an annual slain C orn Go d I -

.

will even allow that there may have b een more than on e
o riginal O siris
— that the word may even at first have b een
generi c not specific B ut I still maintai n that th e e v i
,
.

dence shows u s the great an d principal O siris of all as a

D ead C hi ef of Abydos .

W e must remember that in E gypt alon e history goes

b ack to an immense antiquity an d yet shows us already at
its very beginning an advanced civilisation and a develope d
p icture writing Therefore the very ol dest known state
-
.
1 66 TH E G O DS OF E G YP T .

a village near Abydos wh e r a huge moun d of rubbish

,
’
still marks the site of the great deity s resting place The -
.

latter town is describ ed i n the H arris papyrus as Abud ,

the han d of O siris an d in the monuments whi ch still t e

main a t that site O siris is everywhere the chief deity rep
,

resented to whom kings and pri ests pres ent appropriate

,

o fferings B ut it i s a significant fact that M enes the

.
,

foun der of the united mon archy was born at the same ,

place an d this suggests the prob ability that O siri s may

have b een the most sacre d an d most venerate d of M e n e s s ’

anc estors The su ggesti on derives further weight from

.

the fact that O siris is invariably represented as a mummy ,

an d that he wears a peculiar head —dress or cap of o ffic e ,

the same as that which was used in histori cal times as the
crown of U pper E gypt H e also holds in his hands the
.

cro o k and scourge which are the marks of kingly o ffice

the crook to lead his own p eo pl e like a shepherd th e ,

scourge to punish evil —doers and to ward o ff enemi es H is .

image is therefore nothing more nor less than the image

of a M ummied King So meti mes too he wears i n a d
.
, ,

diti on the regal ostrich plumes Surely naught save the .

,

blin d infatuati on of mythologists could make them over

look the plain inferen ce that O siris was a mummified chief
of Abyd o s in the days before the unification of E g y pt
un der a singl e rul e an d that h e was worshi pped by his
,

suc cessors in the p etty principality exactly as we know

other kingly mu mmi es were worshipped by their family
elsewhere — ex actly for example as o n th e famous Tabl et
, ,

of Ancestors found at Abydos itself S et h i I an d Rameses , .

I I are seen o ffering homage to seventy six historical

.
-

ki n gs their predecessors on the thron e of U nited E gypt

,
.

N ot only however is O siris represented as a king and a

, ,

mummy bu t we are expressly tol d by Plut arch ( or at least

,

by the author of the tract D e Os ir ide which b ears his

n ame ) that the t omb of O siris existed at Abydos and that ,

the r i ch est and most powerful of the E gyptians were de

siro n s of being burie d i n th e adj acent cemetery in ord er ,
 G R O WTH OF O S I RI S WO R SH IP - .
1 67

t hat they might li e as it were in the same grave with the

, ,

g reat god of their country All this is perfectly compre .

h e n sib le and natural if we suppose that a Th in it e dynasty

first conquered the whol e of E gypt that it extended the
worship of its own local ancestor go d over the entire -

country and that in time when this worship had assume d ,

national importance the local god became the chief figure

,

in the common pantheon .

I had a rrived at this opinion independently before I was

aw a re that M r L o ft ie had anticipated me in it B ut in
. .

his rare and interesting Essa y on S ca r a bs I find he has

reached the same conclusions .

Th e divinity of Ph a r a oh says Mr L o ftie was the ,

.
,

first article in the creed of the pyramid p erio d the earliest ,

of which we know a nything As time went on though .

,

the king was still c a lled divine we see him enga ge d in the ,

worship of other g o ds At l a st he a pp ears as a priest him

.

self and when H erodotus and the later Greek historians

sited E gypt there was so little of this part of the old
,

religion left th a t it is not even mentioned by them as a

matter of importance This is quite natural I may r e
.
,

mark parenthetically for as the antiquity and grandeur of

,

the gre a t gods incre a sed the gulf between them and mere
,

men even th o ugh those men were kings their o ffspring

, , ,

must always have grown ever wider and wider I have .

”
m yself no doubt whatever M r L o ftie goes on that the, .
,

n a mes of O siris a n d of Horus are those of ancient rulers .

I think that long before authenti c history begins Asar

, ,

an d Aset his wife reigne d in E gypt probably in that wi de ,

valley of the U pper N ile which is now the site of G irg e h

”
an d B erb e ( exactly where I place the principality of
O siris ) . Their son was H or or Horus the first king of , ,

U pper and Lower E gypt ; and the H or se sh o o the suc ,

’

c e sso r s of Horus are not obscurely mention ed by later

,

chroniclers I know that this V iew is not shared by all

.

students of the subj ect and much learning and ingenuity

,

h ave been spent to prove that Asar and Aset and H o r , , ,

1 68 TH E G O D S OF EG YP T .

an d Ptah and Anep are representations of the powers o f

, ,

n ature that they do not point t o anci ent princ es b ut to ,

ancient prin ciples ; and that H orus and his su ccessors are
go ds and were never men B ut in th e oldest ins cription s .

we fin d none of that mysticism whi ch i s shown in the s cul p

tures from the time of the eighteenth dynasty down t o
the Ptolemies and the Roman E mperors I n short M r .
,
.

L o ft ie goes on to set forth a theory of th e origin of th e

great gods essentially similar to the one I am here defen d
ing .

Though a little out of place I cannot help noting here ,

the curious confirmatory fact that a number of ibis mum

mies have be en found at Ab y dos in close proximit y to the
mound where M M ariette confidently expected to dis
.

cover in the rock the actu al tomb of O siris himself .

H en ce we may con clu de that the ibis was in all probabilit y

the totem o f Abydos or This as the bull was o f M emphis , ,

the crocodile of the F ayoum the cat of B u b a s tis and th e , ,

b aboon of Thebes No w the ibis —god o f Ab y dos is

.
,

Thoth ; an d it is n o teworthy that Thoth as recorder a l , ,

w a ys acco m panies O siris in later l egend as j udge of t h e

, ,

dead : the local mummy — god in other words has as his , ,

assessor the local totem g o d ; and both are commonl y to

-

b e seen on th e monuments of Abydos in company with ,

H oru s Anubis I sis and other ( probably ) local divinities

, , , .

I t is quite easy to see how with this o ri gin O siris woul d , ,

almost inevitably grow with time to b e the Ki n g of th e

Dead an d supreme j udge of the n ether regions F or a s
,
.
,

the most sacred of th e ancestors of the regal line he woul d .

n aturally be the on e whom the kings in their turn , ,

would most s eek to propitiate and whom th ey woul d ,

l ook forward to j oining in their eternal home As the .

myth exten d ed and as mystical int erpretations b egan to

,

cre ep in identifications bei n g made of the gods with th e

,

sun or other natural energies the ori ginal meaning of ,

O siris —worship would grow gradually obscured B ut t o .

the last O siris himself in spite of all corruptions is re pr e

, , ,
1 70 TH E G O DS OF EG YP T .

simpler stel ae an d me morials of the earliest age sel do m

contain the names of any go d but display votaries making ,

o fferings at the Shrine of ancestors Similarly the scenes .

,

represented on the walls of tombs of early date b ear no

reference to the great gods of later ages but are merely ,

d omestic an d agricultural in character as may b e obs erved ,

at Sa k k a r a h and even to so me extent also at B eni — H assan .

U nder the Sixth Dynasty the monuments b egin to make

,

more an d more frequent mention of O siris who now ,

comes to b e regarded as Judge of the D ead and Lord o f

the Lower Worl d ; and o n a t ablet of this age in the
B o u la k M useum occurs for the first ti me the expression
”
afterwards so co mmon j u stified by O siris
, U nder the .

Twelfth Dynasty legend becomes more promin ent a solar

,

and lunar character seems to be given by reflex to O siris

and I sis : an d the name of Ra the sun is add ed to th a t of, ,

many previously distinct and independent deiti es Khem .

,

the ithyphallic god o f the Thebaid now also assumes ,

greater importance as is quite n atural under a line o f

,

Theban princes : and Khem a local mummy go d is a lways

,
-
,

represented in his swathing clothes a n d afterwards con

-
,

foun ded certainly with Amen an d probably also with the

, ,

mummy go d of Abydos B ut O siris from this time for

-
.

ward rises distinctly into the front rank as a deity To .

him rather than to the dead the friends and family o ffer
, ,

their sacrifices A court is formed for him Thoth the

. .
,

recorder [totem — god of Abydos ! Anubis the watcher Ra , ,

th e impersonation of truth and others assist in j udgment

, ,
”
o n th e soul The name of the deceased is henceforth
“
constan tly accompani ed by the formula j ustified by
”
O siris . About the s am e time the B ook of the D ead i n
its full form came into existence with its developed con ,

ce p t io n of the lower world an d its complicated arrange

,

m ent of planes of purgatorial progress .

U nder th e E ighteenth Dynasty the legend thickens ,

the identification s of the gods become more an d m ore in

t r ic a t e Amen and Ra are sought an d found under in
 TH E S YN C E I C R T TEN DEN C Y .
1 71

numerable forms o f other deities ; an d a foundation is laid

for the esoteri c M onotheism or pantheistic nature— wor ship
of the later philosophising priesthood I t was under the .

N ineteenth Dyn a sty that the cult of local Triads or

Trinities took fullest shape and that the mystical in te rp re ,

t a ti o n of the religion of E gypt came well into the fore

g round The great O sirian myth was then more and

.

more minutely and mystically elaborated ; and even the

bull Apis the totem god of M emphis was recognised as a
,
-
,

S pecial incarnati o n of O siris who thus becomes wit h , ,

Amen the mysterious summing u p of almost all the na

,
-

t io n a l pantheon At last we find the myth going o ff into

.

pure mysticism O siris being at once the father brother

, , ,

husband a n d so n of I sis and also the son of his o w n child

, ,

H orus * Sentences with a n a lmost Athanasian mixture

.

o f vagueness a n d d e fi n it e n e ss in form us how the son

proceeds from the father and the father proceeds from his ,

son how Ra is the soul of O siris and O siris t h e soul of ,

Ra and how Horus his child awakene d by magical rite s ,

from his dead body is victorious over Set the prin ce of , ,

darkness and Sits as O siris upon the throne of the father

,

whom he has revived and avenged H ere as elsewhere .

the myth instead of being the explanation of the god

, ,

d o es n o thing more than darken counsel .

I n like manner I b elieve Ptah was originally a local

, ,

m ummy — god of M emphis and Khem of Ap afterwards , ,

known as C hemmis .

This gradual growth of a dead and mummified village

chief however into a pantheistic god stran ge as it may
, , ,

seem is n ot in any way more remarkabl e than the gradual

,

*“ St o r i e s l ik e O s r s m yth
th e i i
s a ys M r La n g s p r n g fr o m no .
, i
,

p u re r e li g i
o u s s o u rce , b u t e m b o d y t h e d e l u s o n s a n d f a n t a s t c d r e a m s i i
v
o f t h e l o w e s t a n d l e a s t d e e l o p e d h u m a n fa n c y a n d h u m a n s p e c u l a t o n i .

i i
T h s s e n t e n c e e n fo r c e s p re c s e l y t h e s a m e d e a t h a t I h a e p re o u s l y i v vi
e xp r e s se d i n c h a p t e r ii i
a s t o t h e r e a l r e l a t o n s o f re l g o n a n d m y t h o l
. i i
og y . i
T h e m y t h n o w h e r e e x p l a n s t h e c u l t ; i t ca s t s n o l g h t u p o n i t s i
i i i
o r g n o r h s t o r y ; o n t h e c o n t r a r y i t o n l y o b s c u r e s a n d o e rs h a d o w s
, v
t h e u nde r l y ng i k
e r n e l o f g e n u n e fa c t i .
1 72 TH E G O DS OF E G YP T .

growth of a Galilean peasant into the second person of a n

eternal an d omnipotent Godhead N or does the myth .

of the death and resurrection of O siris ( to b e consi dere d

hereafter in a later chapter) militate again st the reality
of his human existence any more than the history of t h e
death and resurrection of Jesus C hrist militates against t h e
human existen ce of Jesus of N azareth Gross an d crud e .

euhemerism may b e b a d ; but airy an d fantasti c M ax

m ii lle r i s m appears to me j ust as u n p h iIO SO p h i ca l .

Th e di ffi culty of the evolution indeed is not at all great

, , ,

i f we consider the further fact that even after the concept

of godship had b een fully d evel op ed the king still re ,

mained of like nature with the gods their son an d d e sc e n ,

d ant a divine p ers o nage himself di ffering from them only

, ,

in not having yet received eternal life th e symbol of which ,

they are often shown in sculpture as presenting wit h

gracious expressions t o their favoured scion The rulin g .

sovereign o f E gypt says M r Le Page Ren o uf was th e

, .
,

living image of an d vicegerent of the sun god H e was -

.

investe d w ith the attributes of divinity an d that in th e ,

”
earliest times of which we possess monumental evi dence .

An d quite naturally for in antiqu e times gods had rule d

,

in E gypt whose successor the king was : an d the kings

,

b efore M enes were Significantly known as the successors

”
of H orus . As lat e as the times of the Ptolemi es we saw , ,

there were priests of M enes and other Pharaohs of the mos t

ancient dynasties The pyrami d kings took the titl e of the
.

Golden H orus afterwards copied by their descendants ;

,

an d from C hafra onward the reigning monarch wa s known

as th e Son of R a an d the Great God Ameno phis I I . .
,

during his own lifetime is a god good like Ra the sacred

, ,

”
seed o f Amen the son whom he b egot
,
And on all the .

monu m ents the kin g i s represented of the same su per

human stature as the gods themselves : he converses with
them on equal terms ; they lead him by the han d int o
their in most sanctuaries or present him with the symbol s
,

of roya l r u le and of et ernal life like frien ds of the family

, .
 TH E G O D S OF E G YP T
1 74 .

regimental goat or deer ) an d that from b eing at first

petted domesticate d an d to som e extent respected o n
, ,

this account it may have grown at last through a con

, ,

fusion of id e a s to share the same sort of divine honours

,

which were p a id to the ghosts of ancestors and t h e gods

evolve d from them B ut M r F razer has suggested a
. .

b etter origin of totemism from the doctrin e of the Sepa

rable Soul which is up t o date th e b est explanation yet
, , ,

o ffered of this obscure subj ect B e that as it may if the .

,

totems were only gradually elevate d int o divinities we ,

’
can easily u nderstand M r R e n o u f s remark that the long .

s eries of tomb s of the A pis bulls at Sa kk a ra h Shows how

immeasurably greater the devotion to the sacred animal s
”
was in the later ti mes than in th e former .

M ay I add that the w or s hip o f totems as distin ct from ,

the mere ca re implied by M r F raz er s suggestion very .

’
,

probably aros e from the custom of ca rvin g the totem

animal of the deceased on the grave stake o r grav e -

board This custom is still universal among the I ndian

trib es of N orthwestern America .

N evertheless whatever be the true ori gin of the totem

,

gods I do not think totemism militates in any way against

,

the general principl e of the evolution of th e i dea of a go d

from the ghost th e D ead M an or the dei fied ancestor
, ,
.

F or only after the con cept of a go d had been forme d from

ancestor cult and only after worship had b een evolved
-
,

from the customary o fferin gs to the mummy or spirit at

the tomb could any other obj ect by any possibility b e
,

el evate d to the go dhead N or on the other han d as I .

, ,

have before remarked do I feel inclin ed wholly to agre e

,

with M r Sp encer that every individual go d was n e ce s

.

s a r ily once a particular D ead M an I t seems to me in .

dubitabl e that after the i dea of godhead had becom e fully

fixed in th e human mind som e gods at least began to b e ,

recogn ised who were directly framed either from abstract

conceptions from n atural obj ects or from pure outburst s
, ,

o f the mythop oei c faculty I do not thi n k therefo re that

.
, ,
 EG YP TI A N To TEM -G O DS .
1 75

the existenc e of a certain ( relatively unimportant ) class of

totem gods in E gypt or elsewhere is necessarily in c o n
-

sistent in any way with our main theory of the origin of

godhead .

B e this as it may it is at any rate clear that totemism ,

itself was a very ancient and widespread institutio n in

early E gypt Totems are defined by M r F ra z er as a
. .

class of material obj ects which a savage regards with

superstitious respect beli eving that there exists between ,

him and every m ember of the class an intimate and alto

”
gether special relation O bservation of existing totem .

tribes in Africa Australia and elsewhere says Sir M artin

, , ,

C onway shows us th a t one or more representatives of

,

the totem are often fed or even kept alive in captivity by

”
the tribe M r F raz er tells us that amongst the N ar
. .

r in ye r i in South Australia men of the snake clan so me ,

times catch sn a kes pull out their teeth or sew up their , ,

mouths and keep them as pets

,
I n a pigeon clan of .

Samoa a pigeon was carefully kept and fed Amongst the .

Kalong in Java whose tot e m is a red dog each family as a

, ,

rule keeps on e of these animals which they will on no ,

”
account allow to b e struck or ill used by any one I n the -
.

same way no doubt certain E gyptian clans kept sacred

, ,

bulls cats crocodil es hawks j a ck a ls cobras lizards ibises

, , , , , , , ,

a sps and beetles

, M ummies of most of these sacred ani
.

mals and littl e images of others are common in the neigh

, ,

b o u r h o o d of certain places where they were specially wor

shipped .

Whether the animal —headed gods represent a later stage

of the same totem worship or whether they stan d merely -
,

for real ancestor gods belonging to a particular totem

-

clan and therefore represented b y its totem is not a ques

, ,

tion e a sily settled But at any rate it is clear that many

.

gods are the equivalents of such totem — animals as is the ,

case with the hawk headed H orus the j ackal headed -

,
-

Anubis th e cow headed Athor the ram —

,
headed Kn u m
-
, ,

the cat headed Pasht the lion headed Sekhet the ibis
-
,
-
,
 1 76 TH E G ODS OF EG YP T .

headed Thoth and the kestrel — head ed Khons Thes e

,
.

gods app ear on the earlier monuments as beasts alone not ,

as human forms with b estial heads Till the Twelfth .

Dynasty when a totem —go d is mentioned ( which is not

,
”
often ) ,
he is repres ented says M r F linders P etrie by , .
,

his anim a l Anubis for exampl e at this stage is merely

.
, , ,

a j ackal ; and as M M aspero puts it Whatever may .

,

have been the obj e ct of worshi p in Thoth I bis it was a -

,

bird not a hi eroglyph that th e earliest ibis worshippers

, ,
-

adored There were other totems however which were

.
, ,

l ess fruitful in d eiti es but whi ch entered largely in artistic

,

forms into t he later religiou s symbolism Su ch were es .

p e c ia lly the asp an d the sacred scarab aeus which almost ,

rival the sun disk in the large part they play in the de
-

v e l o p e d religious art language of the great temple build - -

i ng dynasti es I may add that among th e other symbols

.

of this curi ous embl ematical picture writing are the Tau -

o r cr ux a nsa ta by origin apparently a combine d ling a an d

,

yoni the lotus the sceptre the leek an d the crescent

, , , .

There is however yet a third class of divine or quasi

, ,

divine beings in the n ewer E gy ptian Pant heon to which

M r An drew Lang in his able intro duction to the Eu ter pe
.
,

of H ero dotus still allows that great importance may b e

,

attached These are th e el emental or se emingly elemental

.

deities the N ature Go ds who play so large a part in all

,
-

rationalistic or mystical mythologies Such are no doubt .

N ut an d Seb the p ersonal heaven an d earth nam e d as

, ,

early as the inscription on the co ffin of M e n k a o u ra of the

F ourth Dynasty in the B ritish M useum : such perhaps
( though far less certainly ) are Khons identified with the ,

ri sin g sun and Tum regarded as the imperson ation of

, ,

his nightly setting B ut n on e of the quite obviously ele.

mental gods except Ra play any large part in the actual

, ,

an d practical worship of the peo ple to adopt the broad

distinction I have ventured to draw in our secon d cha pt er
they are gods to talk about not gods to adore—m yt h o lo g i
,

cal conceptions rather than reli gious beings Their name s .

1 78 TH E G ODS OF E G YP T .

do es n o t in the least interfere with our general inferenc e

that the real E gyptian gods as a whole were either a n ces
tral or totemistic in origin .

F rom the evi dence before u s b ro a dly c o n sid e r e d w e m a y

, ,

fairly conclu de then that the earliest cult o f E gypt con

, ,

sisted of pure ancestor worship complicated by a doubt

-
,

fully religious element of totemism whi ch afterwards by ,

o ne means or another interwove itself closely with th e

whol e ghostly worship of th e country The l ater go d s .

were probably deified ancestors o f the early tribal kings ,

someti mes directly worship pe d as mu mmies an d some ,

times p erhaps represente d by their totem ani mals or late r -

still by human figures with animal heads Almost every .

on e o f these great gods is localis ed t o a particular plac e

” “
Lord of Abydos Mistress of Se n e m President of ,

”
Thebes , Dweller at H ermopolis as would naturally b e ,

the cas e if they were l ocally de ifi e d princes admitte d at

-
,

l ast into a n ational pantheon I n the e arliest p erio d o f

.

whi ch any monuments remain to us the anc estor — worshi p ,

was purer si m pl er an d freer from symbolism or fro m the

, ,

cult of th e great gods than at any later time With t h e .

gradual evolution of the cree d and the panth eon however , ,

l egen ds and myths incre as ed the syncretic tendency mani

,

fe st e d itself everywhere identifications multiplied m y sti

, ,

c i sm grew rife an d an esoteric faith with leanings towards

, ,

a vague pantheistic monotheism end eavoured to rational ,

ise and to explain away the more gross an d foolish p or

tions of the original b elief I t is th e refinements an d
.

gl osses of this final philosophical stage that pass current

for the most part in systemati c works as the tru e doctrines
of E gyptian religion and that so many modern enquirers
,

have erron eou sly treat ed as equival ent to the earli est pro
duct of n ative thought The ideas as to th e unity of Go d
.
,

and the sun — myths of H orus I sis and O siris are cl early
, , .

l ate devel opments or excrescences on the original creed ,

an d b etray t h roughout th e esoteric spirit of priestly inter

p r e t a t io n
.
To the very l ast the W orship ,of the D ead ,
 S UM M AR Y OF EG YP TI A N R ELI GI ON .
1 79

and the crude polytheism based upon it were the true ,

religion of the ancient E gy ptians as we see it expresse d

,

in all the monuments .

Such was the religious world into which if we may b e ,

li eve the oldest S emitic traditions the Sons of I srael

,

brought their Go d Jahweh and their other deities from b e

yond the E uphrates at a ve ry remote p eriod of their na
t io n a l histo ry
. And such in its fuller an d more mystical
,

form was the religion practised and taught in Ptolem a i c

,

an d Roman E gypt at the moment when the C hristian

,

faith was just b eginning to evolve itself round the his

t o r ica l nucl eus of the man Christ Jesus and him crucified
, .
1 80 TH E G O D S OF I S RA EL .

C HA PT E R I X .

T H E G O D S O F I SR A E L .

TH E only p eople who ever invented or evolve d a pu re

monotheism at first han d were the Jews I ndividual .

thinkers els ewhere approached or aime d at that ideal go al ,

like the E gyptian priests an d the Gre ek philosophers

entire races elsewhere b orrowe d monotheism fro m t h e
H ebrews like the Arabs under M ohammad or to a les s
, , ,

extent the Romans and th e mo dern E uropean nations

, ,

when they adopte d C hristianity in its trinitarian form :

but no other race ever succeeded as a whol e in attainin g
by their own exertions the pure monotheistic platform ,

however n ear certain p ersons among them might have ar

rive d to such attain ment in esoteri c o r mysti c a l ph ilo so
p h isin g I t is the peculiar glo ry of I srael to have evolved
.

G od .An d the evolution of Go d from the di ffus e go ds of

’
the earlier Semitic religion is I srael s great contrib ution to
’
the world s thought .

The sacred b ooks of the Jews as we possess t he m in ,

garble d forms to day assign this p eculiar b eli ef to the

-
,

very earliest ages of their race they assume that Ab ra

ham the mythical common father o i all the Semitic tribe s
, ,

was already a m onotheist an d they even treat m o n o th e

ism as a t a still remot er date the universal religi on of t h e
entire worl d fro m which all polytheisti c cults were but
,

a corr u ption an d a falling away Such a belief is nowa .

days o f course wholly untenable S o also is the crud e

, ,
.

n otion that monotheism was smitten out at a single blo w

by the geniu s of on e individual man M oses at th e , ,
1 82 TH E G O DS OF I S RA EL .

character of the old H ebrew polytheism and secondly ,

at the original cult of the great ethni cal go d Jahweh him

s elf.

I n spit e of their long soj o urn in E gypt the national ,

religion of the H ebrews when we first b egin dimly to

,

descry its features through the veil of later glosses is re ,

garded by almost all mo dern investi gators as truly S emiti c

and local in origin I t is usually des crib ed as embracing
.

three principal fo rms of cult the worshi p of the ter aphim

or family gods the worship of sacred ston es and the
,

worship of certain great go ds p artly native partly per

, ,

haps b orrowed some of them adored in the form of ani

mals an d some apparently elemental or solar in their
,

acquire d attributes Although for us these three are on e

.
,

I shall examine them here in that wonted order .

The cult of the tera ph im I think we cannot consider

, , ,

on a bro ad anthropological vi ew otherwise than as the ,

equivalent of all the other family cults known to us that

is to say in other words as pure unadulterated do mestic
, ,
”
an cestor worship-
. By that name says Ku e n e n were , ,

in di cated larger or smaller images whi ch were worshipped ,

as hous ehol d go ds an d upon which the happiness of th e

,
” ’
family was supposed to depen d I n the legen d of Jacob s
.

flight from Laban we are told how Rachel stole her

,

fath er s t eraphim : an d when the angry C hi eftain over

’

takes the fugitives he enquires o f them why they have

,

robbe d him of his domestic gods O f M icah we l earn .

,

that he made i mages of his teraphi m an d consecrat ed one ,

of his own sons to b e his family prie st such a domestic

an d private priesthoo d b eing exactly what we are accus
t o m e d t o find in the worship of an cestral m a nes every
where E ven through the mist o f the later Jehovistic
.

recension we catch in passing frequent glimpses of the

, ,

early worship of th ese family g o d s o n e of which is d escrib e d

,

as b elon ging to Mi chal the daughter of Saul and wife of

,

D avid whil e H osea allu des t o them as stocks of wood ,

and Z echariah as idols that s peak lies to the people I t is .

 TH EI R A N CES T O R WO R SH I P - .

1 83

c le ar that the teraphim were preserved in each househol d

with reverential care that they were sacrifice d to by the
,

family at stated int ervals and that they were consulted on

,

a ll o ccasions of doubt or di fficulty by a domestic priest clad

in an ephod I think then if we put thes e indications

.
, ,

side by side with those of family cults elsewhere we may ,

conclude that the Jewish religion like all others was , ,

based upon an ultimate foundation of general an cestor

worship .

I t has b een denie d indeed that ancestor worship pure

, ,
-

and simpl e ever existed among the Semitic races A clear .

contradiction of this denial is fu rnished by M L e n o rm a n t .

,

who comments thus on sepulchral monuments from Y e

men Here then we have twice repeated a whole seri es
, ,

of human persons decidedly deceased ancestors o r rela

,

tions of the authors of the dedications Their names are .

accompanied with the titles they bore during life They .

are invoked by their descendants in the same w a y as the

gods They are incontestably deified p ersons obj ects of
.
,

a family worship and gods or genii in the belief of the peo

,
”
ple of their race After this we n eed not doubt th a t the
.
,

teraphim were the images of such family gods or ancestral

S pirits .

I t is not surprising however that these domestic gods

, ,

pl ay but a small part in the history of the people as it has

come down to us in the late Jehovistic version of the H e
brew traditions N owhere in literature even un der the
.
,

most favourable circumstances do we hear much of the ,

m an es and la r es compared with the great gods of national

,

worship N or were such minor divinities likely to pro

.

“
voke the wrath even of that j ealous god who later
u surped all the adoration of I srael so that denunci ations
o f thei r votaries are comparatively r a re in the rhapsodies
”
O f the prophets Their use says K u e n e n speakin g
.
, ,

o f the teraphim was very general and was by no mean s

, ,

considered incompatible with the worship of Jah weh ” .

T hey were regarded merely as family a ffairs poor foeme n ,

1 84 TH E G O DS OF I S RA EL .

for the great and awsome tribal go d who bore no rival n ea r

his throne and would not su ffer the pretensions of M ol ec h
,

o r o f the B aalim To use a mo dern analogy th eir cult

.
,

w a s as littl e inconsistent with Jahweh worship as a b elie f -

in fairies banshees or fa mily ghosts was formerly in

, ,

c onsistent with a belief in C hristianity .

This con clusion will doubtl ess strike the reader at on ce

as directly O pp ose d t o the oft rep eate d assertion that the -

earl y H ebrews had littl e or n o con ception of the life b e

yon d the grave an d of the doctrin e of future rewards an d
punishme n ts I am afraid it cannot be d eni ed th at such i s
.

the case H ard as it i s t o run counter to so mu ch specialist

.

opinion I can scarcely se e how any broad anthropological

,

enquirer may deny to the Semites of the tenth and twelfth

centuries b efore C hrist participation i n an almost ( or
quite ) universal human b elief common to the lowest ,

savages and the highest civilisations and particul arly well ,

devel oped in that E gyptian society with which the a n

ce s t o r s of th e H ebrews had so lon g rubb ed shoul ders .

The subj ect however is far t oo large a one for full deb at e
, ,

here I must content myself with pointing out that apart

.
,

from the a prior i improbability of such a conclusion t h e ,

H ebrew documents themselves contain numerous allu

sions even in their e arliest traditional fragments to the
, ,

belief in ghosts and in the worl d o f shades as well as to ,

the probability of futu re resurrection The habit of cave .

burial and of excavated grotto burial the importan ce a t -

t a c h e d to the story of the purchase of M achpelah the '

co mmon phrase that su ch —and —such a patriarch was

”
gathere d to his people or Sl ept with his fathers , the
embal ming of Joseph and the carrying up of his bones ,

fro m E gypt to Palestine ; the episode of Saul an d the

ghost of Samuel ; and in deed the entire conception o f
Sheol the place of the departe d— all alike Show that th e
,

H ebrew b elief in this respect di d n ot largely di ffer in e s

se n tia l s from th e general b elief of surrounding peoples .

The very frequ en cy of allusio n s to witchcraft and n ecro

1 86 TH E G O DS OF I S RA EL .

all known religious systems the holy black stone of the ,

Kaaba at M ecca I n Arabia says Professor Rob ertson

.
,

S mith the altar or hewn ston e is unknown an d in its

, ,

place we fin d the rude pillar or the cairn b eside which the ,

sacrificial victim i s slain the bloo d b eing poured out o ver ,

the ston e o r at its base B ut in I srael th e shap ed ston e .

,

seems the more usual mark of the ghost or go d Su ch a .

sacre d ston e we have already seen was known to the early

, ,

H ebrews as a B eth e l that i s to say an abo de of deity

-
, ,

from th e common b elief that it was inhabited by a god ,

gh ost o r spirit The great preval ence of the cult of

, .

stones among the S emites however is further in dicate d , ,

by the curious circumstance that this word was b orrowed

by the Gre eks and Romans ( in a slightly altered form ) to
denote the ston es so suppos ed to b e inhabited by deities .

Referen ces to such gods abound throughout the H ebrew

b ooks though they are so meti mes denoun ced as idola
,

trous images and sometimes covere d with a thin veneer

,

of Jehovism by being conn ected with th e n ational hero es

an d with the lat er Jahweh worship -
.

’
I n the legen d of Jacob s dream we get a case where t he
sacred stone is anointe d and a pro mise is made to it of a
tenth of the speaker s substance as an o fferin g An d ’
.

again on a later o ccasion we learn that Jacob set up a

, ,

pillar of stone and he poured a drink o ffering there o n

,
-
,

and h e poured o il thereon ; j ust as in the great phallic ,

worship of the linga in I ndia ( commonly call ed the lingo

puj a ) a cylindrical pillar rounde d at the top and univer
, , ,

sally considered as a phallus in its nature is worshipp ed by ,

po u rin g upon it one of five sacred an ointing liquids water , ,

milk ghe e oil an d wine Similar rites are o ffered in

, , ,
.

many other pl aces to other sacre d ston es and in many

cases the phallic value assign ed to them is cl early shown
by th e fact that it is usual for steril e women to pray to
them for the blessing of children as H indu wives pray to ,

M ahadeo an d as so many H ebrew women ( to b e n ote d

,
 S T ONE G O D S I N P A LE S TI N E .
1 87

hereafter) are mentioned in our t exts as praying to

J ahweh
A brief catalogue of the chief stone—
.

deities alluded to in
Hebrew literature may help to enforce the importance of
the subj ect : and it may b e noted in passing that the
ston es are often mentioned in connexion with sacred tre es
—an association with which we are already familiar I n .

the neighbourhood of Sichem was an oak—the oak of

the prophets or oak of the soothsayers — b y which l ay
a stone whos e holiness is variously accounte d for by
,

describing it as in one place an altar of Abraham i n a n

, , ,

o ther a n altar of Jacob an d in a third a memorial of ,

Joshua B ut the fact shows that it was resorte d to for

.

s acrifice an d that oracles or responses were sought from it

,

by its votaries That is to s ay it was a sepulchral monu

.
,
”
m ent . N ear H ebron stood the oak of M amre and “
,

under it a sacred stone accounted for as an altar of Abra ,

'

ham to which in David s time sacrifices were o ffered

,
’
.

N ear B eersheba we fin d yet a third tree the tamarisk , ,

said to have been planted by Abraham an d an altar or ,

s tone pillar ascribed to I saac I n the camp at Gilgal were .

“ ”
the twelve stones sometimes apparently spoken of as
, , ,

the graven images but someti mes explained away as ,

’
memorials of Jahweh s help at the passing of the Jordan .

”
O ther examples are E b enezer the helpful ston e and , ,

T o b e le t h th e serpe nt st o n e
, as well as the great -
.
“

”
stone to which sacrifices were o ffered at B ethshemesh ,

and the other great stone at Gib eon which was also no , ,

doubt an early H ebrew deity

, .

So often is the name of Abraham connected with these

s tones indeed that as some German schol a rs have sug
, , ,

gested Abraham himself may perh a ps be regarded as a

,

sacred boulder the rock from which I srael originally

,

s prang .

I n a n y case I need hardly say we must look upon such

, ,

sacred stones as themselves a further evidence of ancestor

w orshi p in Palestine on the analogy of all similar stones,
1 88 TH E G OD S OF I S RA EL .

elsewhere W e may conclude that as in previ ou sly note d

.
,

instan ces they were erected on the graves of decease d

,

C hi eftain s .

And n o w we come t o the third an d most di fficult di

visio n o f early H ebrew religion the cult of th e great gods ,

whom the j ealous Jahweh himself finally superseded The .

p ersonality of these gods is very obscure partly b ecause ,

of the nature of our materials which b ein g derived e n , ,

t ir e ly from Jehovisti c sources have done their best t o ,

overshadow the false go ds but partly also I believe

“

, ,

b ecause in the process of evolving monotheism a syn

, ,

cretic movement merged almost all their united attribute s

into Jahweh himself who thus b ecomes at last the all —
, ab

sorbi n g synthesis of an entire pantheon N everthel ess .

,

we can point out one or two shadowy references to such

great er gods either by name alone or by the form unde r
, ,

which they were usually w o rshipped .

The scholarship of the eld er gen eration woul d no doubt

have enu merat ed fi rst amon g these go ds the familia r
names of B aal an d M ol ech At present such an e n u m e .
,

ration is scarcely possible We can no longer see in the .

B aal of the existing H ebrew scriptures a sin gl e great go d .

W e must regard the word rather as a common substantive ,

” ”— “
the lord or the master descriptive of the r e ,

l ation of each distinct go d to the place he inhabited The .

B aalim in other words seem to have been the local deities

, ,

or dei fied chiefs of the Semitic region doubtless the dead

kings or founders of families as oppose d to the l esser gods ,

o f each particul ar household I t i s n ot improbabl e there .

,

fore that they were really identifie d with the sacred stones
,

we have j ust b een consid erin g and with the wo oden ,

a s h era The B aal is usually spoken of in definitely with

. ,

out a proper name m u ch as at D elos men Spoke of the

.

” ”
God at Athens o f the Godd ess an d now at Padua o f
, ,

il Santo — meanin g respectively Apollo Athene St

”
.
, , ,

Antony M elcarth is thus th e B aal of Tyre Astarte th e

. ,

B aal ath of Byblo s there w a s a B aal o f Leba n on of .

.
 1 90 TH E G O DS OF I S RA EL .

to have possessed for their w o rshi ppers a phallic s ig n ifi

cance .

C ert ai n writers have furth er ende avoured to show that

a few animal gods entered into the early worship o f the
-

H ebrews I do not fe el sure that their arguments are

.

convincing ; but for the sake of co mpleteness I includ e

the two most probabl e cases in this bri ef revi ew of the
vague an d elusive deities of early I srael .

O n e of thes e is th e go d in the form of a young bull ,

specially worshipp ed at D an and B ethel as the bull Apis ,

was worship ped at M emphis and the bull M n evis at O n ,

or H eliopolis This cult of the bull i s pushed back in the

.

later traditions t o the perio d of the exo dus when th e ,

”
I sraelites made themselves a gol den calf in the wilder
n ess Ku e n e n indeed lays stress upon the point that this
.
, ,

S emiti c bull worship di ffere d essenti ally fro m the cult of

-

Apis in the fact that it was directed t o an image or i dol ,

not to a living animal This is true and I certainly do

.
,

not wish to press any particular connexion b etween E gypt

and the golden bulls of J eroboam in the citi es of E phraim
though I think too much may p erhaps b e made of super
fi c ia l di fferences and to o little of deep seate d resemblances -

in these matters seeing that bull worship is a co mmo n

,
-

accompanim ent of a phalli c cult in the whol e wide distri ct

b etween E gypt and I ndia I t i s th e tendency of the .

scholasti c mind indeed t o over elaborate t r ifl e s and to

, ,
-
,

multiply to excess minute di stincti ons B ut in any case .

,

we are on comparatively safe groun d in saying that a b ull

go d was an obj ect of worship in I srael down to a very late
perio d that his cult descende d from an early age of the
national existence an d that the chi ef seats of his images
were at Dan an d B ethel in E phraim and at B eersheb a i n ,

Judah .

Was this bull — shaped deity J ahweh hims elf or one of ,

the polymorphic forms of Jahweh Such is the opinion

of Ku e n e n who says expli citly
,
Jahweh was worshi ppe d ,

in the shap e of a young bull I t cannot be doubted that .

 TH E H EB E R W B ULL G OD -
.
1 91

the cult of the bull calf was really the cult of Jahweh in
-

person . And certainly in th e propheti c writings of the

eighth centu ry we can clearly descry that the worshippers
,

of the bull regarded themselves as worshipping the g o d

Jahweh who brought up his people from the lan d of
,

E gypt . N evertheless dangerous as it may s eem for an

,

outsider to di ffer on such a subj ect from great Semitic

scholars I venture to think we may see reason hereafter
,

to con clude that this was not originally the case that the
god worshipped un der the form of the bull calf was some -

other deity like the M olech whom we know to have been

,

represented with a bull s head an d that only by the later

’

syncretic process di d this bull go d come to b e identified -

in the end with Jahweh a deity ( as seems likely ) of quit e

,

di fferent origin much as M nevis came to b e regarded at

,

H eliopolis as an incarnati on of Ra and as Apis came to ,

b e regarded at M emphis as an avatar of Ptah an d still

later of O siris O n th e other hand we must rememb er
.
,

that as Mr F razer has shown a sacred animal is often

,
.
,

held to be the representative and embodiment of th e very

god to whom it is habitually sacrificed H ere again we .

trench on groun d which can only satisfactorily b e o cc u

pied at a later stage of our polymorphic argument .

A second animal —god apparently also adored in th e , ,

form of a metal image was the asp or snake kn own in our

, ,
“
version as the brazen serpent and connected by the ,

Jehovisti c editors of the earlier traditions with M oses in

the wilderness The name of this deity is given us in
.

the B ook of Kings as N ehusht a n the brass god but ,

whether this was really its proper designation or a mere

contemptuous descriptive title we can hardly be certain .

The worship of the serpent is said to h ave gone on u n

interruptedly till the days of H ezekiah when under the , ,

influence of the exclusive devotion to Jahweh which was

then becoming popular the image was broken in pieces ,

as an idolatrous obj ect I t is scarcely necessary to point

.

out in passing that the asp was on e of the most sacre d

1 9 2
-
a t
TH E G O D S OF IS RA EL .

a nimals in E gypt but as in th e case of the bull the snake

, ,

was also a wi despread obj ect o f worship throughout all

the surroun ding countri es an d it is therefore probabl e
that the H ebre w snake worship may have been parall el -

to rather than derive d from E gypti an ophiolatry

, , .

Such then seen through the di m veil of J ehovism are

, , ,

the mi sty features o f that uncertain pantheon in which ,

about the eighth century at l east Jahweh foun d himself ,

the m ost important deity The most import ant I say .

, ,

b ecaus e it is clear from our records that for many ages

the worship of Jahweh and the worship of the B aalim
went on si de by si de without conscious rivalry .

An d what sort of go d was this holy Jahweh himself ,

who m the H ebrews recognised from a very early time as

emphati cally an d ab ove all others the God of I srael
I f ever he was envisage d as a golden bull if ever he was ,

regarded as the go d of light fire or the sun thos e con , , ,

c e p t s I b elieve must have been the result o f a late trans

, ,

ference of attributes and confusion of persons such as we ,

may s ee so rife in the more recent mystical religion o f

E gypt What in his own nature Jahweh must have b een
.

in the earliest days of his nascent godhead I b elieve we

can b est j udge by puttin g t ogether some of the passages
in O ld traditionary l egen d which bear most plainly upon
his character an d functions .

I n the legendary account of the earliest dealings o f

J ahweh with the H ebrew race we are tol d that th e ethni ,

cal god appeared to Abraham in H aran an d promised to ,

”
make of him a great nati on Later on Abraham co m .
,

plai ns of th e want of an heir sayin g to Jahweh Tho u , ,

” “
h ast given me n o seed Then Jahweh brought him forth
.

abroad and sai d Look now toward heaven and tell the
, ,
”
st ars so shall thy seed be O ver and over again we get.

similar promises of fruitfulness made to Abraham I wiil

“
multiply thee exceedingly thou shalt b e a father of
” ”
many nations ; I will make thee exceeding fruitful ;
“

“
kings shall come out of thee for a father of many
1 94 TH E G O D S OF IS RA EL .

might b e born t o her I f she bore a man child sh e

.
,

would o ffer him u p all his life long a s an anchorite t o

Jahweh to b e a N azarit e of the Lord an asceti c and a
, ,
”
fanatic Jahweh rem emb ere d her
. an d she bor e ,

S amuel And after that again Jahweh visited H annah

.
, ,

s o that she conceived and bare three sons an d t wo

daughters I n many other passages we get the s elf sam e
.
-

trait Jahweh is regarde d above everything as a go d o f

in crease an d a giver of O ffspring C hildren are a heri .

”
tage from Jahweh says the much late r author of a fa
,

miliar od e the fruit of the womb are a reward from

”
him .

I t is cl ear t oo that this desire for children for a p ower

, , ,

ful clan fo r the increase of t h e p eopl e was a dominant

, ,
“
one everywhere in E phraim an d in Judah Thy wife .

shall b e as a fruitful vin e says Jahweh to his votary by

the mouth of the poet thy children like olive plants
round about thy table H appy is th e man that hath
.

his quiver full of them says another psalmist ; they ,

”
shall speak with the enemies in the gate Again an d .

again the promise is repeate d that th e s eed of Abraham

or of Joseph or of I shmael shall b e numerous as th e stars
’
of h eaven or the sands of th e sea Jahweh s chief p re ro g a
tive is evidently the gi ft of increase exten ded often to ,

cattle an d asses but always inclu ding at least sons an d

,

daughters I f I srael ob eys Jahweh says the D e ut e ro n o

.
,

mist Jahweh will make thee plenteous for goo d in t h e

,

fruit of t hy b elly an d in the fruit of thy cattle an d in the

, ,

fruit of thy groun d but if otherwis e then cursed shal l ,

be the fruit o f thy body an d the fruit of thy l and the in , ,

”
crease o f thy kin e an d the flo cks of thy she ep
, .

N ow elsewhere throughout th e worl d we find in lik e

,

mann er a certain class of phallic gods who are specially

conc eived as givers of fertility an d t o whom prayers an d ,

o fferings are made by b arren women w h o desire children .

An d th e point to observe is that thes e go ds are usuall y

( perhaps one might even say always ) emb odi ed in ston e
 A GOD OF I N CR EA SE .
1 95

p illars or upright monoliths The practical great go d of

—the god whom the people really worship—is M a
.

I ndia
b a d eo and M ahadeo is as we know a cylin d er of ston e
, , ,

to Whom the Iinga puj a is performed and to whom barren ,

women pray for o ffspring There are sacred stones in

.

western E urope now crown ed by a cross at which b arren

, ,

women still pray to Go d and the M adonna or to some ,

local saint for the bl essing of children I t is allowed that

, .

whil e the obelisk is from one point of view ( in later theo ry)
a ray of the sun it is from another point of view ( in earlier
,
”
origin ) a symbol of the generative power of nature
—which is only another way of sayin g that it is an an
,

c e stral stone of phallic virtue I n short without laying

.
,

too m uch stress upon the connexion we may conclude ,

generally that the upright pillar came early to b e re

g a rd e d no t merely as a memento of the dead and an abode
,

of the ghost or in dwelling god but also in some mysterious

,

an d esoteric way as a representative of the m ale and g en

e ra tiv e principle .

I f we recollect that th e ston e pillar was often i d entified

with the ancestor or father the reason for this idea will
,

not perhaps b e quite so hard to un d erstand F ro m .

“

these stones we are all descen ded thinks the primitive ,

worshipper these are our fathers therefore they are ,

the givers of children the producers and begetters of all

,

our generations the pri nciple of fertility th e proper go ds

, ,
”
to whom to pray for o ff spring Add that many o f them
.
,

b eing repres ented as human or human in their upper

,

p art at least grow in time to be ithyphallic like P riapus

, , ,

party by mere grotesque barbarism but partly also a s ,

a Sign of the sex of the deceased : and we can see the

naturalness of this easy transition F rom the Her m a .

of the G reeks to the rude phallic deities of so many ex

isting sa vage races we get everywhere signs of this con
,

stant connexion b etween the sacred stone and the idea

of paternity W here the ston e represents the grave of a
.

woman the deity of cours e is conceive d as a go dd ess b ut

, ,
 TH E G O D S OF I S RA EL
1 96 .

with the same implications H ero dotus saw in S yria stel ae

.

engraved with the femal e pu denda The upright ston e .

go d is thus everywhere an d always liable to b e regarded

as a go d of fruitfulness .

B ut di d this i dea of the ston e pillar exten d to Palestin e

a n d to the Semiti c nations There is evi dence that it did ,

b esi des that of H ero dotus M aj or C on der whose opinion

.
,

o n all questions of pure arch aeol ogy ( as O ppos ed to phi

l o lo g y) des erves the highest respect s a ys of Canaanitish ,

times ,
The menhir or conical stone was the emblem
, ,

through out Syria of the go ds presiding over fertility an d ,

the cup hollows which have b een f o rmed in menhirs

and dolmens are the indications of libations often of h u ,

man bloo d once poure d o n these ston es by early wor

,
”
shipp ers H e conn ects these monuments with the linga
.

cult of I ndia an d adds that D r C haplin has found such a

,
.

cul t still surviving near the Sea of Galilee Lu cian sp eaks .

o f the two great pillars at the templ e of H i erapolis as

pha lli O f the Ph oenicians M aj or C on der writes
. The
chief emblem worshipp ed in the temples was a pillar or
con e derive d n o doub t from the ru de menhirs which were
,

worshippe d by early savage tribes such as Dravi dians , ,

A rabs C elts an d H ottentots

, ,
That they were originally
.

sepulchral in character we can gather fro m the fact that

they often stoo d b eneath trilithons or dol mens or were ,

placed b efore an altar made by a ston e laid flat on an u p

”
right base Th e representations on early B abyloni an
.

cylin ders of tables whereo n a small fire might b e kindled ,

or an o ffering of some small obj e ct laid s eem to indicate ,

a d e rivation from similar structures The original templ e .

in which the cone an d its shrine or its altar were placed , , ,

w a s b ut a cromlech or enclosure square or round mad e , ,

”
by setting up stones Remains of such enclosures with
. ,

dolmens on on e si de are foun d at vari ous Sp ots in M oab

,

and Ph oenicia N othing could b e more obviously se p ul

.

chral in character than thes e rud e shrines or Gilgals with ,

the pillar or graveston e from which as M aj or Con der

, ,
 TH E G O D S OF RA EL
1 98 IS .

chest which long rest ed at Shiloh an d which was after ,

”
wards enshrined b etween the thighs of th e buil ding
,

( as a lat er gloss has it ) in the Temple at Jerusal em Th e , .

whol e of th e early traditions embedde d in the b ooks of

Judges S amuel an d Kings show us quit e cl early that
, ,

J ahweh himself was then regarded as inhabitin g th e ark ,

an d as carri ed about with it from place to place in all its

wan d erings The story of the battle with the Philistine s
.

at E b en — ezer the fall o f Dagon b efore the rival god the

, ,

fortunes of the ark after its return t o th e I sraelitish peo

ple th e removal to Jerusalem by D avid the final enthrone
, ,

m ent by Solomon all distinctly Show that Jahweh in p er ,

son dwelt within the ark b etween the guardian cherubim , .

Who i s abl e to stand before the face o f Jahweh this very ,

”
sacred god ? ask the men of B ethshemesh when they ,

ventured to look inside that hallowe d abo de and were ,

”
smitten down by the j ealous god who l ove d to liv e in
the darkness of the inmost
I t may b e well to note in this conn e xion two significant
facts Just such an ark was use d in E gypt to contain the
sacred O bj ects or images of the gods And further at t h e .
,

period when the Sons o f I srael were tributaries in E gypt ,

a Theb an dynasty rule d the country and the worship of ,

the g reat Theban phallic deity Khem was widely spread , ,

throughout every part of the E gyptian dominions .

I s there however any eviden ce of a linga or other ston e

, ,

pillar being ever thus enshrin ed and e nt e m p le d as the great

go d of a sanctuary C learly M aj or C onder has already ,

sup plied some an d more is forthcoming fro m variou s

,

other sources The con e which represented A phro dit e

.

in Cyprus was similarly enshrin ed as the chief obj ect of a

temple as were the stel ae of all E gyptian mummi es
,
.

”
“
Th e trilithon says M aj or C onder becomes l ater a
, ,
”
shrin e in which the con e or a statue stan ds
,
The sig ni .

Mr . Wi l l i a m S im p s o n h a s som e e xc e l l e n t re m a r ks on t h e a n a l o g ie s
of t h e Eg y p t i an a n d H e b re w ar k s and s a n c t ua r e s i i n h is p a m p h l e t on

T h e Wor s h ip o f D ea t h .
 H UM A N SA CR I FI CES TO I AH WEH .
1 99

fi ca n c e of thi s correl a tion will at once be seen if the reader

remembers how in the chapter on Sacred Stones I
, ,

S howed the origin of the idol from the primitive menhir

or upright pillar The Khonds and other non —

.
“
Aryan
”
tribes in I ndia says C onder once more build such tem
, ,

ples of rude stones daubed with red —a su rvival of the

, ,
~

old practi ce of anointing the menhirs and the sacred con e

o r pillar with bloo d of victims s ometimes apparently h u ,

man Among th e I ndians the pillar is a lingam an d such

.
, ,

a pparently was its meaning among the Ph oenicians .

An d in the Greek cities we know from Pausanias that an

unhewn stone was similarly enshrined in t h e most magni
fi ce n t adytum of the noblest H ellenic t emples I n fact .
,

it was rather the rul e than otherwise that a stone was the
c hief obj ect of worship in the noblest fanes .

O n e more curious trait must be note d in the worshi p

o f Jahweh .N ot only did he rej oice in human sacrifices ,

b ut he also demanded especially an o ffering o f th e fi rst

born and he required a singular an d significant ranso m
,

from every man child whom he permitted to live among

-

his peculiar votaries O n the fact of human s acrifices I

.

n eed hardly insist they were an integral part of all Se

m iti c worship an d their o ccurrence in the cult of Jahweh
,

h as been universally allowed by all unprej udiced scholars .

The cases of Agag whom Samuel hewed to pieces before

,
’
the face of Jahweh and of J e p h t h a h s daughter whom her
, ,

father o ffered up as a thank o ffering for his victory though

-
,

n ot of course strictly historical from a critical point of

view are quite su fficient evi dence to show the temp er and
,

the habit of the Jahweh worshippers who described them -

.

So with the l egend of the o ffering of I saac who is merely ,

r escued at the last moment in order that the god of gen

e ra t io n may make him the father of many thousands .

A gain David seeks to p a cify the anger of Jahweh by a

,

sacrifice of s even of the sons of Saul An d the prophet .

Mi cah asks Shall I give my fi rst born fo r my tran sg re s

,
-

s ion the fruit of my body for the sin of m y soul

, a pas -
2 00 TH E G O D S OF IS RA EL .

’
s age which un doubtedly implies that in M icah s time such
a sacrifice of the eldest chil d was a common incident of
current Jahweh worship - .

F rom hum a n sacrifice to circumcision th e transition is

less viol ent than woul d at first sight appear An inter .

mediate typ e is found in th e dedication of the fi rst born -

,

where Jahweh seems to claim for himself not as a victim , ,

but as a slave an d devote e the first fruits of that increas e

,

which it is his peculi ar function to ensure I n various .

l aws Jahweh lays claim t o th e fi rst—

, born of man and beast
—so metimes t o all so metimes only to the male fi rst born
,

-
, .

Th e animals were sac rificed ; the son s in later ages at least , ,

were either made over as N azarites or re deemed with an

o ff ering or a mon ey ransom B ut we cannot doubt th a t
-
.

in the earliest times the fi r st born child was slain befor e -

Jahweh I n th e curiou s l egend of M os es and Zipporah

.

we get a strange folk tale connectin g this custom indi

-

r e ct ly with the practi ce of circumcision Jahweh seeks to .

kill M oses apparently because he has n ot o ff ered up his

,

chil d but Zipporah his wife takes a stone knife circum ,

’
cises her son and flings the bloody o fferin g at Jahweh s
,

feet who thereupon l ets her hu sban d go

,
This rather .
,

than the later account of its in stitution by Abraham seem s ,

the true ol d explanato ry legend of the origi n of circum

c isio n—a legend analogous to those which we fin d in

R oman an d other early history as emb odying or explain

ing c ertain ancient customs or legal formul ae C ircum .

c is io n in fact appears to b e a bloody sacrific e to Jahweh

, , ,

as the god of generation a sacrifice essentially of th e na

ture of a ransom an d therefore comparable t o all thos e
,

ot h er bo dily mutilations whose origin M r H erbert .

Spen cer has so well shown in the Cerem onia l I ns titutions .

At the same time the nature o f the o ffering helps to

,

cast light u pon the character of Jahweh as a god of in

crease ex actly as the emerods with which the Philis
tines were a fflict ed for the captur e of J ahweh an d his ark
202 TH E G O D S OF IS RA EL .

n eighbo urs an d kinsmen The character of the H ebrew .

worship however apparently underwent so me slight

, ,

m odification in E gypt or at any rate E gyptian i nflu e nc e s ,

led to the preferenc e of certain gods over others at the

p erio d of the E xodus O ne god in particular J ahweh by
.
, ,

name seems to have b een almost peculiar to the Sons of

,

I srael — their ethnical deity an d therefore in all proba

, ,

b ility an early tribal ancestor o r the stone representative

of such an ancestor The legen ds are probably right in
.

their implication that this go d was already worshipp e d

( n ot of cours e exclusively ) by the Sons of I srael b efore
their stay in E gypt they are almost certainly correct in
ascribing the great growth and extensio n of his cult t o the
p erio d of the E xo dus The Sons of I srael at l east fro m
.
,

the date of the E xo dus onward carrie d this go d or his ,

rud e i mage with them in an ark or box through all their

wan derings The obj ect so carri ed was probably a coni
.

cal ston e pillar which we may conj ecture to hav e b een

,

the grave ston e of some deifie d ancestor an d of this a n

-

“
c est o r J ahweh was p erhaps either the proper name or a
d escriptive epithet E ven i f as Col enso suggests t he
.
, ,

name itself was C anaanitish and belonged already to a ,

l ocal go d its application to the sacre d stone of the ark

,

would b e merely another instan ce of the common ten dency

to identify the gods of one race or country with thos e of
another The ston e its elf was always enshrouded in
.

E gy ptian mystery an d no private perso n was permitte d to

,

b ehol d it S acrifices both human an d otherwise were

.
, ,

o ffered up to it as to the other go ds its fellows an d after

, ,

wards its hate d rivals The stone like other s acre d stones
.
,

o f pillar shape was regarde d as embl ematic of the genera

,

tive p ower Circumcision was a m ark of devotion t o

.

J ahweh at first n o doubt either volunta ry or pe rformed

, , , ,

by way of a ransom but b ecoming with the growt h an d

,

exclusiveness of J ahweh — worship a distinctive rite of

J ahweh s chosen p eople ( B ut other S emites als o circum
’
.
 CI R C UM CI SI ON .
2 03

c ise d themselves as a bloo d o ffering to their own more or

-

l ess phallic deities )

.

M ore briefly still among many H ebrew gods J ahweh

, ,

was originally but a single one a tribal ancestor god ,

-
,

worshipped in the form of a cylindrical stone perhaps at ,

fi rst a grave stone and regarded as essentially a go d of

-
,

i ncrease a special obj ect of veneration by childless women

, .

F rom this rude ethnical divinity the mere sacred pillar ,

of a barbarous t ribe , was gradually developed the Lord

God of later Judaism and of Christianity—a power eternal , ,

omnisci ent almighty holy the most ethereal th e most

, , ,

sublime the most superhuman deity that the brain of m a n

,

has ever conceived By what slow evolutiona ry pro cess

.

of syncretism and elimination of spiritual mysticism and

,

national enthusiasm of ethical e ffort and imaginative im

,

pulse that mighty God was at last proj ected out of so un

p romising an original it will b e the task of our succee d ing
c hapters to investigate and to describe .
2 04 TH E RI SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

C H A PT E R X .

T H E R I SE O F M O N OT H E I SM .

WE have seen that the H ebrews were originally pol y

t heists and that their ethni cal god J ahweh see m s to hav e
,

b e en worshippe d by them i n early ti mes un d er the materi al

form of a cylindri cal ston e pillar O r rather to speak .
,

more naturally the obj ect th ey s o worshi pped they re

,

garded as a go d an d called Jahweh The questio n n ext

, .

c on fronts us how from this humble b eginnin g di d I srael

,

attain to th e pure monotheism of its lat er age ? Wh a t

was there in the position or conditi ons of the H ebrew rac e
which ma d e the later J ews rej ect all their other go ds an d ,

fabricate out of their early n ational Sacre d S tone the most

sublime austere an d omnipotent deity that humanity h as
, ,

known
The an swer I b elieve t o this pregn ant qu estion i s p a rt ly
, ,

t o b e foun d in a ce rtain general tendency of th e Semiti c

min d partly in the peculiar politic al an d social stat e of
the I sraelitish tribes durin g the ninth eighth sevent h , , ,

Sixth ,
an d fifth c enturies b efore the Christian era O r .
,

to put the propose d solution of th e p roblem b eforehan d , ,

i n a still simpler form H ebrew monotheism was to som e

,

ext ent the result of a syncreti c treatment o f all the go d s ,

i n th e cours e of whi ch the attributes an d characters o f

each b ecam e m erge d in the other only the names ( if any,

thing) remainin g d istin ct an d t o som e exten t the resu l t

of th e intens e national p atriotism of which the ethnic al ,

god Jahweh was at once the outcome the expression an d , ,

the fon dest hop e The belief that J ahweh fought for
.
20 6 TH E R I SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

’
n ameless and trembling dread begotten on man s sou l
by the irresistible and ruthl ess forc es of nature .

This vaguen ess an d shadowiness of the S emiti c religiou s

conceptions seems t o dep end t o some extent upon the
inartistic nature of the Semiti c culture The S emite sel .

dom carved the image of his god Roman obs ervers .

noted with surprise that the shrin e of C armel containe d

no i dol B ut it depend ed also up on deep se a ted character
.
-

ist ics of th e Se mitic race M elancholy contemplative

.
, ,

proud res erve d but strangely fanciful the Arab of t o day

, , ,
-

p erhaps gives us the clue t o the in definite n ature of early

S emitic religious thinking There n ever wa s a ne t h e r wo rld
.

more ghost ly than Sheol ; there never were g o ds mor e

di mly awful than the E lohim who float through the early
stori es of the H ebrew mystical cycl e Their very n ames .

are hardly known t o us : they come to us through the

veil of later J ehovistic editing with such merely descriptiv e
titles as the Go d of Abraham the Terror of I saa c the
, ,

M ighty P ower the M ost High D eity I n deed the tru e

, .
,

H ebrew like many other barbarians seems to have shrunk

, ,

either from looking upon th e actual form of his go d its elf ,

or from pronoun cing alou d his proper n ame His de ity .

was shroud ed in the darkn ess of an ark or the deep gloom

of an inner tent or sanctua ry the syllabl es that d e si gnate d
th e obj ect of his worship wer e n ever uttere d in full s a v e ,

on the most solemn o cc asions but were shirke d or slurre d

,

over by some d es criptive epithet E ven the u np ro .

n o u n ce a b le titl e of Jahweh itself app ears from our do c u

ments to have b een a later name b estowed during the
E xodus on an antiqu e go d while the rival titles of the
B aal an d the M olech mean nothin g more than the Lord
an d th e Kin g respectively An excessive reverence fo r
.

’
b ade the S e m ite to kn ow anything of his god s p ersonal a p
p e a r a n ce or tru e n ame an d so l eft the features of almost
,

all the gods equ ally unce rtain and equally forml ess .

But b esides th e di fficulty of accurately distinguishin g

between the f o rms and fun ctions of th e di fferent S emiti c
 S I M P LI F I C A TI ON OF TH E P A N TH EON .
2 07

deities which even their votaries must have felt from the
beginning there was a superadded di fficulty in the de
,

v e lo p e d creed du e to the superposition of elemental m ysti

,

c ism and n ature worship upon the primitive cult of a n

-

'

ce str al ghosts as gods a n d Just as Ra th e

g o d d e s se s .
,

sun was identifi ed in the latest ages with almost every

,

E gyptian god so solar ideas and solar myths a ffected at

,

l ast the distinct personality of almost every Semiti c deity .

The consequence is that all the gods b ecome in the end

practi cally indistinguishabl e one is so like the other that
di fferent i n terpreters make the most diverse identification s ,

and are app arently j ustified in so doing ( from the m yth o

logical stan dpoint ) by the strong solar o r el emental family
liken ess which runs through the whol e pantheon in its
lat er stages I t has even been doubted by scholars of the
.

older school whether Jahweh is not himself a form of his

great rival B aal whether both were not at b ott o m
i dentical—mere divergent shapes of one polyonymous su n
god To us who recognise i n every B a a l the separate
.
,

ghost god of a distinct tomb such identification is clearly

-
,

impossible .

To the worshippers of the B aalim or of Jahweh them

selves however these abst ruser mythological problem s
, ,

n ever presented themselves The di fference of name and .

of holy place was quite enough for them in Spite of es ,

s e n t ia l identity of attribute or nature They woul d kil l .

one an other for the sake of a descriptive epithet or risk ,

death itself rather than o ffer up sacrifices at a hostile altar .

N evertheless various influences conspired here as els e

, ,

where to bring about a gradual movement of syncretism

,

—that is to say of the absorption of many distinct gods

,

into on e the final i dentification of several deities origi

n ally separate What those influences were we must
.

now briefly consider .

I n the first place we must recollect that while in E g ypt

, ,

with its dry and p eculiarly pres e rvative climate mummies , ,

i dols tombs an d temples might be kept unchanged an d

, .
2 08 TH E R I SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

undestroyed for ages in almost all other countries rain

, ,

wind an d ti me are mighty l evell ers of human handicraft

, .

Thus while in E gypt the cult of the D ead A ncestor s ur

,

vives as such quite confessedly an d op enly for many c en

t u ries in most other count ries the t en d ency is for the
,

actual p ersonal obj ects of worship to b e more an d more

forgotten vague go d s and spirits usurp by d egrees the
place o f the histori c m a n ; rites at last cling rather to
sites than to particular persons The tomb may d is ap .

pear ; an d yet the sacre d stone may b e reverence d still

with the accustome d veneration The sacre d stone m a y .

go an d yet the sacre d tree may b e watered yearly with

the bloo d o f victims The tree itself m ay die and yet the
.

stump may continue to b e draped on its anniversary with

festal apparel The very stump may d ecay and yet gifts
.

o f fo o d or o fferin gs of rags may b e cast as of Old into the

sacred spring that on ce welled besi d e it The locality .

thus grows to b e holy in itself an d gives us on e clear an d

,

obvi ous source of later nature— worship .

The go ds or spirits who haunt su ch shrines come n a

t u r a lly t o b e thought of wit h the lapse of ages as mu ch
like on e another Godship is all that can long remain of
.

their indivi d ual attributes Their very names are often u n

.

known they are rememb ered merely as th e lord of

Lebanon the B aal of M ount Peor N o wonder th at after
,
.

a time they get to b e practi cally i d entifie d with on e an

oth er whil e similar myths are often fasten ed by posteri ty
,

to many of them together I ndee d we know that n ew .

,

names an d even foreign intrusive names frequently t ake

, ,

the place of the original titl es while the go d himself still

,

c onti nues to b e worshi pp ed as the same shap el ess stone ,

with the same presc rib ed rites in the same squalid or ,

spl endi d temples Thus M elcarth the B aal of Tyre was

.
, , ,

ado re d i n l ater d ays un der the Greek n ame of H erakles

- .

an d thu s at B ab lo s two local deiti es after being i dentified ,

first with th e Syrian diviniti es A d onis an d A starte were , ,

i denti fied l ater with the E g yptian d iviniti es O siris an d ,

210 TH E RI SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

of m onotheism exactly as we know it d i d in the esoteri c

,

c ree d of E gypt by making all the go d s s o much alike that

,

worshipp ers had only t o change the name of their d eity ,

n ot the attributes of th e essential c onception Let us .

l ook first h ow far thi s syncretism a ffe cte d th e lat er i de a

o f J ahweh the phalli c ston e—
, go d p reserve d in the ark ;
a n d then l et us enquire afterward how the patrioti c re

action against A ssyrian aggression put the final coping

Ston e o n the risin g fabric of monotheisti c J ahweh -worship .

I t is O ften asserted that Jahweh was worshippe d in m any

p laces in I srael under the form of a golden calf That is .

to say H eb rews who set up i mages of a m etal bull b e

,

lie v e d t h e m s elves n eve rth eless to b e worship ping J ahw e h .

Even the prophets of the eighth centu ry regar d t he cult o f

t h e bull as a form o f J ahweh worship though not a for m
-
,

to which they can personally give their approbation B ut .

th e bull is probably in its origin a d istin ct go d from the

ston e in the ark an d if its worship was i d entifie d with t h at
o f the Rock of I srael it coul d be only by a late piece o f
,

syncr e ti c mysticism P erhaps the link here as in the cas e

.
,

o f A pis was a priestly recognition of th e b ull as symbolisin g

,

th e g enerative power of nature an i d ea which woul d b e

pe culiarly appropriate to the god whos e great fun ction it
was to en courage fr uitfulness But in any c as e we .
,

cannot but see in thi s later calf— worship a supera d d ed

el ement wholly distinct from the older cult of th e sacre d
ston e j ust as the worship of Ra was wholly distinct in
,

o rigin fro m th e tot em — cult of M nevis o r as th e worshi p,

of A m en was wholly distinct from that of Khem an d

O siris The stone go d an d t he bull —
.
- go d merge at last
i nto on e much as at a far later date the man J esus merges
,

into th e H ebrew go d and receives m ore reverence in

,

mo d ern faiths than the old er d eity whom he practically

repl aces .

E ven in the Templ e at J erusal em itself symbols of bull ,

worshi p were apparently admitted The altar upon whi c h .

the daily sacrifice was burnt had four horns ; an d th e

 L A TER C ON CEP TI ON S OF J A H WEH .
21 1

laver in the court the brazen sea was supported upo n

, ,

the figures of twelve oxen When we remember that t h e

.

M olech had the head of a bull we can hardly fail to se e

,

in these symbols a token of that gradu a l syncretism which

invariably a ffects all developed pantheons in all civilise d
countri es .

M uch more imp ortant are th e supp osed Signs of th e

later identification of Jahweh with th e sun an d his ,

emergence as a modified and tra n sfi g ure d sun — god I t .

may seem odd at first that such a character could ever

b e acquired by a sacred stone di d we not recollect th e
,

exactly similar history of the E gyptian obelisk whi ch in ,

like manner represents first an d foremost th e up right

, ,

pill a r or monolith—that is to say the primitive gravestone

—but secondarily and d erivatively at o nce the generative
,

principle and a ray of the sun With this lumino u s .

analogy to guide us in our search we shall have little dif ,

fi c u lty in recognising how a solar character may have

been given to th e later attributes and descriptions o f
Jahweh .

I do not myself attach undu e importance to these sol ar

characteristics of the fully evolved Jahweh but so muc h
has been made of them by a c ertain school of mo der n
thinkers that I must not pass them over in c o m ple te
silence.

To his early worshippers then as we saw Jahweh wa s

, , ,

merely the stone in the ark H e dwelt ther e visibly a n d

.
,

where the ark went there Jahweh went with it B ut t h e

, .

l ater H ebrews —say in the eighth century—had acquire d

a very di fferent idea of Jahweh s d w elling— place Astro ’
.

l ogical and solar i deas ( doubtless Akkadian in origin ) had

profoun dly modified their rude primitive conceptions T o .

Amos and to the true I saiah Jahweh dwells i n the open

,
”
sky above and is Jahweh of hosts the leader among the ,

shining army of heaven the king of the star —

, world .

O ver those c elestial bodies an d celestial inhabitants

Jahweh rules they surround him and execute his co m
212 TH E RI SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

mands : the host of heaven are his mess engers—in th e

more familiar language of our mo dern religion the ,
”
angels of the Lord the se r vants of Jahweh To M icah
, .
,
’
heaven is the te mpl e of J ahweh s holiness Go d on
”
hi gh is t he descriptive phrase by which the prophet a l
,

l udes to him I n all this we have reached a very di fferent

.

conception indeed from t hat of th e early an d simpl e

minded I sraelites who carri ed their go d with them on an
o x— cart fro m station to station .

F urthermore light an d fire are constantly regarded by

,

these later thinkers as manifestati ons of Jahweh an d

even in e diting the earlier legen ds they i ntro duce such
n ewer i deas making the glory of Jahweh light up the
,

ark or appear in the burning bush or combining both

, ,

views the elder an d the younger i n the pillar of fire th a t

, ,

preced ed the nomad hord e of I srael in the wilderness .

“
J ahweh is said to send or to cast fire fro m heaven ,

in which exp ressions we see once more the advanced con

c ept of an elemental go d whose voice is the thun der an d
, ,

whos e weapon the lightnin g All these are familiar de .

v e lo p m e n t s of the chi ef god in a pantheon Says Z e c h a .

r iah in his p oem Ask ye of Jahweh rain in the time of

,
”
th e latter showers : Jahweh will make the lightnings .

S ays I saiah ,
The light of I srael shall b e for a fire An d ,

his holy on e for a flame B ehold the nam e of Jahweh ,

co meth from afar H is anger burneth an d violently the

, ,

s mok e ris eth on high : H is lips are full of in dignation ,

”
An d his tongue i s as a d evouring fire I n these an d a .

h un dred oth er passages that might b e quoted we s eem to ,

see J ahweh envisaged to a great extent as a sun go d an d -

,

clothed in almost all the attributes of a fie ry M olech .

S o metimes these M olech traits come very clos e indee d

-

to those of the more generally acknowl edged fi r e gods - .

”
Thus we read says K u e n e n
,
that the glory of Jah ,
’
weh was like devourin g fire on the to p of M ount Sinai ;
and that his an gel app eare d in a fl ame of fire out of th e
midst o f a bush the bush burne d with fire but was not
2 14 TH E RI SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

s ai d the pri estly cosmogonists Jahweh reste d from his ,

labour of creation I n the sam e way many other frag

.
,

m ents of external cults were loosely attache d to th e

w orshi p of Jahweh by a verbal connection with some part

o f the revised Jehovi sti c le gen d or else were accredite d ,

t o national Jehovisti c or J e h o v ise d heroes .

H aving thus bri efly sketched out the gradual changes

which the con ce ption of Jahweh himself underwent during
the ages when his supremacy was being sl owly establishe d
in the confederacy of I srael let us n ow hark back onc e,

m ore and attack the fin al probl em Why di d th e particular ,

cult of Jahweh become at last exclusive an d monotheistic

To begin with we mus t remember that from the very
,

o utset of the nation al exist ence Jahweh was cl early r e ,

garde d on all hands as the ethnica l god the special go d ,

of I srael The relation of such ethni cal gods to their p eo

.

pl e has been admirably worked out by D r Rob ertson .

S mith in Th e R eligion o f the S em ites E ven though we .

c annot however accept as histori cal the vi ew given us of

, ,

the exo dus i n the Pentateuch n or admit that Jahweh ,

played anythin g like so l arge a part in the gre a t n ational

migration as is there indicated it is yet obvi ous that fro m ,

the moment when I srael felt itself a nation at all Jahweh

was recognised as its chief deity H e was the go d of .

”
I srael,
j ust as M ilcom was the go d of the Amm o nites ,

C hemosh the god of M oab and Ashtaroth th e goddess of

,

S id on As distinctly as every Athenian while worship

. ,

pi n g Z eus and H era and Apollo hel d Athen e to b e the ,

S pecial patron of Athens so did every I sraelite whil e wor

, ,

s hi pping the B aalim and the M ol ech and the local deiti es

g e n erally hol d
,
Jahweh to b e th e sp ecial patron of I srael .

M oreover from the very b eginnin g there i s reason to

, ,

su ppose that t he I sraelites regarded Jahweh as their su

preme go d M ost pantheons finally settl e down into a
.

recogni sed hi erarchy in which on e deity o r another

,

gradually assumes the first place S o in H ellas the su .

, ,

p re m a c y of Z eus was u ndoubted so in Rome was th e , ,

 I AH WEH TH E P A TR I O T G OD .
21 5

supremacy of Jupiter So metimes to be sure as amon g

.
, ,

our Teutonic ancestors we se e room for doubt betwee n

,

two rival gods it would be di fficult to assig n the exac t

priority to either of the two leading deities among t h e
E nglish Woden rather bore it over Thun or
, among t h e
S candinavians Thor rather bore it over O din
,
I n I srael .
,

in like mann er there was apparently a time when t h e

,

Presi dency of the I mmortals hovered between Jahweh a n d

one or other of the local Baalim But in the end an d per
.
,

haps even fro m the very beginning the su ffrages of the ,

peopl e were mainly with th e sacred stone of the ark H e .

was the Go d of I srael and they were the chosen people o f

,

Jahweh .

The custom of circumcision must have proved at once

the symbol an d in part the cause in part the e ffect of this
, ,

gen eral devotion of the people to a single supreme god .

At first no doubt only the fi rs t born or other p ersons spe

, ,
-

c ia lly dedicat ed to Jahweh would undergo the rite which

,

marked them out so clearly as the devotees o f the go d

of fe rtility But as time went on long before the triumph
o f the exclusive Jahweh —
.
,

worship it would seem that the ,

practice of o ffering up every male child to the n ational

g o d had become universal AS early as the shado w;
.

reign of D avid the Philistines are reproachfully alluded

,

to in our legends as the uncircumcised whence we

m a y perhaps conclude ( though the authority is doubtful )

that even then circumcision had b ecome coextensive with

I sraelitish citizenship Such universal dedication of the
.

whole males of the race to the national go d must have

d on e much to ensure his ultimate triumph .

If we look at the circumstances of t h e I sraelit es in Pales

tin e we shall easily see how both reli gi ous unity an d
,

intense n ational patriotism were fostered by the very n a

ture of their tenure of the soil ; an d also why a deit y
m ainly envisaged as a god of generation should have b e
come the most important member of their national pan
t heon . Their position during the first few centuries of
216 TH E R I SE OF M ONO TH EI S M .

their life in Lower Syria m ay be compare d to that of th e

D ori ans in P e lo p o n n e s u s they were but a littl e garrison
-

i n a hostile lan d fighting in cessantly with half conquere d -

t ributaries an d encircling foes now hard pressed by re -

b e llio n s of their internal enemi es an d now again

ren dered subj ect themselves to th e hostile Philistin es on
their maritime border The handful of ru de war ri o rs who
.

burst upon the land un der such bloo dthirsty leaders as the
mysti cal Joshua could only ho pe for success by rapid and
constant increas e of their nu mbers an d by avoiding as ,

far as possible those inte rn al quarrels whi ch were alway s

th e prelude to national disgrac e To b e a mother in .

”
I srael is the highest hope of every H ebrew woman .

H ence it was n atural that a go d of generatio n shoul d b e

c ome the chief among the local deities an d that the ,

promis e hel d out by his priests of in definite multi plication

shoul d make him the most popular an d powerful memb er
of the I sraelitish pantheon And though all the ston e
.

gods were probably phallic y et Jahweh as the ethnical

, ,

patron se ems most of all to have b een regarded as the

,

giver of increas e to I srael .

I t seems clear too that the c o mmon worship of J ahwe h

, ,

was at first the only solid b on d of union between the scat

t e re d an d discordant tribes w h o were afterwards to gro w
into the I sraelitish peo ple This solidarity of g o d and
.

tribe has well b een insisted on by Professor Robertso n

Smith as a common feature of al l S emitic worship The .

ark of Jahweh in its house at Shiloh appears to have

forme d the general meeting place for H ebrew p atriotism
-
,

as the sanctuary of O lympia fo rmed a focus later for t h e

dawning sense of H ellenic unity The ark was taken out
.

to carry b efore the H ebrew army that the god of I srael ,

m ight fight for his worshipp ers E vid e ntly therefore

.
, ,

from a very early date Jahweh was regarded in a literal

,

s ense as the go d of battles the p ower upon whom I srae l

,

might Specially rely to guard it against its en emies W hen .

,

as the legends tell us ,the national unity was realise d

218 TH E R I SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

gods should allo w no mino r or rival deity to enter his

,

precincts .

Gradually however as J ahweh worship grew d eeper

, ,
-
,

an d the conception of godhead became wi der an d more

sublime the Jahweh worship per b egan t o put a stricter
,
-

interpretation upon the antiqu e co mman d of the j ealous

god I t was supposed that every circumcis ed p erson
.
,

every man visibly d evote d to J ahweh owed to Jahweh ,

al one his whol e religious service N obody doubted as .

y et in deed that other gods exist ed : but the extrem e

, ,

J ehovists in the later days of n ational in dependence hel d

as an article of faith that n o tru e I sraelit e ought in any
way t o honou r them An internal religious conflict thus
.

arose b etwe en the worshipp ers of J ahweh an d the worship

p ers of the B aalim in which as might b e exp ected the
, , ,

devotees O f the n ational go d had very much the best of it .

E xclusive Jahweh worship became thenceforth th e i deal

-

o f the extreme Jehovi sts they b egan to regard all other

“
go ds as idols to b e i dentifie d with their images they
,

began t o look u pon Jahweh alone as a living god at least ,

within the b ounds of the I sra e litish nation .

To this result another ancient prohibition of the priest s

,

of Jahweh no doubt largely cont ributed The priesthoo d .

hel d it unlawful t o mak e or multiply images of Jahweh .

The on e sacred ston e en close d in the ark was alone t o b e

worshippe d : an d by thus concentrati n g on Shiloh o r ,

afterwards o n Jerusalem the whol e religious Spirit of th e,

ethnical cult they must largely have succeeded in cement

,

in g the nati o n al unity Strict J ehovi sts looked with d is

.

like upon the adoration pai d to th e bull images in the -

northern kingdom though those to o were regarde d ( at

, , ,

l east in later days ) as representatives of Jahweh They .

held that th e tru e go d of Abraham was to b e found only

i n th e ark at Jerusalem and that to give to the Rock of
,

I srael human form or bestial figure was in itself a hi g h

crime against the maj esty of their deity H ence arose .

“
the p eculiar H ebrew dislike to idolatry a dislik e
 I NF A T UA TI ON OF TH E P R O P HE T S .
219

n ever equally Shared by any but Semitic peoples an d hav ,

ing deep roots apparently at once in the inartisti c genius

, ,

o f the p eople an d in the profoun d metaphysical an d

d reamy character of Semiti c thinking The comparative
.

e mptiness of Semitic shrines indeed was always a

, ,

stumbling— block to the Gree k with his numerous an d ex

,

q uisite images of anthropomorphic deities .

All that was now wante d to drive the increasingly ex

c lu s iv e and immaterial Jahweh — worship into pure mono
theism for the whol e people was the spur of a great
n ational e n t h u sia m
, in answer to some dangerous external
’
a ttack upon the existence of I srael and of I srael s god .

This final touch was given by the aggression of Assy ri a ,

a n d later of B abylon . F or years the two tiny I sraelitish

kingdoms had maintained a precarious indepen dence b e
tween the mighty empires O f E gypt and M esopotamia .

I n the eighth century it became certain that they coul d

,

n o longer play their accustomed game of clever diplomacy

a n d polite subj ection The ve ry existence of I srael was

.

a t stake and the fanatical worshippers of Jahweh n ow ,

pushed to an extreme of frenzy by the desperate straits t o

which they were reduced brok e out in that memorabl e
,

e cstasy of enthusi asm which we may fairly call the Age o f

the Prophets and which produced the earliest master

,

p ieces o f H ebrew lit erature in the wil d e ffo rt to oppos e

t o the arms of the invaders the passive resistance o f a su
preme Jahweh I n times of old the prophets say when
.
, ,

J ahweh led the forces of I srael the horses an d the chariot s

,

of their enemies counted for naught if in this crisis I srael

would cease t o think of aid from E gypt or alliance with
Assyri a— if I srael would get rid of all her other gods an d
t rust only to Jahweh —then Jahweh would break asunder
,

t h e strength O f Assyria and woul d reduce B abylon to no

thing b efore hi s chosen peopl e .

Such is the language that I saiah venture d to use in th e

very crisis of a grave national danger .

N ow strange as it seems to us that any people shou ld

,
220 TH E R I SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

have thrown themselves into su ch a general state of fanati

cal folly it is nevertheless true that these extraordinary
,

c ounsels prevailed in both the I sraelitish kingdoms an d ,

that the very moment when th e national existence was

m ost s eriously imp erilled was the moment chosen by th e
J ehovistic party for vigorously attempting a religiou s
reformation The downfall of E phraim only quickened
.

the bigoted belief of th e fan a tics in J udah that pure

J ahweh — worship was the one possible panacea for the dif
fi cu ltie s of I srael Taking advantage of a minority and of
.

a plastic young king they succe e ded i n imposing exclu ,

sive J ehovism upon t he half unwilling people Th e -

.

ti mely fo rgery of the B o o k of D eutero-mony— the firs t

germ of the Pentateuch—b y the priests of th e templ e at
J erusal em was quickly followe d by the momentary tri
u mph of pure Jahweh worship I n this memorabl e docu -
.

m ent the exclusive cult of Jahweh was falsely said to hav e

,

descende d from the earli est perio ds O f the national ex

ist e n ce Josi ah we are told alarmed at the denuncia
.
, ,

tions in the forge d roll of the l aw s et himself to work at ,

on ce to root out by violent me ans every form o f

”
“
i dol atry H e brought forth from the house of Jahwe h
the vessels that w
.

ere mad e for the Baal and for the ,

Ashera an d for all the H ost of H eaven and h e burned

, ,

”
them without Jerusal em in the fiel ds of Kidron He .

abolished all th e shrin es and pri esthoo ds of other go d s in

the cities of J udah an d put down th em that burned in,

cense to the B aal to the sun an d to the moon and to th e

, , ,

planets an d all th e H ost O f H e aven

,
H e als o brought .

out the Ashera from th e temple of J ahw e h and burnt it t o ,

ashes and took away the horses that the kings of Judah
had given to the sun and burned the chariots of the sun ,

”
with fire And by destroyin g th e temples sai d to hav e
.

been built by S olom o n for C hemosh M ilcom and Ash to , ,

reth h e l eft exclusive an d triumphant J ahweh worship the

,
-

sole accredited religion O f I srael .

All however was of no avail Religi ous fanaticis m

, ,
.
22 2 TH E R I SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

by his followers A t any rate we hear no m ore from tha t

.
, ,

ti me forth of J ahweh himself as a m aterial existence o r

, , ,

of the ar k h e dwelt in H is spirit alon e survived unseen .

,

to guard an d protect his chosen people .

Y et strange to say this final disappearance of Jahweh

, ,

himself as a visible an d tangibl e god fro m th e page o f

, ,

histo r y instead of provin g th e signal for the utter down

,

fall of his cult and his sanctity was the very making o f ,

J ahweh worship as a spiritual a monotheistic an d a cos

-
, ,

m o p o lita n religion A t the exact moment when Jahweh

.

ceased t o exist the religion of J ahweh b egan to reach it s

,

highest an d fullest d evelopm ent E ve n before the cap .

t iv ity a s we have s een the prophets and their party ha d

, ,

b egun to form a most exalted an d spiritualise d conceptio n

’ ’
o f Jahweh s greatness Jahweh s holiness J ahweh s u n , ,
’

’
a pproachabl e nature J ahweh s su perhuman sublimity an d ,

o mnipotence B ut now that th e materi a l J ahweh itself

.
,

w hich clogge d and cramp ed their i deas had disapp ear e d ,

for ever this spiritual conception of a great U ns een Go d

,

widen ed an d deep ene d amazingly F orbidden by their .

’
creed and by J ahweh s own express comman d t o mak e
any i mage of their ch osen deity the H ebrews in B abylonia ,

gradually evolve d for themselves the notion of a Suprem e

Ruler wholly freed from materi al bon d s t o b e worshippe d ,

without image representative or symb ol ; a dwell er in

, ,

the heavens invisible to men too high an d pure for h u

, ,

m a n eyes to look upon The coni cal stone in th e ark gav e

.

place almost at once to an in corporeal inscrutabl e an d , ,

almighty B eing .

I t was d uring th e captivity too that pure mo notheis m , ,

b e came for the first time the faith o f I srael C onvince d .

that desertion of J ahweh was th e cause of all their previou s

misfo rtun es the J ews during their exile grew more deeply
,

attache d than ever to the d eity who represented their

n ati on al unity an d their nati onal existence They ma d e .

their way b ack in time to J u d ae a after two generati o ns ,

h a d passed away with a firm conviction that all their hap

,
 I DEA LI T Y OF THE L A TER J UDA I SM .
2 23

p in e ss depended on restoring in ideal purity a cult that had

n ever been the cult of their fathers A n ew form of.

Jahweh — worship had become a passion among thos e who

sat disconsolate by the waters of B abylon F ew if any .

o f the z ealots who returned at last to Jerusalem had

ever themselves known the stone go d who lay shrouded
i n the ark it was the etherealised Jahweh who ruled in
heaven above among the starry hosts to whom they o i
fe r e d up aspirations in a strange land for the restoration
of I srael I n the templ e that they built on the sacre d site
.

to the new figment of their imaginations Jahweh was no ,

longer personally present it was not SO much his

house like the ol d one demolished by the B abylonian
,

invaders as the place where sacrifice was o ffered and

,

worship paid to the great god in heaven The new reli .

gi o n was purely spiritual ; Jahweh had triumphed but ,

only by losing his distinctive p e rsonal C haracteristics and ,

coming out of the crisis as it were the blank form or

, ,

generi c conception of pure deity in general .

I t is this that gives monotheism its peculiar power an d ,

enables it so readily to make its way everywhere F or .

monotheism is religion reduced to its single central el e

ment it contains nothing save what every votary of al l
gods al ready implicitly believes with every u nnecessary
,

complexity or individuality smoothed away and simplified .

I t s simplicity recommends it to al l intelligent minds its

u niformity renders it the easiest and most economical form

of pantheon that man can frame for himself .

U nder the influence Of these new i deas before long th e , ,

whole annals of I srael were edite d and written down in

J ehovistic form the Pentateuch and the older historical
books assumed the dress in which we now know them .

F rom the moment of the return from the captivity too , ,

the monotheisti c conception kept ever widening At .

first n o doubt even with the Jews of the Sixth C entury

, , ,

J ahweh was co mmonly l ooked upon merely as the ethni

cal god O f I srael B ut in time th e sublimer an d broader
.
, ,
224 TH E R I SE OF M ONO TH EI SM .

conception of some few am on g the earlier poetical

proph ets b egan to gain general acceptance and J ahweh ,

was regarde d as in very d eed the one true Go d of all the

world— somewhat such a Go d as I slam and Christendo m
to —day acknowl edge Still even s o he was as yet most
.
, ,

clos ely conn ecte d with the J ewish p eople through who m
,

al on e the gentiles were exp ected in the fulness of tim e to

l earn his greatn ess I t was reserved fo r a G raeCO-J ewish
.

C ilician five centuries later to fulfil the final i deal O f pure

, ,

cosmop olitan monotheism an d to proclaim abroad the

,

unity of go d to all nations with the C atholic Church as

,

its earthly witness b efore the eyes of universal humanity .

To Paul of Tarsus we owe above all men that great an d

on th e whol e cosmop olitanising con ception .
226 H UM A N G O D S .

I may also add that incid entally to this suppl e mentary

,

enquiry we shall co me upon several additional traits i n

,

the i dea of deity and several important sources of

earlier godhead the consi deration of which we had t o
,

postpone before till a more convenient s eason We shall .

fin d that the pro cess of trackin g down Christianity to it s

hi dden springs suggests to us many aspects of primitive
religion which we were compelle d to neglect in our first
hasty synthesis .

The reader must rememb er that in dealing with so com

pl ex a subj ect as that of human b eliefs an d human cults ,

it i s i mpossible ever to con dense the whol e o f the fact s

at once into a singl e conspe ctus We cannot grasp at a .

time the entire mass of evidence Whil e we are followin g

.

out one clu e we must neglect another I t is only by ex

, .

a m in in g each main set of compon ents i n analytical dis

tin ctn e ss that we can pro cee d by degrees to a full a n d

complete syntheti c reconstruction of the whole vast fab ric .

W e must therefore correct an d supplement in the sequel

much that may have seemed vague inaccurate or in suffi , ,

cient in our preli mina ry survey .

The C hri stian religion with which we have n ext to deal

bases itself fun damentally u pon the personality of a man ,

by n am e Jesus commonly des cribe d as the Christ that is

, ,

”
to sa y the an ointed O f this most sacred an d deified
.

person it i s a ffirmed by mo dern C hristianity an d has b e en ,

a ffirmed by o rtho dox C hristians fro m a very early p erio d ,

that he was not originally a m ere man afterwards taken ,

into the go dhead but that he was born from the first t h e
,

son of God that is to say o f th e H ebrew Jahweh that

, ,

h e existed previously from all time that he was m ira c u

lo u sly conceive d O f a virgin mother that h e was crucified
an d buried that on the third day h e arose from the dead
an d that he is now a living an d distinct person in a divin e
an d mystically unite d Trinity I propose to Show in the
- .

subsequent chapters how far all these conceptions wer e

already familiar throughout the worl d in which C hristian
 KI N GS ARE G O D S .
227

ity was promulgated and to how large a n extent th e n ew,

religion owed its rapid success to the fact that it was but a
r es um e or idealised embo diment of all t h e chief c o n ce p

tions already common to the main cults of M editerran ean

civilisation At the moment when the empire was cos
.

m o p o l ita n is in g the world C hristianity began to cos ,

m o p o lita n is e religion by taking into itself whatever was ,

central common and universal in the worship of the p eo

, ,

ples among whom it originated .

W e will b egin with the question of the incarnation ,

which lies at the ve ry root o f the C hristian concept .

I hav e said already that in ancient E gyp t and elsewhere ,

The God was the Dead King the Kin g was th e Livin g ,
”
God . This is true literally and absolutely Since the
, .

early ki n gs are gods the present kings their descendants

, , ,

are naturally also gods by descent their bloo d is divine

they di ffer in nature as well as in position from mere co m
mon mortals While they live they are gods on earth
.
,

when they die they pass over t o the co mmunity of th e

,

gods their ancestors and share with them a happy an d ,

regal immortality We have seen how this essential .

divinity of the Pharaoh is a prime article in the religiou s

faith of the E gyptian Pyramid— builders And though in .

later days when a Greek dynasty not of the old divin e

, ,

native blood bore sway i n E gypt this belief in th e divinity

, ,

of the king grew faint er yet to the very last the Ptol emies ,

and the Cleopatras bear the title of go d or go ddess an d ,

carry in their hands the sacred ta u or cr ux a nsa ta the sym ,

bol an d mark of essential divinity .

The inference made in E gypt that the children of gods

must b e themselves divin e was also made in most other
cou ntries especially in those where similar great despo
,

t ism s established themselves at an early grade of culture .

Thus in Peru the I ncas were gods They were the chil
,
.

dren of the Sun and when they died it was said that their ,

father the Sun had sent to fetch them The Mexican

, ,
.

kings were likewise go d s with full control of th e course of ,

2 28 H UM A N G O D S .

nature ; they swore at thei r accessio n to make the sun

shine the rain fall the rivers flow and the earth bring
, , ,

forth her fruit in due season H ow they could promis e .

all this seems at first a little di fficult fo r us to conceive

but it will b eco me more comprehensible at a later stage
o f our investigation when w e come to consider the go ds
,

of cultivation even at present if we rememb er that kings ,

are children of the Sun and that sacred trees sacre d , ,

groves an d sacre d wells are closely connected with the

,

to mbs of their ancestors we can guess at the b eginning ,

of such a mental connexion Thus the C hinese emp eror .

is the S on of H eaven he is held responsibl e to his peopl e

for the o ccurrence of drought o r other serious derange ~

ments of nature The Parthian kings of the Arsacid

.

house says M r F razer to whom I am greatly indebted

, .
,

for most of the succeeding facts styl ed themselves brothers ,

of the sun an d moon and were worshipp ed as deities , .

N umb erl ess other cases are cite d by M r F razer who was .
,

the first to point out the full i mportance of this widespread

b elief i n man gods I shall follow him largely in the
- .

subsequent dis cussion o f this cardinal s ubj ect though I ,

shall O ften give to the facts an interpret a tion Slightly dif

fe r e n t from that which he would allow to b e th e correct
on e F or to me godhead springs always from the primi
.
,

tive D ead M an whil e to M r F razer it is spi ritual or

, .

animistic in origin .

B esides these human go ds who are go ds by descent

fro m d eified ancestors there is another class of go d s who
,

are go ds by inspiration or indwelling o f the divin e spi ri t ,

that is t o say of some ghost o r go d who temporarily or

p ermanently inhabits the bo dy of a livin g m an Th e .

erm idea
- of su ch divin e possession we may see in th e
g
facts of epilepsy c atalepsy dream and madness I n a ll
, , ,
.

su ch cas es of abnormal n ervous conditio n it seems t o

primitive man as it still s eeme d t o th e Jews of the age
,

of the Gospels that th e su ff erer is ent ered or seize d upo n

,

by some spirit who bo dily inh a bits him The spirit m ay

,
.
2 30 H UM A N G O D S .

go ds says Mr F razer
, are co mmon in rude soci ety
.
, .

The in carnation may b e temporary or perman ent .

W hen the divine spi rit has taken up its abo de in a hum a n
b ody th e go d man is usu ally exp ected to vindi cate his
,
-

”
character by working miracles . M r F razer gives s everal .

excellent examples of both these classes I extract a fe w .

almost verbatim .

C ertain p ersons are possess ed fro m time to time by a

spirit or deity ; while possession lasts their own person
\
,

ality lies in abeyance an d t h e pres ence of the spirit is

,

reveal ed by convulsive Shakin gs an d quiverings of the

’
b ody I n this abnormal state the man s utterances are
.
,

acc epte d as the voice of the go d o r spirit dwelling in

him an d speakin g through him I n M angaia for instance .
, ,

the priests i n who m the gods took up their abo de were

calle d go d —boxes or go ds B efore giving oracles the y .
,

drank an intoxicating liquor an d the words they spoke ,

i n their frenzy were then regarded as divine I n other .

cases the inspired p erson pro du ces the desire d condition

,

of intoxicati on by d rinking th e fresh bloo d o f a vi ctim ,

human or animal which as we shall see hereafter is prob a

, , ,

bly itself an avatar of the inspiring go d I n th e templ e .

of A pollo D ira d io tes at Argos a lamb was sacrificed by ,

n ight once a month a woman who had to O bs erve the ,

rul e of chastity taste d its blood and then g a ve oracles

, ,
.

At ZEg ira in Ach aea the priestess o f the E arth drank the
fresh bloo d of a bull b efo re she descen ded into her cave
t o prophesy ( N ote in passin g that caves the pl aces of
. ,

antique burial are also the usual pl aces for propheti c in

I n southern I ndia the so c a l le d devil —
,

Spirati on ) dancer -
. ,

d ri nks the bloo d of a goat and then b ecomes seized with ,

the divine a ffl a tu s H e is worshi ppe d as a d eity and

. ,

bystan ders ask him questions requiring superhuman

kn owledge to answer M r F razer extends this list of
. .

oracu l ar practices by many other striki n g i nstan ces for ,

whi ch I would refer the reader t o the original volume .

O f perman ent living human gods inspired by the con ,

 VAR I O U S T YP ES OF M AN—
G OD .
23 1

stant indwelling O f a deity Mr F raz er also gives s everal

, .

apt examples I n the M arquesas I slands there was a clas s

.

of men who were deified in their lifetime They were sup .

posed to wield supernatural control over the elements .

They could give or withhold rain and good harvests H u .

man sacrifices were Offered them to appease their wrath .

“
A m issionary has described one of these human gods fro m
p ersonal observation The god was a very ol d man who
.

lived in a large house within an enclosure

“
( A templ e .

in its tem enos ) . I n the house was a kind of alt ar a nd ,

on the beams of the hous e an d on the trees around it were

hung human Skeletons head down N o on e entere d the
,
.

e nclosure , except the persons dedicate d to the service of

the god only on days when human victims were sac ri
fi c e d might ordinary people p enetrat e into the precinct .

This human god received more sacrifices than all the

o ther gods often he would sit on a sort of scaffold in
front of his house and call for two or thre e human victims
a t a time . They were always brought for the terror he ,

inspired was extreme H e was invoked all over the island

.
,

a n d o fferings were sent to him from every side I ndeed ,

throughout the South S ea I slands each islan d had usually ,

a man who embo died its deity Such men were calle d
.

gods and were regarded as of divine substance The

,
.

m a n— go d was sometimes a king oftener he was a priest

o r a subordinate chief The gods of Samoa were some
.

times p ermanently in carnate in men who gave oracles , ,

r eceived O fferings ( occasionally of human flesh ) healed th e ,

s ick answered prayer and generally performed all divine

, ,

functions O f the F ijians it is said

. There appears to
b e no certain line of demarcation b etween departed Spirit s
a n d gods nor betwe en gods and living men for many o f
, ,

the priests and O ld chi efs are considered as sacred perso ns ,

a n d not a few of th em will also cl a im to themselves the

’
r ight of divinity .I am a god T u ikila kila would say,
”
and he believed it too There is sai d to be a sect in
.

O rissa who worship the Queen of E ngland as their chi e f

232 H UM A N G ODS .

divinity and another sect in the Punj ab worshipped dur

ing his lifetime the great Gen eral N icholson .

Sometimes I b elieve kings are divin e by birth as

, , ,

d escen dants of gods but sometimes divinity is conferred

upon them with the kingship as indeed w as the cas e even ,

in the typi cal in stance O f E gypt Tanatoa king o f R a iatea .

, ,

was deified by a certain c eremony performed at the chi ef

temple H e was m ade a go d before the gods his a n
.

c e sto rs as C elti c chiefs receive d the chieftainship stan ding

,

on the sacred ston e of their fathers As o n e of the deitie s .

O f his subj ects therefore th e king was worshipped con

, , ,

su lt e d as an oracle an d honoure d with sacrifices The , .

king of Tahiti at his inauguration receive d a sacre d girdle

of re d and yellow feathers which not only rais ed him to ,

the highest earthly st ation but also i dentifie d him with ,

the heavenly gods C omp are the way i n whi ch the go d s .

of E gypt make the king one of themselves as represented ,

in th e bas — reliefs by the presentati on of the divin e ta u

, .

I n th e Pelew I slan ds a go d may incarnate himself in a ,

co mmon p erson this lucky man is th ereupon raise d t o

sovereign rank an d rul es as god an d king over the co m
,

munity N ot unsimilar is the mo d e of selection of a Gran d

.

Lama I n l ater stages the king ceases to b e quite a go d

.
, ,

but retains th e anointment the consecration on a holy ,

” “
stone an d the claim to divine right ; he also shows
,

s o me last traces of deit y in his divine power to heal

diseases whi ch fades away at last into the practice of
,

”
touching fo r king s evil O n all these questions again
’
.
, ,

M r F razer s great work is a perfect thesaurus of apposit e

.
’

in stan ces I abstain fro m quotin g his whole two volumes

.
.

B ut did ideas of this character still survive in the M edi

t erran ean worl d of the first an d second centuries where ,

C hristianity was evolved ? M ost undoubt edly they di d .

I n E gypt th e divin e line of the Ptolemies had only j ust

,

b eco me extinct I n R ome itself the divin e Caesar had

. ,

recently un dergone o ffi cial apot h eosis the divine A ugus

tus had r ul ed over the empire as the adopted son of th e
2 34 H UM A N G O D S .

M eanwhil e it may b e well to add here two similar

,

i nstances of almost contemporary apotheoses Th e di c .

tator Julius was kille d by a band of reactiona ry conspira

t ors an d yet was imme diately raised to divine honours
, .

A little later Antinous the favourite of the emp e ror

, ,

H adrian devoted himself to death in order to avert mis

,

fortun e from his master he was at once honoured with

t empl es an d worship Th e b elief that it is expedient that
.

”
on e man shoul d die for the peopl e and that the person ,

wh o so di es is a god i n hu man shape fo rmed as we shall , ,

s ee a co mmon co mponent of many faiths an d especially

, ,

o f th e faiths of th e eastern M editerranean I ndeed a .

,

little later e ach C hristian martyrdom is followed as a

,

matter of course by canonisati on— that is to say by minor ,

apotheosis M r F razer has traced the ge n esis of t h is

. .

group of allied b eliefs in the sl aughter of the man go d in -

the m ost masterly mann er They spring fr o m a lar g e

.

numb er of converging ideas some of whi ch can on ly co me

,

out in full as we proc e ed in later chapters to other

branches of our subj ect .

I n all p arts of the worl d one O f the comm o nest

,

prerogatives an d functions of th e huma n god is the care

o f the weather As representative of heaven it is his busi
.
,

n ess to s ee that rain falls in proper quantiti es and that th e ,

e arth brings forth her increase in du e season B ut go d .

,

though h e is h e must needs b e co erce d if he does n ot

,

atten d to this b usiness properly Thus in West A fric a . , ,

when prayers and O fferings presented to th e king have

fail ed to procure rain his subj ects bin d hi m with rop es
, ,

an d t ake hi m to the grave of his deifi ed forefathers that ,

h e may obtain from them the n eedful change in the

weather H ere we s ee in the fullest form the n ature o f
.

the relation b etween dead go ds an d livin g ones The .

S on is the n atural m ediator b etwe en men an d the F ather .

Amon g th e Anta ym o u rs of M adagascar th e king is re ,

sponsibl e for b ad crops and all other misfortun es The .

an cient S cythians when foo d was scarce put their kings

, ,
 lVI I Y TH E G OD I S
-
KILLED .
23 5

in bonds The B a nj a rs in West Africa ascribe to their

.

king the power of causing rain or fine weather A s long .

a s the climate is satisfactory they load him with presents ,

of grain and cattle B ut if long drought or rain does

.

s erious harm they insult and beat him till the weather
,

c hanges The B urgundians deposed their king if he faile d

.

to make their crops grow to their satisfacti on .

F urther than that certain tribes have even killed their

,

k ings in times O f scarcity I n the days of the Swedish .

kin g D o m a lde a mighty famine broke out which lasted

, ,

s everal years and could not be stayed by human or animal

,

s acrifices SO in a great popular assembly hel d at U ps a la

.
, ,

the chiefs decided that King D o m a lde himself was the

caus e of the scarcity an d must b e sacrificed for goo d ,

s easons Then they slew him an d smeare d with his bloo d

.
,

the altars of the gods H ere we must recollect that the .

divin e king is himself a god the descendant of gods an d , ,

he is sacrificed to the o ffended spirits of his own fore

fa thers We shall see hereaft er how often similar episo des
.

o ccur— how the god is sacrificed himself to himself how ,

the Son is sacrificed to the F ather both b eing go ds and ,

how the F ather sacrifices his Son to make a go d of him , .

To take another Scandinavian exampl e from Mr F razer s .

’

collection in the reign of King O laf there came a gre a t ,

d earth and the people thought that the fault was the
,

king s b ecause he was sparing in sacrifices So they

’

,
.

must ered an army and marche d against him then they

surrounded his palace and burnt it with him within it , ,
”
g iving him to O din as a sac rifice for good crops
“
.

M any points must here b e noted O laf himself was of .

divin e sto ck a descendant of O din H e is burnt as a n

, .

o ffering to his father much as the C arthaginians burnt ,

their sons or the king of M oab his fi rst born as s acrifices

,
-
,

to M elcarth and to C hemosh The royal and divine .

p erson is here o ffered up to his own fathers j ust as on the ,

cross of the foun der of C hristendom the inscription ran ,

”
“
Jesus of N azareth kin g of the Jews and j ust as in, ,
236 H UM A N G O D S .

C hristian theology Go d o ffers his Son as a sacrifice to h is

own o ffend ed j ustice .

O ther instan ces elsewhere point t o the same anal o gi es .

I n 1 8 1 4 a p estilen ce brok e out among the reindeer of the

,

Ch u k c h e s ( a Siberian tribe ) an d the shamans declare d

that the beloved chief Koch must be sacrificed to th e
angry gods ( probably hi s ancestors ) so the chi ef s own ’

son st abb ed him with a dagger O n the coral island o f .

N iue in the S outh Pacific there once reigned a lin e of

kin gs but they were also high pri est s ( that is to s ay -
,

divine re presentative s o f divine ancestors ) and they were

supposed t o make the crops grow for a re ason which wil l ,

com e out more fully i n the sequel I n times of scarcity .

,
“ ”
the people grew angry with them and kill ed them o r ,

more probabl y as I woul d interpret the facts sacrificed

, ,

them for crops to their own deified ancestors S o in tim e .

there were no kings l eft and the monarchy cease d alto ,

gether on the islan d .

The divine kings b eing thus responsibl e for rain an d

win d and for the growth of crops whose close depen denc e
, ,

u pon them we shall further un derstan d hereafter it is cle a r ,

that they are p ersons of the greatest importance and

valu e t o the community M oreover in the ideas of early .
,

m en their Spirit is almost one with that of external nature

, ,

over which th ey exert such extraordinary powers A .

subtle sympathy seems to exist between the king an d th e

worl d outsi de The sacred trees whi ch emb ody his a n
.

c e sto r s the crops which as we shall see hereafter

, , ,

equ ally embod y them the rain clou ds in which they -

dwell ; t he heaven they inhabit — all these as it were , ,

are parts of th e divin e bod y and therefore by implicatio n ,

part of the go d king s who is but the avatar o f his deified

-
’

fathers H en ce whatever a ffects the king a ffects the sky

.
, , ,

the cro ps th e rain the people There is even reason to

,
.

beli eve that the man —

,

god representative of the ancestral ,

Spirit and tribal god i s therefore the representative an d

embodiment o f the t ribe itsel f—the soul of the nation
,

.
23 8 H UM A N G O D S .

a person whose s ecurity was important to th e whol e cours e

of n ature .

M r F razer quotes several similar examples of which t h e

.
,

m ost striking is that of the high ponti ff of the Zapot ecs ,

an anci ent peopl e of S outhern M exico This spiritual .

l ord a tru e Pop e or Lama govern ed Y o p a a one of the

, , ,

chief cities of the kingdo m wit h absolute dominion H e

, .

was looked upon as a go d whom earth was not wo rthy

”
t o hold or the sun to shin e u pon H e profane d h is .

san ctity if he touche d t h e common ground with h is

holy foot The o fficers who bore his palanquin on their
.

shoul ders were ch os en fro m the memb ers of the highes t

families he hardly deigned to look on anythin g around
him those who m et him prostrate d th emselves humbly
on the ground l est death should overtake th em if they
,

even saw his divin e shadow ( C ompare the app arition .

O f Jahweh to M oses ) A rul e of contin enc e was ordi

.

n a r ily imposed upon him but on certai n days in the year

which were high festivals i t was usual fo r hi m to get
,

ceremoni ally an d sacramentally drunk O n such days .

,

we may b e sure the high gods peculiarly entered int o

,

him with the intoxicating pulque an d the an cestral spi rit s ,

rein forced his god head Whil e in this exalte d stat e

.

”
( full of the god as a Greek or Roman would have said )
“
,

the divine p onti ff received a visit from on e of the most

b eautiful of the virgins consecrated to the service of the
gods I f the chil d she bore him was a son it succeeded
. ,

in du e time to the thron e o f the Zapotecs W e have her e .

again an instructive mixture of the variou s i deas out Of

which such divin e kin gship and go dshi p is constructed .

I t might se em at first sight a paradoxi cal corollary that

p eo pl e who thus safegu ard and protect their divine king ,

the emb odimen t O f nature shoul d al so habitually an d

,

ceremonially kill him Y et the apparent paradox is fro m

. ,

the point of vi ew of the early worshipper b oth natural an d ,

reasonabl e W e read of th e Con go n egroes that they hav e

.

a suprem e p onti ff whom th ey regard as a go d upon eart h ,

 TH E GOD M U S T D IE YO UN G .
2 39

and all powerful in heaven B ut

- if he were to die a
.
,

n atural death they thought the world woul d p erish and

, ,

the earth which he alone sustained by his power an d merit

, ,

woul d immediately b e annihilated This idea of a go d .

as the creator an d supporter of all things without who m ,

nothi n g would b e is of course a familiar compon ent ele

,

ment of the most advance d theology B ut many nations .

which worship human gods carry out the n otion to its

l ogical conclusion in the most rigorous manner Since .

the go d is a man it would O bviously b e quite wrong to

,

l et him grow old and weak ; since thereby the whol e

course of nature might be permanently enfeebled ; rain
woul d but dribble crops would grow thin rivers woul d
trickle away ; and the race he ruled woul d dwindle t o
nothing H ence senility must never overco me the sacre d
.

man go d he must b e killed in the fulness of his strength

-

an d health ( say about his thirt ieth year ) so that the in

, ,

dwelling spirit yet young an d fresh may migrate unim

, ,

paired into the body of some n ewer and abl er representa

tive Mr F razer was the first I b elieve to point out this
. .
, ,

curious result of primitive human reasoning an d to illus ,

trate it by numerous and conclusive instances .

I cannot transcribe here in full Mr F razer s admirabl e

’
.

argument with the examples which enforce it ; but I

,

must at least give so much of it in brief as will su ffice for

comprehension of our succeeding exposition N0
”
amount of care an d precaution he says will prevent , ,

the man — god from growing old and feeble and at last ,

dying His worshippers have to lay their account with

.

this sad n ecessity an d to meet it as b est they can The .

danger is a formidable one for if th e course of nature is

dependent on the man god 5 life what catastrophes may
-
,

not b e expected from the gradual enfeeblement of his

powers an d their final extin ction in death There is only
one way of averting these dangers The man —go d must .

b e killed as soon as he Shows symptoms that his powers

are beginning to fail and his soul must b e tran sfe rre d to
,
2 40 H UM A N G O D S .

a vi gorous successor b efore it has b een seriously i mp a ire d

by the threatened decay The advantages of thus puttin g
.

th e man -go d to death instead of allowing h im to die o f

O ld age and diseas e are t o the savage obvious enough
, , .

F or if the m a n-god dies what we call a natural d eath it ,

m ean s according t o the savage that his soul has eithe r

, ,

voluntarily d epart e d from his bo dy an d refuses to return ,

o r more commonly that it has b een extracted or at l east

detain ed i n its wanderings by a demon or sorcerer I n .

any o f these cases the soul of the man go d is lost to his -

w orshipp ers an d with it their prosp erity is gon e an d thei r

v ery existenc e en d angered E ven if they could arrange .

t o c atch the soul O f the dying god as it left his lips or his
n ostrils an d so transfer it t o a successor this would not ,

e ffect thei r purpose for thus dying Of disease his soul , ,

woul d n ecessarily leave his bo dy in the last stage of weak

ness an d exhaustion and as such it would co ntinu e to
,

drag out a feeble existen ce in the bo dy to which i t might

b e transferred W hereas by killin g him his worshippers
.

could in the first place make sure of catching his soul

, ,

a s it escap e d and transferring it t o a suitable successor

and in the second place by killing him b efore his n atur a l

, ,

forc e was abate d they woul d secure that the world shoul d
,

n ot fall into d ecay with the decay of the m an go d E ver y -

.

purpose therefore was answered an d all d a n gers averted

, , ,

by thus killin g the m an go d and transferring his soul -

,

while yet at its pri me to a vigorous successor

,
.

F or this reason when the ponti ff of Congo grew old

, ,

an d seeme d likely to di e th e man who was d estine d to ,

succee d hi m in the p o ntifi ca t e entered his house with a

rop e or club and strangl e d or felle d him The E th io
,
.

pi an kings of M ero e were worshipp ed as go d s but when

th e pri ests thought fit they s ent a messenger to the king
, ,

orderin g hi m to die and alleging an oracl e of the god s

,

( or earlier kings) as the reason o f their command This .

comman d the kings always ob eye d down to the reign o f

E r g a m e ne s a contemporary of Ptolemy I I of E gypt
,
So . .
,
2 42 H U MA N G O D S .

undertake this martyrdom for th e s ake of the i dol has to ,

b e present looking o n at this an d from that place they

”
raise hi m up as king .

The king of C alicut on the M alabar coast had also to , ,

cut his throat in public after a twelve yea rs reign B ut ’

.

towards the en d of the sevent eenth century the rul e was ,

so far relaxe d that the king was allowed to retain the

thron e an d probably the godship if he could protect him
, ,

self against all comers AS long as he was strong enough .

to guard his position it was held that he was stron g ,

enough to retain the divin e power unharmed The Kin g .

of the Wo o d at Aricia held his priesthood and ghostly

kingship on the same condition as long as he could hold
his own against all comers he might continue to b e priest ,

but any runaway slave had the right of attacking the king
an d if he could kill him he b ecame the King of th e Wood ,

till some other in turn sl ew him This curious instanc e .

has b een amply an d learnedly discussed by M r F razer .

,

an d forms the central subj ect of his admirable treatise .

M ore often still however the divine pri esthoo d king

, , ,

ship or go dh ead was held for one year alone for a reason
, ,

whi ch we shall more fully comprehend after we have con

si d e r e d the annual go ds of cultivation The most inter .

esting example an d the most cognate to our presen t

,

enquiry is that of the B abylonian custom cited by

,

B ero sus During the five da y s of the festival called the

.

Sa c ae a a priso n er con d emned to death was dresse d in t h e

,
’
kin g s rob es seat ed on th e king s thron e allowed to eat
’
, , ,

dri nk an d order whatever he chose an d even permitt ed

, ,
’
to sleep with the kin g s concubin es But at the en d o f .

five days he was stri ppe d of his royal insignia scourged

, , ,

an d crucified I need hardly point o ut the crucial impor

.

t an ce of this Si ngular instance o ccurring in a country ,

within the S emitic circl e M r F razer rightly conclud es . .

’
that the cond emn ed man was meant to di e in the king s
stead was h imsel f in point of fact a king substitute ;
, ,

an d was therefore invested for the time b eing with th e

 TEM P O RAR Y KI N GS . O
4S

fullest prerogatives of roy alty Doubtless we have here .

to deal with a modification of an O l der and stern e r rule ,

which compelled the king himself to b e sl a in annual ly .

“
When the time drew near for the kin g t o b e put to
”
death says Mr F razer
,
he ab dicate d for a few days
.
, ,

d uring which a temporary king reigned an d su ff ere d in

his stead A t first the temporary king may have b ee n an
.

’
innocent person possibly a memb er of the king s own
,

family but with the growth of civilis ation the sacrifice ,

of an innocent p erson woul d b e revolting to the publi c

sentiment an d accordingly a condemned criminal woul d
,

be invested with the brief and fatal sovereignty We .

shall find other exampl es of a criminal representing a dy

ing god F or we must not forget that the king is slai n
.

in his ch a racter of a god his d eath and resurrection as , ,

the only means of perpetuating the divin e life unimpaired ,

being deem ed n ecessary for the salvation of his peopl e an d

”
the world I n eed not point out the importance of such
.

ideas as assisting in the formation of a groun dwork for the

doctrines o f Christianity
O ther evidence on this point of a more indirect n ature , ,

has been collected by Mr F razer an d still more will come .

out in subsequent chapters F or the present I will only .

add that the annual character of some such sacrifice s

seems to be derive d from the analo gy of the annually
slain gods of cultivation whose origin and meaning we ,

have yet to exam ine These gods b eing intimately con

.
,
’
n e ct e d with each year s crop especially with crops of ,

cereals pulses and oth er annual grains were n aturally

, , ,

put to death at the beginning of each agri cultural year

and as a rul e about the p eriod of the spring equinox —
,

say , ,

at E aster Starting from that analogy as I b elieve man y

.
, ,

races thought it fit that the other divin e person the man ,

go d kin g shoul d also b e put to d eath annually O fte n

, ,

about the same period A n d I will even venture to sug

.

gest the possibility that the institution o f annual consuls ,

archons etc m ay have something to do with such annual

, .
,
2 44 H UM A N G O D S .

sacrifices C ertainly the legen d of C o drus at A thens an d

.

o f th e R eg ifu g ium at Rome se em to point to an anci ent

king— slayin g custom .

At any rate it is n ow c ertai n that the putting to d eath

,

of a public man -go d was a co mmon incident of many re

lig io n s . A n d it is also clear that in m any cases travellers
and other observers have made serious mist a kes by not
understan ding the inn er nature Of such go d -slaying
practi ces F or i nstanc e it is now pretty certain that
.

C aptai n C o ok was killed by the peopl e of Tahiti j ust

beca use he was a go d p erhaps i n order to keep his spirit
,

among them I t is likewis e cl ear that many rites com

.
,

m o n ly interpreted as human sacrifices to a go d are ,

really go d slayin gs often the go d in on e of his human

-

avatars seems to b e o ff ere d to himself in his more p erma ,

nent embo di m ent as an idol or ston e image This i dea .

of sacri ficing a god himself to himself is o ne which will

, ,

frequ ently meet us hereaft e r ; an d I nee d hardly point o ut

t hat as the sacrifice of the mass it has even enshrine d
, ,

itself in the central sanctuary of the C hristian religion .

C hristianity app arently took its rise amon g a group of

irregular northern I sraelites the Galil aeans s eparate d , ,

fro m th e mass o f their coreligionists the J ews by the , ,

intervention of a heretical an d doubtfully I sraelitish

wedge th e S amaritan s The ear liest b elievers in J esus w ere
,
.

thus int ermediat e b etween Jews and S yrians According .

to their own tradition they were first described by the ,

n ame of Christians at Antioch an d they appear on many

groun d s to have attracte d attention first in S yria in gen
eral an d particularly at D amascus W e may b e sure
,
. ,

therefore that their ten ets from the first would contain
,

many el ements more or less distinctly S yrian an d espe ,

c ia lly su ch ele m ents as forme d i deas hel d in common by

almost all the surroun ding p eopl es A s a matter of fact . ,

C hristianity as we shall see hereafter may b e regarded

, ,

h istori cally as a m agma of the most fun d amental religious

ideas of the M e d ite rran ean b a sin an d especially of the ,
2 46 H UM A N G O D S .

stead O f killing hims elf or where an e ffigy is ma d e to take

,

the place of the actual vi ctim an d so fo rth a d infinitum

, .

All thes e valuable suggestions an d i deas I could not re

pro duce here without transcribing in full many pages of
Th e G olden B oug h where M r F razer has marshall ed the
, .

entire evi dence on the p oint with surprising e ffectiven ess .

I will content m v se lf therefore by merely referring read e r s

to that most learned yet interestin g and amusing bo ok .

I will only say in conclusion that what most conc erns u s

h ere is M r F razer s ampl e an d convincing proof of th e
.
’

large part playe d by su ch slain ( and re risen ) man gods in

-

the religion of those self— same east M editerranean coun

-

tri es where C hristianity was first evolved as a natural pro

duct of the popular i magination The d eath and resu r
.

rection of the humanly embo die d go d form in deed the

-

k eynot e of the greatest an d most sacred religions of

western A sia and northeastern Afri ca .
 AR TI FI CI A L GOD S .
2 47

C HAPT E R X I I .

TH E M A N U FA CTU R E O F G O D S .

N OR M AL L Y and originally I believe all gods grow spon

, ,

t a n eo u sly . They evolve by degrees out of dead and

d eified ancestors or chieftains The household gods are
.

the dead of the family ; the greater gods are the dead
chiefs of the state or town or village B ut upo n this .

e arlier and spontaneous crop of gods there sup ervenes

later an artificial crop deliberately manufactured The

,
.

importance of this later artificial class is so great especially ,

in connexion with the gods of agriculture an d with the ,

habit of eating the go d s body as corn an d drinking his

’

blood as wine that it becomes necessary for us h e re to

,

examin e their nature in due order We shall fin d that .

s ome knowledge of them is needed preliminary to the

comprehension of the C hristian system .

We saw that in West Africa the b elief in another worl d

is so matter o i fact and material that a chi ef who wishes to
- -

communicate with his dead father kills a sl ave as a mes

s e n ger after first impressing upon him the nature of the
,

m essage he will have to deliver If he forgets anything

.
,

says Mr Du ff Macdonald he kills a second and sen ds hi m

.
,
”
a fter as a postscript A Khond desired to b e avenged
.

u pon an enemy so he cut o ff the head of his mother who ,

cheerfully suggested this domestic arrangement in order ,

that her ghost might haunt and terrify the o ffen der .

Similar plenitu de of belief in the actuality and ne arness

of the O ther World makes attendants wives an d even , ,

friends of a dead man in man y countries volunteer to kill

, ,
2 48 TH E M A N UF A C T UR E OF GO DS .

themselves at his funeral in order that they may a cc o m

,

pany their lord an d master to the n ether realms A ll thes e .

exampl es combin e to show us two things first that th e ,

other life is very real an d close to the p eople who b ehave

so ; and second that n o great unwillingness habitually
,

exists t o migration fro m this life to the next if occasio n ,

demands it .

Starting with such i deas it is not surprising that many

,

races should have deliberately made for themselves go ds

by killing a man and esp ecially a man of divin e or kingly
,

blood the emb odiment of a go d in order that his spirit

, ,

might p erform some sp ecific divin e fun ction N or is it .

even remarkabl e that the victim selecte d for such a pur

p ose shoul d voluntarily submit to d eath often precede d ,

by violent torture s o as to attain in the en d to a p o sition

,

o f t rust and i mportance as a tutelary deity We hav e .

o nly to remember the ease with which Mahommedan

fanatics will face death expecting to enj oy the pleasures
,

of P aradise or the fe rvour with which C hristian believers

,

u sed to embrace the crown of martyrdo m in order t o ,

convi nce ourselves of the reality and profundity of such

a sentiment The further back we go in time or culture
. ,

the stronger does the sentiment i n qu estion b ecome it

is only the civilised and s ceptical thinker who h esitates t o
exchange the soli d comforts of this worl d for th e shadowy
an d uncertain d elights of the n ext .

The existence of such art ifi cially-manufacture d go ds

has b een more or less re cognised for some ti me p ast an d ,

attention has b een called to o n e or other class o f them

by M r B aring Gould an d M r J G F razer but I b elieve
.
. . .

the present work will b e the first in which their profound

i mportan ce and their place in the genesis of the highe r
religions has b een fully p ointed o ut in syst ematic detail .

The best known instan ces of such d eliberate go d

makin g are those which refer to the foundation of cities ,

city w alls an d houses I n such cases a human victim is

,
. ,

O ften sacrificed in order that his blood may b e us ed

as
2 50 THE M A N UF A C T U R E OF GOD S .

G alam a boy an d girl used t o b e burie d alive b efore the

,

great gat e of a city to make it impregnable and I gath e r

,

here that the sacrifice was perio dically renewe d as we shall ,

s e e i t t o have b een i n many other cases I n Great B assa m .

an d Yarrib a si m ilar sacrifices were usual at the fou nda

,

tion of a hous e or village C learly the i d ea in these cases .

was to supply th e sit e with a tutelary deity a go d whose ,

exi sten ce was boun d u p with th e plac e thus consecrat e d

t o hi m H e and the town henceforth were on e he was
.

its soul an d it was his body H uman vi ctims are said to

, .

have b een buri ed for S pirit watchers und er the gates O f -

M a n d el a y SO too according to legend her e a tolerably

.
, ,

safe guide a queen was drowned in a B ur m ese res ervoir

, ,

to make the dyke safe ; while the choice for s uch a purpose
o f a royal victim shows cl early th e d esirability of divine
bl oo d b eing present in the b o dy of th e future deity When .

Raj ah S al a Byne was buil ding the fort of Sialkot in the

P unj a ub the foun dation gave way so often that he con
,

s u lt e d a sooths ayer The sooths ayer advise d that the.

bl oo d of an only so n shoul d b e she d on the spot an d the

only son of a widow was accordingly kille d there I m ay .

add that the bloo d of an only b egotten son has always -

b een hel d to poss ess peculiar efficacy .

I n E urop e its elf not a few traces survive of such fo unda

,

tion go ds or spirits o f t o wns town walls an d houses

-
, ,
-
, .

The Picts are sai d to have bathed their foundati on stones -

i n human bloo d especially in building their forts an d

,

castles S t C olumba hims elf though no m in ally a C hris

. .
,

ti an did not scrupl e thus to secure the s afety of his mon as

,

f ery . Co lum b kille sai d to his people I t woul d b e ,

’
well for us that ou r ro ots shoul d pass into the earth here .

A n d he sai d to them I t is p ermitte d to you that some on e,

’
o f you go un d er the earth t o consecrat e it S t O r an . .

volunteere d to acc ept the task an d was ever after hon ,

our ad as the patron saint of the mon aste ry H ere again it .

may b e note d that the o ff ering was voluntary AS lat e as .

1 463 when the brok en darn of the N ogat ha d to b e re

,
 GODS OF CI T Y WA LLS . 0
51

p aired , the peasants being advise d to throw in a living

,

man are sai d to have made a beggar drunk ( in which

,

state he would of course b e full of the go d a n d utilis ed

h im for the purpose I n 1 88 5 on the restoration O f H ols

.
,

w orthy church in D e von a skeleton with a mass of mort a r

,

plastered over the mouth was found embe dded in an angle

o f the building To make the castle of Li ebenstein fast
.

a n d impregnable a child was bought for hard money of

,

its mother and walled into the building Again when

,
.
,

the church at Blex in O ldenburg was being built the ,

“
a uthorities of the village crossed the Weser bought ,

a child from a poor mother at B re m e rle k e an d built it ,

”
a live into the foundations We shall s ee hereafter that
.

“
to be bought with a price is a variant as it were on , ,

the voluntary o ffering great stress is often laid when a

victim is o ffered on this particular fact whi ch is hel d to ,

absolve the perpetrators from the crime of god — murder .

So we shall see in the sequel the divine animal —

, victim , ,

which is the god o ffered to himself his animal embodiment ,

to his image or altar must always consent to its own sac

,

r ifi ce i f it refuse or show the slightest disinclination it ,

is no goo d victim Legend says that the chil d in the case

.

of the Liebenstein o ffering was beguiled with a cake ,

probably so as to make it a consenting pa rty and w as ,

slowly walle d up before the eyes of the mother All these .

details are full of incidental instructiveness an d impor

tance As l ate as 1 86 5 according to Mr Sp eth some
.
, .
,

C hristian labourers working at a block hous e at Duga

,
-
,

n ear Scutari found two youn g Christian children in the

,

h ands of M ah ommedan Arnauts who were trying to bury ,

them alive under the block -house .

I t is about city walls however that we oftenest read

, ,

such legendary stories Thus the wall of C openhagen

.

sank as fast as it was built SO they took an innocent little

girl and set her at a tabl e with toys and eatables Th e n
, .
,

whil e she played an d eat twelve master masons closed a ,

vault over her With clanging music to drown the child s

.
,
’
252 TH E M A N UF A C T UR E OF GO DS .

cri es the wall was raised an d sto od fast ever after I n

, , .

I taly onc e more the bridge O f Art a fell in time after time
, , , ,
’
till they walled in the master builder s wi fe the l a st poin t
b eing a significant detail whose meaning will co me out ,

still more clearly in the s equel At S cutari in S ervia onc e .

,

more the fortress could only be satisfactoril y built after a

,

human victim was wall ed into it so the three brothers wh o

wrought at it d ecided to O ffer up the first of their wives
who came to the plac e to bring them foo d ( C ompare t h e .

’
case of J e ph t h a s daughter where th e first living thing m e t ,

by chanc e is to be sacrificed to Jahweh ) SO too in .

, ,

W elsh legen d Vo rtigern coul d n ot finish his tower till

,

the foundati on — ston e was wette d with the blood of a

child b orn of a mother witho ut a father — this episod e o f
the virgin — born in fant b eing a co mmon element in th e
generation of man gods as M r Sidney Hartland h as -
, .

abundantly proved for u s .

I n one case cite d above we saw a mitigati o n of t h e ,

primitive cust om in that a c ri minal was substituted for a

,

person o f royal blood or divin e origin—a form of su b s ti

t u tio n of which M r F razer has supplie d abundant ex .

amples in other connexions Still further mitigations are .

those of building in a perso n w h o has co m mitted sacrilege

-

or broken some religious vow of Chastity I n the museum .

at Al gi ers is a plaster cast of the mould l eft by the b o dy

of one Geronimo a M oorish Christian ( an d therefore a
,

recusant of I slam ) who was built into a block of concrete

,

i n the angle of the fort in the Sixteent h century F aithles s .

nuns were so immured in E urope dur ing the middle ages

an d M r Ri der H aggard s stat ement that he saw in t h e
.
’

museum at M exic o bodies Similarly immured by the I n

q u is it io n has roused so much C atholi c wrath and d e nial

that on e can hardly have any hesit ation in accepting its

substantial accuracy B ut in other cases the substitution
.
,

has gon e further still instead of criminals recusants o r , ,

heretics we get an animal vi ctim in place of the human

,

one M r St John saw a chi cken sacrificed for a slav e

. . .
2 54 TH E M A NUFA C T UR E OF GODS .

e difice If the B ulgarians cannot get a hu man shado w

.

t o wall in they content themselves with the shadow of th e

,

first animal that passes by H ere again we get that for m .

of divin e chan ce in the pointing out of a victim whi ch is

’
seen in the case of J e p h th a s daughter Still milder sub .

s tit u tio n s occur in the empty co ffin walled into a church

i n Germany or the rud e images of babies in swaddling

,

cl othes similarly immured in H oll an d The last trace o f .

the custo m is foun d in E n gland in the modern practice o f

putting coins an d newspapers under the foundation stone -
.

H ere it woul d seem as if the victim were regarded as a

sacrifice to the E art h ( a l at e an d derivative idea ) and the ,

coins were a mon ey payment in lieu of the human o r

a n imal o ffering I owe many of the cases here instanced
.

to the careful research of m y friend M r C lo d d B ut sinc e . .

this chapter was written all other treatises on the subj ect
,
’
hav e b een sup ersede d by M r Spe t h s exhaustive an d .

’
scholarly pamphlet on B uilder s Rites an d C eremoni es ,

a few exampl es from which I have intercalated in my ar

g um ent .

O ther implications must b e briefly treated The b est .

ghost or go d for this purpose seems to b e a divine o r

kingly person an d in stages when the meanin g of th e
practic e is still quite clear to the builders the dearly — be ,

loved s on o r wife of the kin g is often sel ected fo r the honou r

of tutelary go dship Later this notion passes into th e
.

sac rifi ce of the child or wife of the master mason many

legends or traditions contain thi s more recent element .

I n V o rtig e r n s case however the child is clearly a divin e

’
, ,

being as w e shall see to b e true a little later on in certain

,

S emitic instanc es To the l ast the connexion of children

.
,

with such sacrifices is most marked thus when in 1 8 1 3

the ice on the E lb e broke down one of the dams an o ld ,

peasant sn eered at the e ffort s of the Government engineer ,

saying to him Y ou will n ever get the dyke to hold unl es s

,
”
you first sink an innocent chil d un der the foundations .

” “
H ere t h e very epithet inn ocent in itself reveals som e
 T O WN AND VI LLA GE G O D S .
2 55

last echo of godship SO too in 1 843 when a new bridge

.
, ,

was to b e built at Halle in Germany the peopl e told the ,

architects that the pier would not stand unless a livin g chil d
was immured under the foundations S chrader says that .

when the great railway bridge over the Ganges was b egun ,

every mother in B engal trembled for her infant The .

Slavonic chiefs who found ed D e tin e z sent out men to

catch the first boy they met and bury him in the fo u n da
tion. H ere once more we have the sacred chance victim -
.

Briefly I would say there seems to b e a preference in all

such cases for children and especially for girls of kingly
,

stock if possibl e but at least a near relation of the master

, ,

builder .

’
Mr Speth points out that horses heads were frequently
.

fastened on churches or other buildings an d suggests ,

that they belong to animal foundation victims This use -

.

o f the skull is in strict accordance with its usual o racular

destination .

Some notable historical or mythical tales of town an d

village go ds deliberately manufactured may now b e con
, ,

sid e re d . We read in F irst Kings that when H iel the

B ethelite built Jericho he lai d the found a tion thereof in
,

Abiram his fi rst born an d set up the gat es thereof in his

-
,
”
youngest Segub H ere we see evidently a princely
.

master builder sacrificing his own two sons as guardian

,

gods of his n ew city Abundant traces exist of such de

.

liberate producti on o f a F ortune for a town An d it is .

also probable that the o riginal sacrifice was repeated

annually as if to keep up the constant stream of divin e
,

life somewhat after the fashion of the human gods we had

,

to consider in the l ast chapter Dido appears t o have .

b een the F ortune or foundation goddess of C arthage ; she -

is represented in the legen d as the foun dress queen and is -

,

said to have lept int o her di vine pyre from the walls of
her palace B ut the annual human sac rifice appears to
.

h ave be e n performed at the same plac e for I t can

”
hardly b e doubted says Professor Rob ertson S m ith
, ,
2 56 TH E M A N UF A C T U RE OF G O D S .

that the spot at which l egen d place d the s elf-sacrifi ce o f

Di do to her husband Sich arb a s was that a t which the lat er
C arthag inian human sacrifices wer e p e rfor m e d
”
At .

Lao dicea again an annual sacrifice took pl ac e of a deer

, , ,

in li eu of a mai den an d this sacrific e we are expressly ,

told was Offere d to the god dess of the city Legen d said
, .

that the go d dess was a mai den who ha d b een similarl y,

sacrifice d to cons ecrate the foundation of the town and ,

was thenceforth worshipp ed as its F o rt une like Dido at ,

“
C arthage ; it was therefore the d e ath of the go ddess
herself , says P rofessor Rob ertson S mith that was ,

annually renewed in the piacular rite ( I d o not admit

.

the j ustic e of the epithet piacular “

A gain M alalas.
,

tells us that the 2 2 d Of M ay w as kep t at A ntio ch as the

anniversary of a maiden sacrificed at the foun d a tion of the
city an d worship ped thereafter as the Tych e or luck of
, , ,

the town A t Durn a in Arabi a an annu al victi m was

.

similarly buri e d under the stone which formed the altar .

I n most of the legends as they come down to us fro m

,

civi lise d an d lettere d antiquity the true nature of this

,

s anguin ary foundation — rite is overlai d and disguise d by

lat er rationalising guess es and I may mention that Dr .

Rob ertson S mith in particu l ar habitually treats the rati o n

a lis in g guesses as primitive an d the real ol d tradition of
,

th e sl au ghtered virgin as a myth of explanation of the

”
later E uhemeristic Syrians B ut after the exampl es we
.

hav e already seen of foun dation — go ds I think I can hardly

,

b e doub te d that this is to reverse the true or d er that a

girl was really sacrificed for a tut e lary d eity when a t o wn
was foun de d and that the substitution of an animal vi ctim
,

at the annual ren ewal was a later refin em ent M r Speth . .

quotes a cas e in point of a popular tra d ition that a young

girl had b een built into the castl e of N i e d er-M andersch i e d ;
and when the wall was opene d in 1 844 the E uhemeristi c ,

workmen foun d a cavity enclosing a human Skeleton I .

woul d suggest again th a t i n the original legen d of the

, ,

foundation of R ome Romulus w as represented as having

,
2 58 TH E M A N UFA C T UR E OF G O D S .

th e triple form O f the foundation — go d o f that unite d

C apitolin e and Palatine Rome And may not th e sacre d
cornel on the Palatin e again have been similarly the holy
, ,

foundation — tree O f that O lder Ro ma O u a d r a ta which i s

more particularly associate d with th e n ame of Romulus
O f this tre e Plutarch t ells us that when it appe are d to a
passer b y t o b e drooping he set u p a hue and cry which
-
, ,

was soon resp ond ed to by p eopl e on all si des rushin g up

with bu ckets of water to pour upon it as if they were ,

hastenin g t o put out a fire C l early here again we hav e

.
,

to deal with an embo died F o rtune .

We do not often get all three o f these F ortunes com

b in e d — the human victim the ston e an d the t re e with t h e
, , ,

annual o ffering which renews its sanctity B ut we fin d .

traces so often of one or ot her of t h e trio th a t we are

j ustified I think i n connectin g them together as p arts of a
, ,

whole whereof here one elem e nt survives an d there

, ,

another Among all primitive communities says M r

.
, .

Gomme when a village was first established a ston e

, ,

w a s set up To this ston e the headman of the vill ag e

.
,

made an o fferin g once a year To the present day .

,

Lon don preserves her foun dation god in the shap e o f -

Lon don Stone now enclosed in a railing or iron grill j us t

,

O p posite C annon S treet Station N ow Lon d o n Ston e .

,

was for ages considered as the representative an d e m b o di

ment of the entire community P rocl amations and othe r .

import ant state businesses were announced fro-m its t op

’
an d the defen dant in trials in the Lord M ayor s court wa s
summone d to atten d from London St on e as though the ,

ston e itself spoke to the wrong doer with the united voic e -

of th e assembled citizens The first Lord M ayor indeed

.
, ,

was H enry de L u n d o n st o n e no doubt as M r L o ftie sug

gests the hereditary keeper of this urban fetish —in short
.
, ,

, ,
,

the re presentative of the vill age headman I have written .

at greater l en gth on the implications of this interestin g

relic in an arti cl e on London Sto n e in L ongi na ns M a ga
’

i ne to which I would refer the reader for further informa

,
 S A CR I F I C E OF KI N G S SON
’
TH E .
2 59

tion I will only add here the curious episode of Jack

.

C ade who when he forced his way under his assume d

, , ,

name of M o rtimer into the city in 1 4 50 first of all pro

, ,

c ee d e d t o this sacred relic the embodiment o f palladium ,

of ancient London an d having struck it with his sword

,
”
exclaimed N ow is M ortimer lord of this city
,
.

A similar sacred stone exists to this day at B ovey

Tracey in D evon of which O rmero d tells us th a t the
,

mayor of B ovey used to ride round it on the first day of

his t enure of o ffice and st rike it with a stick —whi ch
, ,

further explains Jack C ade s proceeding According to ’

.

the Totnes Tim es of M ay 1 3 1 88 2 the young men of , ,

the town were compelled on the same day to kiss the

magic stone and pledge allegianc e in upholding the
ancient rights an d privileges of B ovey ( I owe these de .

’
tails to M r Lawrence Gomme s Villa ge Com m unity ) I
. .

do not think we can dissociat e fr o m these two c a ses th e

’
other sacred stones of Britain such as the King s Ston e ,

at Kingston in Surrey where several of the West Saxo n ,

kings were crowned nor the Scon e Stone i n the coro

n a ti o n chair at W estminster Abbe y ; nor the Ston e o f
-

C lackmannan and the sacred ston es already mentione d

,

in a previous chapter on which the heads of clans or of

I rish septs succeeded to the chieft a inship of their respective
families These may in part have b een ancestral and
.

sepulchral monuments but it is probable that the-y also

partook in part of this artificial and factitious s an ctity .

C ertainly in som e cases that sanctity was renewed by an

animal sacrifice .

With these fairly obvi ous instances I woul d also con

n e ct certain other statements which seem to me to have

been hitherto misinterpreted Thus M esha king of .

,

M oab when he is close beleaguered bu rn s his son as a

. ,

holocaust on the wall of the city I s not this an O ffering .

to protect the wall by the deliberate manufacture of an

additional deity F or straightway the besi egers seem t o
feel they are overpowered and the siege is raised Ob , .
2 60 TH E M A N UFA C T UR E OF GODS .

’
serve here on ce more that it is the king s own d early b e -

l o ved son who is chosen as vi ctim Again at Am a th us .

, ,

human sacrifices were o ffered to Jupiter H o spes before

”
the gates ; and this Jupiter H o sp es as O vi d calls hi m , ,

is th e Am a t h u sia n H erakle s or M alika whos e n ame pre , ,

serve d for us by H e sy chiu s i dentifies him at once as a ,

local deity similar to the T yr ia n M elca rth Was n ot this .

a gain therefore the F ortun e of the city

, At Tyre itself
, ,

t h e sepul chre of H erakl es M elcarth was shown where he ,

w as s aid to have b een cremated F or among cremating .

peopl es it was n atural t o burn not slaughter the yearly , ,

go d victim At Tarsus once more there was an annual

-
.
, ,

feast at which a very fair pyre was erecte d and the local
, ,

H erakles or B aal was burned on it in e ffigy We cannot .

d oubt I think that this was a mitigation of an e arli er h u

, ,

man holocaust I ndeed Dr Robertson Smith says of .

, .

this instance This annual co mmemoration of the death

of the go d in fire must have its origin in an O ld er rite in ,

which the victim was not a mere e ffigy but a theanthropic ,

s acrifice i e an actual man or sacred animal whose life

,
. .
, , ,

according to the antiqu e conception now familiar to us ,

”
was an embo diment of the divin e human life This is -
.

ver y near my own vi ew on the subj e ct .

F rom these instances we may proceed I think to a , ,

more curious set whose implications seem to me to h a ve ,

b een even more gri evously mistaken by later interpreters .

I m ean the case of chil dren of kings or of ruling families ,

sacrificed in time of war or p eril as additional or auxiliary

deiti es Thus Phil o o f Byblos says : I t w a s an ancient
.

c ustom in a crisis of great dan ger that the ruler of a city

o r n ation Shoul d give his beloved son to di e for the whol e
p eopl e as a ransom O ffered to the avenging demons an d
,

the children thus o ffere d were slain with mystic rites So .

C ronus whom the Ph oenicians call I srael being king o f

, ,

th e lan d an d having an only b egotten son called J eo ud -

—
,

( for in the Ph oenician s tongue J e o u d signifies o nly b egot

ten ) dresse d him in royal robes and sacrifice d him up o n
,
2 62 TH E M A NUF A C T UR E OF GO DS .

sacrifice seems to m e to b e comm emorated in the b eautiful

imager y of the 5 3 d of I saiah B ut th ere the l anguage i s
.

disti nctly piacular .

That a nnual human sacrific es originate d in delib er a te

go d making of this sort is an inference whi ch has al ready
-

been almost arrived at by more ortho dox thin kers .

Amon g the Semites says D r R o b ertso n Smith

, the
.
,

most current vi ew O f ann ual piacula s eems to have be e n

that they commemorate a divine tragedy— the death of
so me go d or goddess The origin of su ch myths is easily
.

explain ed from the nature of the ritual O rigin ally the .

,

d eath of the go d was nothing else than the death of the

theanthro pic vi ctim but when this ceas ed to b e under
sto od it was thought that the pi acular sacrifice repres ented
,

an histo rical tragedy in which the god was killed B ut .

we Shall see hereafter that the i dea of expi ation in sacrifice

is quite a late and derivative one it se ems more prob a bl e
that the victim was at first a human god for who m later ,

an animal victim was substituted I n the Athenian Thar .

g e lia the victims were human to the very end though

, ,

undoubtedly they were thought of as bearing vicariously

the sins of the people We shall come across similar in
.

t r u sion s of the idea of expiation in later chapters that

i dea b elon gs to a stage of thou ght when men considere d
it necessar y to explain away by some ethical reference th e
sanguinary element O f primitive ritu al Thus in two .

Greek towns as w e learn fro m Pausanias—a t P o t n iae and

,

Pat t ie — a n annu al sacrifice existe d whi ch h ad once b een

the s acrifice of a hu man vi ctim but this was later ex
plain ed as an expiation of an anci ent crim e for which
satisfaction had to be made from generation to gen erati on .

I ndee d as a rul e later ages looked upon the murder o f

, ,

a god as obviously criminal and therefore regarde d th e

,

slaughter o f the victim who replaced the god as being

, ,

an at on ement for his death instead of regarding it as a

,

deliberate release of his divine spirit .

I have dwelt here mainly on that particular form of

 M A KI N G A GOD FO R S H IP S .
2 63

a rtificial god — making which is concerned with the fo u n d a

tion of houses villages cities walls and fortresses b e
, , , , ,

cause this is the commonest an d most striking case ou tsid e ,

a griculture and because it is specially connect ed with the

,

world wide institution of the village or city god B ut

- .

other types occur in abundance and to them a few lin es

m ust now be devoted .

When a ship was launched it was a common practice ,

to provide her with a guardian spirit or god by making

her roll over the bo dy of a human vi ctim The No rw e .

gian vikings used to redden their rollers with human

blood That is to say when a warship was l a unched
.
, ,

h uman victims were lashed to the round logs over which

the galley was run down to the sea so that the stem was ,

S prinkled with their spurting blood Thus the victim was .

incorporated as it were in the very planks of the vessel

, , .

C aptain C ook found the South Sea I slanders similarly

christening their war— canoes with blo od I n 1 7 8 4 says .
,

Mr William Simpson at the launching of one of the B ey

.
,

“
o f Tripoli s cruisers a black sl ave was l ed forward and
’

fastened at the prow of the vessel to influence a happy

”
r eception in the ocean And Mr Speth quotes a n ews . .

paper account O f the sacrifice of a sheep when th e first

c aique for C onstantinople at O lympia was launched in
the Bosphorus I n many other cases it is noted that a
.
,

victim human or animal is slaughtered at the launching

, ,

of a ship O ur own ceremony of breaking a bottl e of

.

w ine over the b o ws is the last reli c of this barb arous

p ractice H ere as elsewhere red wine do es duty for
.

b lood in virtue of its colour

,
I do not doubt that the .

i mages of gods in the bow of a ship were originally idols

in which the spirits thus liberated mi ght dwell and that ,

it was to them the sail ors prayed for assistance i n stor m

o r peril The god was bound up in the very fabric of the
.

vessel The modern fi g u r e head still represents these

.
-

g ods ; fi g u r e heads essentially similar to the domesti c

-

idols occur on N ew Z ealand and Polynesian war canoe s -

.
2 64 TH E M A N UFA C T UR E OF GODS .

The canoes o f the S olomon I sl and ers for example often , ,

have as fi g u r e — head a c a rve d rep resentatio n of the upp er

”
half of a man who holds in his hands a human h ead
,
.

,
—
This head known as the can oe god o r charm ”
rep ,

res ents the life taken when the cano e was first used A .

cano e of imp ortan c e required a life for its in auguration ,

says D r C o dri ngton

. .

Another curious instan ce is to b e found in the customs

and b eliefs regarding river gods Rivers I have sug .
,

gested are often divine b ecaus e they spring near or are

,

conn ecte d with the grave of a hero B ut O ften their di .

vinity has b een deliberately given them an d is annually ,

ren ewe d by a god making sacrifice : j ust as at the Jewish

-

Passover an annual animal victim was Slain and his blood -

,

smeare d on the lintels as a renewal of the foun datio n

,

sacrifice The best instance I have found of this curiou s

.

cu stom is on e cited by M r Gomm e fro m M aj o r E llis . .

Along the b anks of th e Prah in West Africa there are

many deities all b earing the common name of Prah an d
, ,

all regarded as spi rits of the river At each town or con .

sid e ra b le village along th e stream a sacrifice is held on a ,

d ay about the middle of O ctob er The usual sacrifice .

was two human adults on e mal e and on e female T h e

,
.

inhabitants of each village b eli eve in a separate spirit of

the Prah who resi des in some part of the river clos e t o
,

their own hamlet E verywhere along the river th e priest s

.

of these go ds O ffi cia t e in groups of three two mal e an d ,

on e femal e an arran gement which is p eculiar to the river

,

gods H ere unless I mistake we have an obvious cas e

.
, ,

of d eliberate god making -

.

Thi s savage instance and others like it which space, ,

preclu des m e from detailing suggest the conclusion th a t ,

many river gods are of artificial o rigin The Wo h h a n d a .

in E sthonia received o fferin gs Of little children wh o m we ,

may fairly co mpare with the children immured in buil ding s

o r o ffered to th e M ol ech M any other rivers spontan .
2 66 TH E M A N UF A C T U R E OF GODS .

word fo r a ny m ph o r water spi rit for there is another -

P eg in the Tees kn own as Peg F owler ; and chil d ren

,

used there to be warned against playing on the b anks of

the stream for fear Peg shoul d drag them into the water
, .

Such traces of a child sacrifi c e are extremely significant

-
.

I cannot d o m ore than suggest here i n passing that we

have in these stories an d practices the m ost probable origin
o f the common myth which accounts for the existenc e of

river go ds or river nymphs by some episo d e of a youth

or m aide n drown e d there Arethusa is the example that
.

o ccurs to eve ry one Grossly E uhemeristi c as it may

.

sound to say so I yet b elieve that s uch myths of m et a

,

morphosis have their o rigin in the delib erate manufacture

of a wat er— deity by immolation i n th e stream and that
th e annual ren ewal of such a s acrifice was due i n part to
th e d esire t o keep alive the memory of the gods— to b e
sure they were there to mak e them fresh an d fresh if
, ,

one may venture to say so and in part to the analogy -

of those very important artificial go ds o f agri culture whos e

ori gin an d meaning w e hav e still to consider I woul d .

a dd that the commonn es s of sea horses an d river horses - -

in the mythology of the world doubtless owes its origi n

partly to the natural i dea of white horses on th e waves ,

but partly als o t o th e delib era t e sac rifice of horses to the

sea or rivers which this notion suggeste d and which
, ,

ten ded t o intensify it I t is as though the wo rshipper

.

wished to keep up a continu ous supply of such divine an d

ghostly stee d s At Rho des for example fo ur horses were
.
, ,

annually cast into the sea and I n ee d hardly refer to the

conventional horses of Po seidon an d N eptune Th e .

U gly B urn in Ross shir e is th e abo de of a water—

- hors e ; in
the remains of the Roman t empl e at Lydney the go d ,

No d e n s who represents the S evern is shown in the mosai c

, ,

pavement as drawn in a chariot by four horses and th e

Y ore n ear M i d dleham is still infest e d by a water hors e
, ,
-

who annually claims at l east one hu m an victi m E lse .

where other animals take the place of the horse Th e .

 M A N UFA C T UR ED WAR GO D S
- .
2 67

O styaks sacrifice to the river O b by casting in a live rein

d eer when fish are scanty .

I do not deny that in many of these cases two distinct

i deas—the earlier idea o f the victim as future go d and the ,

l ater idea of the victim as prey or sa cr ifi ce—have got

inextricably mixed up but I do think enough has been
—
s aid t o suggest the probability that many river go ds are

a rtificially produced and that this is in large part the

,

origin of nymphs and kelpies Legend indeed almost .

, ,

a lways represents them so it is only o u r mythologist s ,

with their blind hatred of E uhemerism who fail to per ,

c e iv e the obvious implication And that even the a c ~

.

c id e n t a l victim was O ften envisage d as a river god after -

,

h is death w e see clearly from th e B ohemian custom of

,

going to pray on the river bank where a man has be en

drowned and casting into th e river a loaf of new bread
,

a n d a pair of wax candl es obvious o fferings to his spirit

,
.

Many other classes of manufactured god s seem to me to

exist whose existence I must here pass over almost in si
,

lence Such are the gods produced at the beginning of

.

a war by human or other sacrifice

,
gods intended to ai d
the warriors in their coming enterprise by being set free
from fl e sh ly bonds for that very purpose Thus accord .
,

ing to P h y la r ch u s a human sacrifice was at o n e ti me

,

customary in Greece at the beginning of hostilities and

we kno w that as late as the age of Themistocles three
captives were thus o ffered up before the b attle of Salamis .

The sacrifice of I phigenia is a good legendar y case in

p oint b ecause it is one of a virgin a princess the daughter
, , ,

o f the leader and therefore a typical releas e of a divine

,

or royal spirit H ere as usual later philosophising rep r e

.
, ,

s ents the act as an expiation for mo rtal guilt ; but we

may be sure the original sto ry contained n o such ethical

or piacular element Among the early H ebrews the sum
.
,

mons to a war seems similarly to have been m a de by

sen ding round pieces of the human victim in later
H ebrew usage this rit e declines into the sacri fice of a
,
2 68 TH E M A N UF A C T UR E OF GOD S .

burnt o ffering ; though we get an intermediate stag e

when Saul s ends roun d portion s of a slaughtered O x as ,

th e Levit e in Judges had sent roun d the severed limbs of

his con cubine t o rouse the I sraelites I n Africa a war is .
,

still opened with a solemn s acrifice human or othe rwise ,

an d M r H O F orbes gives a graphic account of the

. . .

si milar ceremony which precedes an exp edition i n t h e

islan d of Timor .

I n conclusion I will only say that a great many other

,

obscure rites or doubtful l egends seem to me explicabl e

by similar deliberate exercises of go d making H ow -
.

c ommon such sacrifice was i n agricultural relati ons we

Shall see i n the sequel but I b elieve that even in other
fi elds o f life future research will so explain many other
customs The self immolati on of C odrus of Sar d a n a pa
.
-
,

lu s of P D ecius M us as of so many other kings or h eroe s

,
.
,

or gods or go ddess es th e divine b eings who flin g the m

selves from cli ffs int o the sea M Curtius devoting him .

s elf i n the gulf in the F orum th e tombs of the lover s

whom Semiramis buried alive ; all these I take it have , ,

more or less similar implications Even su ch t ales as that

.

of T M anlius To rq u a t u s an d his son must be assimilated

.
,

I think to the story of the king of M oab killing his so n

,

on the wall o r t o that of the C arthagi nian s off eri n g up

,

their children t o the o ffended deity only in later times , ,

the tal e was misinterpreted an d use d t o point th e su p

po sed moral o i the ste m an d infl exibl e old Roman dis ci
plin e .

F requ ent reiteration of sacrifices se em s n ecessary also , ,

in order to ke ep up the sanctity of i mages an d sacred rites

—t o put as it were a n ew s oul into them Thus rivers
, , .
,

n ee ded a fresh river god every year ; and recently in

-

A shantee it was discovered that a feti sh woul d no l onge r

”
work unl ess human vi ctims were abundantly immo
lated fo r it .

This is als o p erhaps the proper place to O bserve that j us t

as the great go d B aal has been resolved by modern
2 70 TH E M A N UF A C T UR E OF GODS .

late an d etherealised forms of religion An d mythologist s .

have mad e the most of this syncretic tendency .

A sin gle con crete in stance will hel p to make this general
prin ciple yet clearer B oundari es I b elieve were origi
.
, ,

n ally put under the charge of local and artifici al deiti es ,

by slaughterin g a human victim at each turning point in -

the limits an d erectin g a sacred ston e on t h e spot where

.

he died to preserve his memory O ften too i n a ccord .

, ,

a nce with the common rul e a sacred tre e seems to have

,

b een planted b esi de th e sacre d ston e monument E ach .

su ch victi m be came forthwith a b ound ary go d a pro ,

t e ct in g and watching spirit and was known then cefort h

,

as a H ermes or a Te rminus B ut there were many .

H erm ae and many Termini n ot in Greece and I taly alone

, ,

but throughout th e world O nly mu ch later did a gen

.

e r a lise d god H ermes or Terminus ari se from the uni o n

, ,

int o a sin gle abstract c o ncept of all these separate an d

in divi dual deiti es O nce m o re the b ounda ry go d w as
.
,

ren ewed each year by a fresh victim O ur own practi ce .

of b eating the boun ds appears t o be the last expiring

“

relic of such annual sacrifices Th e boun ds are b eaten

.
,

apparently i n order to expel all foreign go d s or hostil e

,

spirits th e boys who play a large part in the c eremony

are the represe n tatives of the human victims They are .

whipped at each terminus stone par tly in order to mak e ,

th em Shed t ears as a rain charm ( after the fashion with

-

w hi ch M r F razer has made us famili ar ) but partly also

.
,

b ecause all a rtifi c ia lly—

mad e gods are scourged or to rture d
b efore b ein g put to death for some reason which I do not
,

think we yet fully un derst and The rationalisin g glos s.

“
that the b oys are whipped in order to make them re
member the boundari es is on e of the usual shallow ex
planation s so glibly O ffered by the eighte enth century .

The fact that the ceremony takes pl ace at sacred stones o r

”
Gospel o aks su fficiently proclai ms it s origin al mean
ing.

The idea u n derlyin g C h ristian martyrdom where th e ,

 I AR T YRD OIV
IY I .
27 1

ma rtyr voluntarily devotes himself o r herself to death in

order to gain the crown and palm in heaven is essentially ,

similar to the self immolation o f the artificial gods and

-
,

helps to expl ain the n ature of such self sacrifi c e F or -

.

C hristianity is only nominally a monotheistic religion ,

and the saints an d martyrs form in it practically a secon d

ary or minor rank of deities .

O n the other han d the point of view of the god Slayers

,
-

cannot b e more graphically put than in th e story which

M r William Simpson relates of Sir Richard B urton
. .

B urton it seems was exploring a remote M ahommedan

, ,

region on the I ndian fron tier and in order t o do so with,

greater freedom and ease had disguised himself as a fakir

of I slam S o great was his knowledge o f Muslim devo
.

tions that the people soon began to entertain a great

respect for him as a most holy person H e was co n g ra t u .

lating himself upon the success of his disguise and lookin g ,

fo rward to a c o nsiderable stay in the valley when on e ,

night one of the elders of the village came to him

stealthily and begged him if h e valued his o w n safety to
, , ,

go away B urton asked whether the people did not like

.

him The elder answered yes that was the roo t of the
.
,

trouble They had conceived in fact the highest possibl e

.
, ,

opinion of his excepti o nal sanctity an d they thought it ,

would b e an excellent thing for the village t o possess the

tomb of so holy a man S o they were casting ab out now
.

how they could best kill him Whether this particular .

story is tru e or not it at least exhibits in very vivid

,

colours the stat e of mind of the ordinary go d slayer -

.

Dr Tylor M r Speth and other writers on foundation

.
, .
,

sacrifices treat them as springing from pri mitive animism .

To me they seem rather t o imply the exact opposite

, .

F o r if everything has already a soul by nature why kill a ,

man or criminal to supply it with one

2 72 G O D S OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

C H A PT E R X I II .

G O D S O F C U L T I V AT I O N .

BY far the most interestin g in t h e curious group of ar

t ifi c ia l ly mad e go ds are thos e which are sacri fice d in con
-

n e xio n with agriculture These deiti es app e a l to us from

.

s everal points O f view I n the first plac e they form

.
, ,

among agricultural races as a whole t h e most impo rt ant ,

and ven erated obj ects of worship I n th e s econd place

.
,

i t is largely throu gh their influence or on their analogy ,

as I believe that so many other artificial gods came to b e

,

renewed or sacrificed annually I n the third place it is

.
,

the gods of agriculture who are most of all slain sacra

ment ally whose bodies are e aten by their votaries in the
,

shap e of cakes of bre ad or o ther foo dstu ffs an d whos e ,

bl oo d is drunk in the form of wine The immediate con .

n e x io n of these sacramental ceremoni es with the sacrific e

of the mass an d the i dentification of the C hrist with bread

,

and win e give to this branch o f our enqui ry a peculi a r

,

imp o rtance fro m the point of view of t h e evolution of

C hristianity We must therefore enter at so me little len gth
.

into the genesis of these peculiar and departmental go d s ,

who stan d so directly in the mai n line of ev o lution of the

central divin e figure in the C hristian religion .

A ll over the worl d wherever cultivation exists a speci al

, ,

class of co rn — go ds O-r gr ain gods is fou n d deities o f the

-
,

chi ef foo dstu ff —b e it maize or dates o r plantain or rice

, , , ,

— and it is a co mmon feature o f all thes e gods that they

are represent ed by human or quasi human victi ms who -
,

are annu ally slain at the time of sowing Thes e human .

2 74 GODS OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

O f course it is only an in exp eri enced bi ologist wh o

c oul d long be puzzled by this apparent paradox H e mus t .

soon see th e tru e solution of the ri d dle if he has read and ,

digested the t eachings of D arwin F or the real fact is .

,

in a garden or out of it most o f these plants c ould get on

,

very well in a great vari ety of climates or situations— if

only they were protecte d against outside comp etition .

There we have the actual crux of the problem I t is n ot .

that the moisture loving plants cannot live in d ry situa

-

tions but that the dry loving plants sp ecialised an d

,
-
,

adapted for the post can comp ete with them there at an
,

i mmense a d vn ta g e an d SO in a very short time live them

, , ,

down altogether E very species in a state of nature is

.

continually expos ed to the ceaseless comp etition of every

other ; an d each o n its own groun d can b eat its com
p e tit o rs B ut i n a garden the very thing we aim at is
.
,

j ust to restrict an d prevent competition ; to give each

sp ecies a fair chanc e for life even in con ditions wher e ,

other an d b etter adapte d speci es can usually outlive it

-
.

This in fact is really at b ottom all that we ever mean by

, ,

a garden— a Space of groun d cleared an d kept clear of its , ,

n atural vegetati o n ( commonly called in this connexio n

weeds ) an d d elib erately stocke d with other pl ants most
, ,

or all of whi ch the weeds would live down if not artificially

prevented .

We see the truth of this point of vi ew th e moment the

gard en is as we say abandone d— that is to say left once
, , ,

more to the op eration of unaide d nature The pl ants with .

which we have stocked it loiter on for a while in a feebl e

an d uncertain fashion but are ultimately choked o ut by
,

the stronger and b etter — adapte d wee ds whi ch compose the

n atural vegetation of the lo cality The dock an d n ettl e .

live down in time the larkspur an d the peony The e s .

se n t ial thing in the garden is in short the clearing of the , ,

groun d from the weeds—that is in other words from the , ,

native ve getati on A few minor thin gs may or may not

.

be added such as manurin g turning the soil prot ectin g

, , ,
 O R I GI N OF C UL TI VA T I ON .
275

with S helter and so forth but the clearing is itself the

,

one thing n eedful .

Slight as this point seems at first sight I b elieve it in ,

c lu d e s the whole s ecret of the origin of til la g e a n d therefore , ,

by implication of the gods o f agri culture F or looked

, .
,

at in essence cultivation is weeding and weeding is culti

, ,

vation When we say that a certain race cultivates a

.

certain plant stapl e we mean no more in the last resort

-
,

than that it sows or sets it in soil artifici ally cleare d of

comp eting species S owing without clearing is a b so
.

lu te ly useless So the question O f the origin of cultivation

.

resolves itself at last Simply into this—how did certain

men come first t o know that by C learing groun d of weeds
and keeping it clear of them they could promote th e
growth of certain desirable human foodstu ffs
T O begin with it may b e as well to premise that th e
,

problem of the origin of cultivation is a far more comple x

one than appears at first sight F or we have not only t o .

ask as might seem to the enquirer unaccustomed to suc h

,

investigations H ow di d the early savage first find o ut

,

that seeds would grow better when planted in op en soil ,

”
already freed from weeds or n atural co mp etitors ? b ut
also the other and far more di fficult question How di d ,

the early savage ever find out that plants would grow from
seeds at all ? That I take it is the real riddle of the
, ,

situation and it is one whi ch so far as I know h as hithe rto

, ,

escaped all enquirers into the history and origin of human

progress .

F ully to grasp the profo und nature of this di fficulty we

must throw ourselves back mentally into the condition
an d position of primitive man We ours elves have known .

so long and so familiarly the fact that plants grow fro m

seeds—that the seed is the essential reproductive part of
th e vegetable organism— that we find it hard t o unthink
that piece of commonplace knowledg e and to realise tha t ,

what to us is an almost self evident truth is to the p rimitiv e

-

savage a long and di fficult inference O ur own common .

2 76 G OD S OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

and c ertain acquaint anc e with the fact in de ed is entirely , ,

derive d from the practic e o f agri cultur e We have se e n .

seeds sown from our earliest childho o d B ut b efore agri .

culture grew up the conn exio n b etween s e e d an d s eedling

,

coul d not possibly b e known or e ven susp ecte d by p ri mi

tive man who was by no means pro ne t o make abstract
,

i nv estigations i nto the botanical nature or physiological

O bj ect of the various organs i n th e herbs about him Th a t .

t h e see d is th e reproductiv e p art of the plant was a fact

a s littl e likely in itself to strike him as that the stamen s

were the male organs or that the l eaves were the assimi
,

lative an d digestive surfaces H e could only have fou nd

.

out that plants grew from seeds by the expe ri mental pro
cess of sowing an d growi ng them S uch an experiment .

he was far from likely ever t o try fo r its own sake H e .

must have b een l ed to it by some other an d accident al

coin ci dence .

N ow what was primitive man likely to know and o b

s erve about the plants aroun d him Primar ily one thing
o nly that some of them were edible and some were not , .

T here you have a distinction of immediate interest to all

humanity An d what pa rts o f plants were most likely
.

t o b e useful t o him in this respe ct as foo dstu ffs Those

parts which the plant had specially filled up with ri ch
material for its own us e or th e us e of its o ffspring The .

first are the root s stocks bulbs corns or tubers in whi ch

, , , ,

i t lays by foo dstu ffs for its future growt h ; the second
a re the se eds which it pro du ces and enriches in ord er to

c o ntinue its ki nd to succ eedin g gen erations .

Primitive man th en kn ows the fruits seeds and tub ers

, , , , ,

j ust as the squirrel th e monkey and th e parrot know

, ,

t hem as so much goo d foo dstu ff suitabl e t o his purpose

, , .

B ut why shoul d he ever dream of saving o r prese rving

s ome of thes e fruits o r se eds when h e has foun d the m
, ,

and of bu rying them in the s o il on th e bare o ff chance ,

-

that by pure magic as it were they might giv e rise to

, ,

o thers ? N o idea could b e more foreign to the natu re

2 78 G O D S OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

I believe there is one way an d one way only in which, ,

primitive man was at all likely to b ecome famili ar with

these facts I shall try to show that all the O perati ons of
.

p rimitive agriculture very forcibly point to this strange

and almost magi cal origin of cultivati on that all savage
agriculture retains to the last many traces of its origin
and that the sowing of the seed itself is hardly consi dered
so important an d essential a part of the complex process
as c ertain purely superstitiou s and bloo dthirsty practices
that lon g accompany it I n on e word n ot to keep the
.
,

rea d er in doubt any longer I am incline d to b elieve that

,

cultivation and the sowing of seeds for crops had their

b eginning as an adj unct of the primitive burial system .

U p t o the present time so far as I know only on e origin

. ,

for cultivation has ever b een even conj ecturally suggested ;

an d that is a hard one I t has b een sai d that the first hint
.

of cultivation may have come fro m the O bservatio n that

seeds accidentally cast out on the kitchen — mid dens or on ,

t h e cl eared spac e about huts caves or other human dwel, ,

ling places germinat ed an d produced more seeds in suc

-
,

cee d in g seasons Very prob ably many savages have Ob

.

served the fact that food plants frequently grow on such

-

heaps of refuse But that observation alon e does no t

.

brin g us mu ch nearer to the origin of cultivation F or .

why shoul d early man connect su ch a fact with th e seeds

more than with the b ones the shells or the mere accident
, ,

of proximity W e must ri d our minds of all the pr e c o n

ce p tio n s of inductive and experi mental science and throw ,

ourselves mentally back into the position of th e savage

to whom n ature is one vast fiel d of unrelated events with ,

out fixed s equenc e o r physical causation M oreover a .

,

kitchen midden is not a cleared space : on the contrary

-
,

it is a weed bed of extraordi n ary luxuriance I t brings us

-
.

n o nearer the origin of clearin g .

There is however on e set of functions in which primi

, .

tive men d o actually perform all th e ess ential acts O f agri

culture without in th e l east intending it an d that is th e
,
 SEE D S OFFERED AT T UM ULI .
2 79

a lmost universal act of the burial of the dead B urial is .

,

so far as I can see the only obj ect for which early races
, ,

o r what comes t o the same thing very l ow savages ever

, , ,

turn or dig the groun d We have seen already that the .

original idea of burial was to confin e the ghost or corpse

o f the dead man by putting a weight of earth on top of

him and l est this should b e insu fficient to keep him fro m
troublesome reappearances a big stone was frequently ,

rolled above his mound or tumulus which is the origin of ,

all our monuments now diverted to the honour an d com

,

memoration of the decease d B ut the point to whi ch I .

wish j ust now to direct attention is this— that in the act

o f burial and in that act alone we get a first b eginning of
, ,

turning the soil exposing fresh earth and so incidentally

, ,

eradicati n g the weeds We have here in short the first

.
, ,

necessary prelude t o the evolution of agriculture .

The n ext step Of course must be the sowing of the seed

, , .

And here I venture to think funeral customs supply us

, ,

with the onl y conceivabl e way in which such sowing coul d

ever have begun F or early men would certainly not
.

waste the precious seeds which it took them so much time

and troubl e to collect from the wil d plants aroun d them ,

in mere otiose scientific experiments on vegetabl e develop

ment B ut we have seen that it is the custom of all
.

savages to o ffer at the tombs of their ancestors food an d

drink of the same kind as they themselves are in the habit
o f using N ow with pe opl e in the hunting stage such
.
, ,

O fferings would no doubt most frequently consist of meat ,

the flesh of the hunted beasts o r game birds but they -

would also include fish fruits seeds tubers an d berries

, , , , ,

a n d in particular such rich grains as those of the native

pulses and cereals E vidence of such thin gs b eing O ffered

.

at the graves of the dead has been collected in such abun

dan ce by D r Tylor Mr F razer an d M r H erbert Spencer
.
, .
, .
,

that I need not here adduce any further examples of so

familiar a practice .

What must be the obvious result ? H ere and here ,

2 80 G ODS OF C U L TI VA TI ON .

alon e the savage quite unconsciously sows see ds upon

,

newly turned ground deprived of its weeds and further

-
, ,

manured by th e blo od an d meat of the frequ ent s acrificial

O fferings .Thes e seeds must often spring up and grow
apace with a rapi dity an d luxuriance which cann o t fail
,

to strike the imaginati on of the primitive hunter E spe .

c ia l ly will this b e the c ase with that class of plants which

u ltimately d evelop into the food crops o f civilised so ci ety -

.

F or the pe culiarity of these pl ants is that they are one a n d

all— maize co rn or rice p ease beans o r mill et— annuals
, , , , ,

of r a pi d growth an d portentous stature ; pl ants whi ch

have thriven in the struggl e for exi stence by laying up
large stores o f utilisabl e material in their seeds for the use
of the see dling and this peculiarity enabl es them to start
i n life in each gen eration exceptionally well en dowed an d ,

so to compete at an advantage with all their fellows .

S eeds o f such a sort would thrive exceedingly in the n ewly

turne d and well manured soil of a grave or barrow an d
-

produ cin g there a quantity o f rich a n d edible grain would ,

certainly attract the att ention of that practi cal and O b se r

vant m an the savage F or though he is so incuriou s ab o ut
,
.

what are non essentials your savage is a peculiarly long

-
,

headed person about all that c o ncerns his own imm e diat e
advantage .

What conclusion woul d at once b e forced u po n hi m

That s eeds planted in freshly turned an d richly — manured
-

soil produce threefold an d fourfold N othing of the so rt .

H e kn ows naught of seeds and m anures an d soils ; h e

woul d at onc e conclude after his kin d that the dreaded
, ,

and p owerful ghost in the barrow pleased with the gift s ,

of meat and seeds o ffered to hi m h ad repai d those gifts ,

in kind by returning grain for grain a hundredfold out o f

his own body This original conn exion of ideas seems
.

to me full y to ex plain that curious identification of th e

ghost or spirit with the corn or other foo dstu ff which M r .

F raz er has so wonderfully a n d con clusively elaborated i n

The G olden B ough .
2 82 GODS OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

but of a delib erate victim slain in order to provi de a spirit

,

of vegetation —a n artifici al god — an d to make the corn

, ,

grow with vigour an d luxuriance Step by step I b e .

,

lieve it would at l ength b e discovered that if only you dug

,

wi de enough the corn would grow well a r ound as well as

,

upon the actual grave of the divine victim Thus slowly .

th ere would devel op the cultivated field the wider clear ,

in g dug up or laboure d by hand an d finally the ploughed

, ,

fi eld which yet remains a grave in theory and in all e s

,

s e n t ia ls .

I have venture d to give this long an d apparently u n

e ssenti al preambl e b ecause I wish to make it clear that the
,

manufactured or artificial go d o f the corn — fi e ld or other

cultivat ed pl ot really dates b ack to the very origin of cul
t iv a t io n Without a go d there woul d be no corn fi e ld
.
,
-

at all ; and the corn fi e ld I b elieve is long conceived

-
, ,

merely as the emb odiment of his vegetative spirit N ay .

,

the till ed fi el d is O ften at our own day and even in o ur ,

own country a grave in theory ,

.

I t is a mere commonplace at the present time t o say

that among early men an d savages every act of life has a
sacred Significanc e ; an d agriculture esp ecially is every
where an d always invested with a spe cial sanctity To us .
,

it would seem natural that th e act Of sowing seed shoul d

b e regarded as purely practical and physiological ; that
the see d shoul d be looked u pon merely as the part o f the
plant inten de d for repro duction an d that its germination ,

shoul d b e accepted as a n atural and normal process .

Savages and early men however have no such co n c e p

, ,

tions To them the whol e thing is a piece of natural

.

magi c you sow seeds or to b e more accurate you bu ry

, , ,

c ertain grains of foo dstu ff in the freshly turned soil with -

,

c ertain magical rites an d ceremonies and then after the ,

l aps e of a certain tim e plants b egi n to grow u pon this soil

, ,

from which you finally obtain a crop of maize or wheat or

barley The burial of the see ds or grains is only one part
.
 TH E CO R N FIELD
- VI C T IM .
2 83

of the magical cycle no more necessarily impo rt ant for the

,

realisati on of the desired end than many others .

And what are the other magical acts necessary in order

that grain b earing plants may grow upon the soil prepar e d
-

fo r their reception M r F raz er has collected abundan t .

evidence for answering th a t question a small part O f which ,

I shall recapitulate here for the benefit of those who have

not read his remarkable work referring students to The ,

G olden B ough itself for fuller details and collateral develop

ments A t the same time I should like to make it clearly
.

understood that M r F razer is personally in no way re .

sponsible for the use I here make of his admirabl e

m aterials .

All the world over savages and semi civilise d people ,

-

a re in the habit of sacrificing human victims whos e bo dies ,

are buri ed in the field with the seed of cor n or other bread
s tu ffs O ften enough the victim s blood is mixed with the
.
’

grain in order to fe rtilis e it The most famous instance .

is that of the Khonds of O rissa who chos e special victims , ,

k nown as M e ria h s an d o ffered them up to ensure goo d

,

harvests The M eriah was O ft e n kept fo r years before

.

being sacrificed H e was regarded as a consecrate d being

.
,

a n d treated with extreme a ffecti on mingle d with defer ,

ence A M eriah youth on reaching manhood was given

.
, ,

a wife who was herself a M eriah their o ffspring wer e all

”
brought up as victims The periodical sacrifices says .
“
,
“
M r F ra z er
. were generally 5 0 arranged by tribes and
,

d ivisions of tribes that each head of a family was enabled ,

at least once a year to procure a shred of flesh for his,

fields generally about the time when his chief crop was
,
”
laid down O n the day of the sacrifice which was h o rri
.
,

ble beyond description in its details the bo dy was cut to ,

pieces and the flesh hacked from it was instantly taken

,

home by the persons whom each village had deputed to

bring it O n arriving at its destination it was divided
.
,

by the priest int o two portions on e of which he bu ried in ,

a hole in the ground with his back turned and without ,

2 84 G O D S OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

l ooking at it Then each man in the village adde d a littl e

.

earth to cover it an d the pri est p o ured water over th e

,

mimic tumulus The other po rtion of th e fl esh the priest

.

divi ded into as many shares as there were heads of house s

present E ach head O f a house buri ed his shred in his
.

own fiel d pl acing it in the earth b e hin d his b ack without

,

lo oking The other remains of th e human vi ctim— th e

.

head the bones an d the intestin es — were b urned on a

, ,

fun eral pil e an d the ashes were scattered over the fields
-
, ,

or mix e d with the n ew corn to preserve it from inj ury .

E very on e of these details should b e carefully noted .

N ow in this case it is quite clear to me that every fiel d

, ,

i s regarded as essentially a grave portio n s of the divin e

victim are buri ed in it his ashes are mixed with the s eed
and from the groun d thu s treated he springs again in t h e
form of corn or rice or turmeric These customs as M r
, , .
, .

F razer rightly notes i mply that to th e bo dy of the ,

“

M eriah there was ascrib ed a direct or intrinsi c p ower of

makin g the crops to grow I n other words the fl esh an d . ,

ashes of the victim were b elieved to b e en dowed with a

magi cal or physical power of fertilisin g the l an d M ore .

than that it seems t o me that the seed itself is not regard ed

,

as su ffici ent to produce a crop i t is the s eed buried in th e

sacred grave with the divine flesh which germinat es at last
int o n ext year s foodstu ffs ’
.

A few other points must b e noticed about this essential

case which is on e of the most typical in stan ces of manu
,

fa c t u r e d go dhead Th e M eriah was only satisfacto ry if h e

.

”
had b een purch ased b ought with a price like the ,

chil dren who were built as foundation gods into walls o r -

else was the chi ld of a previous M eriah —in other words ,

was of divin e stock by d escent and inh erit an ce Khonds in .

distress O ften sol d their children as M e r ia h s considerin g ,

“

“
the b ea tifi ca tio n ( apot heosis I w o ul d rather say) of ,

their souls certain and their death for the b enefit of man
, ,

”
kind the most honourabl e possible
,
This sense of th e .

sacrifice as a cas e of one man dyi n g for the p eopl e is

2 86 G O D S OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

prodigal of divine crop raisers To draw once more from -

.

M r F razer s storehouse— the I n dians of Guayaquil in

.
’

South America used to sacrifice human blo od an d th e

,

hearts of men when they sowed their fields The ancient .

M exicans concei ving the maiz e as a personal b eing w h o

,

went through the whole course of life b etween seed time -

an d harvest sacrificed n ew born bab es when the maize w as

,
-

sown ol der children when it had sprouted an d so on till

, ,

it was fully rip e when they s acrifice d old men M ay w e

, .

not parall el with this instance the singular fact that the
Romans had as their chief ag ri cultural deity S aturnus the ,

go d of sowing but had also several other subsidiary crop

,

deities such as Seia who has to do with the corn when

, ,

it s prouts Se g e tia with th e corn when shot up and Tu

, , ,

tilin a with the corn stored in the granary ( An obviou s

obj ection based on the n umerous gods of childhoo d and
practical arts at Rome will be answered in a later chapter ) .

The Pawn ees again annually sacrifi ced a human victim in

, ,

spring when they s o wed their fields They thought that

,
.

an omission of this sacrifice woul d b e followe d by the total

failure of the crops of maiz e b eans an d pumpkins I n , , .

the account of on e such sacrifice of a girl in 1 8 3 7 or 1 83 8 ,

we are tol d : Whil e her fl esh was still warm it was cut ,

i n small pi eces from the bones put in little baskets and , ,

t aken to a nei ghbouring corn — fi e ld H ere the head chie f .

took a pi ec e of the flesh from a basket and squ eez ed a ,

drop of bloo d upon the n ewly deposited grains of corn -

.

His example was followed by th e rest till all th e s eed had ,

be en sprinkled with the bloo d it was then covered up

with earth M any other cases might b e q ti o t ed fro m
.

America .

I n West Africa on ce more a tribal queen used to sac

, ,

r ifi ce a man an d woman in the month of M arch They .

were killed with spades and hoes an d their b odies burie d ,

i n th e middle of a field which had j ust been tilled A t .

Lagos in Guinea it was the custom annually to impal e

, ,

a young girl alive soon after th e sprin g equinox in order

 TH E T
VI C I M A S SEE D .
2 87

t o secure good crops A similar sacrifice is still annually

.

o ffered at B enin The M a r im o s a B echuana trib e sacri

.
, ,

fi c e a human being for the crops The victim chosen is .

generally a short stout man H e is seized by viol ence or

.

intoxicated ( n ote that detail ) and taken to th e fields ,

”
where he is killed amongst the wheat to serve as seed .

After his blood has coagulated in the sun it is burned , ,

along with that p eculiarly sacred part the frontal bone , ,

the flesh attached to it an d the brain the ashes are then

,

scattered over the ground to fertilise it Such scattering .

of the ashes occurs in many instances an d will meet us ,

again in the case of O siris .

I n I ndia once more the Gon ds like the Khonds ki d

, , , ,

napped Brahman boys an d kept them as victims to b e

,

sacrificed on various occasions At sowing and reaping .

,

after a triumphal procession on e of the lads was killed by

,

b eing punctured with a poisoned arrow H is bloo d w as .

then sprinkled over the plou ghe d field or the ripe crop and ,

his flesh was sacramentally devoured The last point .

again will call at a later stage for further examination .

I will detail no more such instances ( out of the thousan ds

that exist) for fear of seeming tedious But the in te rp r e .

ta t io n I put upon the facts is this O riginally men noticed .

,

that foo d plants grew abundantly from the lab oured and
-

well manured soil of graves They O bserved that this

-
.

richn ess sprang from a coincidence of three factors— dig

ging a sacred de a d body and seeds of foodstu ffs
, , In .

time they note d that if you dug wide enough an d

,

scattered s eed far en ough a single corps e was capabl e of

,

fertilising a considerabl e area The grave grew into the .

fiel d or garden B ut they still thought it necessary to

.

bury some one in the field ; and most of the evidence

shows that they regarded this victim as a divine person
age that they considered him the main source of growth
or fertility ; and that they endeavoure d to dese rve his
favour by treating him well du ri n g the greater part of his
lifetime F or in many of the accounts it is expressly
.
2 88 GODS OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

stated that the intende d victim was treate d as a go d or as

a divin e king and was supplie d with every sort of luxury
,

u p to the moment of his i mmolation I n process of time .

,

the conception of the fiel d as di ff ering from the grave grew

more defined an d the large part born e by seed i n the pro
,

c e d u r e was more fully recognised E ven so however .

, ,

nob ody dreamed O f sowing the s ee d alon e without the

b ody of a victim B oth grain and fl esh or bloo d came to
.

” “
b e regarded alike as see d that is t o say the concur ,

rence of the two was considered necessary t o pro duce the

desired e ffe ct of germination an d fertility Till a very .

lat e p eri o d either the actual sacrifice or some vague rem

,

nant o f it remained as an essential part of cultivati on .

M r F razer s pages teem with such survivals in mo dern

.
’

folk custom F rom his work an d from other sources I

-
.
,

will give a few instances of thes e last dying relics of the

primitive superstition .

M r Go mme in his E thnology in F olklor e supplies an

.
, ,

account of a singular village festival in Southern I ndi a .

I n this feast a pri est known as the P Ot ra j and sp ecially

, , ,

armed with a divin e whip like the scourge of O siris , ,

sacrifices a sacred bu ffal o which is turned lo ose when a ,

calf and allowed to feed and roam about the village I n

,
.

th at case we have the common substitution of an animal

,

for a human victim which almost always accompani es ,

advancin g civilisation At the high festival th e head of .

,

the bu ffalo was struck o ff at a singl e blow and placed in ,

front of the shrin e of the vill age go ddess Aroun d were .

placed vessels containing th e di fferen t cereals an d hard by ,

a heap of mixe d grain s with a drill plough in the centre - .

The carcase was then cut up into small pieces and each ,

cultivator received a portion to bury in hi s fi eld The .

heap of grain was finally divi ded among all the cult iv a to-rs ,

t o b e buri e d by each one in hi s field with the bit of fl esh .

At last the head that very sacred part was burie d b efore
, , ,

a littl e t empl e sacred to th e goddess of b oun d aries The

goddess is represente d by a shapeless ston e—no doubt a
.
,
2 90 GODS OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

E vidence of
simil a r customs elsewhere exists in suc h
abundance that I can o nly give a very small part of it
at present lest I shoul d assign to o much space to a subor
,

di m ate question I hop e to detail the whole of it hereafter

in a subs equ ent volu me H ere is a striking example fro m .

Mr Gomme s E thnology in F olklore the analogy of which

.
’

with prec eding inst ances will at on ce b e appar e nt .

At the village of H olne situ ated on one of the spurs ,

of D artmoor is a fiel d of ab out two a cres the property of

, ,

the parish and call ed the Ploy F i eld I n the centre of

, .

this field stands a granite pillar ( M enhir) six or seven fe et

high O n M ay morning b efore daybre ak the young m e n
.
-
, ,

of the village us ed to assemble there and then proc e ed ,

t o the moor where they sel ect ed a ram lamb and after
, , ,

running it d own brought it i n triump h to the Ploy F ield

, ,

fastene d it to the pillar cut its thr o at and then roasted it

, ,

whol e skin wool etc At midday a struggle took place

, , , .
,

at the risk of cut hands fo r a sli ce it b eing supposed to , ,

confer luck for the ensuing year on the fo rtunate devourer .

As an act of gallantry the young men sometimes fought

their way through the crowd to get a slice for the chosen
amongst the young women all of whom in their b est , ,

dresses attende d th e Ram F east as it was calle d D a n

, , .

cing wrestling and other games assisted by copi ou s

, , ,

libations of cider during the afternoon prolonged the fes ,

”
t iv ity till mi dni ght .

H ere again we get several interesting fe atures of the

primi tive ritual preserved for us The conn exion with .

th e stone which enshrin es the original village deity is per

fe ct ly clear This stone no doubt represents the place
.

where the local foundati on go d was slain in very remote -

ages an d it i s therefore the proper place for the annual

ren ewal sacrifices t o be o ffere d The sel ection of M ay .

morning for th e rit e the sl au ghter at the stone pillar ;

the roastin g of the b east whol e ; the struggle for th e
pi eces an d the id ea that they would confer luck all sho w ,

survival of primitiv e feeling S o doe s the cider sacra .

,
 TH E C O RN —GOD I N EN G L A ND .
29 1

mental intoxication b eing an integral part of all thes e pro

c e e d in g s. E very detail indeed has its meaning for thos e
, ,

who look clos e for the struggle at midday is itself s ig n i

fi c a n t as is also the prolongation O f the feast till midnight
,
.

B ut we miss the burial of the pieces in the fields in so far ,

th e primitive obj ect of the rite seems to have b een for

gotten o r overlooked in D evonshire .

A still more attenuated survival is quote d by M r .

Gomme from another E nglish village A Whitsuntide .

custom in the parish of King s T e ig nt o n D evon shire is

’

, ,

thus described : A lamb is drawn about the parish on

Whitsun M onday in a cart covere d with garlands of lilac ,

lab urnum and other flowers when persons are requested

, ,

t o give som ething tow a rds the animal and attendant

expenses ; on Tuesday it is killed and roasted whol e
in the middl e of the village The lamb is then sold in
.

sli ces to the poor at a cheap rate The origin of the cus .

tom is forgotten but a tradition supposed to trace b ac k

, ,

to heathen days is to this e ff e ct : The village su ffered

,

from a dearth of water when the inhabitants were advis ed

,

by their priests to pray to the gods for water whereupon

the water sprang up spontaneously in a meadow about a
third of a mile above the river in an estate n o w calle d ,

R y d o n amply su fficient to supply the wants of the pl ace

, ,

and at present adequate even in a dry summer to work

, ,

three mills A lamb it is said has ever since that time

.
, ,

b een sacrificed as a votive thank o ffering at Whitsuntide in -

the manner before mentioned The said water appears .

like a large pond from which in rainy weather may b e

,

seen j ets springing u p some inches above the surface in

many p arts I t has ever had the n ame of F air Wat er
.
.
’

I mention this cu ri ous instance here because it well .

i llustrates the elusive way in which such divine customs of

various ori gins merge into on e another ; and also the
mann er in which di fferent ideas are attached in di fferent
places to very similar ceremonies F or Mr F razer h as . .

shown that the notio n of a rain — charm is also closely b oun d

2 92 G O D S OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

up with the go ds of agriculture the Khond M eriah mus t

weep or there will b e no rain that year his re d blo o d
,

must flow or the turmeri c will not pro duc e its proper re d
,

colour ( C o mpare the re d bloo d that flowed fro m Poly

.

’
dorus s cornel and the I ndian s bloo d that drops fro m the
’

C anadian bloo dro o t ) I n this l ast instance of the King s

’
.

T e ig n t o n ceremony it is th e rain charm that has most

,
-

c learl y su r vived to o u r days an d there are obvious refe

r e n c es to a human sacrifice O ffere d up to make a river — god
i n times lon g gone and n ow replaced by an animal vi ctim
, .

The garlands of lilac laburnu m an d other flowers ar e , , ,

however co mmon adornments of the artificial go d of cul

,

t iv a t io n ; they o ccurre d i n the D ionysiac rites and the

Attis festival an d are still preserve d i n many E urop e a n
,

c ustoms .

Very closely b oun d up with the artificial gods of culti

v ation are the t erminal gods with whom I dealt in the last

c hapt er ; so closely th a t it is sometimes impossible to

s eparate them We have already seen some instances o f

.

t his connexion th e procession o f the s acred victi m

u sually ends with a perlustrati on of the boundaries This .

p erlustration is often precede d by the head of the thean

t h r o p ic victim Such a ceremony exte n ds all over I ndia
.

in F rance an d other E uropean countries it survives i n

t h e shap e of the rite known as Blessin g the F ields where ,

t he pri est pl ays th e sam e part as is played among the

N ilgiri h illsm e n by the low caste Ku r ru m b a r I n this rite
-
.
,

t he H ost is carried roun d the bounds of the parish as the ,

h ead of the sacred bu ffal o i s carrie d roun d at the I n di an

festival I n some cases every fiel d i s separately visited
. .

I was tol d as a b oy in N orman dy that a porti on of the H ost

( stolen or conceal ed I imagin e ) was so metimes burie d
,

i n each fiel d but of this curious det ail I can n ow obtain

,

n o confirmatory evidence an d I d o n ot insist u pon i t

,
.

W e must rememb er however that the H ost is the body of

, ,

C hrist an d that its presen ce in su ch cas es is the exact

,

a nalogu e of th e carryin g roun d the pieces o f the M eriah .

2 94 G O D S OF C U L TI VA TI ON .

the belief that this causes the cro ps to grow b etter S ome .

tim es a sheaf of corn does duty for the victim an d por ,

tions of it are buried in each field as fe rtilisers I n the .

Hartz M ountains at similar c eremonies a living man is

, ,

laid on a baking trough an d carrie d with dirges to a

-

grave but a glass of brandy is substituted for him at the

last moment H ere th e spirit is th e equival ent of a god
. .

I n other cases the man is actually c overed with straw an d ,

so lightly buried I n I taly an d S pain a similar custom

.
,

”
b ore th e n ame of S awing th e O l d Woman In Pa .

l erm o a real ol d woman was drawn through the streets

,

on a c art and made to mount a sca ffol d where two mock

, ,

ex ecutioners proceeded to saw through a bladder of bloo d

which had been fitted t o her n eck Th e bloo d gushed out .
,

an d the ol d woman preten ded to swoon an d die This i s .

obvi ou sly a mitigation of a human sacrifice At F lorence .

,

an e ffigy stu ffed with walnuts and dried figs represented

the O l d Wo man At mi d Lent this figure was sawn
.
-
,

through the middle i n the M ercato N uovo an d when the ,

dried fruits tumbled out they were scrambled fo r by the

crowd as savages scrambl ed for fragments of the human
,

vi ctim or his animal representative U pon all this subj ect .

a mass of material has been coll ecte d by M annhard t an d

M r F razer P erhaps the most interesting case of all is the
. .

Russian ceremony of the F uneral of Y aril o I n this in .

~

stan ce the p eopl e chose an ol d man and gave him a small

,

co ffin containing a figure representing Y arilo This he .

carri ed out of the town followed by women chanting ,

dirges as th e Syrian women mourned for Adonis an d the

, ,

E gyptians for O siris I n th e o pen fiel ds a grave was du g

.
,

an d into it the figure was l owered ami d weeping an d wail

ing.

Myth an d folk lore also retain many traces of the primi

-

tiv e conn exi on Thus in the genuine American legen d

.
,

of Hiawatha the hero wrestles with an d vanquishes M on

,

damin an d where h e buries him Sprin gs u p for th e first

time the maiz e o r I n dian —
,

,
c orn plant Similar episodes .
 M O CK-M A YO R S AS CO R N -G O D S .
29 5

o ccur in the F innish Kalevala and other barb aric epics .

According to M r C halmers the M otu tribe in N ew Guinea

.
,

sa y that yams sprang first from the bones of a murdere d

man which were buried in a grave After some time the

, . ,

grave was opene d and the bones were found t o be no

,

longer bones but large and small yams of di fferent col ours
,
.

I n order to complete our preli minary survey of thes e

a rtificial go ds of cultivation before we pro ceed to the con,

sideration of the great corn gods and wine gods it may be - -

,

well to premise that in theo ry at least the original victi m

seems to have been a king or chief himself divine or else , ,

at least a king s son or daughter one of the divine sto ck

’

, ,

in whose veins fl owed the blood of the earlier deiti es .

Later on it woul d seem the temporary king was often

, ,

a llowed to do duty for the real king and for this purpose
he seems frequently to have been clad in royal robes and ,

treated with divine and royal honours E xamples of this .

c omplication will crop up in the sequel F or the present .

I will only refer to the interesting set of survivals collected ,

by M r Gomme where temporary kings or mayors in

.
,

E ngland are annually elected apparently for the sak e of ,

b eing sacrificed only I n many of these cases we get mere

.

frag m entary portions of the original rite but by piecing

them all together we obtain on the whole a tolerably
,

c omplete picture of the ori gi nal ceremonial observance .

At St Germans in C ornwall the mock mayor was chosen

.
,

under the large walnut tree at the M ay fair he was made

- -

d runk overnight in order to fit him for o ffice an d was

, ,

in that state drawn round the nut — tree much as we saw ,

the mayor of B ovey rode roun d the B ovey stone on his

accession to the mayoralty The mayor of St Germans . .

a lso displayed his royal character by b eing mounted on

the wain or cart of Old Teutonic and C eltic sovereignty .

At Lostwithi el the mock may o r was dressed with a crown

,

on his head and a sceptre in his hand and had a sword

, ,

b or n e b efore him At Penrhyn the mayor was preceded

.
,

by torch — bearers and town sergeants and though he was ,

296 GO D S OF C UL T I VA TI ON .

n ot actually burnt either in pl ay or in e ffigy bonfires were

, ,

lighted an d fireworks discharged which connect the cere

, ,

mony with such pyre sa crifi ce s of cremationists as the fes

-

t iv a l of the Tyrian M elcarth and the B aal of Tarsus On .

H a lg a ve r M oor n ear B odmin a stranger was arrested

, , ,

solemnly tried i n sport and then trailed in the mire o r ,

otherwis e ill treated At Polperro the mayor was gen

-
.
,
”
rally some half witte d or drunken fellow in either case
-
, ,

according to early i deas divine he was treated with ale , ,

”
and ,
having completed th e perambul ation of the town ,

was wheele d by his attendants into the sea There he .

,

was allowed t o scramble out again as the mock victim ,

do es in many E uropean ceremonies but originally I d o ,

not doubt he was drowned as a rain —

, charm .

These ceremonies at the time when our authoritie s ,

l earnt of them had all degen erated t o the level of mere

,

childish pastimes but they contain i n them non e the less , ,

p ersistent el ements O f most tragic signifi cance and they ,

point b ack to hideous an d sanguinary god — making festi

vals I n most of them we see still preserved the choic e
.

of the willin g or unconscious vi ctim the preference for

a stranger a fool or an idiot the habit of intoxicatin g
, ,

the chosen person the treatment of the victim as king ,

mayor or governor his sc o urging or mocking his final

,

d eath an d his burning on a pyre or his drowning as a ,

rain charm All thes e p oints are still more cl early notice
-
.

able in th e other form o f su rvival where the king or divine

victim is represented not by a mock or temporary king , ,

but by an image or e ffigy Su ch is th e common case of .

King C arnival who is at last burnt i n all his regali a or

, ,

thrown into a river O ur own Guy F awkes though .

,

fasten ed u pon the personality of a particular unpopul ar

historical character seems to b e the last feebl e E nglish
,

representative of su ch a human victim I will not elabo .

rate thi s p oint any further ( consi derations of Space fo rbid ) ,

b ut will refer th e reader for additional examples to M r .

2 98 G O D S OF C UL TI VA TI ON .

ree d fen ce an d there you s ee ten or twenty mounds of

,

e arth some of them s even feet high and sixty i n circum

,

feren ce These are heaps of lo ose earth without a single

.

ston e all thrown up by the han d I n the c entre they

,
.

plant one of the largest yams whole and roun d the sides ,
”
some smaller ones .

This looks very much like a tumulus in its tem enos I .

s o u l d greatly like to know whether a victim is buried in it .

I may add that th e i dea of the crop being a gift from the
deifie d ancestor or the divine human victim is kept up i n -

the common habit of o ffering the fi rst fruits to the dead -

,

or to the gods or t o the living chief their representative

, ,

and descen dant O f the equivalence of thes e three cere

.

monies I have given some evi denc e in my essay on Tree

.

Worship appen ded to my translation of the A ttis O f C a t u l

lus F or exampl e M r Turner says of thes e same T a n e se
.
, .

in the N ew H ebri des

“
Th e spirits of their departed ancestors were amon g
thei r gods C hiefs who reache d an advanced age were
.
,

a fter de ath deified addressed by name and prayed to on

, , ,

vari ous occasions They were supposed especially to pre

.

side over the growth o f the yams and the di fferent fruit
trees The fi rst—
. fruits were presented to them an d in do ,

ing this they l ai d a littl e of the fruit on some ston e or Shel

vin g bran ch of the tree or some more t emporary altar ,

in the form of a table All b eing

quiet th e chief acted as high priest an d pray ed aloud
,

thus C ompassionate father here is some foo d for you ,

’
eat it b e kind t o us on account o f it An d instead of an .

”
Am en all united in a l oud shout
,
.

Si milar eviden ce i s abundant elsewhere I summarise a .

littl e of it E ve ry year the Ko chs of Assam when they

. ,

gather th eir fi rst fruits O ffer some to their ancestors

-
, ,

callin g them even by name an d cl appin g th eir h ands to .

summon them The peopl e of K obi and Sa ripu t i two

. ,

villages i n C eram O ffer th e fi r st fruits of the paddy in -

,

th e form of cooked ric e to their ancestors as a token O f

 TH E FEA S T OF FI R S T FR UI TS - .
2 99

g ratitude The ceremony is called F eeding the D ead

.
.

I n the T e n im b e r and Tim o rla ut I slands the fi rst fruits of ,

-

the paddy are o ffered to the spirits of the ancestors who ,

a r e worshipped as guardian gods o r household lares The .

people of Luzon worship chiefly the souls of their a n c es

tors and o ffer to them the fi rst fruits of the harvest I n
,
- .

F iji the earliest o f the yarns are pres ented to the an cestral
ghosts in the sacre d ston e enclosure and no man may
taste of the new crop till after this presentation
_
.

I n other cases it is gods rather than ghosts to whom

the o ffering i s made though among savages the distinction
,

i s for the most part an elusive on e B ut in not a few .

instances the fi r st fruits are o ffered not to spirits or go ds

-
,

a t all but to the divine king himself who is the living

, ,

representative and earthly counterpart of his deified a n

ce st o r s Thus in Ashantee a harvest festival is hel d in
.

S eptember when the yarns are ripe

,
During the festival .

the king eats the new yams but n o n e of the peopl e may eat ,

them till the close of the festival which lasts a fortnight , .

The Hovas of Madagascar present the first Sheaves of the

, ,

n ew grain to the sovereign The sheaves are carried in .

procession to the pal ace from time to time as the grain

ripens SO in Burmah when the pong a ti fruits ripen
.
, , ,

some of them used to be taken to the king s palace that ’

he might eat of them no on e might partake of them b e

fore the king I n short what is O ffered in one place to the
.
,

living chief is o ffered in another place to his dead prede

cessor an d is o ffered in a third place t o the great deity
,

who has grown slowly out of them The g o d is the dead .

king : the king as in ancient E gypt is the living god

.
, ,

an d the descendant of gods his deified ancestors I ndeed , .

,

t h e fi r st—fruits seem sometimes to be O ffered to the human

'

victim himself in his deified capacity and sometimes to

, ,

the Adonis or O siris who is his crystallised embodiment

, , .

O ur own harvest festival seems to preserve the O ffering in

a Christianised form .

F inally I will add that in many cases it looks as though

,
 G OD S OF C UL TI VA TI ON
3 00
.

the divin e agri culture —

victim were regarded king
p erson the embo dimen t of the village or trib al go d an d
, ,

were o ffered up himself to himself at the stone which

, ,

forms the monument an d al tar of the primitive deity O f.

this i dea we shall see exampl es when we go on to examin e

the great corn — go ds and win e go ds o f the M edit erranean
-

region .
3 02 C O RN AND WI NE G O D S -
.

to form the c ourt of the temp ora ry king and to represent ,

the early local worship whos e gods the conqu ering races
,

are afrai d of o ffending F or since the dead of the con

.

qu ered race are in possessi on of the soil immigrant con ,

q u e r o rs everywhere have a superstiti ous dread of incurring

their displeasure O n the first day of th e orgy the low
.
,

caste people chose one of themselves as priest or P o t raj .

O n the second day o f the feast the sacred bu ffal o a l , ,

ready d escribed as having the character o f a t h e a n th r o

pic victim was thrown down before the go ddess its head
,

was struck o ff at a singl e blow an d was placed in front ,

of the Shrine with one leg in its mouth The carcase as

, .
,

we saw already was then cut u p and delivered to the cul

, ,

t iv a t o r s to bu ry in their fields The bloo d and o ffal were .

aft erwards coll ect ed into a l arge basket an d the o ffi cia

ting priest a low —, caste man who bore ( like the god ) the,

name of P o tra j taking a live kid hewed it in pieces over

, ,

the m ess The basket was then placed on the head of a

.

n ake d m a n o f the leather dresser class who ran with it

,
-
,

roun d the circuit of the village boundari es scattering the ,

fragments right and l eft as he went The P o tr aj was .

arme d with a sacred whip like O siris and thi s whip was,

itself the obj ect of profoun d venerati on .

O n the third and fourth days many bu ffalo es an d Sheep .

w ere sl aughtered and on the fou rth day women walke d ,

naked to the templ e clad in b oughs of trees al on e a com

,

mon religi ou s exercis e of which I have only space here to

suggest that St E lizab eth of Hungary an d th e Godiva pro
.

cession at C oventry are surviving relics ( These relations .

have well b e en elu cidated by M r Sidney H a rtland ) . .

O n the fifth and l ast day th e whol e community marched

,

with music to the village templ e an d O ffered a con cluding ,

sacrific e at th e P o tra j altar A l amb was concealed close.

bv. The P o traj having foun d it aft er a preten ded search

. ,

ren dered it insensibl e by a bl ow of his whi p or by mes ,

m eric passes— a su r vival of the id ea of the volunt ary

’
vi ctim Then the assistants tied the P o traj s han ds behin d
.
 TH E C O RN -
GOD FE S TI VA L .

3 03

his back and the whole pa rty b egan t o dance round him
,

with orgiastic j oy P o tra j j oine d i n the excitement an d

.
,

soon came under the present influence of the deity H e .

was led up bound to the place where the l amb lay motion
, ,

less C arried away with divine fren zy he rushed at it

.
, ,

seize d it with his teeth tore through the skin an d eat into
, ,

its throat When it was quite dead h e was lifte d up ;

.
,

a dishful of the meat o ffering was presented to him he

-

thrust his blood stained face into it and it was then buri ed
-
,

with the remains of the lamb beside the alt a r After that .
,

his arms were untied an d he fled the place I may ad d

, .

that as a rule the slaughterer of the go d eve rywhere has to

fly from t h e ven geance of hi s worshippers who after par , ,

t icipa tin g in the attack pretend indignation as soon as the

,

sacrifice is completed .

The rest of the party now adj ourned to th e front of the

t e m p le w h e r e a heap of grain deposited on the first day was
,

divided among all the cultivators to b e sown by each o n e ,

in the field with his piece of flesh After this a d istr ib u .

,

tion was made of the piled u p heads O f the bu ffaloes and -

sheep slaughtered on the third and fourth days These .

were evid ently considered as sacred as divine heads gen

e ra lly in all countries and ages About fo rty of the sheeps ’
.

heads were divided among certain privileged persons for

the remainder a general scramble took place men of al l
, ,

castes soon rolling together on the groun d in a mess of

put rid gore F or the bu ffaloes heads only the Pariahs
.
’
.

contended Whoever was fortunate enough to secure one

.

of either kind carried it o ff and buried it in his field O f .

the special importance of the head in all such sacrifices ,

Mr Gomme has collected many apposite exampl es

.
.

The proceedings were terminated by a procession round

the boundaries the buri a l of the head of the sacred buf
falo close to the shrine of the village goddess an d th e
outbreak of a perfect or g y a rul e O f misrule during ,
,

which the chief musician indulged in unbridled abuse of a ll

the authorities native or B ritish , .
3 04 CO R N AND WI NE G O D S
-
.

I have given at such length an account of this singular

festival partly because it she ds light upon much that has
,

g on e b efore but p artly also b ecause it helps t o e xplain

,

many elements in the worship of the great corn an d wine

go ds O n e point o f cardinal importanc e to be noticed
.

here is that the o fficiating p ri est who was at on e tim e also ,

both go d and victim is calle d P o traj like the deity who m ,

he represents So too in Phrygia the combined A ttis

.
, ,

victim an d Attis — pri est bore the name of A ttis and so in

E gypt the annual O siris — offering bore the name of O siris ,

whom he represented .

If I am right therefore in th e analogy of the two feasts

, ,

Dionysus was in his origin a corn god an d later a vine -

,

go d annu ally slain an d buri ed in order that his blood

,

might fertilise the field or the vineyard I n the H omeric .

peri od he was still a general god of cultivation only later

,

d id he b ec ome distinctively the grap e — go d an d win e deity -

.

There was originally I b elieve a D ionysus i n every v il , ,

l age and this divin e victim was annually o ffered himself ,

t o himself with o rgiastic rites like those of P o tr aj

, .

M r Laurence Gomme has already in part pointed out this

.

equation of the H ellenic and t he I ndian custom The .

earliest form of Dionysus worship on this hypothesis -

, ,

woul d b e the one which survived in Chios and Ten edos ,

where a living human being was orgiastically torn to

pieces at the feast of Dionysus At O r ch o m e n u s the h u .
,

man victi m was by custom a woman of the family of t he

O le iae ( so that there were women D io n y si) : at th e annual
festival the pri est of Dionysus pursued these women with
,

a drawn sword and if he caught one he had the right to

, ,

sla y her This is the sacred —chance victim ) I n other

( . .

places the ceremony had been altered in historical times

,

thus at P o tn im in B oeotia it was once the custom to slay a

, ,

chil d as Dionysus but later on a goat which was ide n t i , ,

fi e d with th e go d was substituted for the original human

,

vi ctim T h e equivalenc e of th e animal vi ctim with the

.

human go d is shown by the fact that at Tenedos the new

3 06 CO R N AND WI NE G O D S -
.

l a rlyof the fruit b earing fig an d apple H is image like

-
.
,

those of other tree go ds already encountered was often an

-
,

upright p ost without arms but draped ( like the asher a )

, ,

in a mantl e and with a b earde d mask to represent t h e

,

head while green b oughs proj ecting from it marked his

,

vegetable character H e was the patron of cultivate d .

trees prayers were O ffere d to hi m to make trees grow

he was honour e d by fruit growers who set up an imag e -
,

of him in the shape of a natural tre e stump in the midst

,
-
,

of their orchards ( C omp are that last degraded and utili

.

tarian relic t h e mod ern scarecro w )

, F or other equally .

interesting facts I would refer the reader once more to

,

M r F razer whose rich store I must not further rifle I t

.
, .

se ems to me O bvious from his collection of facts that ther e

was originally everywhere a separate lo cal Dionysus an
annual man —
,

go d or woman go d victim ( for which a beast -

was later substituted ) and that only slowly did the worship
,

of the in dividual Dio n ysi pass into the general worship o f

on e great i dealis ed god Dionysus Th e great go ds are at .

first classes n ot individuals

, .

M r Gomme has further pointed out three interestin g

.

points of resemblance b etween the Dionysiac rites an d th e

I n dian P o tr aj festival I n the first place Dionysus is .
,

s ometimes rep resented to his w orshippers by his head

only— no doubt a preserve d oracular head an d in any
case a paral lel to the importanc e of the head in the I ndian
ceremony I n the secon d place the sa crifi c e r of the cal f
.
,

at Ten edos was driven out an d stoned after the fulfilment

of the rite— a counterpart of th e P o tr aj fl eeing from the
pl ace after the slaught er O f the lamb An d in the third .

place th e wo men worshippers of Dionysus attended t h e

,

rites nu de crown ed with garl an ds an d daubed over with

, ,

dir t —a counterpart of the n aked femal e votaries sur

roun d ed with branches of trees in the I n dian festival All .

thr e e o f these p o ints recur ab undantly in simil ar cere

m onies el sewhere .

As a rule I severely disregard mere myths as d arkeners

, ,
 TH E H UM A N D I ONYS US 3 07

of counsel confinin g my attention to the purely religious

,

and practical elements O f custom and worship B ut it is .

worth while noting here for its illustrative value th e Cre

tan Dionysus myth preserved for us in a R o manised form
-
,

by F irmicus M at e rn u s Dionysus is there represented as .

the son of Zeus a Cretan king ; an d this legend dis

, ,

missed cavalierly by M r F razer as E uhemeristic . at “

,

least encloses the Old i dea that the Dionysus — victim was at
first himself a divin e god king c onnected by blood with -
,

the supreme god or foun der of the community H era .

,

the wife of Z eus was j ealous of the child and lured him
, ,

into an ambush where he was set upon by her satellites the

,

Titans who cut him limb from limb boi l ed his body with
, ,

various herbs and at e it O ther forms of th e myth tell

, .

us how his mother Demeter pi eced together his mangle d

remains and made him young again M ore often how
, .
,

ever Dionysus is the son of Semel e and various other ver

, ,

sions are given of the mod e of his resurrection I t is .

enough for our purpose that in all of them th e win e god -

,

after having b een slain and torn limb from limb rise s ,

again from the dead and often ascends to h is father Z eu s

,

in heaven The resurrecti on visibly enacted formed in

.
, ,

many places a part of the rite though I cannot agre e with

M r F razer s a pparent and ( for him ) unusual suggestion
.
’

that the rite grew out of the myth I hol d the exact oppo
site to have been the order of evolution .

O n the whole then though I do n ot deny that the later

, ,

Greeks envi saged Dionysus as a singl e supreme go d of ve

g e t a t io n n o r that many abstract ideas were finally fath ered
,

upon the worship— especially those which i dentified the

death and resurrection of the god with the annual winter
sleep an d spring revival —I maintain that in his origin the
Dionysus was nothing m o re than the annual corn victim -
,

afterwards extended into the tree and vine victim from ,

whos e grave sprang the pomegranate that blood red fruit ,

-
,

an d whose life j uice was expressed as the god giving wine

- -
,

At first a yearly human victim he was afterwards perso ,

3 08 C ORN A ND WI NE G O D S -
.

n ate d by a go at or a bull an d was therefore repres e nted in

art as a bull o r a bull — ,
horne d man Gradually identifie d .

with vegetation in gen eral he was regarded at last as the ,

F lowery D ionysus the F ig Dion ys u s or even like Attis

, , , ,

the go d o f t h e pin e tree B ut all these I believe were lat er

-
.
, ,

syn cretic additi ons an d I consi der that in such primitive

forms as the orgiastic crop — go d of the I ndian corn festival -

we get the prime original of the H elleni c vin e—deity .

I pass on t o O siris in his secondary or acquired charac

,

t er as corn god -
.

I have already expressed the b elief in which I am ,

backe d up by M r L o ftie that the original O siris was a real

.
,

hi storical early king o f This by Abydos B ut in t h e later .

E gyptian religion after mystic ideas had b egun to be

,

evolved he cam e to b e regarded as the god of the dead

, ,

an d every mummy or every j ustified soul was looke d upon

as an O siris M oreover it seems probable that in E gy pt
.
,

the name of O siris was also fitted to the annual slain corn
victim or corn god Thus all over E gypt there were
-
.

many duplicates of O siris notably at Busiris where the ,

name was attached to an early tomb like the one at Aby

dos This identification o i the new made go d with th e his
.
-

toric ancestor the dead king or the tribal deity is quite

, ,

habitual it is parallel to th e i dentification of th e o fficiating

P o t r aj with the P o tr aj go d of the Attis priest with Attis ,
-
,

of the Dionysus vi ctim with the so n of Zeus : an d it will

-

meet us hereafter in savage parallels L et us look at the .

evidence .

As in I ndia the O siris festival l asted for fi v e days (The

,
.

p eriod is worth noting ) The ceremoni es began with .

plou ghing th e earth W e do not know for certain that a

.

human victim was immolate d ; but m any side — analogies

woul d lea d u s to that con clusion an d suggest that as else ,

where the sacred victim was t orn to pi eces in the eager

ness of th e cultivators an d worshipp ers to obtain a frag
ment of his fertilisin g b ody F or in th e myth Typhon .
,

cuts up the corpse of the god int o fourt een pieces which ,
3 10 CO RN A N D WI NE G O D S -
.

Again in the legend o f B usiris an d the glosses or com

, ,

ments upon it we get important eviden ce the value of

, ,

which has n ot fully been noted I b elieve by M r F raz er , , . .

The story comes to us in a Gre ek form but we can see

through it that it repres ents the myth which accounted
for the O siris sacrifice The name B usiris means the city
.

of O siris which was so call ed because the grave of an

,

an ci ent O siris ( either a mummy o r a l ocal chief i dentified ,

with the great go d of Abydos ) was situated there H u .

man sacrifices were sai d to have been o ffered at his tomb

j ust as the P o traj sacrifice i s o ffer e d at the shrine of the
village god dess an d j ust as the annual victim elsewhere
,

was sacrificed at the Terminus stone or the sacred ston e

of the foundation — god or go ddess The victims were red .

haire d men and strangers Their ashes were sc attered

, .

abro ad with winn owing fans They were slain o n the har .

vest fi e ld and mourned by the reapers ( like Adonis and

-
,

Attis ) in the son g which through a Greek mistake is

known to us as the M a n e ro s The reapers prayed at the .

same time that O siris might revive and return w it h r e n e w e d

vigour in the following year T h e most interesting poin t .

i n this account pi eced together from Apollod o rus Diodo

, .

rus and Plutarch i s the fact that it shows us how the

, ,

annual O siris was identified with the old divin e king who
lay in his grave hard by and so brings the case into lin e
with others we have already con si dered an d must still con
sider As for the hunting after the pieces of O siris s body
.
’

that is j ust like the hunting after th e mangl ed pieces of

Di onysus by D emeter I interpret both the resurrection
.

of O si ri s an d the st ory o f th e fragments bein g pieced to

,

gether an d growing young again tol d of Dionysus as , ,

meanin g that the scattered pieces buried like those of the ,

Khon d M eriah grow u p again n ext year into the living

,

corn for the harvest .

F urthermo re there exists to this day in E gypt an a p

,

parent survival o f the anci ent O siris rite in an attenu ate d ,

form ( like th e mock mayors in E ngland ) which distinctly ,

 TH E YEAR L Y O SI RI S VI C TI M .

31 1

s uggests the identification I am here attempting I n .

U pper E gypt Klun z in g e r tells us on the first day of the

, ,

( E gyptian ) solar year when the N ile has usually reached

,

its highest point the regular government is suspen ded for

,

three days in each district and ever y town chooses its own
,

t emporary ruler This temporary king ( a local O siris as

.
,

I believe ) wears a conical cap and a long fl a x e n b eard an d

, ,

is enveloped in a strange mantle I say unhesitatingly the .

,

dress of an O siris wearing the ol d royal cap of U pp er

,

E gypt . With a wan d O f o ffice in hi s hands — like the

crook which O siris carries on the monuments— and a t
tended by men disguised as scribes executioners and so , ,

forth he proceeds to the govern or s house

, The gov ’
.

e r n o r allows himself to be deposed ; the mock king mount ,

ing the thron e holds a tribunal to whose decisions eve n

, ,

the governor himself must bow I n short like other tem .

,

p o ra ry kings he really enj oys royal authority for the mo

,

ment After three days however the mock kin g is con

.
, ,

d e m n e d t o death ; the envelope or Shell in which he is

encased is com mitte d to the flames and from its ashes
creeps forth the F ellah who impersonated him I do not .

doubt that the case here repres ents the antique co ffer or
m ummy — case of O siris .

I n this graphic ceremonial then I see a survival with , , ,

the customary mitigations of the annu al O siris sacrifice , ,

o nc e actually p erformed on a human victim I do n ot .

doubt that in E gypt as elsewhere a mock king was for

m erly chosen in place of the real king to personate the d e

s c e n d a n t of O siris an O siris himself

, and that this su b st i
tute was put to death and torn to pieces or burnt while
, ,

h is ashes were winnowed and scattered over the land It .

m a y also be worth while to enquire wheth er the scourge

which O siris holds in the bas — reliefs is not the equivalent

of the divin e whip of the P o tra j and the other whips which ,

M r Gomme has so ingeniously correlated with that very

.

venerable and mysti c attribute .

I would suggest then that O siris in h is l ater e m b o d i

, ,
3 12 CO R N A N D WI NE G O D S -
.

ment was annually renewed as a corn and vin e victim .

O riginally a king of U pper E gypt or part of it he was e n , ,

visage d in later myth as a gen eral culture god I sis his -

.
,

sister an d wife discovere d wheat and barl ey growing wild ;

,

an d O siris introduced these grains among his people who ,

thereup on aban doned cannibalism and to ok t o grain ,

growing An annual victim most often a stranger iden

.
, ,

t ifi e d with the raci al go d was torn to pieces in his place

,

an d O siris hims e lf was finally merge d with the abstract

spirit of vegetation an d supposed to b e the parent of all
,

trees Just as the Corinthians when ordered by an oracle

.

”
to worship a certain pine tre e equally with the god cut ,

i t down and made two images of Dionysu s out of it with ,

gilt b odies and red — stained faces so the E gypti ans cut
down a pin e tree took out the heart made an image of
-
, ,

O siris an d then buried it in th e hollow of the tree from

,

which it had been taken Similar rites obtain ed in Attis

.

worship and all alike be ar witness to that late and a b

stract stage of thought where the primitiv e cultivation
victim has been sublimated an d elevat ed int o a generalised
go d of vegetation in the abstract B u t t h is which for Mr .
,
.

F raz er is the starting— point is for me the goal of the evo

,

l u tio n of O siris .

Let us n ext look very briefly at the case of Ad o nis .

The Adon o r Lord commonly known as Thammuz

was one of the chief elements in Syrian religion H e was .

closely connected with the namesake river A donis which ,

rose by his grave at the sacred Spring of Aphaca W e d o .

not actually know I b elieve of a human Adonis vi cti m

, ,
-

but his death was annually lamented with a bitter wailing ,

chi efly by women I mages of him were dressed like

.

corpses an d carried out as if for burial and then thrown

, ,

into the sea or into springs This was evidently a rain .

charm such as is particularly natural in a dry c o unt ry like

,

Syria An d I will add incidentally that I attribute to sim

.

ila r circumstan ces also some portion at least of the sanctity

of rivers I n certai n places the resurrecti on of the Adoni s
.
,
3 14 CO R N A N D WI NE G O D S -
.

was described as the M other of the Gods this connexion

exactl y recalls that of the P o t raj god in I ndia with the cult -

o f the local village go ddess As I believe the village go d .

dess to be the permanent form of the foundation human

sacrifice I also believe Cyb el e ( gross E uhemerism as it
,

may seem ) to b e the sacred stone of the original virgin

who was sacrificed at the first foun dati on of P e ss in u s .

When the sacred stone of Cyb el e and the cult of Attis

w ere rem o ve d to Rome ( un der circumstances to which I
s hall refer in a later chapter ) the festival consisted of a five
’
days rite lik e that of the P o tra j I t took place at the
, .

s pring equinox as does our O w n equivalent festival of E as

,

ter O n the first day a pine tree was cut down in the
.
,
-

woods an d the e ffigy of a young man was tied to it This

,
.

e ffigy no doubt repres ented the primitive human sacrifice ,

an d its crucifixi on answers exactly to the slaughter of the

sacred bu ffalo in I ndia The secon d day yields nothing of
.

importance on the thi rd day the Attis priest drew blood ,

-

from his own arms an d presented it as an o ffering I woul d

conj ecture that this was a substitute fo r self im m o la tio n a n d -
,

that the sel f— i mmolation was originally performed by m u

tila t io n of the genitals I t was perh aps on this night that a
.

m ournin g took place over the body of At tis r e p re se n t e d by ,

an e ffigy which was afterwards solemnly buri ed O n the

,
.

fourth day came the F estival of Joy on whi ch as M r F ra . , .

z er b elieves the resurrection of the go d was cel ebrat ed

,
.

The fifth day closed with a procession to the bro ok Almo ,

i n whi ch the sacred st one of th e goddess and her bullock

cart were bathed as a rai n charm O n th e return the cart -
.
,

was strewn with fl owers I think the close parallelism to .

th e I n dian usage is here fairly evi dent I ndeed out of .

,

consideration for brevit y I have suppresse d several other ,

m ost curiou s resemblances .

Attis was thus essentially a corn god H is death an d -

.

resurrecti on were annu ally celebrated at Rome an d at Pes

sinus An Attis of some sort died yearly The Attis of
. .

P e ssin u s was b oth priest an d king it was p erhaps at on e

 TH E CO RN -
M OTH ER .

3I5

t ime his duty to die at the en d of his yearly reign as a corn

g o d for his people O ne epithet of Attis was very fruit
.

”
ful he was addressed as the reaped yello w ear of corn ; “

and when an e ffigy to ok the place of the annual slain

priest king this e ffigy itself was kept for a year and then
-
, ,

burnt as the priest king himself woul d have been at an

-

e arlier period I t seems to me impossible t o resist the

.

cumulative weight of this singular evidence .

F or the very curious customs and myths regarding D e

m eter Persephone and other female corn victims I must
, ,
-
,

refer the reader once more to Mr F razer I t is true the . .

,

e nquirer will there find the subj ect treated from the o ppo

site standpoint ; he will see the goddesses regarded as first

corn spirits then animal finally human : but after the ex
-
, ,

a mples I have here given of my own mo de of envisaging

the facts I think the reader will see for himself what cor
,

r ections to make for M r F ra z er s animism a n d personal

.
’

e quation I will only sa y here that in many countries

.
,

from Peru to Africa a girl or woman seems to h ave been

,

o ffered up as a corn goddess ; that this corn goddess s eems

- -

to have been sown with the seed an d b elieved to come to ,

l ife again with the corn and that several E uropean har
vest customs appear to b e mitigations of the O ld c e re m o
n ial with the usual substitution of an animal or an e ffigy
,

fo r the human victim Regarded in this light M r F ra

.
, .

’
z e r s collection of facts about the C orn B aby a ffords an ex

c e lle n t groundwork for research but though I could say

m uch on the subj ect I will refrain from it here as I d esire
, ,

only at present to give such an outline as will enable the

reader to understand my gen eral principles The half is .

often more than the whole and I fear if I flesh out the
framework too much it may b e di fficult to follow the main
,

l ine of m y argument .

I cannot however refrain from mentioning that the

, ,

ceremonies of C arrying out D eath and B urying the “

”
C arnival which prevail all over E urope retain many in
, ,

t erest in g features of the P o tra j Dionysus and Attis , ,

3 16 CO R N AND WI NE G O D S -
.

Adonis festivals The figure of D eath— th at is to say as

.
,

I und erstand it the image of the dead human go d— is

,

often torn to pie ces an d the fragments are then buried in

,

th e fields to mak e the crops grow well But the D eath is .

also drowne d or burn ed in the first case like Adonis in , ,

the se con d like the O siris in the mo dern E gyptian custom

, .

An d th e analogi es of the festivals to those of I ndia an d

Western Asia must strike every attentive reader of M r .

F razer s masterwork
’
.

Two or thre e typical instances must su ffice as examples .

I n B ohemia the children car ry a straw man out of the vil

,

lage calling it D eath an d then burn it singing

, , , ,

No w ca r r y w e D e a t h o ut f t h e v il l g e o a ,

T h e n e w s um m e r i n t th e v i ll g ; o a e

We l co m e , de a r sum m e r,

i
G re e n l t t l e co r n .

H ere the relatio n of the ceremony to the pri mitive corn

sa c r ifi c e is imme diately evident And the making of th e .

e ffigy out of straw is significant At Tabor in B ohemia .

the i mage of D eath is flung from a high rock into the

water evi dently as a rain —
, charm with a simil ar song pray , ,
”
in g for goo d wheat an d ry e ( C ompare the ceremony .

of the Tarpeian rock where the victim was at last a con ,

d e m n e d criminal : as also the myths of immolation by

j umping into the sea ) I n Lower B avaria the panto mime
.

was m ore realistic the P fingi stl as the victi m was calle d , ,

was clad in leaves and flowers an d drenched with wat er , .

H e wad ed into a brook u p to his middle whil e a boy pre ,

tend ed to cut o ff his head I n Saxony and Th ii rin g e n t h e .

,

Wil d M an who represents the go d is kille d in dumb Show

, ,

at Whitsuntid e H is captors pretend to shoot him an d

.
,

h e falls as if dead but is afterwar d s revived as in the resur

, ,

rection of Adonis an d Dionysus Such resurrections form .

a common episod e in the popul ar corn drama I have -

.

foun d a case in Sussex A t Semic in B ohemia we have the .

fu rther graphic point that the victim is actually described

as th e Ki n g wears a crown of bark an d carries a wand
, ,
 SA CRI FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 8
1 .

C H A PT E R X V .

SA CR I F I CE A N D SA CR AM E NT .

WE have now arri ve d at a point w here we can m or e

fully un derstand those curious id eas of sacrifice an d sacra
m ent which li e at the root of so much that is ess ential in
the J ewish the C hristian an d most o ther religions
, , .

M r G alton tells us that t o the Damara s when he tra

.
,

v e lle d among them all meat was common property

, No .

on e kille d an ox except as a sacrifice and on a festal o cca

sion and wh en th e ox was kill ed the whol e community ,

feasted upon it in discriminately This i s but a single in .

st an ce of a feeling almost universal amo n g primitive pas

toral peopl e C attle an d other domestic animals b ein g
.
,

regarde d as sac r ed ar e rarely kille d and when they are

,

kill ed they are eaten at a feast as a soci al and practically

,

reli gious rit e— in sho rt sacramentally I n ee d n ot give

, .

instan ces of so well known a principle I will content m y

-

self with quotin g what D r Robertson Smith says o f a p ar

.

tic u lar race Amon g the early S emites generally no ,

slaughter was legitimate except for sacri fice .

B arb aric he rdsmen indeed c a n h ardly conceive of men

, ,

to who m flesh meat is a d aily arti cl e of diet M r G alton . .

foun d the i dea ve ry strange to his Damaras Primitiv e .

pastoral races ke ep th eir domesti c animals mainly for the

sake of the milk or as b easts of burden or fo r the wool and
, ,

hair they seldom kill on e except for a feast at which the ,

gods are fellow— partakers I ndee d it is prob abl e as the se

.
, ,

qu el will suggest that d omesti c animals were originally

,

kept as t otems or ancesto r— go d s an d that the habit of eat

,
 T WO KI ND S OF S A CR I FI CE .

3 19

ing the meat o f sheep goats an d oxen has arisen mainly

, ,

out of the substitution of such a divin e animal victim for -

’
the divine human victim of earlier usage O ur butchers
- .

shops have their origin in mitigated sac ri ficial cannibalism .

Sacrifice regarded merely as o fferi ng to the gods has

, ,

thus I b elieve two distinct origins I t s earliest simplest

, ,
.
, ,

and most natural form is that whose development we have

already traced —the placin g of small articles of food an d
,

drink at the graves of ancestors or kings or revered fellow

tribesmen That from a very early period men have b e
.

lie v e d the dead to eat and drink whether as corpse as , ,

mummy as ghost of buried friend or as et hereal spi rit of

, ,

cremate d chieftain we have alre ady seen with su fficient

,

frequency About the origin of these simplest and most

.

primitive sacrifices I think there can b e little doubt

, , .

Savages o ffer at the graves of their dead precisely those

ordinary articles of food which they consumed whil e liv
ing without any distin ction of kind ; an d they continu e to
,

o ffer them in the same na i ve way when the ghost has pro
g r e sse d to the status of on e of the great gods of the com
mun i ty .

But there is another mode of sacrifice superposed upon ,

this an d gradually tendin g to b e more or less i dentified

,

with it which yet if I am right had a quit e di fferent origin

, , ,

in the artificial production of go d s about which I have

written at considerabl e length in the l ast three chapters .

The human or animal victim thus slaughtered in order t o ,

make a new god or protectin g spi rit came in time to b e ,

assimilated in thought to the ol der type of mere hono

r ifi c o fferings t o the dead gods ; and so gave rise to those

mystic ideas of the god who is sacrificed himself t o hi m ,

s elf o f which the sacrament of the M ass i s the final an d

,

most myste rious outcome Thus the foun dati o n — . gods , ,

o ri ginally killed in order to make a protecting spirit for a

house or a tribal god for a city or vilage came at last to b e ,

regarded as victims sacrificed to the E arth Goddess or t o

the E arth D emons ; and thus too the M eria h s and other , ,
 S A CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 20
.

agricultural victims originally killed in order to make a

,

corn go d or a corn —
-
spirit came at last to be regarded as
,

sacrifices to the E art h or to some abstract Dionysus or

,

Attis or Adonis An d since in th e last case at l east the

.

go d an d the victim were still calle d by the same nam e an d

recognised as on e there grew up at last in many lan ds an d
, ,

in both hemispheres but esp ecially in the E astern M e d it er

,

ra m ean basin the mysti c theory of the sacrific e of a go d

, ,

himself to himself in aton ement or expiati on which fo rms

, ,

the basis of the C hristian Plan of Salvation I t is this se .

c o n d a ry and d erivative form of sacrifice I b elieve whi ch , ,

’
is mainly consi dered in Professor Rob ertson Smith s e la
b orate and extremely valuabl e analysis .

I have sai d that the seconda ry form o f sac rifice which ,

’
for brevity s sake I shall hencefort h desi gnat e as the mys
tic is foun d in most parts of the world an d in both hemi
,

spheres This naturally raises the question whether it h as

.

a singl e co mmon origin an d ant edates th e disp ersal of,

mankin d through the hemispheres or whether it has b een

independently evolved several times over in many lands
by many races F or myself I have n o cut an d drie d a n
.
,
- -

swer to this abstruse question nor do I regard it indee d , , ,

as a really important one O n the on e han d there are

.
.

many reasons for supposing that ce rtain relatively high

traits o f thought or art were common property amon g
mankin d b efore the dispersion from the primitive centre if ,

a primitive centre ever existed O n the other han d psy .

,

c h o l o g ist s kn ow well t hat the human min d acts with ex

t ra o r d in a ry similarity in given circumstanc es all the world

over an d that id entical stages o f evolution se em to have
,

been passed throu gh indep endently by many rac es in ,

E gypt an d M exico i n C hin a an d Peru so that we can find

,

n othi n g inherently improb abl e in th e idea that even these

compl ex concepti ons of mysti c sacrifice have distinct ori
gins in remote countries What is certain is the fact that
.

among th e A ztecs as amon g the Phrygians th e p ri est who

, ,

sacrificed the victim h e slew and the image or great

, ,
 S A CRI F I CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
322
.

the deiti es participate with mortals I t is this sen se of a .

common feast of go ds an d men which gave n o doubt the , ,

first step towards the c omplex idea of the sacramental meal

—a n idea still further develope d at a later stage by the a d
dition of the con cept that the worshipper eats an d drinks
the actual divinity .

My own b elief is that all sacrifici al feasts of this go d

eating character most prob ably originate d in actual canni
b a lism and that later an animal victi m was substituted for
the human meat but I do not insist on this point nor a t ,

tempt strictly speakin g to p rove it

, I t is hardly more
, .

than a d e eply groun ded suspicion N everthel ess I w ill .

,
’
b egin for convenience sake with th e cannibal class of sacri
fi ce an d will come ro un d in time t o the familiar slau ghter
,

of sheep and oxen which in m any cases is known t o hav e

,

supplanted a human o ff ering .

’
Acost a s account of the M exican custo m is perhaps th e
b est instance we now possess of the ritual of cannibal mys
”
tic sacrifi ce in its fullest barbarity They t ook a captive .
,

s ays that racy ol d author at ran dom ; an d b efor e sacri ,

fi cing him to their idols th ey gave him th e n ame of the ,

i dol t o whom he should b e sacrificed an d dresse d him in ,

the s ame ornaments i dentifying him with the god Dur

,
.

in g the time th at th e identification lasted which was for a ,

year in some feasts six months or less in others they r e

, ,

v ere n ce d and worshipped him in the same mann er as th e

i dol itself M eanw h ile h e was allowed to eat drink and

.
, , ,

make mer ry When he went through the streets the peo

.
,

pl e came f o rth to worship him an d every one brought

alms with children an d sick people that h e might cure
,

them an d bless them H e did as he pleased in everything

.
,

except that he had ten o r twelve men about him to pre ,

vent hi m from escaping I n order that he might b e reve.

r e n ce d as h e passed he someti mes sounded upon a small

,

fl ut e to tell th e peopl e t o worship him When the feast ar

. .

rived and h e had grown fat they killed h im opened him

, , . ,

”
a n d making a sol emn sacrifice eat him There in th e , .
,
 EA TI N G GOOD Q UA LI TIES .

323

w or d s of a competent authority we have the simple canni

,

bal feast in its fullest nakedness .

I nee d hardly point out how much thi s account recall s

the Khon d custom of the M eriah The victim though .
,

n ot really of royal blood is made artificially into a divin e

,

king he is treated with all the honours of royalty and

godhead is dressed like the deity with whom he is iden
,

t ifi e d an d is finally killed and eaten

,
The last point al one .

di ff ers in any large degree from the case of th e M eriah .

We have still to enquire Why di d they eat him

,

The answer to this enquiry takes us into the very heart

and core of the sacramental concept .

I t is a common early belief th at to eat of any particular

animal gives you the qualiti es of that animal The Miris .

’
of N orthern I ndia pri ze tiger s flesh for men ; it gives them
strength and courage ; but women must no t eat it ; twoul d ’

”
make them too str o ng minded
-
Th eNam a q u a s abstai n
.

from eating hare ; they would b ecome faint hea rt e d if the y -

swallowed it but they eat the meat of the lion or drin k

the blood of the l eopard in order to gain their strength
,

an d courage Among th e Dyaks young m e n an d war

.
,

riors must not eat deer it would render them cowardly

but women and very old men are allowed to eat it M en .

of the Buro an d Aru I slands feed on the flesh o f dogs i n

order to be bol d and nimbl e M r F razer has collected an
. .

i mmense number of similar inst ances which show both ,

how widespread an d how deep seated are such b eliefs -

.

E ven scrapings of the bones are su fficient t o pro d uce the

desired result in Corea the bones of tigers fetch a higher
,

price than thos e of l eopards as inspirers of courage The .

heart of a lion is also p a rticularly good for this purpose ;

and the tongues of birds are recommend ed for eloquence .

A gain on th e same analogy the fl esh an d bloo d of brave

, ,

m en are eaten in order to inspire bravery The A ustralian .

Kamilaroi eat the heart an d liver of a valiant warrior in

order to acquire his courage The P hilippin e I slan d ers
.

drink the blood of their bravest enemies I n the S hire .

 S A CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
324
.

H ighlands of Afri ca those who kill a distinguished fighte r ,

eat his heart to get his co urage D u C h aillu s n egro a tten .

’

’
dants we saw scraped their ancestors sk u lls a nd drank the
, , ,

”
powder in water O ur ancestors were brave said they ;
.
,

and by drinking their skulls we shall b e brave as they ,

were . H ere agai n I can only refer the reader for nu

m e r o u s examples to M r F raz er s in exhaustible storehouse
’
. .

’
The case of D u C h a illu s warriors however takes us , ,

with on e bound into the heart of the subj ect M any sa .

vages for similar reasons actually eat their own d ead fa

th e rs fi We learn fro m Strabo that the ancient I rish
<

deemed it honourabl e to devour th e bodies of their p a

”
rents S o H erodotus tells us di d the I ssedon es of Ce n
.
, ,

tral Asia The M a ssa g e tae used from co mpassion to

.
“

club and eat their aged p eopl e The custo m was quite re .

c e n t ly common among the B attas of Sumatra who used ,

religiously an d ceremonially to eat their old relati ons .

I n Australi a it was usual to eat relatives who died by m is

,

chance O f the C u c u m a s we read that as soon as a rela

.

tion died these people assembled an d eat h im roasted or

,
”
b oiled according as he was thin o r fat
,
The Tarianas .

and Tucanas who drink the ashes of their relatives

, be ,

lieve that thus the virtues of the deceased will b e trans

m itte d to the drinkers The Arawaks think it the high .

est mark o f honour they coul d p ay to the dead to drink

their powdered bones mixe d in water Generally speak .

ing in a large number of cases the parents or relatives

, ,

w e re e aten in order not to l et the life go out o f the fami

ly or to preserve the bo di es an d souls in a kindred body ;
o r to gain the courage and other qualities o f the dead re
l ation I n short th e dead were eaten sacramentally or as
.
, ,
”
on e writer even phrases it eucharistically M r H a rt . . .

l an d has collected many striking instances .

H ow this stran ge custom originates we may gu ess fro m

i i
Sin c e t h s c h a p te r w a s w r t t e n t h e s u b e c t o f h o n o r i fi c c a n n b a l s m
,
j i i
h a s b e e n fa r m o r e fu ll y t re a t e d b y M r S d n e y H a r t l a n d i n t h e c h a p te r
. i
i
o n Fu n e r a l R t e s i n t h e s e co nd olum e of l
, e L e en d o
g v f P er s e u s .
 S A CR I F I CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 26 .

bury him in part so as to secure at the same time his fer

,

t ilisin g qualiti es for your corn or your vin eyard .

I ad mit that all this is distinctly mystic but mystery

mongering and strange reduplication of persons with mar ,

v e llo u s id entifications an d minute distinctions have always ,

for m e d much of th e stock in — trade of religion

-
I f cults .

were all plain sailing throu ghout what room for faith ? ,

there would b e l ess t o engage th e imagin ation of the v o

tary .

An d now let us return awhile to our M exican instances .

At the annual fe ast of the great go d T e zca tlip o ca w h ic h , ,

lik e most similar festivals fell about the same time as the
,

C hristian E aster a young man was chosen to b e the re p r e

,

se n ta t i v e of th e go d for a twelvemonth As i n the case of .

almost all chosen victims he had to b e a person of u n b le m

,

ish e d body an d he was trained to b ehave like a god king

,
-

with becoming dignity D uring his year of go dship he

.
,

was lappe d in luxury an d the actual reigning emperor

took care that he shoul d b e spl endidly attired regarding ,

him already as a present deity H e was atten de d by eight.

p ages clad in the royal livery—which shows hi m to have

b een a king as well as a go d an d wherever he went the
p eopl e bowed down to him Twenty days before the fes .

t iv a l at which he was t o b e sacrificed four n obl e maidens , ,

bearing the n ames of four go ddesses were given hi m to b e ,

his bri d es The final feast itsel f like those of Dionysus

.
, ,

of A ttis an d of P o t ra j o ccupied five days— a coinci dence

, ,

betwe en th e two hemispheres which almost points to ori

g in al identity of custom b efore t he dispersion of the races .

D uri n g th ese five d ays the real kin g remain ed i n his pal ace
—and this ci rcu mstance pl ainly shows that the victim b e
longed to th e common cl ass of substi tut ed and temporary
divine king gods Th e whol e court on th e other hand a t
- .
, ,

ten ded th e vi ctim O n the last day of the feast the v ic

.
,

tim was ferrie d across the lake in a covered barge to a small

te m pl e in the form o f a pyramid O n reaching the su m .

mit he was seized an d held d own on a bl ock o f sto n e — n o

.
 GOD -EA TI N G I N M EXI CO .

32 7

d oubt an altar of funereal origin — while the priest cut Open ,

his breast with a stone knife and plucked his hea rt out ,
.

This he o ff er e d to the go d of the sun The head was hung .

up among the skulls of previous victims no d oubt for ,

o racular purposes and as a perman ent god

,
but the legs
and a rms were cooke d and prepared for the tabl e of the
l o rds who thus pa rtook of the god sacramentally His
‘

.
,

place was immediately filled by another young man who ,

fo r a year was treated with the same respe ct and at the ,

end of that time was similarly slaughtered .

I do not think I need point out the close resembl ance of

this ritual to that of the Khond M eriah of the P o t r aj and , ,

of th e festivals of Dionysus O siris Attis an d Adonis , , ,

.

But I would also call particular attention to the final des

t in a t io n of the skull an d its exact equivalence to the skull
,

of the animal — god in I ndia and elsewhere .

The idea that the god thus slain in th e p erson of his

”
r epresentative comes to life again immediately says M r , .

F razer , was graphically represented in t h e M exican ri

tual by skinning the slain man god and clothing in his skin -
,

a living man who thus b ecame the n e w representative of

the godhead F or exampl e at an annual festival i n M ex

.
,

ico a woman was sacrificed who represented Toci the

, ,

Mother of the Gods — a sor t of yearly M exican C ybele .

She was dressed in the o rn aments and b o re the name of the

goddess of who m she was believed to be an incarnation .

After being feasted for several days she was taken at mi d ,

n ight to the summit of a t emple and there b eheade d H er , .

body was flayed and on e of the priests clothing himself

, ,

in the skin became the representative of the goddess To ci

, .

’
The skin of the woman s thigh however was sep arately , ,

r emoved an d a young man who represented the go d C in

,

t eo tl the son of Toci wrapt it round him like a mask

, , .

C eremonies then followed in which the two men clad in ,

,
’
th e woman s skin enacte d the parts of the god an d god
,

d e ss . I n all this there is much that seems to me remi

,
 S A CR I F I CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
328
.

n isce n t of I sis an d H orus of Cybele an d Attis of S emel e

, ,

an d D ionysus and of several other e astern ritu als

,
.

Still m ore significant i s the yearly festival of the god To

tec who was represented in like mann er by a priest clad in
, ,

th e skin of a human victim an d who received o fferings of ,

fi rst fruits an d fi r st—

- fl o w e r s together with bunches of maize
,

which had been kept for seed H ere we have the closest .

possibl e analogy t o the case of the M eriah The o ffering .

o f fi rs t fruits mad e sometimes to th e kin g sometimes t o

-
, ,

the ancestral spirits is here m ade to the human god of cul

,

t iv a t io n who represents both in his own person

, .

M any other cannibal sacrifices are recorde d in M exico

in more than on e of them it was cust o ma ry for the priest t o
tear out the warm throbbing heart of the victi m and pre ,

s ent it t o the i dol Whether these sacrifices in each par

.

t i c u la r c ase were of the ordinary or o f the mysti c type it is

n ot always quite easy to decide probably the worshipp ers
thems elves di d n ot accurately di scriminat e in every in
stan ce B ut however that may b e we know at least this
.
,

mu ch when human sacrifices had been rare the pri ests re ,

min ded the kings that the gods were starv ing with hun
ger war was then made on purpose to take prisoners ,

b ecause the gods had ask ed for something to eat and

thousan ds of victims were thus slau ghtered annually Th e .

bloo d of the victims was separately o ffere d and I may

ad d in this connexion that as a rule both ghosts and gods
are rather thi rsty than hung ry I take the expl an ati on o f .

this p eculiar t aste to b e that bloo d an d oth er liqui ds

poured upon th e groun d of graves or at alt ar — stones soon
sink in and so seem to have been drunk or sucke d u p by
,

the ghost or god whereas m eat and solid o fferings are

seen to b e untou ched by th e deity t o whom they are pre
sented A min or trait in this bloo d —
. lovi n g habit of the
gods is se en in th e fact that the M exican s also gave the
god to drink fresh bl ood drawn fr o m their own ears an d ,

that th e priests likewise d rew blood from their legs and ,

d aubed it on the templ es Similar mitigations of sel f im

.
-
 SA CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 30
.

v iv in g b ut much mitigat e d form of the Khon d M eria h

practice .

As a rule however such bloo dless representations do

, ,

not pl ease the gods nor do they succeed in really lib e

rating a ghost or corn — go d They are after all but feebl e .

phantom sacrifices B l ood the gods want an d blood is

.
,

given them The most common substitute for the human

.

victim — go d is therefore the animal vi ctim god o f which we -

,

have already seen copious examples in the ox and kid of

Di onysu s the pi g o f Attis a n d many others I t seems
, , .

probable that a large number of sacrifices if not the ma ,

j o rity of those in whi ch domestic animals are slain b elong ,

in the last resort to the same category Thus in deed we .

, ,

can most easily explain the theory of the so calle d thean -

t h r o p ic victi m — the animal which stan ds for a man and

,

a god —as well as the point of view o f sacrifice so ably

,

elaborate d by D r Robe rtson Smith . .

According t o this theory the domestic animals were ,

early regarded as of the same kin or bloo d as th e tribe

an d the slaughter of an ox a goat or a sheep could o nly , ,
’
b e permitted if it were done like the slaughter of a ki ng s ,

son s a crifi cia lly and s acramentally I n my own opinion

,
.
,

this scarcely means more than that the sacred domesti c a n

im a ls were early accepted as substitutes for the human
victim and that they were eaten sa c rifi cia lly an d sacra
,

m entally as the human victim was also eaten B ut I will .

waive this somewhat controversi al point an d content m y ,

self with suggesting that the animal victim was habitually

treate d as in itsel f divin e an d that its bloo d was tre ated in
,

the same way as the bl ood of the original cannibal o ffering .

At the same time the s acrifice was usually o ffered at the

,

altar of some older an d so to sp eak more constant deity, , ,

whil e th e blo o d of th e vi ctim was allowed t o fl ow over the

sacred stone C ert ainly both among th e A rabs an d the H e
.
,

brews all slaughter o f domestic animal s appears t o have

,

b een at on e tim e sacrificial an d even when the sl aughter

cease d n ecessa rily to involve a formal s acri fice it was still ,
 S A CR EDNESS OF TH E VIC TI M .

33 1

thought necessary to slay the vi ctim in the name of a god ,

a n d t o pour out the blood in his honour on the ground .

Even in the G rae co Roman world the mass of butcher s

-
,

meat was meat o ffered to idols We shall se e hereafter .

that among existing savages the slaughter of domestic ani

m als is stil l regard ed as a sacred rite .

I b elieve also that as a rule the blood — o fferin g is the

e arliest and commonest form of slaughter to the gods and
that the victim in the earlier stages was generally consumed
by the communicants as we know the can nib al victim to
,

h ave been consumed among the M exicans and as we saw ,

the theanthropic goat or kid was orgiastically devoure d

by the worship p ers of Dionysus I t is a detail whether t h e .

sacred victim happened to be eaten raw or cooked th e

on e usage prevailed in the e arlier and m o re orgi astic
rites the other in the milder and more civilised c e r e m o
,

n ies
. B ut in either case the animal — go d like the human
, ,

g o d was eaten sacramentally by all his worshippers who

, ,

thus took into themselves his divin e qualities The prae .

tice of burning the victim on the other han d prevailed , ,

mainly I think among cremationists lik e th e Ty ri ans an d

, , ,

H ellenes though it undoubtedly extended also to many

,

burying peoples like the H ebrews and E gypti ans

,
In .

most cases even of cremated victims it would appear a , ,

portion at least Of the animal was saved from the fire and
sacramentally eaten by the worshippers .

O nc e more the victim itself was usually a pa rticular

,

kin d o f sacred animal This sacredness of the chosen

.

beast has some more important bearings than we have yet

considered F or among various p astoral races various
.
,

d omesticate d animals possess in themselves positive sanc

tity We know fo r example that cows are very holy in
.
, ,,

t h e greater part of I ndia an d bu ffaloes in the D eccan

, .

Among the African p eoples of the pastoral tribes the ,

common food is milk and game cattle are seldom slaugh

t e re d merely to eat and always on exceptional or sacred
,

occasions —the very occasions which elsewh ere deman d

 SA CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 32
.

a human victim — su ch as the proclamation of a war a r e ,

lig io u s festival a weddi ng or th e funeral of a great chi ef

, ,

tain I n such cases the feast is public all bloo d relations

.
, ,
-

having a natural right t o atten d The cattle kraal itself is .

-

extremely sacred The herd an d its memb ers are treat ed

.

by their mast ers with affecti on a t e an d almost brotherly

regard .

A few further points must also b e added Among early .

races to kill an d eat wild animals or to kill and eat ene

, ,

mies who are n ot memb ers of th e tribe i s not a ccounte d

, ,

in any way wrong B ut t o kill a tribesm an—to shed kin.

dre d bloo d—is deeply sinful ; an d so it i s sin ful to kill an d

eat the domesti c herds I n ol d age indeed or when sick .
, ,

an d feebl e you m a y kill an d eat your blood —

, relati on blame
lessly ; an d so you may also kill an d eat old or sickly cattl e .

B ut as a rule you only eat them sacramentally and sacri

,

fi cial ly under the same circumstances where you woul d b e

,

j ustifie d in killing an d eati n g a human victim Thus as a .

,

rul e each trib e has its own sacred beast which is employe d
, ,

as a regular substitut e for a man — god Among the Arab s .

,

this b east was a camel amon g the I ndian peopl es the bull ,

or the bu ffalo amon g shepherd races it is the sheep o r ,

goat ; among the Teutons the horse ; amon g many settled ,

u rban peopl es th e pig ; and with the Samoyeds an d O s

,

t ia k s their one chattel the rein deer

, , .

Also as a rul e the cow or other female animal was n ot

, ,

usually sacrifice d ; she was k ept for milk yiel ding I t was -
.

th e bull the ram the ox the h e go at that was o ftenest

, , ,
-

o ffere d an d eaten sacramentally M ere utilitarian co u si .

d erati on s would soon l ead to this use j ust as our own ,

butchers kill ram lambs by ch oice an d spare the ewes for ,

bree ding The custom once intro duced woul d tend to

.
, ,

become sacred for whatever our divin e ancestors did is

it sel f divine and shoul d not b e li ghtly or carel essly altered
,
.

H ence we can understan d that supreme sanctity o f th e

cow which has m ade so many races refuse to sacrifice it
, ,

whil e they sacrifice an d eat the bull o r ox withou t let o r

 SA CR I FI CE AND S A CRA M EN T
3 34 .

Though it breaks for a mom ent the thread of my a r gu

ment I fin d i t imp ossible n ot to mention here the curious
,

parallel case of the j udicial sacrifice among the B attas of

Sumatra which is the human an alogue of the Arabian
,

camel sacrament O nly in this instance as in so many

-
.
,

others sacrifice and punishment m erge into one another

, .

With them the adulterer the night thief and thos e who,
-
,

had treacherously attacke d a town a village or a partic a , ,

lar person were condemned to be eaten by the p eople

, .

They were tie d to three posts their legs and their arms
were stret ched out in the shape of a St A ndrew s cro ss ; a nd .
’

then wh en a signal was given the p opulace rushed u pon

, ,

the body an d cut it int o fragments with hatchets or with

knives or perhaps more simply with their n ai ls and their
,

t eeth The strips so torn o ff were devoure d instantly all

.
,

raw an d bl oody ; they were merely dipped into a cocoanut

bowl containin g a sauce prepared beforehan d of lemon
j ui ce an d salt I n the case of adultery the outraged hus
.
,

ban d had the right of choosing first what pi ece h e like d

best The guests invited to the feast perfor m ed this wor k
.

with so much ardour that they often tore and hurt each
”
other I do not think we can read this account without
.

being struck by its clos e analogy t o many of our previou s

sacrifices both of hu man c orn —
,
gods an d of sacred animals .

The criminal is here n othing more than the substitute for a

holy human victim .

An d now we must also remember that in most countries

th e gods were housemates of their worshippers present at ,

all times in every home an d partakers of every meal side

, ,

by sid e with the living They lived in the house as still in

.
,

N ew Guinea Libations to them were poured from every

.

cu p ; foo d was o ff ered to their ghosts or skulls or wooden

images at eve ry family gathering The ordina ry feasts .

were thus mere enlarged festal gatherin gs at which a vic ,

tim was sacrifi cia lly slain an d sacramentally eaten ; an d

the visitors b elieved they were eatin g the b ody and bloo d
of the go d to their own salvation G reater sacrific es like .
,
 RENE WA L OF TH E DI VI NE LI E F .

335

the hecatombs or the heroic I ndian horse —

,
sac rifi c e must ,

have b een relatively rare but in all of them we see clear

proof that the victim was regarded as a sacred animal that ,

is to say a god in one of his embodiments

,
.

C lear eviden ce of this equivalence is seen in the fact that

the worshippers often clad themselves in the skin of the
victim as th e M exicans di d i n the skin of the annual god
,
.

Sometimes the hide is even used to deck the i dol I n the .

Cyprian sacrifice o f a sheep to the sheep go ddess Ap h r o -

dite the celebrants wore the skin of the sheep while the
,

Assyrian Dagon — worshipper o ffered the fi sh sacrifi ce to the -

fi sh god clad in a fi sh skin

-
, O f similar import is dou bt
-
.

less the ae gis or goat skin of Athena envisaged as a go at

-
,

goddess and th e skins used in the Dionysiac mysteries I

,
.

do n o t hesitate to a ffiliate all these on a primitive usage

like that of the M exican cannibal sacrifice .

Having reache d this point we can see further that the ,

case where a sacred animal the representative of a human

,

victim is sl aughtered before the altar of an older go d is

,

exactly equivalent to the other known case where a human

victim is slaughtered before the foundation ston e of a town -

or village I n either cas e there is a distinct renewal of

.
,

the divine life ; fresh blood as i t were is instilled by the

, ,

act into the ancient deity All the other concomitants are
.

precisely the same Thus at the Theban sacrifice of a ram

.

to the ram god Amen the worshippers bewailed the vic

-
,

tim as the women b ewailed Adonis and Attis and the

,

image of Amen was finally draped in the skin of the victim ,

whil e its body was buried in a sacred co ffin At the E u .

phonia or sacrament a l o x sl a ying in Athens th ere was a

-
,

regular trial after the victim w a s slain everybody throwing .

the blame on on e another till at last the knife that inflicted

,

the wound was found guilty of murder and cast into the
sea ( This casting int o th e sea of a guilt bearer for the
.
-

community will meet us again when we come to consi der

the doctrine of the atonement ) So we saw that the P o .

t raj fled after the performance of his sanguinary sacrifice

 S A CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
336
.

an d so too the slayer of the Dionysus calf at Tenedos -

fled for his life whe n the c eremony was completed I n .

de ed we get many int ermediate cases like that of the goat

, ,

dressed up as a girl which was o ff ere d th e a nth rO p ica lly to

Artemis M unychia or that of the Dionysus — calf clad in
,

buskins whos e mother— ,

cow was treated as a woman in
chil d —birth To me all these instances are obvious a t
.
,

tempts to palm o ff as it were on the gods a sacred animal

, ,

in place of a genuine human victim They are littl e more .

than divin e l egal fictions eked out no doubt by the fi c , , ,

tion of kinship b etween the herd an d its masters .

As a whol e then we may venture to say not perhaps

, ,

that all but that a great numb er of sacrifices an d cert a inly

, ,

the b est known among histori c nations are slaughters

-
,

of animal substitutes for human vi ctims an d that the flesh

is sacramentally consume d by the worshippers .

There is one special form of this animal s acrifice how ,

ever which I cannot here pass over in complete sil ence

, .

I t is the one of which the harvest feast is the final relic -

.

M r F raz er has fully worked out this theme in his fascina

.

ting essay : to detail it here at length woul d occupy t oo

much space I can only give the barest outline of his in
stances O riginally it would seem the corn go d or corn
.
, ,
-

spirit was conc eived duri ng the reaping as taking refuge in

th e last sheaf left standin g Whoever cut that wisp .

of corn sl ew the corn spirit an d was therefore o n the -

, ,

an al o gy of the slayer of th e divin e kin g himself the ,

corn spirit
- M r F razer does not absolutely ass ert that
. .

this human representative was originally killed and eaten ,

though all analogy woul d s eem to suggest it but that he

was at least killed is abundantly certain ; and killed he
still is in dumb show at any rate on many modern E uro
, ,

pe an corn fi eld s M ore o ften however the corn spirit is

- .
, ,
-

su pposed t o be embo died in any animal which happens to

be found in the last sheaf where even now small creature s ,

like mice an d hedgehogs often tak e refuge I n earli er .

times however wolves wil d boars and other large ani

, , , ,
 SA CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 38 .

known it was the b ody and blo od of a go d he was eatin g

an d drinking Still there is a certain di fference between
.
,

mere ordinary every d ay food and the sacramental feast t o

-
,

which sacred cannibalism an d animal sa crifi c e had now fa -

’
m ilia r ise d men s min ds Accordingly we find in many .
,

cases th a t there exists a special sa cr a m ental e ating a n d

drinking of bread an d win e which is more especially r e ,

g arded as eating the body an d drinking th e blo od of t h e

deity .

Some curious illustrative facts may here b e cited Sinc e .

straw an d corn grow fro m the slaughtered corn go d they -

,

may b e regarde d as on e of his natural embodiments .

H enc e when human sacrifices are prohibited people some

, ,

times make a straw god do duty for a human o ne The .

Gonds we saw used once to kidnap sacre d B rahman

, ,

boys— go ds by race as it were yet stran gers and chil dren

, ,

—scatter their blo o d over the fiel ds and eat their b odies ,

sacram entally B ut when the unsympatheti c B ri tish gov

.

e rn m e n t interfered with the god making habits of the -

Gon d people they t ook says C o l Dalton to making an

, , .
,

i mage of straw instead which they now simil arly sacrifice , .

So it may b e n oted in many of the ceremonies of B urying

th e C arniv a l and th e like which I have already cited tha t , ,

a straw man is substituted symbolically for the human vic

tim I nd eed in that singular set of survivals we have
,

every possible sub stitute—the mock king the imb ecile

.

, ,

the preten ded killing the ceremonial shedding of blood , ,

the animal victim an d the straw man or e ffigy I may add

,
.

that even th e making of our mo dern Guy F awkes as a

”
man of straw is thus n o mere accident But we get a .

ve ry similar u se of corn in the curiou s practice of fashion

ing the corn wife and the corn baby so fully detailed by
- -
,

M r F raz er I n this attenuate d survival of human sacri

. .

fi ce a sheaf of corn does duty for a human vi ctim an d rep

, ,

resents the life of the corn god or corn spirit from one yea r - -

to an other All the existing evidence goes to suggest th e

.

idea that at ha r vest a corn maiden or corn wife after a - -

,
 EA TI N G TH E GOD .

3 39

year of d e ifi ca tio n was slain in former times an d that the

, ,

human victim is now represented by her vegetable ana

logue or equivalent the corn in the ear a sheaf of which
, ,

does duty in her place and reigns as corn queen till th e ,

-

next year s harvest The corn baby is thus a temporary

’
.
-

queen made of corn not of human flesh an d blood We

, ,
.

may compare with this case the account of the Sioux girl
who was sacrificed by the Pawnees by b eing burned over a ,

slo w fire and then shot ( like St Sebastian ) with arrows

,
. .

The chief sa crifi ce r tore out her heart and devoured it thus ,

eating the goddess in true cannibal fashion While her .

flesh was still warm it was cut up into small pieces and
,

taken to the corn fi e ld Drops of bloo d were squeeze d

-
.

from it upon the grain s of seed corn after which it was all -

covered up in the ground to form a crop raiser O f such -

a ghastly goddess —
.

making ceremony our seemingly inno ,

cent harvest comedy of the corn baby is probably the las t -

surviving relic Mr F ra z er rightly connects it with t h e

. .

cult of the Athenian Kor e Persephon e I think indeed , .

, .

the double form of the name the O ld Woman and t h e ,

”
C orn baby -
makes it probable that the pair are the y ege
,

tabl e equivalents o f both D emeter and her ravished

daughter .

I n other cases however it is the actual bread and wine

. ,

themselves not the straw or the corn in the ear that r e p r e

, ,

sent the god and are sacramentally eaten We owe to .

M r F razer most of our existing knowledge o f the wide

.

prevalence and religious importance of this singular ritual .

We have seen already that in many countries the fi r st

fruits of the crops are presented either to ancestral ghosts ,

or to the great gods or else to the king who is the living

, ,

god and present representative of the divine ancestors .

Till this is done it would b e unsafe to eat of the new har

,

vest The god within it would kill you But in addition

.
.

to the ceremonial o ffering of fi rst fruits to the spirits many -

,
“ ”
races also eat the god in the new corn or rice sacra
mentally I n Wermland in Sweden the fa rmer s wife
.
, ,
’
 S A CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 40 .

uses the grain of the last sheaf ( in which as we saw the , ,

corn go d or corn spirit is supposed speci ally to reside ) in

- -
,

order to bake a l oaf in the shap e of a littl e girl H ere we .

have the mai den who was previously sacrifice d as a corn

,

god dess or Persephone reappearing once more in a bread ,

image This loaf is divided among all the household and

.

eat en by them S o at La Palisse in F rance a man made

.
,

of dough is hung u pon the fi r tree which is carried home -

to the granary on the last harvest — waggon The doug h .

man and the tree are taken to the mayor s house till the ’

vintage i s over ; then a feast takes place at which the ,

mayor breaks the dough man in pieces an d gives the frag ,

ments to the peopl e to eat H ere the mayor clearly .

,

represents the king or chief whil e the feast of fi r st— fruits ,

an d the sacramental eating are combine d as was p erhaps ,

originally the case in one and the same sacrificial cere ,

mony N o parti cular mention is made o f wine but as

.

the feast is deferre d so as to take place after the vintage it ,

is probable that the blood of the wine go d as well as the -

body of the corn go d entered once at least into the primi

-

tive ritual .

M any si milar feasts survive in E urope but for the rite

of eating the corn god in its fullest form we must go onc e-

m ore to M exico which also supplie d us with the best an d

,

most thoroughly characteristic examples of th e cannib al

god eating
- Twi ce a year in M ay and D ecember an
.
, ,

i m age of th e great M exican god H uitzilopochtli was made

of dough then broken in pieces an d solemnly eaten by his
, ,

a ssem b le d worshippers Two days before the M ay feast .

,

says Acosta the virgins of the temple kneaded b eet seeds

,
-

with roasted maize and moulded th em with honey into a ,

p aste idol as big as the permanent wooden idol which

,

represented the go d putting in gl ass b eads for eyes and , ,

grai n s of I ndian corn in the place of teeth The nobles .

then brought the vegetable go d an exquisite and rich gar

ment like that worn by the woo den idol an d dressed the
, ,

i mage u p in it This done the carried t h e e ffigy o n a

.
,
 S A CR I FI CE AND S A CRA M EN T
3 42 .

pieces which were distribute d to all the males of the co m

,

munity adults or children The ceremony was calle d

,
.

God is E aten .

I will n ot multiply exampl es of th e main principle of

eating the corn — god in th e shape of little cakes or hum an
images which have been coll ecte d in abundance all the
,
’
world over M r F raz er s work is a perfect thesaurus of
. .

analogous customs I will rather call attention to o n e

.

or two sp ecial parallels with similar go d — eating rites canni ,

bal or animal whi ch oc cur elsewhere At the clos e of the

, .

rice harvest in B oeroe in the E ast I n dies e ach clan meets , ,

at a common sacrificial meal to w hi ch every memb er of ,

“

the clan is b oun d to contribut e a littl e of his new ri ce from

the current s eason This is call ed eating the soul of the
.

rice B ut some of the rice is also s et ap art an d o ffered

to the spirits— that is I take it to the ghosts of anc estors , , .

This combination is like the common case of the human

victim b eing o ffered on the altar — stone of earlier ancestral
deities Amongst the Alfo e rs of C elebes again it is t he
.
, ,

priest who sows the first rice —seeds an d plucks the first ,

rip e rice in each field This h e roasts an d grin ds into .

meal giving some of it to each memb er of the family

,
.

H ere the priest no doubt represents the ol d trib al p ri est

kin g Several similar practices are repo rt ed fro m I ndia
.
,

only on e of which nee d at present detain us Among the .

H indoos of the D eccan there is a magical an d sacramental

eating of the n ew rice ; but the special point of interest to
b e not ed here is the fact that some o f it is o ffered to th e
.

god Ganesa after whi ch the whole family partake of th e

,

produce Among the K a fi rs of N atal an d Zululan d how

.
,

ever it is at the king s kraal th at the peopl e assembl e for

,
’

their sacra m ental feast of new fruits where they dance a n d ,

perform certain sacred ceremonies I n this case the king .

, ,

the living god s eems to take the pl ace of the god the de a d
, ,

ki n g in the I ndian festival Various grains are mixe d

, .

with the flesh of a sacrificed animal in whom we shall now ,

have per h aps littl e di fficulty in recognising the representa

 SA CRA M EN TA L CAKES .

343

t ive of a human corn go d victim and a portion of this -

m ess is plac ed in the mouth o f each man by the king him

self here o fficiating in his capacity of ancestral priest

,
.

By the light of such analogies I think we ne ed have no ,

hesitation in reconstructing the primitive sacramental

feast where a man was sacrificed as an annual m a n ufa c
,

t u r e d corn god ; seeds were mixed with his bloo d ; his

-

fl esh was e a ten sacramentally by the people fed by the ,

king ; a part of his body was also eaten by the king him ~

self an d a part was o ffered to the great gods or to the

, ,

tribal god or the foundation god or goddess of the v il

,

lage or city After putting together the various survivals

.

already cited I do not think this is too large an exerci se of

,

the constructive faculty

An interesting mixed case of god —
.

eating in whi ch the ,

cake was baked not in the form of a man but of a divin e

, ,

animal I have seen myself in the house of I rish emigrants

,

in C anada The new corn was there made into loaves or

.

buns in the shape of little pigs with currants for eyes an d ,

o n e of these was given to each of the children Though .

m erely regarded as a playful custom this instan ce I v e n , ,

t ure to think has still its own illustrative value

,
.

The practice of kneading sacramental cakes from the

blood of infants w h ich we saw to prevail in the case of a
,

M exican god is parallelled in the practice of mixin g them

,

with shreds of the fl esh from an animal victim in the Zulu

ceremony The cannibal form of the rite must however
.
, ,

have been very widespread as we gather from the fact

that a C hristian sect the Paulicians were accused of it as
, ,

l a te as the eighth centur y John of O sun Patriarch of .

,

Armenia wrote a diatribe against these sectaries in w h ic h

, ,
‘

he m entions th e fact that they moulded an image of

Wheaten fl ower with the blood of children and eat there ,

with their unholy communion O f course there coul d .

,

have been no direct intercourse in the ninth century b e

tween Armenia an d M exico but the accusation shows at
least that similar ceremonies were known or remembered
 S A CR I FI CE A ND S A CRA M EN T
3 44
.

in Asia as actual practices I ndeed the H a rra nia n s in th e .

,

mi ddle ages annually sacrificed an infant and boiling down ,

its flesh baked it into cakes of which every freeman was

, ,

allowed to partake I n both these cases we have the two ,

extremes of eating the go d combin ed in one practice—th e

.

cannibal rite and the sacramental corn cake -

.

M r F razer calls att ention to another int eresting transi

.

t io n a l instance Loaves made in the shape of men were

.

calle d at Rome M a n iae an d it appears that such loaves

were specially made at Aricia N ow Aricia was also the .

one place in I taly where a divine priest king the Rex -

,

N emoralis lived on well recognised into the full blaze of

,

the historic period on the ol d savage tenure of killing h is

,

predecessor Again M ania was the name of the M other

.
,

or Grandmother of Ghosts Woollen images dedicate d .

,

to this Latin Cybele were hung out in Rome at the feast ,

of th e C ompitalia an d were said t o be substitutes for h u

,

man victims M r F raz er suggests that the loaves in h u

. .

man form which were baked at Ari cia were sacramental

bread and that in ol d days when the Rex N emoralis was ,

annually slain loaves were also made in his image as in

,

M exico an d were eaten sacramentally by his worshippers

, .

I do not hesitat e myself to suggest still further that the

gin gerbread cakes shaped like a man an d still richly gilt, , ,

which are sold at so many fairs in F rance and I taly an d ,

also sometimes in E ngland are last dying relics of similar ,

early sacramental images F or fairs are for the most part .

diminished survivals of religious festival s .

A s the theanthropic animal vi ctim represents a man an d

a go d it is re asonabl e that a cake shaped as an animal a n d
,

baked of flour should sometimes do as well as the animal

victim F or the corn is after all the embodim ent of th e
.

corn god H en ce bakers in th e antiqu e worl d used to

-
.

kee p in st ock representations in dough of the various sa

c r ifi cia l animals for peopl e who were too poor to a fford
’

the ori gin als O xen and sheep were regul arly so re pre
.

sented When M ithridates besieged Cyzicus and th e

.
,
 S A CR I F I CE A ND SA CRA M EN T
3 46
.

them And they drank his blood in the south as wine in

.
, ,

the no rth as beer in I n dia as soma I f this lin e of recon

, .

struction b e approxi mately corre ct then sacraments as a

,

whole are in the last resort b as ed upon survival from the

cannibal go d feast-
.

I t is a significant fact that in many cases as at th e P o traj

,

festival the o fficiating priest drinks the bl o o d of the divine

,

vi cti m while th e laity are only permitted to eat of its body

, .
 TH E I D EA OF A T ONEM EN T NO T P R IM I TI VE .

3 47

CH A P T E R X VI .

TH E D OCTR I NE O F T H E AT O NE M E NT .

O NE more element of some i mp ortance yet remains in

t h e complex conception of the human or animal victim ,

or slain god which we must briefly examine before we can

,

proceed with advantage to the evolution of C hristianity ;

I mean the doctrin e of piacular sacrifi ce—o r in other ,

words of the atonement

, .

“
Without shedding o f bl ood says the author of on e
,

o f the earliest C hristian tractates there is no remission of

,

s in
. This is a common theory in all advanced religi o ns ;
the sacrifice is regarded not merely as the self immolation
,
-

of a willing divine victim or incarnate god but also as an ,

expiation for crimes committed B ehol d the Lamb of

.

”
God says the B aptist in the legend which taketh away
, ,
”
the sins of the world .

This idea I take it is not primitive

, , Sin must b e .

r egarded as a late ethical intruder into the domain of r e

lig io n .E arly man for the most p art takes his gods
j oyously H e is on the b est of terms with them H e eats
. .

and drinks an d carouses in their presence They j oin in .

his phallic and b acchanalian orgies They are not gre at .

moral censors like the noble creation of th e H ebrew

,

p rophets of purer eyes than to behold iniquity

, They .

are creatures of like passions and failings with himself ,

d ear ancestors and friends ever ready to overlook small

,

human frailties like murder or rapine but exercising a ,

fath erly care for th e most part over the lives an d fo rtun es
o f their descendants or tribesmen A n gry they may be at
.
3 48
TH E D O C TR I NE OF TH E A T ONEM EN T .

times n o doubt ; but their anger as a rule can b e easily

,

assuage d by a human victim or by the blood of slaugh ,

t e r e d goats and bulls U nd er normal circumstances they

.
,

are fam iliar hous emat es Their skulls or images adorn .

the hearth They assist at th e family and domestic

.

feasts an d they lick up th e o fferings of blood or wine

made to them with a smiling counte n ance I n short they .
,

are average memb ers of the tribe gon e b efore to th e spirit ,

worl d and they continue to share without pride or

asceticism in th e j oys an d feasts and merry makings of -

their relatives .

Thus the i dea of expiation s ave as a passing appease ,

ment for a temporary ti ff di d not probably occur in the ,

very earliest and most pri mitive religions I t is only later .

,

as ethical i deas begin to obtrude themselves into the sacred

cycl e that the noti o n of sin which is primarily that of an
, ,

o ffen ce against th e established etiquette of the gods ,

makes itself slowly visible I n many cases l ater glosses .

,

seem to put a piacular sens e upon what was in its or igin

by obvious analogy a mere practical god making and go d -

slaying ceremony B ut in more consciou sly p li ilO SO p h ic

.

stages of religion this i dea of atonement gains ground so

fast that it almost swallows u p the earlier conception of
communion o r feasting together Sacrifice is then chiefly .

conceived o f as a piacular o ffering t o a j ustly o ffended

or estrange d deity ; this is the form of b eli ef which we find
almost everywhere meeting us in the hecatombs of the
H omeric po ems as in many works of H ellenic and S emitic
,

literature .

I n p articular the piacular sacrifice seems to have crys

,

t a llise d and solidifie d roun d the sacred person of the a rtifi

c ia l deity . The accumulate d misfortunes and si n s of the
whole p eople says M r F razer are someti mes laid upon
,
.
,

the dying go d who is su pposed to bear them awa y for

,
”
ever leavin g the peopl e innocent and happy
,
Surely .

h e hath born e our griefs an d carried our sorrows says one ,

of the H ebrew p oets whos e verses are conj ecturally a t

,
3 50
TH E D O C TR I NE OF TH E A T ONEM EN T

a perlustration is performed and the evil influen ces are ,

washe d out of the territory or forcibly ej ected O ur o wn .

rite of B eating the B ounds represents on one of its many

sides this primitive ceremony Washings an d dippings .

are frequent acco mp animents of the expulsive ritual ; in

Peru it was also boun d u p with that common feature o f
,

the corn god sacrament— a cake kn eade d with the bloo d

-

of living children The p eriodical exorcism generally

.

takes place onc e a year but is sometimes biennial : it has

,

obviou s relations with the sacrifice of the human or animal

victim I n E urop e it still survives in man y places as the
.
,

yearly expuls i o n of witches The whole subj ect has b een

.

so admirably treated by M r F razer that I have n o thing t o

.

ad d to his excell ent exposition .

Putting thes e two cardinal ideas together we arrive at ,

th e compound conception o f the scap egoat A scape .

goat is a human or animal victi m chosen to carry o ff at , ,

first the misfortunes or diseases later the sin an d guilt o f ,

the community The name by which we designate it in

.

E nglish being taken from the derivative H ebrew usage

, ,

has animal implications ; but as in all analogous cas es I , ,

do not doubt that th e human evil — b earer prece des the ani
mal one .

A good exampl e of this in cipient stage in the ev o lution

of th e scap eg o at occurs at O nitsha o n the Q u o rr a River , .

“
Two human beings are there annually sacrificed to take ,

away the sins of the l an d — though I suspect it would b e

”
more true t o native ideas to say the misfortunes The , .

number two as applied to the victims crop s up frequently

, ,

in this special connexion The victims here again are

.

bou ght with a p rice — purchased by public subscripti o n .

All persons who during th e previous year have co mmitted

gross o ffenc es against n ative ethics are expected to con
tribute to the c ost of the victims Two si ckly p eople are .

b ought with th e mon ey one for the lan d and one for the
,

river . The victims are dragged along the ground to the

place of execution face downward The crowd who ac
,
.
 TRA N SFER EN CE OF wa s
351

company them cry Wickedness wickedness,

So in
Siam it was custom ary to choose a broken down wom a n -

of evil life carry her on a litter through the streets ( which

,

is usually a symbol of kingship or godhead ) and throw

her on a dunghill or hedge of thorns outside the wall for ,

bidding her ever again to enter the city I n this e astern .

case there is mere expulsion not actual killing

, ,
.

I n other instances however the divin e character a t

, ,

tributed to the huma n scapegoat is quit e unmistakable .

Among the Gonds of I ndia at the festival o f the go d of the ,

crops the deity descen ds on the head of one of the wor

,

shippers who is seized with a fit an d rushes o ff to the

, ,

j ungle There it is believed he woul d die of himself if

.
, ,

he were not brought back and tenderly treated : but the

Gonds more merciful here than in many other cases take
, ,

him back and restore him The i dea is that he is t h u s single d

.

out to bear the sins o f the rest of the village At H alb er .

stadt in Thuringia an exactly similar custom su rvive d till

late in the middle ages A man was chosen stained with .
,

deadly sin as the public scapegoat O n the first day of

, .

Lent he was dressed in mourning and expelled from ,

church F or forty days he wandered about fed on ly by

.
, ,

the priests and no one would speak to him H e slept in

, .

the street O n the day b efore G ood F riday however h e

.
, ,

was absolved of his sins and b eing called Adam was b e , ,

lie v e d to be now in a stat e of innocence This is a miti .

gated and Christianised fo rm of the human sin o fferin g -

.

Again the Albanians of the E astern C aucasus kept a

,

number of sacred slaves in the temple of the moon many ,

of whom were inspired and prophesied When one of .

these men exhibited unusual symptoms of inspiration the ,

high priest had him bound with a sacred chain an d main ,

t a in e d for a year in luxury like the M exican co rn go d ,

-
.

This fact immediately brings the human scapegoat into

lin e with the annual human gods we have already con
s i d e re d At the end o f a year he was anointed with u n
.
,

g u e n t s ( or so to speak christed ) and led fo rth to b e

, , ,
35 3 TH E D O C TR I NE OF TH E A T ONEM EN T .

s acrificed The sacrifice was accomplishe d as a p u rifi

.

c a t o ry ceremony .

M r F raz er to whom I owe all thes e examples c onn ects

.
, ,

with such rites the curious ceremony of the expulsion of

the O ld M ars the M amurius V e t u riu s at Rome E very
, ,
.

year on the 1 4th of M arch ( near the spring equinox ) a ,

man called by the name of a god was clad in skins— the

, ,

significan ce of which rite we now know— and after b eing

b eaten with lon g white rods was expell ed the city , .

F rom one point of vi e w this personage no doubt re pre ,

sented the go d of vegetation of the previous year ( for the

M ars was ori ginally an annual corn go d ) B ut from -
.

another point of view being now of no further use to the ,

community he was utilised with tru e old Roman par

,

simony as a scap egoat and sent to carry away th e o ffences ,

of the people I n deed there seems to be some reaso n for

.
,

b elieving that h e was driven int o the territory of the hostile

O scans I n this case we perceive that an annual god is
.

made the sin o ffering for the crimes of a nation

-
.

I n Greece we get similar traces of th e human scape

,

goat . At Ch aeron ea in B oeotia the chief magistrate at ,

the town hall and every householder in his own hous e

-
, ,

as we learn from Pl utarch ( who was himself a magistrate

th ere ) had on a certain day to b eat a slave with rods of
a nus ca s tu s and turn him out of doors with the formula
g , , ,

O ut hunger in health and wealth

,
E lsewhere the
,

custom retain ed more unpleasant features At M arseilles .

,

when the colony was ravaged by plague a man of the ,

poorer classes used voluntarily to o ffer himself as a sin

o ffering or scapegoat H ere we have on ce more the com .

mo n episo de of the willing victim F or a whol e year like .

,

other annual gods he was fe d at the public expense and , ,

treated as a gentleman— that is to say a kingly man god ,

-
.

At the end of that time he was dressed in sacred garments ,

— another mark of godship— decked with holy branches ,

the co mmon insignia of gods of vegetation and led ,

through th e city while prayers were o ffered up that the

,
3 54 TH E D O C TRI NE OF TH E A T ONEM EN T .

stances we get the familiar substitution of the con demne d

,

criminal or the imb ecile as in the Attic Thargelia Th e

, , .

Greeks of Asia M inor used actually to burn their atone

ment — victim an d cast his ashes into the sea but th e
,

Leucadians merely threw down a condemne d prisoner

from a cli ff and li ghtene d his fall by fastening live bird s
,

to him while they kept bo ats below t o save him from

,

drowning and carry him well beyon d the frontier I n th e

, .

vast maj ority of cases however we have the still more , ,

c ommon substituti on of a sacred animal for a hu man vic

ti m ; an d this appears to b e in large part the origin of that
common reli gious feature the piacular sacrifice , .

O ccasi onally we get historical or half— historical evidenc e

of the transition from a human victi m t o a divine or quasi
divine animal Thus the people of N ias o ffer either a red
.
,

hors e or a bu ffalo to purify the land ; but formerly a man ,

was boun d to the same stake wi th the bu ffalo and whe n ,

the bu ffalo was killed the man was driven away no nativ e
, ,

daring to receive him or fee d him The sacrificial camel .

of th e ancient Arab s presum a bly piacul ar is expressly

, ,

stated to b e a substitute for a human victim The favourite .

victims of the Saracens were young an d beautiful captives :

but if such were not to be procured they contented them ,

s elves with a white and faultless camel The step henc e .

to th e habitual immol ation or driving fo rth of a divin e ani

mal in place of a divine or quasi divine man is a very small -

one I n M alabar the cow is a sacred b east an d to kill o r

.
, ,

eat a cow is a crime like murder N everth eless the Brah .

,

mans transfer the sins of th e peopl e t o a cow or cows ,

which are then driven out wherever the B rahmans appoint .

The ancient E gyptians used to sacrifice a bull an d lay ,

u pon its head all the evils which might otherwise happ en
’
t o themselves and their country ; th en they s o ld the bull s
head to the Greeks or flung it into the river ( C ontrast
, .

this e ffo rt t o get ri d of the accurs ed head with th e carefu l

preservation and wo rship of the sacred one ) The b est .

known c ase of a ll o f c o u r se is the H ebrew sca pe g oa t w h ic h

, , ,
 A NI M A L S UB S TI T U TES .

355

was the sacred animal of a shepherd people turn ed out t o ,

die of hunger or thirst in the desert and bearing on its ,

head the sins O f the p eopl e ( Contrast the scapegoat with .

the paschal lamb and compare with the goats and shee p
,

of the last j udgment ) When cholera rages among the

aboriginal tribes of I ndia they take a goat or a bu ffal o—in
.

either case a female the most sacred sex in I ndian sacri

,

fi ce and black all over like Apis an d M nevis ; they turn it

, ,

out of the village with magical ceremonies and do not

, ,

allow it to return within their precincts I n many other .

similar pooj ahs the victim is a goat M r F raz er has col

, . .

le ct e d here as elsewhere a vast number of valuabl e and

, ,

illustrative instances .

As a rule the m a n g o d or divin e animal selected as a

,
~

scapegoat is not actually slaughtered in the fullest form o f ,

the rite ; he is driven away or flung int o the sea or left to , ,

die of hunger and thirst Sometimes however he is .

, ,

burned as a holocaust : sometimes he is stoned an d some ,

times slaughtered And in later an d less p erfect forms o f

.

piacular animal sacrifice sl aughter was the rule sav e , ,

where burning had ousted it I ndeed in many cases it .

, ,

is di fficult to disentangle the va rious el em ents of the com

plex problem People had got accustomed to certain
.

forms of sacrifice and mixed them up indiscriminatel y so

, ,

that one and the same rite seems sometimes to be sacra

mental sacrificial and piacular all at once
, , Thus Dr , .

Rob ertson Smith writes of ancient E gypt Bulls were

o ffered on the altar and part o f the flesh eaten in a sacri
,

fi c ia l feast ; but the sacrifice was only permitted as a

piaculum was preceded by a sol emn fast and was a cco m
, ,

p a n ie d by public lamentation as at the death of a kins ,

”
man . C ompare the annual mourning for Adonis and
also the similar union of sacrifice sacrament and atone , ,

ment in th e Mass which at the great resurrection festival

, ,
-

o f the Christian year E aster is equally preceded by a fast

, ,
,

a n d by the solemn mourning of Good F riday .

N ow I do not pretend to discriminate accurately in

,
3 56 TH E D O C TR I NE OF TH E A T ONEM EN T .

these very mixed cas es between one element and another

in the compound rite O ften enough all the vario us
.
,

traits of go d sl ayin g of sacrament and of public expiation

-
, ,

are evi dently p resent U sually too the victim is slain

.
, ,

before th e altar or sacred ston e of some earlier and greater

god an d its blood poured forth for him Thus in the
, .
,

H ebrew ritual b oth of the holocaust and the sin — o ffe ring ,
” “
the victim is slain at the altar b efore Jahweh and the , ,

e ffusio n of blo od on the sacred slab has a special sig n ifi

cance I n the S emitic fiel d as Dr Robertson Smith
.
, .

obs erves ( an d I would add in most others ) the funda

, ,

mental idea o f sacrifice is not that of a sacre d trib ute but ,

of j oint c ommunion between the god and his worshippers ,

by j oint pa rticipation in the living flesh and blood of a

”
sacre d victim B ut the identity of go d and victim is
.

often quite clear thus as we saw before the sheep

, ,

Aphro dite was worshipped in Cyprus with an annual

mystic an d piacular sacrifice of a sheep ; and the worship
p ers themselves were clad in sheepskins a rite whose sig ,

n ifi ca n c e i s now abundantly evident to us .

O n the whol e then at the stage we have at last reached

, , ,

I will not attempt t o distinguish in every case between

t h e various superpos ed ideas in the s a crificial ceremony .

M ost s acrifices se em in the last resort to be substitutes for

human divin e victims M ost seem to be sacramental and
-
.
,

most to b e more or less distinctly piacular I do not even .

know whether in reconstru cting afresh for others a series

,

o f rites th e i deas of which have grown slowly clear to my

own min d by consideration of numerous mixe d ex amples I ,

have always placed each particular fact in its best and

most e ffective position for illustration The elements of .

the p roblem are so involved an d so closely interosculating .

F or instance I do not doubt that the great P h oenician and

,

C arthaginian holocausts of human victims which I was ,

compelled at first to treat most inadequately were mainly ,

piacul ar in int ention ; nor do I doubt that the Greek heca

t omb ( or holocaust of a hundred oxen ) was a mitigati o n o r
3 58
TH E D O C TR I NE OF TH E A T ONEM EN T .

vation of their heads at the h ypoeth ral altar of the el d er

gods or ghosts has its usu al holy and oracular meaning .

We can also gu ess why remains of a fireplace could be

s een by the si de at which the sacrificial an d sacramental
,

meal was habitually prepared ; an d why the mouths of the

idols were smeare d with blood in order to make the older
,

go ds or ghosts participators in the festival I ndeed any .

,

reader who has followed me thus far and who now turns ,

back to the earlier chapters of this book will fin d that ,

many details app ear to him in quite a di fferent light and ,

will s ee why I have insist e d beforehan d on s ome minor

p oints which must have seemed to him at the time wholly
irrel evant .

M any other curious ceremoni es that seem equally mean

in g le ss at first in n a rratives o f travel will also com e to have
a significant meaning when thus regarded F or instance .
,

M r C halmers tells us that amon g th e N ew Guin ea natives

.

of particular districts pigs are never kill ed but in the on e

,

place an d then they are o ffered to the spirit The bloo d

,
.

is poured o ut there an d the carcas e is then carried back to

,
’
the village to b e divided cooked an d e aten P igs skulls
, , , .

a r e kept an d hung up in the house F oo d for a feast such

.
,

as at house— building —a most pregnant hint is place d

n ear the post where the skulls hang an d a prayer is sai d ,
.

When the centre post is set up the spirits have wallaby

-
, ,

fish an d b ananas presented to them and they are b e

, ,

sought to kee p that house always full of foo d and that it ,

may not fall when the wind is strong I f we recall other .

cases elsewhere we can hardly doubt that the pigs in these

,

instan ces are killed as sacred victims at the grave of the

chief family ancestor ; especially when M r Chalmers also .

tells us that each family has a sacred place wher e they

“

carry o fferings to the spirits of deceased ancestors whom ,

”
th ey greatly fear When sickness famine or scarcity of
. , ,

fish occur i t is these spirits that have to b e appease d

,
.

A n d if we recollect on ce more that in so m any cases th e

central post of the hut is based on a human or animal vic
 S A VA GE TH E O L O G Y .

3 59

tim both in N ew Guinea and elsewhere we c a n hardly

, ,

d oubt that to this household go d or foundation —ghost the

o fferings at the central post are presented F inally the .
,

s kulls of the pigs which are kept in the hous e and hung on

the post remin d us on the one hand of the skulls of a n c e s

tor gods similarly preserved an d on the other hand of the
-
,

skulls of theanthropic victims kept by the people of I ndia

a t their festivals or fastened by early Greeks and Romans
,

on their temples They cook the heads o f their slain

.
“

enemies says M r Chalmers again to secure clean skulls

,
.
,

”
to put on sacred places A dequately t o devel op the hints .

thus suggested however would require another book as

, ,

long as the present one .

Y et here is j ust one more such hint from the same a u ,

thor too pregnant to b e omitted

,
.

“
When the natives b egin planting they first take a
'

bunch of bananas and sugar— cane and go to the centre of ,

the plantation and call over the names of the dead belong
,

ing to their family adding : There is your food your b a ,

‘
,

nanas and sugar cane ; let our food grow well an d let it
-
,

be plentiful I f it does not grow well and plentiful you all

.
,
’
will b e full of shame and so shall we , .

When they go on tradin g expeditions they present ,

th eir food to the spirits at the centre post of the house -

,

and ask the spirits to go before them and prepare the peo
ple so that the trading may be prosperous
. .

When sickness is in the family a pig is brought to ,

”
the sacred place of the great spirit ( probably the chief
ancestral ghost ) and killed The carcase is then taken
, .

to the sacred place of the family a n d the spirits are asked ,

to accept it Sins are confessed such as bananas that are

.
,

taken or cocoanuts an d none have been presented an d

, , ,

l eave not given to eat them There is a pi g ; accept an d .

,
’
remove the sickness Death follows and the day of b u .
,

rial arrives The friends all stand roun d the open grave
.
,
’ ”
a n d the chief s sister or cousin ( the primitive priestess )
calls out in a loud voice Y ou have been angry with us ,
3 60
TH E D O C TR I NE OF TH E A T ONEM EN T .

for the bananas we have taken ( or cocoanuts as the cas e ,

may be ) an d you have in your anger taken this chil d

, , , .

N ow let it su ffice an d bury your anger , The body is .

’

then placed in the grave an d c overed over with earth , .

H ere we have in brief a perfect epit om e of savage the

ology savage ceremonial an d savage aton ement I coul d
, , .

enl arge not a little on its numerous i mplications .

A singl e quotation from M r Savage L an d o r s work on .

’

The H airy Ainu of Japan will als o serve as an excell ent

“
su mmary o f such encyclop ae dic barbaric theology If .

” “
they have any belief at all h e says it i s an imperfect , ,

kin d of Totemism a n d the c entral point of that b elief is

,

their own descent from the be ar Thi s does not inclu d e .

the smallest reverenc e for their ancestor They capture .

their Totem an d keep it in captivity ; they speak to it and

feed it ; but no prayers are o ffered t o it When the b ear .

i s fat it is tak en out of the cage t o b e ill treate d and b aited

,
-

”
by al l the men present Lik e the Khon d M eriah an d
.

th e to rtures of martyrs I t is ti ed t o a stake or s ta ur os or

.

a ccurse d tree an d a pole is thrust into its mouth ; and

,

when the poor b east has been su ffi ciently tortured prick ed ,

”
with pointed sticks shot at with blunte d arrows like St
, , .

”
Sebastian bruise d with ston es like St Stephen
, mad , .
,

d e n e d with rage an d ill — u sage it is killed outright and , , ,

a n cestor as it may b e it makes the chief dish and ra ison

,
’
é fr e o f a festival whe re all th e memb ers of the trib e par
,

t ake o i its fl esh The owner of the hut in which the feast
.

takes plac e then sticks the skull on to a fork e d pol e an d ,

sets it outsid e with the others at the east end of his hut .

The skin is mad e into garments or is spread on the g roun d ,

”
t o sl eep on H ere I n eed hardly s ay we have sacrifice
.
, , ,

sacrament orientation the sacred head the use of the

, , ,

skin as a c o vering of the worshipper and all the other ,

traits of theanthropic substitution .

I t is more to our purpose n o w however to remember , ,

th ese two card in al points first that a dyin g god human , ,

or animal i s usually selected as a convenient vehicl e for

,
3 62 TH E WO R LD BEFO RE CH R I S T .

CH AP T E R X V I I .

TH E WO R L D B EF O R E C H R I ST .

C H R I ST I A N I T Y grew I t was
a natural pro d uct I t di d
. .

n ot sp ri ng, full -fl e d g e d from

any o n e man s br ain as
,
’

Athene sprang fro m the head of Z eus I t was not even in .

vented by any littl e group o r school of m en P etrine or ,

Pauline the apostles or the disciples the early church of

, ,

Jeru s alem Antio ch or Alexandria C hri stianity grew

, , .

slowly .I t developed bit by bit for three long centuries

, , ,

taking shap e by gradual stages in all th e t eeming centres

o f the Roman worl d and even after it had assu me d a con
sistent fo rm as the H oly C atholic C hurch it still went o n ,

growing in the minds of m en with a gro wth which n ever ,

ends but which reveals itself even now in a thousan d

,

mo des fro m a Vatican C ouncil t o the last n ew d eparture

,

o f the l ast n ew group of American s ectaries .

C hristianity grew—in the crowde d cosmop o litanise d

s eapo rts and cities of the Roman empire—in A ntioch ,

Al exan d ria Thessalonica C yrene Byz antiu m Rome I ts

, , , , .

high w ay was the sea Though p artly J ewish in ori g in it

.
,

yet appears fro m its e arliest days essentially as a univer

sal an d international religion Therefore we may gai n .

some approxi m ate knowledge of its origin an d antecedents

by considering the religious condition of these various
great towns at the ti me when C hristianity began to spring
spontan eous in their midst We can arrive at some idea .

o f the product itself by observing the envi ron m ent in which

it was evolve d
O nce more Christianity grew—for the most part
.

, ,
 CH R I S TI A NI T Y A S YN CR E TI C P R O D U C T .

3 63

a mong the lower orders of the cosmopolitan seaports I t .

fashioned itself among the slaves the freedmen the J ew , ,

ish Syrian an d African immigrants the Druidical Gauls

, , ,

a n d Britons of Rome the petty shopkeepers the pauper

, ,

ised clients the babes an d sucklings o f the populous cen

,

tres H enc e while based upon Judaism it gathered h os

.
, ,

p it a bly into i tself all thos e elements of religious thought

and religious pr ac tice that were common to the whole
world and especially to the E astern M editerranean basin
,
.

F urthermore it gathered hos pitably into itself in pa rtic u

,

lar those elements which belonged to the older an d deeper

seated part of the popular religions rather than those ,

which belonged to the civilised H ellenised and recognise d , ,

modifications of the state religions I t was a d emocratic .

rather than an o fficial product We have t o look t here .

,

fore a t the elder far more than the younger stratum of re

,

lig io u s thought in the great cities for the influences which ,

went to mould Christianity I do not deny indeed that .

, ,

the new faith was touched and tinged in all its higher parts
by beautiful influences from N eo —Platonism Alexandrian ,

Judaism and other half mystical philosophic systems ; but

,
-

for its essential groundwork we have still to go to the r o ot

s tratum of religious practice and belief in Antioch an d A l

e x a n d r ia in Phrygia and Galatia in Jerusalem and Rome

, , .

I t based itself above all on sacrament sacrifice atonem ent , , ,

and resurrection Y et again Christianity ori ginate d first

.
,

o f all among the Jewish Syrian or Semitic population of

, ,

thes e great towns of the empire at the very moment of its ,

full cosmopolitanisation ; it spread rapidly from them no ,

doubt at first with serious modifications to the mixed mass ,

of sailors slaves freedwomen and townspeople who

, , ,

formed apparently its earliest adherents H ence we must .

,

look in it for an intimate blend of Judaism with the central

i deas of the popular religions Aryan or H amitic of the , ,

M editerranean basin We must expect in it much that

.

was common in Syria Asia Minor H ellas and E gypt . , , ,

s omething even from Gaul Hispania C arthage I t s first, , .

3 64 TH E WO R LD BEFO RE CH R I S T .

great ap ostle if we may b elieve our authorities was o n e

, ,

Saul or Paul a half H ellenised J ew of S emitic and com

,
-

m e rc ia l Tarsus in C ilicia an d a Roman citizen I t s first

, .

grea t churches spran g up in the busy ports an d marts of

the Levant I ts very n ame of C hristian was given to it
.

first in the crowded an d cosmo politan city of Antio ch .

I t i s here then in these huge slave —

, , peopled hives of
H ellenised and Ro manised commerce that we must look ,

for the mother ideas of C hristi anity

-
.

Antioch was quite undoubtedly in the earliest times the

prin cipal cradl e o f th e n ew religion I do not mean tha t .

J erusalem was not very probably the place where men

first began to form a small sect of esoter ic Christ — worship
p ers o r that Galilee was n ot t h e region where the C hrist
,

himself most largely lived and taught if in de ed such a per ,

son ever really existed I n thos e matters the tradition s

.

hande d down to us in th e relatively late Gos pels may b e

perfectly correct and again they may not B ut C hris , .

t ia n ity as we know it the C hristianity of the Paulin e epis

,

tl es and th e later writings such as th e Gospels and the ,

works of th e F athers must have b een esse n tially a cult o f

,

wider Syrian an d Gentil e growth I t embraces in itself .

elements which d o ubtless lingered on in secluded corners

m ore or less amon g th e mass of the people even in Jud ae a
it self thou gh discount enance d by the adherents of the
,

pri estly and o fficial J ahweh —worship ; b ut which were inte

gral parts of the popular an d even the recognised religion
through out the whole o f north ern Syria .

Antioch where C hristianity thu s took its first feebl e

,

steps was a handsom e an d bustling commercial city the

, ,

capital o f the Greek S eleucid kin gs and the acknowledged ,

metropolis o f the Syrian area At the time of Paul ( if .

there w as a Paul ) i t prob ably contained half a million

,

people ; it was certainly th e largest town in Asia and ,

worthy to b e compared with Rome itself in the splendou r

of it s buil dings M any things ab out its position are de
.

serving of n otic e I t stood upon the banks of the O ron

.
~
3 66
TH E WO R LD BE FO RE CH R I S T .

i deas wh ich were commo n t o Peru and M exico to Greec e ,

an d I n dia to Syria and E gypt a n d which came o ut in

, ,

fresh forms surging up fr o m below in the creed of Chris

, ,

te n d o m . I f anything is clear from our previous r e

searches it is this— that the worl d has never really had
more than on e religion of many n a mes a single central ,

shape as th e poet phras es it

,
.

The Syrian peopl e S emites by rac e and cult had fallen

, , ,

like all the rest of the eastern world under the H ellenic ,

dominion of the successors of Al ex ander A quick an d .

subtl e folk very pliable an d pl astic they under went rapi d

, ,

and facile H ellenisatio n I t was an e a sy task for them to

.

accept Greek culture an d Greek religion The worshippe r .

of Adonis had little di ffi culty in renaming his chief god as

Dionysus and continuing to practise his old rites an d cere
monies t o the n ewly — named deity after the ancestral pat
tern Th e Astarte who m the east had given to H ellas
.
-

un der the alias of Aphro dite came back again as Aph r o ,

’
dit e t o Astarte s ol d sanctuaries I dentificati ons of gods .

and cults were but simpl e matters where so many gods ,

were after all essentially si m ilar in origin and functio n .

Thus the easy going Syrian had few scruples about p ra c

-

t isin g hi s primitive ceremonies under foreign titles or a d ,

mitting to th e hospitality of his Semiti c t emples the H el

l e n ic d eities of the reigning An tio ch i .

The S el eucids however did not fare so well in their a t

, ,

tempt to impose the alien gods on the fierce Jehovistic

z ealots of th e southern mountains Antiochus IV e m . .

d e a v o u r e d in vain to f o rce the cults of intrusive H ell enism

on his n ew kingdom of Palestin e H e reckoned without .

his h o st s Th e populac e o f Jeru sal em woul d not away

with his idolatrous rites—woul d n o t permit the w o rship
.

of Zeus an d Pallas of Artemis an d Aphrodit e to usurp a

, ,

place in the holy city of Jahweh Th e rebellion of the .

M accab ees secured at l east the religious independ e nc e o f

Jud ae a fr o m the early S eleuci d pe rio d down to the days o f
Vespasian an d Titus L o wer Syria remained true in her
.
 S YR I A N I NFL UEN CES .

3 67

arid hills to the exclusive and monotheisti c cult of the Go d

of I srael And at the same tim e the Jew spre ad every
.

where over th e surrounding countries carrying with him ,

not only his straw and his basket but also his ingrained ,

and ineradicable prej udices .

I n Anti och then after the Roman absorption of Syria

, , ,

a most cosmopolitan religion app ears to have existed con ,

taining mingled Semitic and H ellenic elements half as ,

sim ila t e d to one another in a way that was highly charac

,

t e ristic of the early empire And among the popular cults

.

of the great city we must certainly pl a c e high those of

Adonis and Dionysus of Aphrodite Astarte and of the
,
-
,

local gods or goddesses the B aalim and Ash t a re t h such

, ,

as the maiden who as we learnt from M a la la s was s acri

, ,

fi ce d at the original foundation of the city and ever a fter ,

worshipped as its Tyche or F ort une I n other words the .

,

conception of the human god of the corn an d wine go d

, ,

of the death of the god and of his glorious resurrection

, ,

must have al l bee n perfectly familiar ideas to the p eopl e of

Antioch and of Syria in general .

Let us not e here too that the particular group o f Jah

, ,

weh — worshippers among whom the Christ is said to have

found his personal followers were not people o f the
,

priestly type of Jerusal em but Galil aean peasants of the

,

northern mountains separated from the most ortho dox

,

set of Jews by the intrusive wedge of heretical S amari

tans and closely b o rdering on the heath en Phoenician s ea
,

”
board the coasts of Tyr e and Sidon H ere Jud a ism .

and heathenism marched together ; here Jahweh had his

worshippers am o ng the fishers -o f the lake while Hell enism ,

had fixed itself in the statelier villas of Tiberias an d P t o le

mais .

Alexandria was an ot her of the great cosmopolitan sea

port towns where Chri stianity made its earliest conve rts ,

and assumed n o t a few of its distinctive ten ets No w .

,

in Alexandria H ellenism an d th e immemorially ancient

,

E gyptian religion found themselves face to face at ve ry

3 68
TH E WO R LD BEFO RE CH R I S T .

close quarters I t is true the town in its hist o rical as pect

.
,

was mainly Greek founded by the great M ac edonian hi m

,

s elf and pridin g itself o n its pure H elleni c cultu re B ut

,
.

the mass of the lower ord e rs who thronged its alleys must
surely have consisted of more or less mongrel E gypti ans ,

still clinging with all th e old E gyptian conservatis m to the

ideas and practices an d rit es of their fath ers B esides .

these w e get hints of a large cosmopolitan seafarin g p o p u

,

lation among wh om strange faiths and exot ic gods found

,

ready acceptance B esid e the stately forms o f the Greek

.

pantheon an d the mummifie d or animal he aded E g yp

,
-

tian d eities the impo rte d Syrian worship of Adonis had

,

acquired a firm footing ; the annual festival of the sl a ugh

t e r e d go d was on e o f the principal holid a ys ; and other Sy
rian or remot er faiths had man aged to se cure their sp ecial
following The hybrid S erapis occupied the stateli est fan e
.

of the h ybri d city I n that huge an d busy hive indeed

.
, ,

every form o f cult found a recognise d place and every ,

cree d was tolerate d which did not inculcate interference

with the eq ual reli gious freedom of others .

The Ptolemaic family represents in itself this curious

adaptability of th e G r ae c o — E gypti an Alexandri an min d .

At Al exandria an d in the D elta the kings app ear b efore us

,

as goo d H ellenes worshipping their ancestral deities in

,

s plendid t emples ; but in the Thebaid the god Ptol emy or ,

the go ddess C leopatra erected buildings in hon o r of Ptah

or Khem in precisely the old E gypti an style an d appeared ,

on their propyla in the guis e of Pharaohs engaged in wor

shippin g Amen — R a or O siris The great Alexan der him
.

self had inaugurated this syste m when he gave himself out

as the so n o f Z eus Ammon an d his indire ct representa
t iv e s car ri e d it on throughout with a curious dualism
which excused itsel f under the veil of arbitrary id e n t ifi c a ~

tions . Thus Serapis himself was the dead Apis bull in ,

vested with the attributes o f an O siris an d of the H elleni c

H ades whil e Amen — R a was Zeus in an E gyptian avatar .

The large Jewish col ony at Alexandria also prepared th e

3 70
TH E WO RL D BEFO RE CH RI S T .

h onoured gods We may instructively c o mp are M r C hal

. .

m e rs s account of t h e theology o f Ne w Guinea B esid e

’
.

these ancestral shades or al most i dentical with them came , ,

th e pena tes or practical deiti es of the store room p erhaps -

,

t he representatives of the victims slain a s foun dation

ghosts at the first erection of the building O f thes e two .
,

the Lares were un doubtedly the d epa rted ancestors of the

family ; they lived n ear the spot where they were first
buried ( for th e old Ro mans were buriers ) an d they still ,

presided over the househol d as in life lik its fathers and ,

e

sen ators They were worshipp ed daily with prayers

.

and si mpl e o fferings of foo d and drink ; their masks or

busts which hung on the wall were perhaps th e represe m
t a t iv e s or in an cient days the coveri ngs of the old oracu
, ,

lar heads o r skulls ; for the skulls th emselves may have

be en prese rve d in w ax as so often elsewhere at an earlier ,

period * The Penates which we re worshipp ed with the

.
,

L a res seem to have stoo d for the family spirit in a more

,

gen eralised way ; they represent the continuity and per

sistence of its F ortun e ; an d theref o re if we may trust th e ,

analogy of the F o rtun e o f a town they are prob ably the ,

ghosts of the foundation or renewal victims I n j u dging .

o f all this we cannot attach t oo great importance t o th e

,

analogy of Ne g ritto an d Polyn esi an customs .

O ther deities are more publi c B ut most of them s eem .

to belong to the simplest and m o st immediately ghost like -

stratum They had t o d o with sowing reaping and

.
, ,

vintage— in other words were co m o r wine go ds Or , .

el se they had t o d o with the navigabl e river the Tiber and , ,

the port of O stia which l ay at its mouth— in o ther words

, ,

were spring and river gods O r else they had to do with .

war an d expe ditions— in other w o rds were slaughtered

campaign gods of the I phigenia p attern B ellon as and b at ,

t le ~ v ic tim s .

T o th is u se o f th e o ra c u l a r h e a d I w o u ld v e n t u re a ls o t o r e fe r th e
com m o n em k
p l o y m e n t o f s m a ll m a s s a s a m u l e t s : a n e m p l o y m e n t
i
w h ch , a s i k
B Ot t ig e r r g h t l y r e m a r s e x p l a n s th e
, i
a s t n u m b e r o f s uch v
j
s ub e ct s m i
e t w t h in a nt iq
ue g e m s
"
.
 R O M A N I NF L UEN CES .

371

Among this dim crowd of elder m anufacture d deities ,

Saturnus the sowing go d w as m o st likely an annual corn

, ,

vi ctim ; his adj ectival name by itself suggests th at conclu

si on Terminus the boundary god is already familiar to
.
, ,

us About these two at least we can h ardly b e mistaken

.
.

A red haired man ( as i n E gypt ) no doubt preceded as

-

ye arly corn victim th e red haired puppies still slaughtered

- -

for the crops within the ken of F estus Seia Se g e tia .

, ,

T u tilin a th e successive corn —

,
deities we have already con ,

s id e r e d They seem to equat e with the successive mai

.

dens slain for the corn in other communities and still com ,

m e m o ra te d in o u r midst by the corn baby an d the corn -

wife At each stage o f age in the co m a correspon ding

.
,

stage in the age of the human victim was considere d

desirable B ut how reconcil e this idea with the existence
.

of numerous p etty functional deities—go ds of the doo r

an d the hinge —with the C unina who guards the child in
the cradle and the Statina who takes care of him when h e
,

b egins to stand ? I answer all these are but adj ectival ,

gods mere ghosts or spirits unknow n in themselves b u t

, , ,

c onceived as exercising this particular function Th e .

“

go d that does so and -so is j ust a convenient expression

-
,

no more ; it se rves its purpose an d that was enough for ,

the practical Roman H ow r ea dily they could put up

.

with these rough and ready identificati ons we know in the

- -

cas e of Aiu s L oc u t iu s and of th e D eus R e dic u lu s .

E ach Terminus and each Silvanus is thus the god o r

protecting ghost of each bounda ry stone or each sacred
grove— not a prop er name but a class—n o t a particular ,

go d but a kind of spirit The generalised an d abstract

, .

gods are later u n ifi ca tio n s of all the individuals include d

i n each genus The Janus I take it was at first the victim
.
, ,

onc e sacrificed annually before each gate of the city as he ,

is sacrificed still on the west coast of A frica : as the go d o f

O pening he was slaughtered at th e opening of eve r y n
, ew
year ; and the year conversely O pen ed its c o urse with the
m onth sacred to the go d of O pening P erhaps he was also .
3 72 TH E WO RLD BEFO RE CH R I S T .

slain as fortune at th e beginning o f each war The Vesta .

is the hearth goddess ; an d every house ha d its Vesta ;

-

p erhap s origin ally a slaught ered hearth victim E very -

.

man had in like manner his Genius an ancestral protect ,

in g spirit ; th e correspon ding guardian of the wom an w as

her Jun o ; they descen d t o C hristianity especially in its ,

most distinctive Roman fo rm as th e guardian an gels , .

M ars was a corn Spirit ; only later w as h e i dentifie d with

-

th e ex pe ditionary go d H is annual expulsion as the .

human sc ap ego at has already bee n considered The .

J upiter or J o vis was a multiple wine go d d oubtless in -

,

every cas e the annual victim slain D io ny su s wise for the ,

~
,

b enefit of the vin ey a rd E ach village and each farm had .

once it s Jovis sp eci ally worshipp ed and I d o ubt n o t

, , , ,

originally sl aughtered at th e bro aching of the year s firs t

,
’

win e cask in A pril B u t his name shows that as usual

-
.
, ,

he was also identified with that very ancient Sky go d who -

i s common to all the Aryan race ; the particu lar Jovis

b ein g probably sacrificed himsel f to him self b efo re the ol d , ,
’
S ky go d s altar as elsewhere the Dio nysus vi cti m at the
-
,
-

s hrine of Dionysu s .

These identificati ons I know may soun d fanciful to , ,

mere classical scholars unacquainted with th e recent a d ,

vances in anthro pology an d I woul d not have ventured ,

t o propoun d them at an earlier stage of our involve d argu

m ent ; but now that we have seen and learne d to recog
nis e the extraordinary similarity o f all pantheons the
whol e worl d over I think the exact way thes e deiti es fall
,

into line with the wall — go d s gate—gods corn go ds wine , ,

-
,

gods boun dary -go d s forest —

, go ds fountain gods and
, ,
-
,

river gods eve rywhere else must surely b e allowed s o me

-

littl e weight in analogically placin g them .

The lat er Roman reli gion only widens if at all from , ,

within its own ran ge by the inclusion o f larger an d larger

,

t ribal elements Thu s th e D eus Fid ius who preside d over

.
,

each s eparate alliance I tak e to be the ghost of the victi m

,

slain t o form a covenant ; j ust as i n Africa to this day ,

3 74
TH E WO R LD BE FO RE CH R I S T .

blunder) fixed up on their own H ercules the traits o f

H eracles O n the o ccasion of a pl agu e they publicly
.
,

summoned Asclepios the Greek leech go d fro m E p i ,

-
,

d a u r u s ; an d at the ve ry crisis O f the life an d —death con -

fl ic t with H annib al th ey fetch ed the sacred fi e ld stone

,
-

known as Cybele the M other of the G o ds fro m P e ssin u s

, ,
-

i n Phry gia The pe o pl e of P e ssin u s with strange com

.

p lia n ce let their goddess go ; and the wh o l e orgiastic cult

of Attis was thus transported entire to I talian soil The .

rites of the great festival were carri ed on at Rome almost

as they had b een carried on b efore in Phrygia ; s o that an
Asiatic worship of the most riotous typ e found a firm
o fficial footing in the centre of the empire Th e priest in .
,

deed was still a n Asiatic o r at least not a Roman ; but the

, ,

expulsio n of H annibal from I taly which followe d on this

ad o ption of a foreign go d must have greatly increased ,

the prestige and reput ation of the alien an d orgiastic deity .

The luxurious Aphrodite of Ery x in Sicily arrived in

Rome about the same time with Cybel e O riginally a .

S emitic goddess sh e combined th e H ellenic an d oriental

,

ideas and was identified in I taly with the ol d Latin Venus

, .

Later still yet other go ds were imported fro m without

, .

N ew deiti es flowed in from Asia and Africa The p o p ula .

tion of th e city under the early empire had almost ce ased

to b e Roman save in th e up per strata ; a vast number of
,

sl aves fr o m all parts of the world formed the lowest layer

in the crowded vaults : the middl e rank was filled by
Syrians Africans Gre eks Sicilians M oors and freedmen
, , , , ,

— men of all places an d races from S pain or B ritain to the

E uphrates an d the N ile the stepp es an d the desert , The .

O rontes sai d Juvenal had floo ded th e Tiber Amon g

, , .

this mixed mass of all creeds an d colou rs subfusk o r ,

golden haired a curiou s mixture o f religions grew up

-
, .

S ome O f these were mere ready — mad e forei gn importations

—I sis worshi p fro m E gypt ; Jahweh worship from Jud aea ;
- -

strange eastern or no rthern or African cults from the r e

m o t e s t part s of Pontus or M auritania O thers were .
 C O SM O P O LI TA NI SM OF TH E EM P I RE .

375

intermixtures or rati o nalisations of ol der religions su ch ,

as Ch ri stianity which mingled together Judaism an d

,

Adonis or O siris elements ; such as Gnosticism which , ,

s tarting from Zoroastrian in fi lt r a tio n s kneade d all the ,

gods of the world at last into its own supreme mystic and
magic god Abraxas
-
.

Looking a little deep er through the empire in general ,

we see that from the time of Augustus onward the n eed ,

for a new cosmopolitan religion t o fit the new cosmopoli ,

tan state was b eginning to b e di mly felt and ackno w

,

ledged Soldi ers enlisted in one country took the cult

.
, ,

a n d images of their gods t o another The bull slaying .

-

M ithra ( in whom we can hardly fail to se e a solar form

of the bull god who sacrifices a bull himself to him
-
, ,

self before his own altar ) was worshipped here and there
, ,

a s numerous bas reliefs show from Persia to B ritain

-
The ,
.

Gaul endeavoured to i dentify his own local war go ds with -

the Roman M ars who had been H ellenised in turn into

,

th e duplicate presentment of the Greek Ares The Brito n .

saw his river gods remodelled in mosaic into images like

-

those of Roman Tiber or provided with the four horses ,

who drag the R o man N eptun e as N eptune had borrowed ,

the representation at least from the Greek P o-seido n -

.

And this was all the easier because everywhere alike horses
were sacrificed to sea or river in lieu of human victims ; ,

just as everywhere corn gods were dresse d in green an d -

,

e verywhere wine — gods wore coron als of vine — leaves on

their holy foreheads M en felt the truth I have tried to.

impress that everywhere and always there is but one r e

,

l ig io n
. Attributes and origin were s o much alike that
worship was rapidly undergoing a cosmop olitanisation of
n ame as it already possessed a similarity of rites and
,

un derlying features Language itself assisted this uni

.

fy in g process I n the west as Latin spread Latin names

.
, ,

o f gods superseded local ones ; in the east as Greek ,

Spread H ellenic deities gave their titles and their b eautiful

,

forms to native images An artificial unity w as intro .

3 76
TH E WO RL D BE FO RE CH RI S T .

d u ce d and fixed by a conventional list of Greek an d

Ro man equivalents ; and in the west as Greek art gaine d ,

gr o und and spread nobl e Greek representations of th e

,

higher gods in ideal human form b ecame everywhere

c o mmon .

B ut that was not enough As the government was one

.
,

under a stro n g centralis ed despotism it was but natural ,

that the religion shoul d b e one also under the rule of a ,

similar omnipotent d eity M an makes his heaven in the

.

i mage of earth ; his pantheon answers t o his political co n

s t it u t io n. The m e d ix v a l hall of heaven h ad an imperial
Go d like the O thos or the F re dericks on his regal
, ,

thron e surrounded by a court of great barons an d abbots

,

in the angels and a rchangels , th e saints an d martyrs : th e

n ew religions like spiritualism an d Theosophy which
, ,

S pring up in the modern democratic worl d are religions ,

of fre e an d indepen dent Spirits hardly e ven theistic T h e

, .

Roman empire thus demanded a sin gl e religion under a

singl e stron g god I t t ended to fin d it if n ot in the
.
,

Genius of Traj an or Antonin e then in some bull slaying ,

-

M ithra or som e universal Abrax as M aterialists were sa .

t i sfi e d with the w o rship of the E mp eror or of the city of

Ro me : idealists turne d rather to I sis or t o Christ .

O n e religion there was which might hav e answere d

the turn of the empire : the pure an d i deal monoth eism
of J ud aea B ut the cult of Jahweh was too loc al and t o o
.

national ; it n ever extended b ey o n d the real or ad o pte d

sons of I srael E ven so it gained proselytes of high rank
.
,

at Rome especially among wom en ; as regards men th e

, ,

p ainful an d degradin g initiatory ceremony of Judaism

must always have stoo d seri ously in the way o f conve rts .

Y et in spite of this drawback there were proselytes in al l

,

the cosmopolitan cities where the Jews were settled ; men

who loved their nation an d h ad built th em a synagogue .

I f Judaism coul d but get rid of its n ational exclusiveness ,

and could incorporate int o its g od some more of those

genial an d universal traits which he had too ea rly shu ffle d
 TH E GR O WTH OF CH R I S T I A N I T Y
3 78

C HAPT E R XV I I I .

TH E G R O WT H O F C H R I STI A NI TY .

W H I L E th e world was thus seething an d fermenting

with new faiths the cree d of the C hrist made its first a p
p e a ra n ce on th e s eaboard of Asia I n spite of certain
.

remarks in my first chapter I am not such a gross and

,

crass E uhemerist as to insist dogmatically on the histo ri

cal existence o f a personal Jesus O f the C hrist himself
.
,

if a C h rist there were we know littl e o r nothing

, The .

account of his life which has com e down to u s in the Gos

p els is so devoid of authority an d so entirely built up of
,

miraculous fragments derived from elsewhere that we

, ,

may well be excused for gravely doubting whether he is

not rather to b e numb ered with St George an d St C athe . .

rin e with Perseus and Arthur among the wholly mythical

, ,

an d imaginary figures of legend and religion .

O n the other hand it is quite possibl e or even proba

, ,

bl e that there really di d live in Galilee at some time about

, ,

the beginning of our accepted era a teacher an d reformer ,

bearing the Semitic name whi ch is finally H ellenis ed an d

Latinised for us as Jesus I f so it seems not u nlikely that
.
,

this unknown p erson was crucifie d ( or rather hung on a

p ost ) by th e Romans at Jerusalem under the Procurator
C Pontius Pilatus ; and that after his death he was wor
.

shi pped more or l ess as a go d by his i mme diate followers .

Such kern el of truth may v e ry well exis t i n the lat e an d de

riv a t iv e G o sp el story ; a kernel of truth but imb edded in a ,

mass of unhisto rical myth which implicitly i dentifies him

,

with all the familiar corn — gods an d wine go ds of the E ast -

ern M edit erranean .

 TH E CH R I S T A T EM P O RA R Y KI N G .

3 79

F urthermore it is even p o ssibl e that th e Ch rist may have

,

been deliberately put to death at the instigation of the

,

J ewish rabble as one of those temporary divine kings

,

whose nature and meaning we have already discussed I f .

this suggestion seem improbabl e from the lack of any

similar recorded c as e in the scanty Jewish annals I woul d ,

a nswer that formal histories seldom give us any hint of the

s imilar customs still surviving in civilised E uropean coun

tries ; that many popular rites exist unheard of everywhere ;

a n d that t h e Jews were commonly b elieved throu gh the

M iddle Ages to crucify Christian boys like St Hugh of , .

Lincoln in certain irregular and unrecognised ethnical

,

ceremonies F urthermore lest I should b e thought to

.
,

addu c e this instance throu gh an anti Semite tendency -

( which I do not in the slightest degree possess ) I may add ,

that even among Christians similar customs are believe d to

exist in rural parts of I taly at the present day — there are ,

villages where a man dies yearly as the representative of

C hrist ; an d that in my opinion the O berammergau an d
o ther Passion Plays are survivals of like representations in

which a condemned criminal the usual sub stitute did once

, ,

actually en a ct the part of Christ I n short I do not hesi

.
,

tat e to say that god slaying ceremonies more or less a t

-
,

t e n u a t e d have lingered on everywhere in obscure forms

,

a mong the folk rites and folk —

-
customs of the most civilised
peoples .

Without doing more than briefly in dicate this possibility ,

however I pass on to say that if ever there was really a

,

personal Christ and if his foll o wers began by vaguely b e

,

lieving in his resurrection the legen d as we get it is o h

, , ,

v io u sly made up of collecte d fragments from all the god

s laying customs and beliefs we have b een consi dering in

d et ai l through the last six or seven chapters I n the Gos .

p e l of his later believers after the sect had spread widely

,

among the Gentiles of the towns Jesus is con ceived of as ,

a corn an d wine god a temporary king slain on a cross

, ,

a s a piacular atonement and raised again from the dead

,
3 80
TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y .

after three da y s in th e mann er common to all c o rn an d

,

win e gods I t is possible of course that the first b eli evers

.
, ,

m ay have fastened all these i deas o n to an accid ental co n

d e m n a t io n and executi on so to speak ; but it is possibl e
,

too that th e C hrist may actually have b een put to death

at th e great sprin g feast of the Passover i n accordanc e ,

with some obscure and unrecognise d folk rite of the rab -

bl e of Jerusalem . I do n ot even pret en d to have an

opi n i on on this subj ect ; I do n ot assert or deny any his
t o ric a l nucleus of fact : I am satisfied with saying that the
story on the whol e exhibits the Christ to u s entirely in the
ch a racter of a temporary king slain with piacular rites as
,

a corn and wine go d I n this case at l east I am no dog

.
,

m a ti c E uhemerist .

I think i t was Professor F reeman who on ce quaintly

described B uddhism as a bl asphemous anticip atory p a
” ’
rody o f Christi anity The l earned hi stori an s idea a p
.

p a r e n t ly was that the author of all evil b eing aware ,

beforehan d of t h e divin e intentions had invented B u d ,

d h is m b efor e the advent o f C hrist so as t o discount the

,

C hristi an Plan of Salvation by anticipation I f so we .

,

must regard all other religions as similar blasphemous a t

t empts a t forestallin g God : for we shall see as we proceed
th at every on e of them contains innumerabl e anticip ations
of C hristianity—o r t o put it convers ely that C hristianity
, ,

subsumes them all into itself in a highly concentrate d an d

,

etherealise d solution .

I n the earli est C hristian do cuments th e Paulin e an d ,

other Apostoli c E pistl es we get littl e information about

,

the history of the real o r mythi cal C hrist Shadowy allu .

sions alon e to th e crucifixion an d the resurrection repay

our scrutiny B ut through the mist of words we see two
.

or three thin gs cl early The C hrist is d escribed as the son

.

of God— that i s to say of th e J ewish deity ; and he is spoken

of continually as slain on a post or tree th e sacred s y mbol ,

of so many ol d religions H e dies to save mankind ; an d

.

salvation is o ffered in his name to all men A carefu l .

382
TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y .

p arabl e of the vineyard Go d the F ather is described as th e

,

owner of a vineyard who sen ds his only b e gotten son to

,

receive the fruit of it : and th e workers slay him The first .

miracle at C ana of Galile e is on e where wat er is turn ed

into win e by the hand of Jesus : an d so on through a long
s eries of curious instances which readers can discover for ,

themselves by inspection .

I n early C hristian art as exhibite d in th e catacombs at

,

Ro me the true vine is most frequently figured ; as are also

,

baskets of l o aves with the corresponding miracl e of t h e

,

loaves an d fishes M ultiplication of bread an d wine are

.

the natural credenti als of the corn an d wine g od Th e .

earliest description we p ossess of C hrist that of Joh n of ,

D amascus states that his complexion was of the colour

,

”
of wheat ; while in the apocryphal letter o f Lentulus to
the Roman Senate we read in the same spi ri t that his hair
was wine —col oured The Greek description by E pi
.

p h a n iu s M o nachus says that C hrist was six fe et high ; his

-

hair long and golden col oured ; an d i n countenance he was

-

ruddy like his father David All these descri ptions are o b .

v io u s ly influenced by the identification of the bread an d

wine of the eucharist with the personal Jesus .

I n the u sage of the church from very early days it has ,

been customary to eat the b o dy of C hrist in the form of

bread an d to drink his bloo d as win e in th e sacrament
,
.

I n the C atholi c church this continuous ceremony takes

,

pl ac e at an altar containing sacred bones an d is re p r e

, ,

sent ed as b eing the o ffering of God himself to himself i n , ,

the form of a mystic and pi acular sacrifice The priest .

drinks th e wine or bl ood the l aity eat only the bread o r

b ody .

A curiou s custom which o ccurs in many churches of

Sicily at E aster still further enforces thi s unity of Ch ri st
with th e cul t of earlier corn and wine gods like Ad o nis an d ,

O siris The women sow wheat lentils an d can ary seed

.
, ,
-

in plates which are kept in th e dark a n d watered every

,

second day Th e plants so on shoot u p ; they are then tied

.
 TH E CH RI S T A KI N G S ’
SON .

3 83

together with red ribbons and the pl ates containing them ,

are placed on the sepulchres wh ic h w ith e ffi g ie s of th e dead ,

C hrist are made up in Roman C atholic an d Gre ek

,

churches on Good F riday j ust as the gardens of Adonis , ,

says Mr F ra z er . were placed on the grave of the dead

,
”
Adonis .I n this curious ceremony we get a survival fro m -

the very lowest stratum of corn go d worship ; the stratum -

where an actual human victim is killed and corn an d other ,

crops are sown above his body E ven where the sowing .

itself no longer survives the sepulchre remains as a relic ,

of the same antiqu e ritual Such s epulchres are every .

where common a t E aster as are the cradl es of the child ,

god at the feast of t h e winter solstice The Piet a is the .

final form of this mourning of the corn god by the holy -

women .

Passing on t o the other aspects of C hrist as c o rn god -

and divine human victim w e see that he is doubly recog

-
,

n ise d as god and man like all the simil a r gods of early
,

rac e s I n the speeches put into his mouth by his bio

.

g ra p h e rs he constantly claims the Jewish go d as his

,

father M oreover he is a kin g ; an d his kingly descent

.
,

from his ancestor D avi d i s insisted upon in the genealogies

with some little persistence H e is God incarnate ; but also .

he is the King o f the Jews and the King of Glory Wise , .

men come from the east to worship him an d b ring gi fts of ,

gold an d myrrh and frankincense to th e infant God in his

manger cradle B ut he is further the Christ the anointed
.
,

of God ; and as we saw anointment is a common element

, ,

with numerous other divin e human victims -

.

’
O nce more he is the King s son ; and he is the only b e
,

gotten son the dearly beloved son who is slain as an ex

, ,

piation for the sins of the people The heavens open an d .

,

a voice from them declares This is my beloved son in ,

”
whom I am well pleased H e is a ffiliated like all other
.
,

such victims on the older and earli e r ethnical go d Jah

, .

weh ; and though he is himself God and o n e with the ,

F ather he is o ffered up himself to himself in expiation

, , ,
 TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y
3 84
.

o f the sin committed by men against divine j usti ce All .

this would b e familiar theology in deed t o the worshipp e r

o f O siris Ado n is an d Attis
, , .

The co mmon H ebrew o ffering was the paschal lamb ;

t herefore C hrist is envisage d as th e Lamb of G o d that ,

taketh away the sins of the world I n the p a intings of the .

catacombs it is as a lamb that the Saviour of the world is

,

oftenest repres ented As a lamb he rais es another lamb

.
,

Lazarus ; as a lamb he turns the water into wine ; as a

l amb he strikes the living springs fro m the rock o n the
spandrils of the sarco phagus of Junius B assus B ut his .

birth in a manger is also significant : an d his vine and his

d ove are almost as frequent as his lamb in the catacombs .

The Gosp el history represents the passi on o f Christ e s

se n t ia lly as the sacrifice of a temporary king invested with ,

all the familiar elements of that early ritual C h ri st e n .

t ers Jerusale m in royal state among popular pl a udits like , ,

th ose which always accompany the t emporary ki n g and ,

the Attis or Adonis H e is mounted on an ass the royal

.
,

beast of the S emites The p eople fling down branches of

.

tr e es in his path as they a lways fling down p arts of gre en

,

tree s b efo re the go ds of vegetation O n Palm Sunday .

his churches are still decked with palm branches or with -

sprays of willow catkin Such rites with gre en things fo rm

- .

an integral part o f all the old rituals O f th e tree go d or the -

corn god an d of all the mode rn E urop ean su r vivals in

-
,

folk lore— they are equally found in the Dionysi a c festi

-

val and in the Jack in the Green revels on E nglish fair

,
- ~ -

days . The connexio n with trees is also well m a rke d

throughout the Gosp els ; and the miracle of the barren fi g
tre e is sp ecially mention ed in clos e conn exi on with the
entry into Jerusal em The pe ople as he entered cri ed .

H osanna to the son of D avid and th e propheti c w o rds

were supposed to be fulfilled B ehold thy kin g co meth , ,

unto thee meek sittin g up o n an ass an d a colt the foal of

, , , ,
”
an ass .

The Christ goes as a willing victim to the cross ; he do es

 TH E GR O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y
3 86
.

The thi eves crucified with the S aviour have their leg s
broken lik e many other sacre d victims ; but the C hrist
,

himself has not a bone broken like the paschal lamb which ,

was the Jewish substitute for the pri mitive human victim .

Thus both ideas O n this subj ect the earli er an d the lat er , ,

s eem to find an appropriate place i n the histor y I nstead .

of having his legs broken however th e C hrist has his , ,

side pierced ; and fro m it flows the mystic bloo d of t h e

aton ement in which all C hristians are theoretically
,

washed ; this baptism of bloo d ( a literal reality in older

cults ) b eing already a famili ar image at the dat e of the
Ap ocalypse where the robes of the elect are wash ed whit e
,

i n the bloo d of the lamb that was slai n .

After the crucifixion the C hrist is taken down and b u

,

ried But like all other corn an d win e go ds he ris e s

.
, ,

again fr o m the dead on the third day— this very perio d of

three d ays b eing already a convention al on e in similar
cases E very on e of the surrou n dings recalls O siris an d
.

Attis I t is the women once more who see hi m first ; and

.

afterwards the men F inally he ascends into heaven to

.
, ,

his F ath er befo re the wondering eyes of his dis ciples an d

,

his mother I n each item of this there is n o thing with

.
,

which we are not already familiar elsewhere .

I will not pursu e the an alogy further To do so woul d .

b e endless I nd e ed I do not think there is an element in

.
,

the Gospel story which does n ot bear out the parallel here
suggested The slight incident of the visit to H ero d for
.
,

example is exactly analogous to t he visit of th e false

,
’
O siris in mod ern E gypt to th e governor s hous e an d th e ,

visit of the temporary or mock k ing in so m any other

cases to the real king s palace The episo de where H ero d
’
.

and his m e n of war array the Christ in a gorgeous robe is

th e equivalent of the episode of the M exi can king arrayin g
the go d victim in royal dress and i s also paralleled in
-
,

numerous other like dramas elsewhere The women wh o .

prepare spices an d ointments for the body recall the Adoni s

rites ; Pilate washin g his hands of the guilt of co n de m n a
 GR O WTH OF TH E CH R I S TI A N M Y TH .

3 87

tion rec a lls the frequent episo de of the slaughterers of th e

god laying the blame upon others or casting it on the ,

knife or crying out

, ,
We bought you with a price ; we
”
are guiltless . Whoever will read carefully throu gh th e
Gospel accounts side by side with Mr F raz er s well —
, chosen .
’

coll ection of mock king narratives will see for himself that
-
,

endless other minor traits crop up in the story which may

be equated with numerous similar i ncidents in the death
and resurrection of the man go d elsewhere -
.

The very subj ects of the parables are in themselves sig

n ifi c a n t : the l ord of the vineyard who s ends hi s son who m ,

the hirers slay ; the labou rers who come at the eleventh
hour : the sower an d the goo d and bad ground : the grai n
of mustard seed : the l eaven of the Ph a ris ees : the see d
-

growing secretly : the s ons in the vineyard I t will b e .

found that almost all of them turn on the key note subj ect s -

of bread and win e or at least of s ee d sowing

,
-
.

By what precise stages the story of th e Galil aean man

god arose and fixed itself arou n d the person of the rea l
or mythical Jesus it would be hard to say Already in t h e .

epistles we may catch stray glim ps es in the germ of mos t , ,

of it Already we notice strange hints an d foreshadow

.

ings Probably the first Jewish disci ples had ar rived at

.

the outline of the existing sto ry even before the Gentiles

began t o add their quotum And when we look at docu
.

ments so overloaded with miracle and legend as the Gos

pels an d the Acts of the Apostl es we find it hard indeed
,

to s eparate any element of historical truth from the enor

m o us accretion of myth and legend Still I see no grave .
,

reason to doubt the general truth of the i dea that t h e

C hristian belief and practice arose first among Galil aean
Jews an d that from them it spread with comparative rapi
,

dity t o the people of Syria and Asia Minor I t even seem s .

probable that one Saul or Paul was really the pers o n who
first conceived the idea of p reaching the new r e ligio n
thr o ughout the empire and especially in the great cities a s
,
,

a faith which might be embraced by both Jew and Gentile .

3 88
TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y .

C ertainly while the young cult con tai ne d most of the b est
,

features of J u daism viewe d as a possibl e univers al religion

, ,

— its monotheism its purity its comp a rative freedom fro m

, ,

vile and absurd legend s o f the gods an d their amours

i t surpassed the elder faith in acceptability to the worl d at
l arge an d especially to the p eopl e of Syria and western
,

Asia E very one of them could hav e sai d with perfect

.

truth N othing is changed ; there is but one god more

,
”
to worship .

As the church spread the legen d grew apace To the, .

early account of the death and resurrection of the King o f

the J e ws lat er narrators added the sto ry of his miraculous
,

birth fro m a virgin mother who conceive d directly from ,

the spirit of God wafted down upon her The wide ex .

t ent and the origin of this b elief abo ut the conception of

gods and heroes has b een fully examined by M r Sidney .

H artland in his admirable stu dy of the Legen d of P erseus .

The n ew believers further pr o vided their divine leader with

a royal genealogy fro m David downward and made hi m ,

by a tolerably circuitous argument be born at B ethlehem ,

according to the supposed prophecy— though if there ever

was really a J esus at all it would seem that the one fact
,

of which we could feel tolerably sure about him was the ,

fact o f his b ein g a man of N azareth Later writers put .

into his mouth a high moral teaching fo r its time somewhat ,

antici pated by Hillel and other rabbis an d perhaps in part ,

o f B uddhist origin ; they also made him announce for him

self that divin e r Ole of mediator and atoner which they
themselves cl aimed for the Saviour of M ankin d H e calls .

himself th e vin e the bread of life the go o d shepherd ; he

, ,

is called the lamb of Go d that taketh away the sins of the

”
world by John the B aptist an enthusiast whos e fame has
, ,

attracted him at last into the C hristian legend Ve ry .

early th e ol d rite of water—

,
lustration o r baptism ad o pt e d ,

by John was employed as on e of the chief C hristian cere

,

monies the ceremony o f initiati on which replaced with

, ,

advantage the bloody an d dangero us J ewish circumcision .

 TH E GR O WTH OF CH R I S TI A N I T Y
3 90

n a t e ly . I
have planted ; Ap ollos watered Y e are
’ ”
I have laid
’
God s husbandry ; ye are God s b uilding .

the foundation and another builds thereon, Let eve ry .

man tak e care how he builds upon it F or other fo u n da .

tion can n o man lay than that which is laid which is the ,
”
C hrist Jesus , O r again .Y ou are built upon the foun
,

dation o f the apostles and prophets J esus th e Christ , , ,

”
b ein g himself the chief corner ston e Who ever rereads .

the epistles by the light of the analogies suggested in this

bo ok will fin d that they positively te em with similar re
fe re n ce s to the familiar theolo gy of the various slain man
gods which must have been known t o every o ne along the
,

shores of th e M e d iterranean .

The church whi ch was built upon this rock— and that
Rock was C hrist—has shown its continuity with earlier
reli gions in a thousan d ways an d by a thousand anal ogi es .

S olar and astrological elements have b een freely admitt ed ,

side by sid e with thos e which recall th e corn an d wine

gods The chief festivals still clin g to the sol ar feasts of
.

the e quinoxes an d the solstices Thus every year the .

church cel ebrates in mimicry the death and resurrection o f

the C hrist as the M editerranean peoples celebrated the
,

death an d resurrecti on of the Attis th e A donis the D io n y , ,

sus the O siris I t celebrates the feast at the usual time for
, .

most su ch festivals th e spring equinox M ore than that

, .
,

it chooses for th e actual day of the resurrection c ommonly ,

call ed in English E aster an d in the Latin d ialects the Pas

,

chal feast ( or P aques ) a trebly a strological date The fes

, .

tiv a l must be as near as possibl e to th e spring equinox ; but

it must b e after a full moon an d it must b e on the day ,

sacred to the sun B efore the fe ast a l ong fast takes

.
,

pl ac e at the close of whi ch the Christ is slain in effi gy and

, ,

s ol emnly laid in a mi mic sepulchre G ood F ri day is the .

anniversary of his piacular d eath an d the special day o f ,

t he annual mou rning as for Adonis an d A ttis O n E aster

,
.

Sunday he rises again from the d ead an d every goo d

, ,

C atholic is bound to communicate—to eat the body of his

 IN TR U SI VE S O LAR ELEM EN T .

39 1

slaughtered go d on the annual spring festival of reviving

vegetation C omparison of the H oly Week ceremoni es
.

at Rom e with the other annual fe stivals from the M exican .

corn feast and the P o tr aj rite of I ndia to Attis and Adonis

-
,

will be found extremely enlightening—I mean of course , ,

the ceremonies as they were when the Pope the Pri est ,

King the representative of the annual Attis at P e ssinus

, ,

o fficiated publi cly in the Sistine C hapel with paschal ,

music known as Lamentations and elevation o f the Host ,

a mi d the blare of trumpets O n this subj ect I limit m y

. .

s el f t o the barest hint Whoever chooses to follow out so

.

pregn ant a clue will fin d it lead him into cu i ous analogies r

a n d almost incredible sur v ivals .

Similarly the bi rth of Christ is celebrated at the winter

,

solstice the well — , known date for so many earlier cere

monies o i the gods of vegetation Then the infant god .

Whoever has read Mr

'

lies unconscious in his cradle . .

’
F razer s great work will understand th e conn exion of the
holly and the mistl etoe an d the Christmas tree with this
, ,

second great festival of C hristendom very important in ,

the Teutonic no rth though far inferior in the south to the

,

spring— tide feast when the god is sl ain and eaten o f n e ce s

,

sity. I limit myself to saying that the C hristmas rites are

all of them rites of the bi r th of th e c orn go d -
.

E ven the C hristian cross it is now known was not em , ,

pl oyed as a symbol of th e faith b efore the days of Co n

s t a n t in e and was borrowe d from the solar wheel of the
,

Gaulish sun god — worship pers who fo rme d the mass of the
-

’
successful emperor s legionari es .

We are now therefore in a ve ry di fferent position for

,

understanding th e causes which le d t o the rise and de

ve lo pm e nt of the C hristian religion from that which we

o ccupied at the outset of our enqui r y We had then t o .

accept crudely the bare fact that about the first centu ry
o f our era a certain cult of a Divine M an J esus arose , ,

among a fraction of the maritime people of Lower Syria .

That fact as we at first received it stood isolate d and u n

39
9 TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y .

related in its naked singularity We can now s ee that it .

was but one more example of a universal god — making

t endency in human nature high or lo w ; an d in our l ast
,

chapter we shall fin d that this universal tendency to wor

ship the dead has ever sin ce persisted as fully as ever an d ,

is in fact the central element in the e n tire religious instinct

of humanity .

The m ai n e motional chor d u po n which C hristianity

played in its early days— and indee d the main chord upon
w h i c h it still plays—is j ust I believe the universal feeling
, ,

in fav o ur of th e d e ifi ca t io n o r b e a t ifi ca tio n o f the dead ,

with th e desire for immortality on the part of the indi

vidual b eliever him self in person Like all other religi o ns
.
,

b ut even more than any other religion at that time in

vogue C hristianity appealed to these two allie d and deep
,

seated longings of human nature I t ap pealed on the on e .

hand to the u nselfish emotions and a ffections of mankin d

by pro mising a clos e bodily personal and sp eedy r e
, , ,

association of th e living believer with his dead relative s

an d friends I t ap pealed o n the other hand to the selfish
.

wishes and desires of each by holding forth to eve ry man

,

the sure an d certain hope of a glorious resurre ction Like .

all other creeds bu t beyon d all ot her creeds it was the

, ,

religion of immortality of the dead revived of the new

, .

world : in an age of doubt of scepticism of the decay

, ,

of faith it gave fresh life and a totally n ew basis t o the

,

old beliefs— perhaps th e old delusions — o f the religious

n ature .

A necessary consequence of the universal ferment an d

int ermixture of pantheons eve rywhere during th e early
days of the Roman empire was a certain amount of floatin g
scepticism about the gods a s a w h o le which re a che s its hi g h ,

est point in the mocking humou r of Lu cian or still earlier ,

i n the E picurean atheism of Lucretius an d of Rom an phi

los o p h y in g en e ral But whil e this nascent scepticism was
.

ve ry real and very widespread it a ffected rather current

,

b eliefs as to the personality an d histo ry of the vari o us go d s

 TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y
3 94
.

The stran ge cults which united in thus gradually crush

ing out the o ld local an d n ational pantheons throughout
the Rom a n worl d had for the most part two marked attri
,

butes in common : they were more or less mystical : and

they ten ded more or less in th e direction o f monothei s m .

S olar myth syncretism the esoteric priestly interpreta

, ,

tions an d the gen eral di ffusion of Greek philosophic

,

notions mixed w ith subtl er oriental and Z oroastrian

,

id eas had all promote d the rise an d growth of the mysti c

,

el ement : whil e a vague mon o theistic movement had long

b een apparent in the higher th o ught of E gypt Greece , ,

I taly an d the E ast

, I n th e resulting conflict and inter
.

mixture o f ideas Judaism as o n e of the most mystical and

, ,

monotheistic of religions would have stood a goo d ,

chanc e o f becoming the faith of the world had it not been ,

for the fatal wei ght of its strict and o bstinate n ational
character E ven as it was Jewish c o mmunities were
.
,
’
scattered throu gh all the commercial town s o f the G rae co
Roman worl d ; a Jewish colony strongly influ enced Al ex
andria ; and Jewish teachers made proselytes in Rome in
the very bosom of the imperial household .

The ferment which thus existed by the O rontes the ,

N il e a n d the Tiber must also have extended in a some

,

what less degree t o all th e cosmo politan seaports an d

trading town s of the great and hetero gen eous military
e mpire What was tru e of Rome Alexandria an d
.
, ,

Antioch was true in part we have every reas o n to believe

, , .

o f Damascus of B y z antium of Sinope of E phesus : o f

, , ,

Rhodes of Cyren e of Athens of Carthage : perhaps even

, , ,

o f M assilia of Gades of B urdigala of L u g du n u m

,
All, , .

aroun d th e eastern M edit erran ean at least new faiths were ,

seethin g new ideas were brewing n e w mysticisms were

, ,

b eing evolved n ew superstiti o ns were arisin g Ph oenix

, ,

like out of th e dying embers of decaying creeds Settin g

,
.

aside mere exotic or hyb rid cults like the worship of ,

Se rapis at Al exandria and of I sis at R o m e or me re abor ,

tive attempts like the short live d worship of Antinous in -

 C O MP E TI N G IVORLD—
RELI GI ON S /
.

395

E gypt , we may say that three of these n ew religions a p

p ealed strongly to the wants and desires of the time : and
those three were M ithraism Gnosticism and Christianity , ,
.

All were alike somewhat eclectic in charact er ; and all

coul d lay claim to a certain cosmopolitan an d catholic
s pirit unknown to the cults of the old national pantheons .

All came to the Greek and Roman worl d from the mystic
east the land of the rising sun whose magic is felt even at
, ,

the present day by the votaries of Theosophy an d of

E soteric B uddhism Which of the three was to conquer
.

in the end might have seem ed at one time extremely

d oubtful nor indeed do I believe that the ultimate
triumph of C hristianity the least imposing of the three
, ,

inevitable a s it at last became was by any means at first ,

a foregon e conclusion The religion of Jesus probably

.

owe d quite as much to what we call chance— that is to say ,

to the play of purely personal and casual circumstances

a s to its own essential internal characteristics If C o n .

s ta n t in e or any other shrewd military chief had happened

to adopt the symbols of M ithra or Abraxas instead of the

name of Christ it is quite conceivabl e that all the civilised
,

world might now b e adoring the mystic divinity of the

thre e hun dred and s ix t y fi v e emanations as sedulously as
~
,

it actu a lly adores the final theological outcome of the old

H ebrew Jahweh But there were certain real advantages
.

a s well which tol d I believe in the very nature of things

, , , ,

in favour of the C h rist as against the coinage of B a silid e s

o r the far eastern sun go d
-
C onstantine in other words
-
.
, ,

chose his religion wisely I t wa s the cult exactly adapted

.

to the times : above all others during the two centuri es or ,

so that had passed since its first beginning ( for we must

place the real evolution of the C hristian system consider
ably later than the life or death of Jesus himsel f) it had
shown itself capable of thoroughly engaging on its own
side th e profoundest interests and emotions of the re
lig io u s nature
.

We must remember too that in all religious crises

, ,
,
 TH E GR O WTH OF CH R I S TI A N I T Y
3 96 .

while faith i n the actual gods and cree ds declines rapidly ,

n o corresponding weakening o ccurs in the underlying

sentiments on which all religions ultimately b ase them
selves H en ce the apparent paradox that perio ds of
.

doubt are also almost always periods of intense cre dulity

as well The human mind cast free from the mooring s
.
,

whi ch have long su fficed for it d rifts about restlessly in ,

search of some new haven in which it may take refuge

fro m the t errors of uncertainty an d infidelity And its .

n ew faith is always but a fresh form o f the old one A go d .

or gods prayer praise an d s acraments are essential ele

, , , ,

ments M ore especially is it the case that when trust in

.

th e great go ds begins t o fail a blind gro pin g after n e

,

cro m a n c y spi ritualism and ghost lore in gen eral takes

, ,
-

its place for the moment We have seen this t endency

.

fully exemplifie d in our own time by the spiritualists an d

others : nor was it less marked in th e tempest of c onflicting
ideas which broke over the Roman worl d from the age of
th e Antonines to the fall of the empire The fact is th e .
,

average man cares but little after all for his go ds an d hi s

, ,

goddesses viewed as indivi duals They are but an outl et

, .

for his own emotions H e appeals to th e m for help a s

.
,

l ong as he continues t o believe in their e ffective helpful

n ess : h e is ready to caj ol e them with o fferin gs of blo od or
to flatt er them with homage of prais e and prayer as long ,

as he expects to gain some present o r future benefit ,

b o dily or spiritu al in return fo r his assiduous adulation

, .

B ut as soon as his faith in their existence and power begin s

t o break down he puts u p with the loss of their godhead
, ,

s o far as they themselves are concerned without on e ,

qu alm of disappointment or inconvenience I t is some .

thing far other than th a t that touches him in religion : it

is his hopes for his own eternal welfare and the welfare ,

after death of those that love him .

H enc e a declin e of faith in th e great gods is im m e d i

,

ately followed by a recru d escenc e of the most barbaric an d

ori ginal elem ent in religion —the cult of the ghost o r
3 98
TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y .

’
J udah might follow in the way of E phraim And I srael s .

work in the worl d might thus b e undone or rather st u lt i ,

fi e d for ever .

Just at this ve ry moment when all faiths were totterin g ,

visibly to their fall a tiny band of obscure Galil aean pea,

sants who perhaps had fol lowed a wild local enthusiast

,

fro m their nativ e hills up to turbulent Jerus al em may have ,

b een seize d with a delusion n either unnatural nor unac

customed under their peculiar circumstances ; but which
n eve rtheless has su fficed t o turn or at l east to mo dify pro
’
fo u n d ly the entire subsequent course of the worl d s his
t ory Their leader if w e may trust the universal tradition
.
,

of th e sect as laid down lon g after in their legendary

,

Gospels was crucified at Jerusalem under C Pontiu s

, .

Pilatus I f any fact upon earth about Jesu s is true b esides

.
,

th e fact of his residen ce at N azareth it is this fact of t h e ,

crucifixion which derives verisimilitude fr o m b eing alway s

,

cl osely c o nnected with the name o f that p articular Roman

o fficial B ut three days after says the leg e nd the body
.
, ,

of Jesus coul d not b e found in the sepulchre whe re h is

frien ds h ad laid him : an d a rumour gradually gained
ground that he had risen fro m the dead an d had b een seen ,

abroad by th e women who mourned him an d by various o f

his discipl es I n short what was u nivers al ly beli eved
.
,

ab out all other and elder human go ds was sp ecifically ,

asserted afresh in a newer case ab out the m a n C hrist

Jesus Th e ide a fitted in with the n eeds of th e time and
.
,

the doctrine o f the Resurrection of Jesus the C hrist b e

came the corner ston e of the new — born Christian religion
-
.

N othing can be clearer than th e fact admitted on all

hands that this event formed the central point of t h e
,
’
Apostles preachin g I t was the R esurrection of Jesus .
,

regarded as an earnest of general resurrection for all his

followers that they most insisted upon in their words and
,

writings I t was the resurrection that conve rted the

.

worl d of western E urope Y our faith is flagging sai d .

,

th e early C hristians in e ffect to th eir pagan fellows : you r

 TH E G O SPEL SP R EAD S I N TH E E AST .

3 99

gods are half dead ; your ideas about your own future and
-
,

the present state of your dep arted friends are most vague ,

and shadowy I n opposition t o all this we O ffer you a

.
,

sure and certain hop e ; we tell you a tale of real life and ,

recent ; we preach a god of the familiar pattern yet ve ry ,

close to you ; w e present you with a specimen of actual

resurrection We bring you goo d tidings of Jesus as the
.

M essiah and him crucified : to the Jews a stumbling

, ,

block ; t o the Greeks foolishness ; but t o su ch as are

,

saved a plain evidence of the power of the God of I srael

,
.

Accept our word : let your dead sleep in C hrist in our

catacombs as once they slept in O siris at Abydos or
, ,

rested up o n him that rests at Phil ae I f C hrist b e not .

risen says one of the earliest Christian writers in a pas

,

sio n a te perorati on then is our preaching vain and your

, ,

faith is vain al s o : but as it is Christ is risen from the dead

, ,

and has become the first fruits of them that slept E lse .

”
what shall they do he goes on t ouching to the quick that
, ,

ingrai ned human desire for communion with the departed ,

what shall they do which are baptised for the dead if the ,

dead ri se not at all Why are they then baptised fo r the

dead Thes e in short apart from the elements c o m
, ,

mon to all creeds are the three gre a t motors of primitive

,

Christianity : one d o gmatic the resurrection of Jesus : one

,

selfish the salvation of the individual soul : one altruistic

, ,

the desire for reunion with the dead amo n g one s b e ’

l o ved .

Syri a and E gypt could easily accept the new doctrine .

I t involved for th em no serious change of front no wide ,

departure fro m th e ideas a n d cerem o nies which always

formed their rounded concept of human existence There .

is a representation of the resurrection of O si ris in the littl e

temple on the roof at Denderah which might almost pass
for a Christian illustration of the resurrection of Jesus .

To Syrian and E gyptian the resurrection indeed was but

,

a Special modern instance o f a well known fact ; a fresh -

basis of evidence upon which to plant firmly the tottering

 TH E G R O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y
400 .

edifice of their ol d c onvictions I n its b eginnings in .

,

sho rt Christianity was essentially an o riental religion ; it

,

spread fastest in the eastern M editerranea n basin where ,

Judaism w as already well establishe d : at Rom e it seems ,

to have attracted chiefly the o ri ental population And it .

i s a significant fact that its o fficial adoption as the public

religion o f th e Roman state was th e act of the same prince
who deliberately shifted the seat of his government fro m -

t he Tib er t o the B osphorus and largely transforme d the

,

character o f the empire fro - m a Latin to a G rae co A siatic -

type All the n e w religions whi ch struggled together for

.

th e maste ry of the w orld were o ri ental in ori g in : the

triu mph of C hristianity was but a single episode in the
general triump h o f aggressive orientalism o ver the oeci
dental el ement in the Roman system .

E gypt in pa rticular I b elieve had far more to do with

, ,

the dogmatic shaping of early C hristianity and t h e s ettle ,

ment of C hristian symb o lism and Christian mysti cism ,

than is generally admitt ed by the o fficial historians of the

p rimitive church There where th e idea of resurrection
.
,

was already so universal an d where every man desire d to

b e j ustified by O siris C hristianity soon made an easy
“
,

c onquest of a p eopl e on whos e faith it exerte d so littl e

change And E gypt easily made its influence felt on the
.

pl astic young creed I t is a llowed that the d o ctrin e of th e

.

Trinity to o k shap e am o ng the Triad worshipp ers o n the -

banks of the N il e an d that the scarcely less important doc

,

trine o f the L o gos was borrowed from th e philosophy of

Al exandrian Jews N ob ody can l o ok at th e figures of
.

I sis and the infant H orus in any E gyptian museu m with

out b eing a t on ce struck by the obvious foreshad o wing of
the C optic and Byzantine M ad o nna and C hild The mys .

te r y that s pran g u p ab out th e new do ctrin es ; the strange

syncretic union of F ather Son and H ol y Ghost into a
, ,

singl e Trinity ; the miracul ous conception by the Theo

tokos or mother of G o d— a clear variant in one aspect on
the older idea of Hathor ; and the antenatal existence of
 TH E GR O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y
40 2 .

scarab aeus containin g a representati on o f the crucifixion ,

with two pal m branches : and other s c arabs have Christi an

“ “
crosses some of them says M r L o ftie very un m istak
, , .
,
”
abl e . If we rememb er how extremely sacre d the scarab
was held in th e E gyptian religion and also that it was r e
,

garded as the symbol of the resurrection w e cann ot pos ,

s ibly miss the importance of this implicatio n I n deed .

,

the Alexandrian F ather E pip h a n iu s speaks o f C hrist a s

, ,
“
th e scarab aeus o f God a phras e which may b e stil l
,

better un derstoo d if I add that in the treatise on hiero

glyphs known un der the n ame of H orapo llo a scarab aeu s
—
is s aid to denote an only begotten ”
Thus the lamb .

of God in the tongu e of I srael becomes th e scarab x u s

o f Go d in the mouth of a n E gyptian speaker To put it .

shortly I beli eve we may say with t ruth in a sense fa r

, ,

other than that intende d by either prophet or evangelist ,

”
O ut of Egypt have I call ed my son .

I n the west however the results of the spread of C hris

, ,

t ia nit y were far more revolutionary I ndee d I do not .

,

think the cult of Jesus could ever have spread at all in

R o me had it not b een fo r the large extent to which the
city was peopled in later times by Syrians and Afri cans .

And if C hristianity had not spread in Rom e it could n ever ,

have gained a foothol d at all in the A ryan worl d : for it is

not at bott om an A ryan religion in ton e an d feelin g : it
has only b ecome possibl e among A ryan peoples by und e r
going at last a consi derable change of spirit though not ,

largely of form in its westward progress This change

, .

is in dicate d by the first great schism which severe d t h e ,

Latin fro m the G reek communion .

F oremost amon g th e chan ges which Christianity in

volved in I taly and the rest of west ern E ur o pe was the
retrograde change from the belief in immortality and the
immat eriality of the soul with cremation as its practical
,

outcome to the b elie f in the resurrection of the body with

, ,

a return t o the disused an d discredite d practice of b uria l

as its normal correlative The catacombs were the n e ce s
.
 TH E G O SP E L S P R EA D S I N TH E WE S T .

403

sary result of this backward movement ; an d with the

catacombs came in the possibility of relic — worship martyr ,

worship and the adoration of saints and their corpses I

,
.

shall trace out in my next chapter the remoter e ffects of

this curious revival of the p rime element in religion—t h e
cult of the dead—in gre a ter detail : it must su ffice here to
point out briefly that it resulted as a lo g ca l e ffect from
the b elief in the resurrection of C hrist and the consequent ,

restoration of the practic e of burial Moreover to p o ly .

,

theists this habit gave a practical opening for the cult of

,

many deities in th e midst of nominal monotheism whi ch ,

the I talians and sundry other essentially polytheistic

peoples were not slow to seiz e upon H ere again the dif .

ference between the more mon otheistic and syncretic east ,

which puts a ban upon graven images an d the more poly ,

theistic and sep arating west which freely admits the em

,

pl o yment of sculpture is not a little significant I t is tru e

, .

that theoretically th e adoration paid to saints and martyrs

is never regarded as real worship : but I need hardly say
that technical distinctions like these are always a mere pa rt
of the artificial theol ogy of scholastic pri esthoods and may ,

be as safely disregarded by the bro ad anthropological

enquirer as may all the other fanciful lumber of m e ta ph y s i
cal B rahmans an d theologians every where The genuin e .

facts of religion are the facts and rites of the popular cult ,

which remain in each rac e for lon g peri ods together

essentially uniform .

Thus we early get two m a in fo rms o f C hristianity both ,

o fficial and popular : one eastern — Greek C optic Syrian ; , ,

more mystical in type more symbolic more philosophi c

, , ,

more monotheistic the o ther w e ste rn L a tin C eltic fi

, ,

Spanish ; more Aryan in type more practical more ma .

,

t e r ia l more polytheistic
,
And these at a later time are
.

reinforced by a third or northern fo r m — the Teutonic and ,

Protestant ; in which ethical i deas preponderate over

religious and the worship of the B ook in its most literal
,

and often fo o lish interpretation supersedes the earlier wor

ship o f M adonna saints pictures statues and emblems
, , , , .
 TH E GR O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y
404 .

At the period when Christianity first b egins t o emerg e

fr o m th e primitive obs curity of its formative nisus how ,

ever we fin d it practically co mp oun ded of th e following

,

elements— which represent the common union of a

younger go d offered up t o an olde r one with who-m he is
identifie d .

F irst of all as the implied basis taken for granted in

, ,

all the early H ebrew scripture s there is current Judaism , ,

i n the form that Ju daism h a d gradually assume d in the

fourth third and secon d centuries before the C hristia n
, ,

era This includes as its main principle the cult o f the

.

on e god J ahweh now no lon ger largely thought of under

,

t hat pe rsonal name or as a strictly ethnic deity but rather

,
'
,

envisaged as the Lord Go d who dwells in he aven ve ry ,

m uch as C hristians of to day still envisage him -

I t in .

e ludes also a n undercurrent of belief in a heavenly hier

a rchy o f angels an d archangels the court of the Lord ,

( modifications of an earlier astrological con ception the ,

H ost of H e aven ) an d in a principle of evil Satan or the

, ,

d evil dwelling in hell an d simil a rly surrounded by a

, ,

c rowd of minor o r assistant demon s F urther it accepts .

,

i mplicitly from earlier Judaism the resurrection of the

d ead the j udgment of the go od an d the wi cked the doc
, ,

t rin e of future rew a rds an d punishments ( perhaps in its

full est shape a H ellenistic import ation fr o m E gypt though ,

also co mmon ly foun d in most spontaneous religi ons ) an d ,

many other ten ets of the current Jewish belief I n short .

,

t h e ve ry earliest Christians b ein g probably for the most

,

p art Jews Galil aeans and proselytes or else Syrians and

, , ,

Africans of Judaising tendencies did not attempt to get ,

rid of all their precon ceived religious opinions when they

became C hristians but merely superadded t o th es e as a
,

new item th e special cult of the deified Jesus .

O n th e o ther hand as the Gospel spread to the Gentiles

, ,

it was n o t th o ught ne cessary to burden the fresh conve rts

with th e whol e minute ceremonial of Ju daism and es pe ,

c ia lly with th e di fficult and unpleasant initiatory rite of

406
TH E G R O WTH OF CH RI S TI A N I T Y .

and by bringing th e Gentiles t o the feet of the God of

I srael J esus sai d the Christians had proclaimed him
.
, ,

s elf that very M essiah the C h ri st o-f G od ; h e had often

,

alluded to the gre at H ebrew deity as his father ; he had

laid claim to the worship of the Lo rd o f heaven F urther .

than this perhaps the unaided Jewish intelligenc e woul d

, ,

hardly have gon e : it would have been satisfied with

assigning t o the slain man god Jesus a secondary place -
,

as the only begotten Son of God who gave himself up as a ,

willing victim— a position p erhaps sca rc e ly m o re im p o rt a nt

than that which M ohammad holds in the system of I slam .

Such it s eems to me is on the whole the con ception which

, ,

permeates the synoptic Gospels representing the i d eas of ,

Syrian C hristendom B ut here the acut e G raeco—E g y p

.

tian mind came in with its nice distinctions an d its mystical

i dentific ations There was but o n e g od indeed ; yet that
.
,

god was at least twofold ( to go no further for the present ) .

H e had two persons the F ather and the S on an d the

,

S econ d Person identified with the Alexandrian co n ce p

,

tion of the L o gos though inferior to the F ather as touch

,

ing his manhoo d was equal to the F ather as touching his

,

godhead— after the precise fashion we saw so common in

describing the relations of O siris an d H orus and the iden
t ifi ca t io n of the Attis or Adonis victim Wi th the earlier
I and my F ather are
“
an d older go d he represented .

one says the Ch rist o f the F ourth Gospel the e m b o di

, ,

ment an d in carn ation of the Alexandrian Logos An d in .

th e very forefront of that mani fest o of Ne O— Platoni c

C hristianity comes th e dogmatic assertion I n the b e ,

ginning was the Logos : an d the Logos dwelt with Go d :

an d the Logos was Go d .

E ven so the basis o f the new cree d is still incom pl e te .

The F ather and S on give the w h ol e of the compoun d

deity as the popular min d everywhere an d always has , ,

commonly apprehended it B ut the scholastic an d theo .

lo gical intelligen ce n eeded a Third Person to complete the

Trinity which to all mankind as especially to orientals is , ,
 E VO L U TI ON OF TH E TR INI T Y .

40 7

t he only perfect and thoroughly rou nded figure I n l a ter .

d ays no dou bt the M adonn a would have been chosen

, ,

to fill up the blank and on the analogy of I sis woul d

, , ,

have filled it most e fficiently As a matter of fact in the .

,

creed of Christendom as the C atholic people know it the ,

M adonna is really on e of the most important personages .

B ut in those early for mative times the cult o f the Theo ,

t o kos had hardly yet assumed its full importance : perhaps ,

indeed the Jewish believers w ould have been shocked at

,

the bare n otion of the worship o f a woman th e r e a d m is ,

sion of an Astarte a Q ueen of H e a ven into the faith of

, ,

I srael . Another obj ect of adorati o n had therefore to b e

found I t was discovered in that vague essence the
.
,

Holy Ghost or Divine Wisdom wh ose gradual develop

, ,

ment and dissociation from Go d himself is one of the most

curious chapters in all the history of artificial go d — making .

The spirit of Jahweh had frequently been mention ed in

H ebrew writings ; an d with so invisible and u n a pp ro a c h
able a deity as the Jewish G od was often made to do duty ,

as a messenger or intermediary where the personal pre

s ence o fJ a h w e h himself would ha v e been felt to contravene

the first necessities of incorp o re a l divinity I t was the .

spirit of Jahweh that came upon the prophets : it was

the wisd o m of J a hweh that the poets describ ed and
’
,

that grew at last to b e detached from the personality of

God and alluded to alm o st a s a living individual I n the
, .

” ”
early church this spi rit of God this holy spirit was
, ,
“

s upposed to b e poured forth upon th e heads of believers :

it descended upon Jesus himself in the visible form of a

dove from heaven and upon the disciples at Pentecost as
,

tongues of fire Gradu a lly the conception of a personal

.
,

H oly Ghost took form and d e fi n it e n e ss an Alexandrian

monk insisted on the necessity fo r a Triad of go ds who
were yet one God an d by the time the first creeds of the
n ascent church were committed to writing the Spirit ,

had come to rank with the F ather and the Son as the
Third Person in the ever blessed Trinity -
.
 TH E GR O WTH OF CH R I S TI A NI T Y
408
.

By this time too it is pretty clear that the original man

, ,

h ood o f Jesus had got mer ged in th e idea of his eternal

godhead ; he was regarded as the Logos c ome down fro m ,

h e a ven wh ere h e had existe d b efore all worlds and in

, ,

c arnat e by t h e H oly Ghost in t h e Virgin M ary Th e .

other articl es of t h e C hristian faith clustered gradually

roun d these prim e el ements : the myth gathered force ;
the mysticism increased ; the secondary divine beings or
saints grew vastly in numbers ; an d th e element of Juda
ism disapp eared pi ec emeal while a new p o lytheism and a
,

n ew sacerdotalism to ok root apace in the Aryan worl d I .

shall strive t o show however in my concluding chapters

, , ,

h ow even to the very en d th e worship of th e dead is still

th e c entral forc e in modern C hristianity : how religion ,

whatever its form can n ever wan der far from that funda
,

m ental reality : an d h o w when ever by fo rc e of circum

,

stances the gods become t oo remot e from human life so ,

th at the do ctrin e of resurrection or person al immortality

is en dangered for a tim e an d reunion with rel ations in the
,

other world beco mes doubtful o r insecure a reaction is ,

sure to set in which takes things back once mo re to thes e

fundamental concepts th e most persistent and p erpetually
,

recu rrent element in all religious thinking .

 S UR VI VA LS I N CH RI S TEN D O M
41 0 .

of bein g in all places at on ce pervading and under ,

lying nature the D eity is conceive d o f by most of his

,

worshipp ers as having merely the power of annihilating

space and finding himself wh erever he likes at a give n
,

moment H is omnisci ence and omnipotence are readily

.

granted ; but his abstractness and immateriality are not

really graspe d by one out of a thousand of his believers in
B rit ain .

The fact is so abstract a conception as the highest

,

theol o gical conceptio n of Go d cannot be realise d except

symbolically and then for a few moments only in com
, ,

p le te isolation The mom ent Go d is definitely thought of

.

in connexion with any cosmic activity still more in con ,

n e x io n with any human n eed he is inevitably thought of ,

on human analogies and more or less completely anthro

,

p o m o r p h ise d in the brain o f the believer B eing by .

origin an o ffshoot of the mind of man a great deified h u ,

man b eing he retains n ecessarily still for all save a few

, ,

v e ry mystical or ontological souls the obvious marks of ,

his ultimate descent fro m a ghost or spirit I ndeed o n .

,

the m ental as opposed to th e bodily si de he does so for u s ,

all ; sin ce even theologians freely ascribe to him such

human fe elings as love a ffection a sense of j ustice a spirit
, , ,

of mercy of truth of wisdom : knowl edge will the powers

, , , ,

of intelle ct all the essential and fundamental human

,

faculties an d emotions .

Thus far as we seem to have travelled from our base in

,

the most exalted concepts of Go d we are nearer to it still ,

than most o f us imagin e M oreover in spite of this hei g ht

.
,

to which the hi ghest minds have raised their i dea of the

D eity as the creator sustainer an d mover of the universe
, , , ,

eve ry religion however monotheistic still continues to

, ,

make new minor gods for itself o ut o f the dead as they

die and to worship thes e gods with even more assiduous
,

worship than it b estows upon the great God o f Christen

dom or the great gods of th e central pantheon And th e .

C hristian religion makes such minor deitie s no less than

 TH E D EA D M AN A L WA YS WO R SH IP P ED .

41 1

a ll othe rs The fact is the reli g iou s emotion takes its

.
,

origin from the a ffection and regard felt for the dead by
s urvivors mingled with the hope and belief that they may
,

b e of som e use or advantage temporal or spiritual to , ,

those who call upon them ; and thes e primitive faiths and
feelings remain s o ingraine d in the very core of humanity
that even the m o st ab stract of all reli gions like the Protes ,

tant schism cannot wholly choke them while re cr u d e s

, ,

cences O f the original creed and custom spring up from

time to time in the form of spiritualism theo s o phy and ,
-
,

o ther vague types of simple ghost — worship .

M ost advanced religions however and especially C hris , ,

t ia n ity in its central true an d main form of C atholicism

, , ,

h ave foun d it necessary to keep renewin g from time to time

the stock o f minor go ds— h ere a rbitrarily kno wn as saints
much as the older religions found it always necessary from
y ear to year t o renew the f o undation —gods the corn and ,

wine gods an d the ot her special deities of the m a n u fa c

,

t u r e d order by a constant supply of theanthropic victims

, .

What I wish more particularl y to point out here however , ,

i s that the vast maj ority of places of worship all the world
over are still erected a s at the very beginning above the
, ,

body of a dead man or wom an ; that the chief obj ects of

worship in every shrine are still as al w ays such cherished , ,

bodies of dead men an d women ; and that the pri mitive

c onnexion of Religion with De a th has never for a moment

been practically severe d in the greater part of the world ,

n o t even in Protestant E ngland an d America .

M r Willi am Simpson was on e of the first pers ons to

.

point out this curious underlying connexion between

churches temples mosques o r topes and a to mb or
, , , ,

m onument H e has proved his point in a very full man

.

ner an d I woul d refer the reader who wishes to pursue

,

t his branch of the subj ect at length to his interesting

monographs I n this work I will confine my attention
.
,

m ainly to the continued presence of this death — element in

C hristianity ; but by way of illustration I will preface my ,
 S UR VI VA LS I N CH RI S TEN D O M
41 2
.

remarks by a few stray instances picked up at ran d o m

from the n eighbouring and interestin g fiel d o f I slam .

There is no religion i n all th e world which professes to

b e more purely monoth eistic in character than M oham
m e d a n is m
. The unity o f Go d in th e ve ry strictest sense
, ,

i s th e one dogma roun d which th e enti r e creed of I sl am

centres M ore than any other cult it represents itself as
.
,

a distinct re action against the p olyth eism and s u pe rsti

tion of su rr oun ding faiths Th e isolation of Allah is its o n e
.

great dogma . I f therefore we find even in this most

, ,

m onotheistic of existing religious systems a lar ge el e men t

o f practically polytheistic survival— if we fin d that even
here the Worship of th e D ead remains as a chief com ,

p on ent in religious practi ce if not in religious theory w e

, ,

shall be fairly entitled t o conclude I think that su ch con , ,

s t it u e n t s are indeed of the very essenc e of religious think

ing an d we shall b e greatly strengthened in th e conclu

,

sions at which we previously arrive d as to a b elief in

i mmortality or continue d life of the dead b eing in fact th e
core an d b asis of worship and of d eity .

Some ei ght or ten years since when I first came p ra ct i

,

cally i nto connexion with I slam in Algeria an d E gypt I ,

was immediately struck by the wi de prevalence amon g th e

M ahommedan popul ation of forms of worship for which I
was little prepared by anythin g I had previously read or
h eard as to the nature and practice of that exclusive and
ostentati ously mon otheistic faith Two points indeed .
, ,

forcibly strike any visitor who for the first time has th e
o pp ortunity o f O bserving a M ahomme d an community in
its n ative su rroundings The first is the universal habit
.

on the part of th e women of visiting the cemeteries and

mourning or praying over the graves of their relations on
F riday th e sacred day of I sl am The second is the fre
,
.

q u e n cy of K oubbas ,o r littl e whitewashed mosque

to mbs erected over the remains of M arabouts fakeers or , ,

local saints which form th e real centres for the religion

,

an d w o rship of every village I slam in practice is a re

.
, ,
 41 4 S U R VI VA L S I N CH R I S TEN D O M .

whil e other holy tomb mosques abound in the city I n -

.

Algiers town the holiest plac e is similarly the mosque

,

tomb of Sidi Abd —e r Rahman which contains the shrin e

-
,

an d b ody of th at saint who died in 1 4 7 1 Around him

, .
,

so as to share his sacred burial — pl ace ( like the E gypti ans

who wishe d t o be interred with O siris ) lie the bodies o f ,

several D eys and Pashas Lights are kept constantly .

burning at the saint s tomb which i s hung with variously ,

coloure d drapery after the old Semitic fashion while ban

, ,

n ers a n d ost ri ch eggs the gifts of th e faithful dangle

-
, ,

ostent atiously round it from the decorate d ceiling Still .

more sacred in its way is th e v enerabl e sh rin e of Sidi O kb a

near Biskra one of the most ancient places o f worship
,

in the M ahommedan world The t o mb of the great saint .

stan ds in a chantry screened o ff from the noble mosque

,

whi ch fo rms th e ant e—chamb er and is hung roun d with sil k ,

and other dainty o fferings O n the front an inscripti o n .

in very early Cu fi c characters informs us that This is the

tomb of O kba son of N afa : M ay Allah have mercy upon
,

him The mosqu e is a famous plac e of pilg ri mage an d ,

a b elief obtains that when the Sidi is rightly inv o ked a ,

certain minaret in its front will n od in acceptan ce of the

chosen worshipper I could multi ply instances in d e fi
.

n it e ly but refrain on purpose

. All the chief mosques at .

Tl em cen C onstantine an d th e oth e r leading N o rth

, ,

African towns similarly gather over the bo dies of saint s

or m a ra bou ts who are invoked in prayer an d t o who m
, ,

eve ry act of worship is o ffered .

All over I slam we get su ch holy grave mosques The -

.

tomb of th e Prophet at M edina heads the list : with the

equally holy tomb of his daughter F atima A mong the .

Shiahs Ali s grave at N ej e f and H o se y n s grave at

,
’ ’

K erb ela are as sacred as that of the Pro-phet at M edina .

Th e shrin es of the I m ams are much ado red in Persia The -

.

graves of the peers i n I n dia the Z ia r e t s of the fakeers in ,

A fgha n istan show the sam e t endency I n Palestine says

,
.
,
 C O R P S E- WO R SH I P I N M O D ER N E G YP T .

41 5

M aj or C on der worship at the tombs of lo cal saints

,

represents the real religi o n of the peasant .

I had originally intended in deed t o include in this work

, ,

a special chapter on these survivals in I slam a vast nu m ,

ber of which I have c o llected in various places ; but mv

book has already swelled to so much larger dimensio n s
than I had origin ally contemplated that I am compelled
reluctantly to forego this disquisition .

O n e word however must be given to E gypt where the

, , ,

cult of the d e a d was always so marked a feature in the de

v e lo p e d religion an d where neither C hristianity nor I slam
,

has been abl e to O bscure this primitive tendency N othing .

is more noticeable in the N ile Valley than the e xt r a o r d i

nary way in which the habits and i deas as to burial and the
preservation of t h e dead have survived in spite of the
doubl e an d rapid alteration in religious theory At Sak .

karah and Thebes o ne is familiar with the streets an d

,

houses of tombs regularly l a i d out so as to form in the

,

strictest s ense a true N ecropolis or city of the dead Just , .

outside C airo on the edge of the desert a precis ely similar

, ,

modern N ecrop olis exists to this day regul a rly planne d ,

in streets and qu arters with the tomb o f each family

,

standing in its own courtyard or enclosure an d often ,

very closely resembling the common round roofed o r -

domed E gyptian houses I n this town of dead bodies .

,

every distinction o f rank and wealth may n ow be observed .

The rich are buried under splendid mausolea o f great

architectural pretensions ; the poor occupy hu mbl e tombs
j ust raised above th e surface o f the desert and marked ,

at head and foot with rough a n d simple E gyptian tomb

stones Still th e entire aspect o f such a cemetery is the
.
,

a spect of a t own I n northern climates the dead sleep

.
,

their last sl eep under grassy little tum u li wholly unlike the ,

streets of a city : in E gypt to this day the dead occupy , , ,

as in life wh o l e lanes an d alleys of et ernal houses Even

, .

the spirit which produced the Pyrami ds and the Tombs

of th e Kings is conspicuous in modern or medi aeval C airo
 S UR VI VA LS I N CH R I S TEN D O M
41 6 .

in the taste which bego t th o s e vast domed mosqu es

known as the Tombs of the Khalifs and the Tom bs of the
M a m e lo o k s Whatever is biggest in the neighbourhoo d
.

of anci ent M em phis turns out o n examinatio n to b e the

last resting— pl a ce of a D ead M an and a plac e of worship , .

Almost every one of the great mosques of C airo is either

a tomb built for himself by a ruler— an d this is the more
frequent c as e— o r else th e holy shrine of some saint of
I slam .I t is characteristic of E gypt however where king , ,

and god have always been so closely combined that while ,

elsewhere the mosqu e is usually the prayer to mb o f a holy -

man in C airo it is usually the me morial temple of a

,
-

Sultan an E meer a V iceroy or a Khedive I t is inte

, , , .

restin g to find too after all we have seen as to the special

, ,

sanctity of the oracular head that perhaps the holiest of all ,

these mosques contains the head of H os eyn the grands o n ,

of the Pro phet A ceremoni a l washing is p articularly

.

mentione d in the sto ry of its transl ation The mosque of .

Sultan H assan with its splendid mausoleum is a p e c u

, ,

lia rly fin e example of the temple tombs of C airo -

.

I will not linger any longer however in the precincts , ,

o f I slam further than to mention the significant fact that

,

th e great central obj ect of wo rship for the M ahommedan

world is th e Kaaba at M ecca which itself as M r William , ,
.

Simpson long ago pointed out bears obviou s traces of ,

being at onc e a tomb and a s acred altar ston e Sir -

.

Richard B urton s original sketch of this mysti c obj ect

’

sh o ws it as a square and undecorated temple tomb -

,

covered throughout with a tasselled black pall — a most

funereal obj ect— the so call ed sacred carpet I t is in
-
.
,

point of fact a simple catafalqu e

, As the Kaaba was .

adopted direct by M ohammad from the e arly Semitic

heathenism o f Arabia and as it must always have been ,

treated with the same respe ct I do not think we can avoid ,

the obvious conclusi o n that this ve ry ancient tomb has

be en fun ereally draped in the self same manner like those -
,

of Biskra Algiers an d Ke ro u a n from the time of its first

, , ,
 8 S UR VI VA LS I N CH R I S TEN D OM
41
.

especially in those parts of Christen dom remote fro m

Palestin e men content ed themselves with n earer an d
,

m ore domestic saints F rom a ve ry early d a te we see in

.

th e catacombs the growth of this practic e of o ffering u p

prayer by ( or to ) the b odies of th e D ead who slept in
C hrist A chap el or capella as D ean B urgon has pointe d
.
,

ou t meant originally an arched sepulchre in the walls of

,

the catacombs at which prayer was afterwards habitu

,

ally made : an d ab ov e— ground chapels were modelled ,

later on u pon the pattern of these ancient undergroun d

,

shrin es I have alluded briefly in my secon d chapter to

.

the prob able origin of the cruciform church from two gal
l e r ie s of th e catacombs crossin g one another at ri ght
angles ; the High Altar stan ds there over the bo dy or
relics o f a D ead Saint ; and the chapels represent othe r
minor tombs grou ped like niches in the catacombs around
it A chap el is thus as M r H erb ert Spencer phrases it
.
,
.
,
“ ”
a tomb within a tomb ; an d a great cathedral i s a
serried s et of such cumulat ive tombs one built b eside t h e ,

other Sometimes the chapels are actual graves some

.
,

times they are cenotaphs ; but the connexion with death

i s always equally evident O n this subj ect I would refe r
.
,
’
the reader again t o M r Spencer s pages . .

So long as C h ristia n itv was proscribed at R om e an d

throughout the empire the worship of th e dead must have
,

gon e o n only silently and must have centred in the cata

,

combs o r by the graves of saints an d martyrs—the last

n amed being p ractically mere Christian su ccessors of the
willin g victims of earlier religions To b e counte d .

” ’
worthy t o su ffer was th e heart s desire of ever y earnest
C hristian— as it still is amon g fresh and living sects like
the Salvation Army ; an d the creed of self sa cr ifi ce whos e -
,

ve ry name betrays its human victim origin was all but -

,

universal When Ch rist ia n itv had t r iu m ph e d h o we v e r an d

.
. .

gained n ot only o fficial recognition but o fficial honour ,

the cult of the martyrs and the other faithful dead b ecam e
with C hristi an Rome a p erfect passion The H oly I nn o .
 C O R P SE —WO R SH IP A T R OME .

41 9

c ents St Stephen Protomartyr the nameless martyrs o f

,
.
,

the T en Persecutions together with Polycarp Vivia Per

, ,

petua F e lic ita s I gnatius and all the rest came to receive
, , ,

fr o m the church a form of veneration which only the nic e

distinctions of the theological mind could enable us to
discriminate from actual worship The great pr o cession .

’
of the sl ain for C hrist in the mosaics of Sant Apollinare
N uovo at Ravenna gives a good comprehensive list o f the
more important of these earliest saints ( at least for A rya n
worshipp ers ) headed by St M artin St Clement St .
, .
, .

Justin St Lawrence and St Hippolytus

, . Later on
, . .

came the m o re mythical an d poetic figures derived ap pa ,

r e n t ly from heathen go ds — St C atharine St B arbara .

, .
,

St George St Christopher These form as they go a

.
,
. .

perfect new p antheon circling round the figures of Christ

,

himself an d his mother the M adon n a who grows quickl y

, ,

in turn by absorption of I sis Astarte an d Artemis int o

, , , ,
.

the Q ueen of H eaven .

The l o ve feasts or a g ape of the early Christians were

-

usually held in the catacombs or elsewhere above th e

, ,

bodi es of the martyrs Subsequently the remains of t h e

.
,

sainted dead were transferred to lordly churches withou t ,

’
like Sant Agnese and San Paolo where they were de ,

posited under the a ltar or sacred stone thus consecrated ,

from whose top th e body and blood of C hrist was dis ~

tribut ed in the E uch a rist As early as the fo u rth century

.

we know that no church was complete without some such

relic ; an d the passion for martyrs spread so greatly from
that p erio d onward that at one time no l ess than 2 3 00
corpses o f holy men together were buried at S Prassede .
.

I t is only in Rome itself that the full importance of thi s .

martyr worshi p can n o w be su fficiently understood or th e

-
,

large part which it playe d in the development of Christian

ity adequ ately recognised Perhaps the easiest way for .

the Protestant reader to put himself in touch with thi s

side of the subj ect is to peruse the very interesting an d
 S UR VI VA LS I N CH R I S TEN D O M
4 20 .

graphic account given in the sec o n d volume o f M rs .

J ameson s S a cr ed a nd Legend a ry Ar t
’
.

I have room for a few illustrative examples only .

When St Ambrose foun ded his new church at M ilan he

.
,

wished t o cons ecrate it with some h o ly relics I n a vision .

,

he b ehel d two youn g men in shinin g clothes an d it was ,

revealed to him that these were holy martyrs whose b odies

lay near the spot where he lived in the city H e d u g for .

t h em accordingly and foun d two bodies which proved

, , ,

t o b e thos e of t w o saints G e rv a siu s and P r o t asiu s who

, ,

had su ffered for the faith in the reign of N ero They were .

i nstalled in the n ew basilica Ambrose had built at M ilan .

C hurches in their honour n ow exist a ll over C hristendom ,

t h e b est known b eing thos e at Venice and Paris .

The bo dy of St Agnes saint and martyr who is always

.
, ,

represented with that familiar emblem the lamb which she ,

duplicates lies in a sarco phagus under the High Altar of

,

S ant Agnes e b eyond the Porta Pia where a b asilica was

’

erected over the remains by C onstantine the Great only a ,

few years after the martyrdom of th e saint The body of .

St C ecilia li es similarly in the church of Santa C ecilia in

.

Trastevere I n this last named case the original hous e

.
-
,

where C ecilia was put t o death is said to have been c o n se

crat ed as a plac e of worship after the very early savage ,

fashion the room where she su ffered possessing especial

,

sanctity Pope Symmachus hel d a council there in the

.

y ear 5 00 This earliest church having fallen into ruins

.

during the troubl es of the barbarians Po pe Paschal I th e , .

,

great patron of relic hunting built a n ew on e in honour o f

-
,

the saint in th e ninth century While engage d in the .

work h e had a dre am ( of a common pattern ) when

, ,

C ecilia appeared t o hi m an d sh owed him the place in

which she lay buried Search was made and th e body .
,

w as foun d i n the catacombs of St C alixtus wrapped in a .

,

shrou d of gold tissue whil e at her feet lay a linen cloth

,

dipped in th e sacred blood o f her martyrdom N ear h er .

were d eposited th e remains o f Valerian Tib urtiu s and , ,

 S UR VI VA LS I N CH R I S TEN D O M
42 2
.

d is and St P u d e n t ia n a in their respective churches ; St

. .

C osmo an d St D ami an ; and many more t o o numer o us

.

t o mention Several of the Roman churches like San

.
,

C lemente stan d upon the sit e of th e house of the saint to

,

whom t hey are dedicated or whos e body they preserve , ,

thus re calling th e early N ew Guinea practice O thers .

o ccupy the site of his alleged martyrdom or enclose the ,

pillar to which he was fastened The legends of all these .

Roman s aints are full of significant echoes of paganism .

The visitor to Rome wh o goes the round o f the churches

an d catacombs with an unprej udi ce d min d must b e asto
n ish e d to find h o w site s myths an d ceremonies recall at
, ,

every step familiar heathen h o ly pl aces or stories I n the .

single church of San Zaccaria at Venice again I foun d , ,

the b odi es of St Z acharias ( father of John the B aptist )

.
,

St S abina St Ta r a s iu s Sts N ereus an d Achilles and

.
, .
, .
,

m any other saints too numerous to mention .

H ow gre at import ance was attached to the possession o f

the actual corps e or mummy of a saint we se e exception
ally well ind eed in this c ase of Venice The bringing of .

the corpse or m u mmy o f St M ark from Al exa n dria to the.

lagoons was long considered the most important event

in the history of the Republic ; the church in which it was
h oused is the nobl est in C hristendo m and c ontains an en d ,

l ess series o f records of the conn exion of St Mark with .

the city and people that so royally received him The .

’
s oul as on e may see in T in t o r e t s famo u s picture
,
fl it te d ,

over sea with the bo dy t o Venice warn ed the s ailors of ,

danger by the way and ever after protecte d the hospitable

,

Republic in all its enterprises O ne must have live d long

.

in the city of the Lagoons and drunk in its very spirit in

o rder to know how absolut ely it i dentified itself with th e
E van gelist its patron Pax tibi M arce evangelista
.
, ,

”
meus is th e motto on its buildings
,
The lion of St . .

M ark stoo d hi gh in th e Pia z z etta to b e seen of all ; h e re

curs in every detail o f sculpture or painting in the Doges ’

P alace and th e public edifices of the city The b o dv that .

-
 TH E H ELP ER S OF VENI CE .

42 3

la y under the pall of gold in the great church of th e

Piazza was a veritable Palladium a very present help in ,

time of trouble I t was no mere sentiment or fancy to the

.

Venetians they knew that they possessed in their own

soil and under their own church domes the body and soul
, ,

o f the second of the evangelists .

N or was that the only important helper that Venice

could boast She cont a ined als o th e body of St George
. .

a t San Giorgio M aggiore and the body of St N icholas at

, .

San N iccol o di Lido The beautiful legend of the Doge

.

a n d the F isherman ( immortalised for us by the pencil of

Paris Bordone in on e of the noblest pictures the world has

ever seen ) tells us h o w the three great guardian saints ,

St M ark St George and St N icholas took a gondola

.
, .
, .
,

one day from their respective churches and rowed out to ,

sea amid a raging stor m to circumvent the demons who

w ere coming in a tempest to overwhelm Venice A fourth .

s aint of far later date whom the Venetians also carried o ff

, ,

by guile w a s St Roch O f M ontpelier This holy man was a

, . .

very great sanitary precaution against the plague to which ,

the city was much exposed through its eastern comm erce .

S o the men of Venice simply stole the body by frau d fro m

M on tp elier an d built in its honour the exquisite church
,

and Scuola di San Rocco the great museum of the art of ,

Tin to re t The fact that mere possession of the holy

.

b o dy counts in itself for much could not b e better shown

th a n by these forcible ab ductions .

The corpse o f St N icholas who was a highly revere d

.
,

b ishop of Myra in Lycia lies as I said under the high , , ,

a ltar of San N iccolo di Lido at Venice B ut another an d .

more authentic body of the same great saint the patron ,

of s ailors and likewise of schoolboys lies also under the ,

high altar of the magnificent basilica of San N icol a at

B ari from which circumstance the holy bishop is generally
,

kn o wn as St N icolas of Bari . A miraculous flui d the .

,

M ann a di B ari highly prized by the pious exudes from

, ,

the remains A gorgeous cathedral rises over the se pu l

.
 S UR VI VA LS I N CH R I S TEN D OM
42 4
.

chre Such emulous dupli cation of bo dies and relics is

.

extremely common both in C hristendo m an d in I slam

,
.

I have made a point of visiting the shrines of a vast

numb er o f leading sai nts in various parts of I taly ; and
c ould devote a volum e to their p oints of interest The .

corpse of St Augustine for example lies at Pavia in a

.
, ,

glori o us ark one of the most sumptuou s monum ents ever

,

erected by the skill of man as well as one of the loveliest

,
.

Padua similarly bo asts the body of St Antony of Padua .

,

locally known as il Santo an d far more important in his ,

own town than all the rest of the Christi an pantheo n put
to gether The many domed church erected over his re
.
-

’
mains is considerably l arger than St M ark s at Venice ; .

and the actual body of the saint itself is enclosed in an

exquisite marble chapel designed by Sansovino and e n
, ,

riched with all the noblest art of the Renaissance Do .

m in ic a n monks and nuns make pilgrimag es to B ologna ,

in order t o venerate the body of St D ominic who di ed in .

,

that city and whose corpse is enclosed in a magnificent

,

sarcophagus in th e church dedicated to him an d ado rned ,

with exquisite sculpture by various han ds from th e time of

N iccolo Pisano to that of M ichael Angelo Siena has for .

its speci al glory St C atheri n e th e second— the first was

.

the mythi cal princess of Alexandri a ; a n d the h o us e of th a t

ecstati c nun is still preserve d i ntact as an orato ry for the
prayers of the pious H er head laid by in a silver shrin e
.
,

or casket decorates th e altar of h er chapel in San Do

,

m enico where the famou s frescoes of So doma too often

,

usurp the entire attention of northern visit ors Co mpare .

the ho ly head of H oseyn at C airo The great F ranciscan .

church at Assisi once more enshrin es the remains of the

, ,

founder of th e F ran ciscans which formerly repose d ,

under the high altar ; the church of Santa M aria degli

Angeli b elow it encloses the littl e hut which was the first
narrow hom e of th e nascent order I could go on multi .

plyin g such instances with o ut numb er ; I hop e these few

will su ffice to make the Protestant reader feel how real i s
 S UR VI VALS I N CH R I S TEN D O M
42 6
.

As for Ste Genev i eve she rested first in the church

.
,

dedicate d t o her on the site now o ccupie d by the

Pantheon which still in part though secularised pre
, , ,

se rves her memory H er body ( o r what rem a ins of it )

.

lies at present in the n eighbouring church of St E tienne .

d u M ont where eve ry lover of Paris surely pays his de

,

v o t io n t o th e shrin e in the most picturesque and ori ginal

buil ding which the city holds whenever he p asses through ,

the domain of Ste Gen evi eve H o w real the devotion o f

. .

the peopl e still is may b e seen on any morning of the

workin g week and still more during the octave of the
,
’
saint s fete day -
.

AS in many other cases however the remains of the , ,

virgin patroness o f Paris have b een more than once re

moved from pl ace to place for safe custody The body .

was o rigin ally buried in the crypt of the Old abbey church
of the H oly Apostles on the I le de la C it é When the .

N ormans o verran the c o untry the monks carried it away ,

with them in a wooden box to a place o f safety As soon .

as peace was onc e more restore d the corpse was e n ,

shrin e d i n a splen did ch asse whil e the empty tomb was

still treate d with the utmost reverence At the R e v o lu .

tion the actual bones it is said were destr o y ed ; but th e

, , ,

s arcophagus or cenotaph survive d th e storm and was ,

transferre d to St E tienne Throughout the N euvaine

. .
,

thousands of the faithful still fl ock to worship it The .

sarco phagus is believed even now to contain some holy

’
portions of th e saint s body saved fro m th e wreck by ,

pious adherents .

O ther familiar examples will o ccur to every on e such as ,

the bon es of the M agi or Three Kin gs preserved in a r e ,

liq u a ry in th e C athedral at C ologne ; those of St U rsula .

an d th e virgins ; those o f St Stephen an d St Law . .

rence at Rome ; those of St Hub ert disi nterred and found .

,

u ncorru pted at the town of the sam e name in the Ar

,

d ennes ; an d those of St Longinus in his chapel at M an .

tua All these relics an d bodies perform asto u nding mira

.
 CO R P S E -
WO R SH I P
’

IN B R I TA IN .

42 7

c les and all have been the centres of imp ortant cults for a
,

c onsiderable period .

I n B ritain from the first stages of C hristianity the reve

, ,

rence p a id to the b o dies o f saints was most marked and ,

the story of their wanderings forms an important pa rt of

our early an n als I ndeed I dwell s o long upon this poi n t
.
,

because few northerners o f the pres ent day ca n fully a p pre

c iate the large part which the D ead B o dy plays and has

p layed for many centuries in C hristian worship O nly .

those who like me have lived long in thoroughly Ca t h o

, ,

l ic countries have mad e pilgrim a ges to numerous famous

,

shrines and have waded thr o ugh reams of An glo Saxon

,
-

and other early medi aeval documents can really u nder ,

s tand this phase O i C hristian hagio l ogy To such people .

it is abundantly cle a r th a t the a ctu a l Dead B o dy o f some

sainted man or woman has been in many places the chief
obj ect of reverence for millions of Christians in successive
g enerations A goo d British instance is found in the cas e
.

o f St Cuthbert s corpse The tal e of its wanderings is

.
’
.

too long to be given here in full ; it should be read in any

good history of Durham I epitomi z e b riefly The body . .

o f the devoted missi o nary of the north was first kept for

so me time at Lindisfarne When at the end of eleven .

,

y ears the saint s tomb was opened his outer form was
’

, ,

found still in corrupt ; an d so for more than 800 years it was

b elieved to remain I t rested at Lindisfa rne till 8 7 5 when
.
,

the piratical D a nes invaded N orthumbria The monks .

,

regarding St Cuthb ert a s their greatest treasure fl ed in

.
.

l a n d ca rr y in g the holy body with them o n their own shoul

,

d ers. Such translations of sacred corpses are common in

Christian and heathen history After many wanderings .
,

during which it was treated with the utmost care an d devo

tion the hallowed body found an asylum for a while at
,

C h ester le Street in 88 3
- -
I n 99 5 it was transfe rred to .
,

R ipon where it sanctified the minster by even s o short a

,

soj ourn ; but in the same year it went forth again on its ,

w a y north to Lindisfarn e O n th e way ho w ever it mira .

, ,
 S U R VI VA L S I N CH RI S TEN D O M
42 8 .

c u l o u sly signified ( by stubborn refusal to move ) its desire

t o rest for ever at Durham— a town whose strong natural
position an d capacity for defence do es honour to th e
’
saint s milita ry j udgment H ere en close d in a costly .
,

shrine it remaine d working daily miracles till the R e fo r

,

mation The l ater grave was opened in 1 82 6 when the

.
,

co ffin was found to enclose another made in 1 1 04 : and ,

this again contained a third which answered the d escrip ,

tion of the sarcoph agus made in 698 when the saint wa s ,

raise d from his first grave The innermost case contained .

,

not indeed the uncorrupted body of C uthb ert but a sk e le ,

ton still entire and wrapped in fine robes of embroidered

, ,

silk N o story known t o me casts more light o n corpse

.

worship than does this on e when read with all the graphi c
d etails o f th e origin al authorities .

But everywhere in B ritai n we get similar local saints ,

whose bodies or bones p erformed marvellous miracles and

were z ealously guarded against sacrilegious intruders .

B ede himself is already full of such holy corpses : and in

l at er days they increased by the hundred St Alban at St . . .

’
Alb an s th e p rotoma rtyr of B ritain ; the white hand
,

of St O swald that when all else p erished remained whit e

.
,

an d uncorrupted b e c a u se d blessed by Aidan ; St E thel .

dreda at E ly anot her remarkable an d illustrative inst ance ;

,

E dward the C onfessor at Westminster Abbey ; these are

but a few out of hundreds of examples which will at onc e
occur to students of our history And I will add that .

sometimes th e l egends of these saints link us on u n ex

p e c te d ly t o far earlier types of heathen worship ; as when
we read con cerning St E dmu n d of E ast Anglia th e .
,
’
patron of Bu ry St E dmun d s th a t I ngvar the viking took
.
,

hi m by forc e boun d him to a tree scourge d him cruelly

, , ,

m ade him a target for th e arrows of the pagan D anes an d ,

finally beheaded him E ither I say a god making sacri .

, ,
-

fi c e of the no rthern heathens ; or failing that a r e m in is , ,

cen c e like St Sebastian o f such god makin g rites as p re

,
.
,
-
 S U R VI VA L S I N CH R I S TEN D O M
43 0
.

and p atriotic saints often of d oubtful C atholicity lik e

, ,

S t C a d o c St Padern St Petro ck St Piran St Ruan

. . .
, .
,
.
, .
,

an d St I llty d n o t t o mention more accepted cases like

.
, ,

St Asaph an d St D avid The fact is men have eve ry

. . .
,

where felt th e n atural d esire for a near a familiar a recent , , ,

and a present god or saint ; they have worship ped rather

the dead whom they l oved an d revered themselves than
the elder go ds and the remoter martyrs who have no body
among them no personal shrin e n o local associations no
, , ,
”
livin g memories I have seen in Brittany
“
says a ,

F rench correspond ent of M r H erbert Spencer s the .

’

tomb of a pi ous and charit abl e priest covered with gar

l ands : p eop l e flocked t o it by hundreds to pray of him
th at h e would procure them restoration to health an d ,

guard over their children There with the C hristian a d

.
,

diti on of the supreme God we get once more the root idea ,
-

of religion .

I shoul d like to ad d that beyon d such actual veneration

of the bodies of saints and ma rtyrs there h as always ex ,

ist e d a definite theory in the R oman church that n o altar

can exist without a relic The altar b eing itself a monu
.
,

mental ston e needs a body or pa rt of a bo dy to j ustify

,
'

and consecrate it Dr Ro ck a high authority says in his

. .
, ,

H ier u r gia
,
By the regulation s of th e Church it is o r
daine d that the H oly Sacrifice of the M ass b e o ffered upon
an altar which cont ain s a ston e c o nsecrated by a B ishop ,

en closing the relics of some saint or martyr ; and b e c o

vered with thre e linen cloths that have been blessed for
”
that purpose with an appro priate form of benediction The .

con secration of the altar indeed is considered even more

, ,

serious than the con secration of th e church itself ; for

without th e ston e and its relic the ceremony of the Mass ,

cannot b e performed at all E ven when M ass has to be .

said in a private house the priest brings a consecrated

,

stone an d its reli c alon g with him ; and other such ston es
were carried in the r eta bles or p o rtabl e altars so c ommon
in milita ry expedition s of the middle ages The church .
 TH E A L TA R A T O MB .

43 1

i s thus a tomb with chap el tom bs around it ; it contains

,

a stone monument covering a dead body or part of a body ;

an d in it is made and exhibited the B ody Of Christ in the ,

form of the c o nsecrated and transmuted wafer .

N ot only however is the altar in this manner a reduced

, ,

or symbolical tomb and not only is it often placed ab o ve

,
’ ’
th e body of a saint as at St M ark s and St Peter s b ut
,
. .
,

it als o sometimes consists itself of a stone sarcophagus .

O n e such sarcophagus exists in the C athedral at St M alo ; .

I have seen other co ffin shaped altars in the monastery o f

-

La Trappe near A lgiers and elsewhere When however .

, ,
’
the altar stands like that at St Peter s above the actual
, .
,

bo dy o f a s a int it does not require t o contain a relic

,

otherwise it does That is to say it must b e either a real

.
,

or else an attenuate d and symb olical sarcophagus .

I n the eastern church a so rt of relic bag called an A nti

,
-
,

mins is necessa ry for the proper perfo rmance of the H oly

,

E ucharist I t c o nsists of a squ are cloth laid on the altar

.
,

or wrapped up in its coverings and figured with a picture ,

representing the burial of C hrist by Joseph of A rimathea

an d the H oly Women This b rings it ve ry near to the
.

Adonis an d H os eyn ceremonies B ut it must necessarily .

contain some saintly relic .

A part from corpse worship and relic worship in the case

- -

of saints C atholic C hristen dom has long possessed an a n

,

nual C ommemoration of the D ead the f our des M or ts , ,

which links itself on directly to earlier ancestor worship -

.

I t is true this commemoration is stated o fficially and no

, ,

doubt correctly to owe its origin ( in its recognised form )

,

to a particular historical person Adam de Saint Victor ,

but when we consider how universal such commemora

tions an d annual dead feasts have been in all times and
-

places we can hardly doubt that the church did but a d opt
,

an d s anctify a practice which though perhaps accounte d ,

heathenish had n ever died o u t at all among the mass of

,

believers The very desire to be buri ed in a church or

.

churchyard and all that it implies link on Christian usage

, ,
 S U R VI VA LS I N CH R I S TEN D O M
43 2 .

here on ce more to primitive corpse — worship C o m pare .

with the dead who sleep with O siris I n the middle ages .
,

many people were buried in chap els containing the bo d y

( or a relic ) of their patron saint .

I n short from first to last religion n ever gets far aw ay

, ,

from these its earliest an d profoundest asso ciations God .

an d immortality —those two are its key notes An d

,
-
.

those two are one ; for the go d in the last resort is nothing
more than the immortal ghost etherealised an d extended
, .

O n the other hand when ever religion travels too far

,

afield from its emotional an d primal b ase in th e cult of the

nearer dead it must either b e constantly ren ewed by fresh
,

and familiar obj ects of worship or it tends to dissipate ,

itself int o mere vague pantheism A new god a new .

,
”
saint a revival of religion
, is continually necess a ry
, .

The S acrific e of the M ass is wis ely repeated at frequent

intervals ; but that alone does not su ffice ; men want the
assuran ce of a nearer a more familiar deity I n o u r own
, .

time an d especially in Protestant and sceptical E nglan d

,

and America this need has made itself felt in the rise of
,

spiritualism and kindred b eliefs whi ch are but the doctrin e

,

of the ghost or shade in its purified form apart as a ru l e , , ,

from th e higher conception of a supreme ruler A n d what .

is Positivism itself save the veneration o f the mighty dead ,

j ust tinged with vague ethical yearnings after th e abstract

service of living humanity I have known many men of
intellect su ffering und er a severe b ereavement — the loss
,

o f a wife or a dearly —loved chil d— take refuge for a time

either in Spiritualism or C atholicism Th e former se ems .

to give them the practical assuranc e of actual bodily inter

course with the dead through me diums or tabl e —
, turni ng ;
the latter supplies them with a theory of death which
makes reunion a probabl e future for them This desire .

for direct converse with the dead we saw exemplified in a

very early or primitive stage in the case o f the M an d an
’
wives who talk lovingly to their husbands skulls ; it pro
bably forms the basis for the c ommon habit of keeping the
 CON CL U SI ON
43 4 .

C H A P TE R X X .

CON CL U SI O N .

AN D now we have reached at last the en d of our l ong

an d toils o m e disquisition I need hardly say to thos e who
.
,

have persisted wi th me so far that I do not regard a Sin g le

,

p art of it all as by any means final There is not a chapter

.

i n this b oo k indeed which I could not have expanded to

, ,

double or trebl e its pres ent l ength had I chos en t o include

,

in it a tithe of the evi d ence I have gathere d on the sub

j ect with which it d eals B ut for many adequate reasons
.
,

compressio n was imp erative S om e o f the greatest trea

.

tises ever w ritten o n thi s profoundly impo rtant and int e

resting qu estion h ave met with far less than th e attention
they dese r ved b ecaus e they were s o bulky an d so over
l oade d with evi denc e that the reader coul d hardly see th e
woo d for the trees ; he l ost the thread of the argument i n
th e m az es of ex ampl e I n my own cas e I had or b eli eve d
.
,

I had a central ide a ; an d I desired t o s et that id e a fo rth

with such Simpl e brevity as woul d en abl e the reader to
gr as p i t an d to follow it I go as it were b efore a Gran d
.
, ,

Jury only I d o n o t pretend i n any o n e instance to have

.

prov ed my points ; I am satisfied if I have made out a prim a

fa cie case for further enqui ry .

M y obj ect i n the present reconstructive treatise has

therefo re b een merely to set forth in as sho rt a form as was
con sistent with cl earness m y conception of the steps by
which mankin d arrive d at its i de a of its God I have not .

tried to produce eviden ce on each step in full ; I have only

tri ed to lay b efore the gen eral publi c a rough sk etch of a
 THI S WO RK I N TR O D UC T O R Y .

43 5

p sychological rebuilding and to suggest at the same tim e

,

to schol ars an d anthropologists some inkling of the line s

along which evidence in favour of my proposed reco n struc
tion i s likeliest t o b e found This book is thus no more
.

than a summary of prob abilities Should it succeed in a t .

tracting attention and a rousing interest in so vast an d fun

d a m e n t a l a subj ect I shall hope to follow it up by others
,

in futur e in whi ch the various com ponent elements of my

,

theory will b e treated in d e tail and o rigin al authorities ,

will b e copiously quoted with the fullest references As .

,

however in this preliminary outline of my views I have

,

d ealt with few save well known facts and relie d for t h e
-
,

most part upo n fam iliar collocations of eviden ce I have n o t ,

thought it necessary to encumber my pages with frequent .

an d ped a ntic footnotes referring t o the passages or per

,

sons quoted The scholar will kn o w well enough wher e

.

t o look fo r the proofs he needs while the general reader ,

can only j udge my rough foreshad o win g of a hypothesis .

according as h e is impressed by its verisimilitu de or th e

contrary .

,I f on the other hand this w a nt couri er of a reasone d

,
-

system fail s to interest the public I must perforce b e con ,

t ent to refrain from going any deeper i n print into this fas
c in a t in g theme on which I have still an immens e numb er
,

of i deas an d facts which I desire the opportunity of pub

l ic ly ventilating .

I wish also t o remark before I close that I do not hold

dogmatically to the whole or any part of the elab orat e
d octrin e here tentatively suggested I have changed my .

own min d far too often with regard to these matters i n

,
,

the course of my pers onal evolution ever t o think I have ,

reached complete finality F ifteen or twenty years ago

.

indeed I was rash enough to think I had come to anchor

,
,

when I first read Mr H erbert Spencer s sketch of t h e

.
’

origin of religi o n in t h e opening volum e of the P r inciples

o f S ociology . Ten or twelve years sinc e doubts and difli ,

c u ltie s again obtruded themselves Six years ago onc e .

,
 C ON CL U SI ON
43 6 .

more whe n The G olden B ough appeared after this bo o k

, ,

had b een pl ann ed and in part executed I was forced to go ,

back entirely upo n many cherished former opinions an d ,

to reconsider many questions which I had fo ndly ima

g in e d were l o ng sinc e closed for m e Since that time .
,

new lights have be en const antly shed upon m e from with

o u t o r have occurred t o me from within : an d I hu m bly
,

p ut this sketch fo rward now for what it may b e wo rth ,

n o t with the idea that I have by any means fathomed the

whol e vast truth but in the faint hope that I may perhaps
,

have looked d o wn here an d there a little deeper into the

profoun d abysses beneath us than has b een the lot of most
previ ous investigators At the same time I nee d hardly
.
,

reit erate my sense o f th e immense obligations under which

I li e to not a few amon g them an d preeminently to M r , .

Sp encer M r F razer M r Hartland and D r Tylor M y

, .
, .
, . .

o nly claim is that I may perhaps have set forth a schem e

of reconstru ction whi ch fu rther evidence will p ossibly
show t o b e tru e in p arts and mist aken in others , .

O n the other han d by strictly confining my attention

,

t o religiou s fe atures pro perly so called to the exclusion of

, ,

m ythology ethics a n d all other external accretions or a c

, ,

c id e n t s
,
I trust I have b een abl e t o demonstrate mo re
cl early t han h as hitherto b een don e the intimate conn exion
which always exists b etween cults in general and the wor
ship o f the D ead God natural or artificial E ven if I , .

have n ot quite succeeded in indu cing th e b eliever in p rimi

tive animism t o reconsi der his prim e dogma of the ori gin
of go ds fro m all p ervading spirits ( of which a ffiliation I
-

can s ee no proof in the evi dence b efore us ) I venture to ,

think I shall at a ny rate have made hi m feel that Ancestor

W-o rsh ip an d th e C ult of th e D ead Go d have played a far
l arger an d d eeper pa rt than he has hitherto b een willin g to
admit in the gen esis of the religious emotions Though I .

may no t h ave rai se d the wo rship of the D ead M an to a su

preme and uniqu e place in the go d making process I have -
,

at l east I trust raised it t o a position of higher importance

, ,
 CON CL U SI ON
43 8 .

The truth is we have now n o primitive men at all Ex

, .

i st in g men are the descen dants of people who have ha d

religions in all probability for over a million years Th e
, , .

b est we can do therefore i s to trac e what go ds we can to

, ,

their original source and beli eve that the rest a re of

,

similar develop ment An d whither d o we track them.

S o far as I have b een abl e to trace back the origin of

”
the b est known minor provincial deities says Sir Alfre d
-
,

Lyall speakin g of I ndia in gen eral they are usually men

, ,

o f past generations who have earne d sp ecial promotion

and brevet rank among disembo die d ghosts Of .

the numerou s local gods known to have been living

m en by far th e greater pro portio n d eriv e fr o m the ordi
,

na ry canonisati on of holy p ersonages The num .

b er of Shrin es thus rai sed in B erar alon e t o these anchor

i tes and persons d eceas e d i n the o dour of sanctity is large ,

and it is constantly increasing So me of them have a l .

”
ready attain ed the rank of temples We have s een that .

an acut e ob se rver E rman came t o a Similar conclusion

, ,

abo ut the go ds O f thos e very O styaks w h o are often

quot ed as typical exampl es o f primitive animists O f late .

years all the worl d over numerous unprej u dice d inv es

, ,

t ig a to rs lik e M r Du ff M acdonald and C aptain H ender

,
.

so n have Similarly come t o the conclusion that the go ds

,

of the natives among whom they worked were all o f h u

m an origin ; while we kn o w that some whol e great nation a l
creeds like the Shinto of Jap an rec o gnis e no deities at all
, ,

s ave living kings and d ead ancestral spirits U nder thes e .

circu mstances j udging the unknown by the kn o wn I hesi

, ,

tat e to take the very bol d step of positing any n e w and

fanciful source for the small residuum of unresolved go ds
whos e human origin is less certainly known to us .

I n on e word I believe th at corps e worship is the proto

,
-

plasm of religion while admittin g that folk lore is the pro

,
-

t O p las m of mytholo g y an d of its more modern and philo

,

so phical o ffshoo t theolo g y , .

 INDEX .

B a um é u l t u s , M a nnh ardt s , 1 3 8
’

f t/ze , D a r wi n
’
B e ag l e, Voy ag e q s,
A d on i s river an d g r ave of, 1 5 1
, , 1 43
A do n i s -w or sh ip 24 5 3 1 2 ; h u m a n
, , B e l i e f, E gyp t ia n , s um m a ry o f, 1 7 8
s a c ri fi ce i n
3 1 2 ; ri t e s of, 3 1 3
, B l o o d , s u b s titu te for , 1 1 0
Afri ca n b u ri a l ri te s , 29 B o dy , resu rr e cti on o f th e , 43 , 54,
Afr i ca n tri b e s , r e l ig i ou s b e lie f of , 63
25 B u ddh i sm , Fr e e m a n on , 3 80
B u zld e r s R zt es a n d Ce r em oni e s ,
‘
’

'
S e th s, 2 5 4
Al e xa n der son o f P h il ip 6
, , p
B ul g 0d , th e H e b r e w , 1 Q 91
Al e xa n dria , th e E a st er n L on don , B u r e a ze qf E ti m ol og y , Ie or t qf ,
1 5 ; sta te of re ligi o n i n , 3 6 8 1 06
All a h , i sol a ti on o f, i n M oh a m m e B urg on , D e a n , 4 1 8
i
d a n sm , 4 1 2 B uri a l , ca ve , 5 3 ; disse rt a tio n on ,
Am e r ica n cr e m a ti o ni s ts e a rl y , 5 5 , 5 5 et se d u e t o fe ar o f g h o sts ,
A m o n -R a , or Z e u s A m m on , 6 5 6 ; e a r i e r t h a n b urn in g 54 ;
,

An ce st or-w orsh ip , 1 82 et sea ; i n Fr a ze r a s t o , 5 6 ; re surre cti o n

I nd a , 3 2 i fr o m p r a ct ic e of, 5 4 ; r it e s Af r i
,

i
An i m s m , th e ory o f, 43 7 c a n , 29 ; s a n c ti ty fro m , s a cre d
A ntioch , th e V e ni ce of its tim e , w e ll , 1 5 2 ; sy ste m , o ri gin o f cul
365 j
t iv a tion a s a d u nct of , 2 7 8
Ar t i n prim iti e G re e ce , 84 v k
B urr ou g h , S t e p h e n ( i n H a l u yt ) ,
A r tic l e s of fa i th , fr e sh a dditi ons 1 29
to , I I B u r to n , Si r R i ch a r d , 4 1 6 ; a n e c
A s/ ze r a , 1 3 5 , 1 8
9 d ote of , 2 7
A th a n a sius , 7 v
B u r y ing th e c a rn i al , 3 3 8
A t o n e m e n t , doctri ne of, 347 ; not a B u s ta , 66
v
p r i m i ti e i de a 3 47 .

i
A tt s , w orsh ip o f , 3 1 3 ; self-m u til a C
i
t o n i n , 3 1 3 ; fe s t a l o f th e cu l t iv
o f, 3 1 4 ; p ara ll e li s m t o I n d ia n k
C a de , J a c ( M or tim e r ) , 2 59
u s a g e , 3 1 4 ; e ss e n ti a ll Ca m e l sa cr ifi ce
y a cor n .
3 33 ; c o m p a r e d
,

g o d 3'1 4 , w ith th a t o f P otra j a nd D io n y

A ub r e y s R em a i n s qf G entzl zlrm e ,
’

su s , 3 33 ; m u s t b e h a s til y e a te n .

139 3 33 ; com p are p a sch a l l a m b 3 3 3 ,

Avi e ll a , G ob l e t d ', 401 q

Ca nnib al b a n u e ts , A ztec , 1 1 0
A zt e c ca nnib a l b a n u e ts, 1 1 0 q C a r niv a l , B ur yi ng t h e , ” 29 3
C a tlin , 50
v
C a e b uri a l , 5 3
C er e m oni a l i nsti tuti on , 200
B a p tism , 3 89 , 405 Ce re m o n ia lism ,r e l ig iou s , e v ol u
B a rro w s , L o ng u se d for b urial s. , t ion o f 90
,

5 5 ; R oun d, for cre m a tion, 5 6 , 6 5 C er e m oni e s for e xp ul si on of e vil s

B a s tian , 1 3 4, 1 3 9 from com m u nitie s , 3 49
440 I NDEX .

Ch a lm e rs, M r 76 , 3 5 8 , 3 5 9 .
,
G o u wa Sir M ar ti n , 1 75
C h e y ne , P ro fe s sor , o n s to n e -wor k
C o o , a p ta i n , 1 3 2
s h ip , 1 20 C or n-g o d , a s se e d , 2 87 ; Ch rist a ,
i
Ch r s t , a corn -g o d , 3 8 1 ; a ing s k ’

3 g1
s o n 3 83 ; a n d M e ri a h 29 2 ; a t e m
, ,
C o r n 0d wor sh ip an d P otr aj fe s
p or a r y ki
n g 3 79 ; b oug h t wi th a ,
ti a v a n a l o gy o f , 3 04

Pri ce 3 8 5 .
C or n -g o d s , a n m a l 2 89 ; su b stitu t e i ,

C h ri s te n d o m , corp s e -w or sh ip o f, for h u m a n s a cr i ce , 289 ; i n E ng fi

a t th e t o m b o f C h r i st 4 1 7 ; d e , l a n d , 2 90 2 9 1 ,

v e l op m e n t o f G o d o f a n c i e nt v
C orn fe sti a l s , E u rop e an , 2 1 6
H e b r e w s i n G o d of m o d e r n , 22 5 ; C orn i s h w e ll -sp iri t s 1 5 2 ,

G o d o f , 45 9 C orp se , p r e se r a ti on o f, 49 ; a l u e v v
Ch ri s ti a n an d h e a th e n g o ds , o f s a in tl y a s tr e a su r e , 4 2 2 ; w or
,

a p o th e o si s . 23 5 ; b a si s of re l i g i on , sh i p a t R om e , 4 1 9 ; i n B ri ta i n ,
,

226 42 7 ; in I sl a m , 4 1 3 ; th e p roto
Ch ri sti a n i sa ti on of M e g a l ith ic p l a sm of r e lig io n 43 8 ,

m on u m e n t s , 1 1 5 C re m a tio ni s t s e a rl y Am e rica n , ,

Ch ri sti a n i se d form of sca p e g oa t , M e xi ca n s 5 5 ,

351 C r e ta n D i o ny su s m y th 3 07 ,

i
C h r i sti a n ty , a b l e n d o f j u d a i sm C ro s s t h re e fol d v a l u e of 1 1 5
, ,

w i th t h e p o pul a r re l igi o n s o f th e iv
C u l t a t ion or g n of , a s a d u n c t , i i j
d a y , 3 63 ; a c o m p e t i t or o f G n o s i
o f b u r a l sy s t e m , 2 7 8 ; p a ra d o x
t i c i s m , 3 9 5 ; a m a g m a o f M e di te r o f 2 7 3 ; or i g in o f 2 7 5
, ,

r a n e a n r e l g iou s i d e a s i244 ; a s ,
’
Cu l te o u Cyp r e s , S u r l e , L a j a r d s,
’

s ta n d a r d of r e fe r e n ce , 3; a 1 43

sy n cre ti c p ro d u c t 3 6 3 ; a n e m ,

b o dim e n t of M e dite rra n e a n

c ul ts 22 7 ;
,
E gyp tia n i n fl u e n ce
400 e t s e a ; e l e m e n t s o f , D Alb e r ti s 6 8
’
on ,
404 ; g r ow th o f 3 6 2 ; in t h e We st
,

D A l v i e l l a G o b l e t , 40 1
’
, , ,

i n i ts b e g i nn in g D a r w in s Voy a g e of M e B e a g l e,
’

403 e t s e a ;
o r ie n t a l , 400 ; l e a s t a n t h r op o 1 43
m o rp h i c cr e e d , 1 8 ; M i th r a sm a i D e a d b oo ,
k
70 ; cul t of th e of th e , 1
c om p e ti t or o f, 3 9 5 ; m o d e r n w or 1 85 , 43 3 ; i n E g yp t , 4 1 5 ; fe a r o f ,
sh ip of d e a d ce n tr a l forc e i n , 5 3 ; i m m o r t a l t y th e b a s i s o f i
i
40 8 ; or ig n o f a u th o r g u i d e d b y ,
i
w o r sh p of , 4 1 2 ; l fe o f, 42 ; i
F r a ze r a n d M a n n h a r d t ; pe , v i
Sp r i tu a li st b e li e f i n , 4 2 ; th r e e
c u l i a r i ti e s of 1 7 ; p r ie sth o o d n o t , st a g e s i n b e l i e f , 43 ; r e a pp e a r
a n i n t e g r a l p a r t o f e a rly 1 1 ; , a n c e i n sl e e p , 4 8 ; R o m a n co m
v
p ri m iti e th r e e g re a t m o tor s o f ,
,
m e m ora t i o n o f, 43 1 ; v o ti e v
3 99 ; re a s o n fo r tr i u m p h o f 3 89 ; , o ffer i n g s t o , 1 5 8
i
r e lig on t y p i ca l , 1 5 ; re l ig i o n n o t
, , D e a d b o di e s p r e se r in g a n d w or ,
v
a ty p i c a l , 1 7 ; r e m o e d fro m a ll v sh p o f 6 8 i ,

i iv
p r m i t e cu l t s , 1 7 ; S p e ci a l l y t h e D e a d g o d , w orsh ip o f , u n i e rsa l v
r e li g i on of i m m or ta l t y 3 9 2 ; t w o i ,
in c u l t s , 43 6
i
m a n fo r m s o f 403 , D e a d m a n s t o m b , th e p r im i ti e
’
v
i i
C h r s t a n P a n th e o n 7 , t e m pl e 1 1 ,

i
C h r s tia n s a s e ct of th e J e w s 7 , D e a th , C a r r y i n g o u t 293 ,

C h r i st u s , c om p a r e d w ith M e ri a h ,
i
D e a th , p r m i t e t h e o r i e s a s t o , iv
285 45 , 47 ; th e g a t e of l ife , 1 6 2 ; l e
C ir cu m ci si on b a p ti s m s u b s ti tu te d
, Wa r s /up oj ,
1 53, 1 98
for 40 5 ; or ig i n o f , 200
, D e i fi e d m a n , w or s h ip of , 3
Cl o d d , M r E d wa r d ,
2 1 , 2 54
.
, v D e i ty , th e n e e d o f a fa m ilia r ,
C o dr ing to n , D r , 1 3 2 .
43 2
C o n de r , M a o r , 1 9 6 , j De Pl u ta rch
’
s , 1 66
 I N D EX .

of th e Os tya s , E rm a n o n , 4 3 8 ;k H a r tl a n d , Sid ne y ( note ) v, 6 , 47 ,

o r ig i n of Egyp t i a n tria ds o f ,
v
3 69 ; e ol u ti on o f, 407 H a rv e st , fi rst-fr ui ts o f, 299
G o d -e a t in g , i n M e xico , 3 27 e t se a , v
H e b re w s , de e l op m e n t of G o d o f
s a cra m e n ts , e v ol u ti on of, v i t h e a n ci e n t i n t o G o d o f m o d
,

k
G o d -m a i ng , org i a stic fe sti v a l o f e rn C h r i ste n d om , 22 5 ; s t o ne
P o tr a j 3 01 , 3 25 , 3 46 ; for sh ip s ,
. g o d s , 1 87 th e ori e s a s to fu tu re
26 3 ; for r i e r , 264 ; for w ar , v l ife 1 84
,

267 H e a th e n sa cr i ce of a g o d t o fi
G o d s , a l l p ri m i ti e , corp ses , 9 1 ; v h i m s e l f a n al o g ou s to Ch ri s tia n
a n ce s t o r s a s , 86 ; a r ti fi ci a l c ro p fi
s acr i ce of th e m a ss , 244
o f 247 ; b e st ia l typ e s of E gyp H e n d e r son , C a p ta in , 43 8
k
,

i
t an 1 73 , 1 7 5 ; E gy ti a n , or g i H i e r a n za , D r R o c s 43 0
' ’

k
. ,
,

i n a ll y i ng s , 1 5 5 ; e e m e n ta l , or H ol y G os t , de ve l opm e n t of , fro m
n a tu r e -g o d s , 1 76 ; s u p e r a dd e d G o d 407 ,

fa ct or i n E gyp ti a n re lig io n , 1 77 ; H o l y h e a d s, pre ser v a tio n o f in

fo u n da t io n , 2 5 8 , 3 1 9 ; fra m e d B rit a in , 429
fr om a b s tr act conce p ti on s , 1 74 ; H o norifi c ca nnib a lism , Si dne y
q
fr e u e n tl y p u t t o d e a th b y t h e i r H a rtl a n d on , 3 24
vot a ri e s , 23 3 ; g r e a t , cl a s se s H oru s M a d onna a n d C h il d com
,

r a th e r t h a n i n d i i du a l s , v
2 69 ; p a re d wi th , 400
g ro w th of, from g h os ts , 7 1 , 7 2 ; H ug h S t , of Li n col n , 3 79
, .

g ro w th o f, s p on t a ne o u s , 247 ; H u i tzil op o ch tli , im a g e of in ,

i m p or ta n ce o f a nti ui ty of, i n q dou g h , e a te n b y w or sh ipp e rs ,

a n c i e n t a n d m od er n soci e ty , 7 3 , 3 4°
74 ; i n E g y p t , ev ol u ti on o f, 1 5 5 ; H u n te r , Si r Wi lli a m , 3 1 , 3 2, 1 43 ,
ki i
ll n g o f, a c o m p one nt o f m a n y 1 44
i
fa th s , 2 34 ; a p oth e osi s , h e a th e n
and Ch r i sti a n , 2 3 5 ; m i nor , n e ce s
s it y of re ne win g 41 1 ; n e w , ,

n e ce s sar y i n r el ig i o n , 43 2 ; o f I d e a of G o d , g rowth of 1 9 ,

a g r ic u l tu r e , 2 72 ; o f c i ty w a ll s , I d o l s , 1 0 1 e t s ea , m um m y , of M e x
2 5 1 ; o f t o wns a nd v ill a g e s 2 5 5 ; , i c a n s , 8 1 8 2 ; woo de n p rob a b l e
,

S e m i ti c , v
a g u e n e s s of , 20 5 o r ig i n of , 69 ; o rig i n o f 7 9 ; s u ,

G ol d e n B oug lz, TIze , F ra ze r s

’
, v , p e rse ssion o f m u m m y b y 80 ; ,

8 7 1 3 8 , 1 42, 246, 280 , 283 29 7

, , , v
w o o de n d e ri e d fr om s e pul ch re
G o m a ra , 8 1 h e a d p os ts , 1 3 7
G om m e L a wre n ce , v , 25 9 , 2 88 ,
, I l l u s t r a ted L on d on N e w s 5 5 6 , , ,

74
q
G o o d u a l itie s , e a ti n g , 3 23 , 3 24 I m a g e s , m ul ti pli ca tion of , 8 5
G o u l d , S B a r ing , 248. I m m or ta li ty , fro m p r a ctice of

v
G ra e s , food pl a nt s o n , 2 8 1 b u r ni ng , 54 ; a n d r e s u rre ct i on ,

k
G r a ve -sta e s a n d sta ndi n g -s to ne s
or t o m b st on e s a s ob e c ts o f
1 w or s h ip , 8 2 , 83
G re e ce a r t i n p ri m it ive , 84
,
k
3 G re e s ca p e g oa t , 3 5 2
G r o te , o n G r e e worsh ip , 1 03
v
G ro e , sa cre d , 9 3
H a g g ar d , H R i der ,
H a rr a n ia ns , i nfant
v iii ; o f th e so ul , 43 , 54 ; t h e b a si s
j o f , w or sh ip o f d e a d , 4 1 2
I n ca r na t io n , th e or o f, 2 2 9 ; a n or
d i nary fe ature 0 re l ig on i n t h e i
fi rs t ce n tu ry , 23 3
k k
I o n a , b l a c st on e s of, 1 1 6
i
I r s h w e l l -sp irit s , 1 5 2
I si s , M a do nn a a nd Ch il d c om pare d
H w i th , 400
v
I sra e l , e ol ution of G o d of , p e cu
. 25 2 lia r story o f, 1 80 ; r e lig ion of,
sa cr ifi 0e o r i in a ll y p ol th e is ti c 20 1
g ,

a m on g , 3 44 I ta l y , sh r in e s o sa in t in 424 , ,
 I N DEX .
44 3

L ife of th e D e a d , T h re e su cce s
1
s i v e st a g e s i n v i ,

j a h we h , a nce stral sacre d st one o f L i v i n g sto ne D r 1 47 ,

.
,

th e p e op le o f I sra e l , 1 26 ; a s t on e L ofti e , 1 5 8 , 1 67 , 3 08 , 40 1
g o d , 1 9 7 ; a t te m p t s t o m a e , a l k L o n d on Ston e , 2 5 8
L ong m a n s M ag a z i ne , 25 8
'
w a y s i n corp ore a l , 1 24 ; de s tr u o
i
t on of st on e , m a de h i s worsh p i L u n d on st one , H e nry d e , 2 5 8
c osm op oli ta n , 222 ; in co rp ore a l L y a ll , Sir Al fr e d o n or gi n , i of
S u pre m e R ul e r , 222 ; di sse r t a m in or provi nci al d e iti es , 43 8
i
t o n on , 1 22 e t sea ; g e n e r ic c o n
c e p ti o n of ure de ity , 22 3 M
h u m a n sa cri cc t o , 1 99 ; l a te r
con cep ti on of, 21 1 M ol e ch M a c don a l d ,
Duff, iv , 24, 25 , 2 7 ,
tr a i t s of , 21 2 ; t h e v al u e of , 1 9 2 29 . 3 0. 7 3 . 74 . 7 7. 96 . 1 43 . 24 7 .
e t s e a ; a g o d o f i n cre a se , 1 9 5 ; 43 8
j
o b e ct o f p o rt a b l e s ize , 1 2 3 ; sp ir M a d on na an d Ch il d , com p a re d
i tu a li ze d i n to g re a t n a tio n a l wi th I si s a nd H or u s , 400
de i ty , 1 2 5 ; th e H e b re w g o d , 1 54, M a n i a 3 44
1 5 5 ; t h e R oc k
o f I sr a e l , 1 25 ; — ,

M a n g o d t h e d e a th , a n d r e su rr e c
w or sh i p of , a s trol og ca l a ddi i t i o n o f th e e y n o te t o A s i a n
, k
i
t on s t o , 2 1 3 a nd Afr ica n re lig i on s, 246 ;
M rs Sa cr ed a nd Le t y p e s o f, 23 1
’

J a m e s on s , ,

g e nd a ry A r t 4 20 , M a n -g o ds im p or ta n ce t o w e l fa re
,

a p a n e se t ot e m , 3 60 o f p e op l e i n e arly ti m e s , 2 3 7 ;
e s u s , e a r li e st b e li ev er s i n , 244 n e c e s si ty of i ll in g th e m b e fo re k
e s u s -cu l t , v
de el op m e n t of , 405 t h e ir p ower s de ca ye d , 2 39 e t
et s ea s ea

J e w s , C h ristia n s a se ct of, 7 ; p ol y M a n n h a rd t 1 3 8 3 53 , ,

t h e i st s , 1 8 1 M a n s tw o h a l v e s 46
’
,

oh n t h e B a p ti st , 3 88 M a n u fa ct ure d g o d d octrine of vi , ,

u d a i sm Ch r istia nity a bl e n d of ,
, M a r i e tt e M 1 62 1 6 8
, ,

w i th t h e p opul a r rel ig ion s o f M a r t y r d o m 2 7 1 ; th e p a ssion for

, ,

t h e d ay , 3 63 o f e a rl y C h r is ti a n s , 4 1 9
M a sp e r o M 1 5 9 1 60 1 76
, .
, , ,

M a ss de ve l op e d from Ag a p e
fe a sts , 1 2
Ka a b a 1 1 4 1 86 , , M e g a li th ic m on um e n ts , Ch ri stia n
Kin g s a s g o d s , 22 7 ; as prie sts , 87 ; i sa t i o n o f, 1 1 5
g o ds , e v ol u ti on of, 1 7 2 M e n , m e ta m orph o sis o f, i n to
s t o n e s , 1 07

L M e r i a h 3 23 ; a n d C h ri st , 285 , 29 2
,

M e r i a h s 2 83 2 84 3 1 9
, , ,

L aj a rd
’
s Su r l e Cul te ou
’
Cyp r e s , M e t e or ol og i cal ph e n om e n a pri m i ,

1 43 v e m isconce p tion o f
ti , 20

L a n d a , 80 M e x i ca n cre m a tioni sts , e a rl y , 55 ;

L a n dor , Wa l ter S av ag e , 1 3 5 3 60 ,
e u ch a r i s t , 43 1
L a ng An dre w, 23 , 1 08, 1 1 4 1 7 1
, ,
i
M e x c o , g od -e a ti ng in , 3 27 , e t s e a
( n o t e ) , 1 76 M ig r a ti on of Sy m ool s , l e , 40 1
L a r e s , 3 69 i i
M t h ra sm , a com pe ti t or of Ch r i s
L ect u r e s on t lze R e l ig i on of A n t i a n i ty , 3 9 5
ci e n t Eg yp t , R e n ou f s , 1 5 6
’
M ock -m a y or s 295 ,

L eg e n d o
'
f P er se u s, H artl an d s , M om m se n D r v , . ,

v M on o th e i sm , orig in 5 4 ; re l i o f, 1

L e n orm a nt , M on a ncestors h ip , g i o n re du ce d to ce ntr al e l e m e nt ,

1 83 2 2 3 ; ri se o f, i v , 204
444 I N DEX .

M onoth e istic concep ti on of G od , sh ip o f th e d e a d th e true re lig i on

13 c 14 o f th e E g y ti a ns , 1 7
, p 9
k
. .

Moth er of th e g o d s , a n d m oth e r P otr aj , org ia sti c g o d -m a in

g fe s
of G od , r e se m bl a nce b e tw e e n , ti v a l of , 3 01 , 3 25 , 346
3 85 P o w e l l , P rofe s sor Yor , v k
M ull e r , Ma x 23
, P r a c t i cal R e ligi on ,
”
iii v
rl l u l u n
g u , 25 v
P re ost , Abb é , 4 5
M u m m i fi ca ti on 49 , P r i e st , d e e l opm e nt vof, from
Mu m m y i d ol s of M e xica n s 8 1 82 ;
, , , t e m p l e a tt e n d a nt , 89 ; i ctim a n d v
wor sh ip in Eg yp t 1 5 7 , g o d , i d e ntity of, 3 20
M y th ol ogy , a n d R e lig i on re l a tiv e , P r ie sth oo d , d u al origi n of , 86 ; in
p o si ti o n s of, 20 ; e sse n tia ll y th e o de p e n de nt orig in of, 88 ; n ot
r e ti cal , 23 i n t e g ra l p a r t o f e a rly C h ri stia n
i ty , 1 1
P roph e ts , e nth u siasm of, 2 1 9

Na ture -wor sh ip , origi n o f , v

Ne w i de a s of se co n da r y ran k ,

e n u m e ra t io n o f, v i R a m sa y , P rofessor , 245 , 3 1 3
Nor de nskiol d, B aron 3 5 7
y
, R e or m a ti on , P r og r ess of , i n [r e
a n d , 1 02

O , i
R e l ic s s a n tl y , n ecessary for th e
fi
s a cr i ce of th e m ass , 43 0
k
Ob elis , or igi n o f 1 05 , R e lig i on a n d m yth ol og y , v iii ;
Ob er a m m e rg a u , 3 79 sh o u l d b e se p a ra te d , 40
O h i o m o un d s 5 5 , R e l ig i o n , a n d m y th ol og y , re l a ti e v
O siri s, a s th e g od of d e a d 308 , , i
po s ti on s of , 20 ; as a r e su l t of
a s a corn -g o d , 3 09 ; l e g e n d o f fe ar , 2 1 ; Ch ri sti an b a si s of, 2 26 ;
B u si ris c oncer ni n g 3 1 0 ; fe st iv a l , conn e cti on of , wi th d e a th n eve r
re s e m bl a n ce to r it e s of P o tr a j , v
se e r e d 41 1 ; d e m a rc a ti on o f,
,

3 08 ; fe stiva l s , c u sto m s a t , 3 45 ; fr o m m yth ol og y , v i ; E gyp ti a n ,

gr owth of w or sh ip o f 1 67 ; , b a s e d o n a nce s tor-w orsh ip a n d
o ri g i na ll y a k i n , 1 6 5 ; r i t e c o n i
t o t e m sm , 1 5 7 ; e sse nti a l ly p ra c
g ,

t e m p ora ry su rvi v al of in E g y p t , , ti ca l 22 , 24 ; e ve ry , conti nu e s t o

,

3 1 0 ; ri te , a nn u a l h u m a n vi cti m k
m a e m i n or
go d s , 4 1 0 ; R o m a n ,
o f, 3 1 1 ; w or sh ip of, 1 07 c o sm op oli t a m se d u n d e r th e E m
i
p re 3 7 5 ; R o m a n , H e l l e ni se d ,
,

3 7 3 ; R o m a n , o ri gi n a n d gr owth
of, 3 69 ; sol e l y ce re m ony , c u s
v
P a n da va s , Fi e 94, 1 09 , 1 1 4, t o m , o r p ra ctice , 3 2 ; st a te of,
P a ri s , s a in ts r e l ics i n , 425 i n A l e xa n dr i a , 3 68 ; worsh i
’

P a u l , p rob a bl y fi
rst p re a ch e r of a n d s a cri ce p rim e fa ctors 0 fi
Ch ri st t o th e worl d a t l a rg e , 3 8 7 40
P a ul icia ns , a ccu sa tion a g a in st , R e ligi ou s , b e li e f of A fr ican trib e s ,
34 3 2 5 ; ce r e m on ia l is m , e v ol u tion o f,
P e n a tes 3 70 , 90 ; e m o t i on a ri se s from r e
P e tri e , Flin d ers v n 1 76 , , g a r d for t h e d e a d 4 1 1 ; se nti ,

P h ara oh , divi ni ty of, 1 6 7 m ent d e v e l o m e n t of , fro m

,

P h i l osop h e r s , R om a n , com p ar e d c or p se to c d -w or sh ip , 1 62
w ith U nita ri a n s , 3 9 3 k
t h in in g 400 ; m a i n sch ool s of ,
,

P i a cu l a r s a cr ifi ci al r ite s , 26 1 , 3 5 6 ii i ; u nre st d escr ip ti o n of, 394

,

P il a tu s , C a iu s P on tiu s , 3 R e n ou f, L e P a g e , 1 5 6, 1 5 9, 1 60, 1 72,

' '
P l u tarch s D e Osi r ia e , 1 66 1 74
P ol yth e ism , ori g in of, Sp e nce r s R e su rre cti on fro m p r a ctice of
’

g h ost th e ory a s t o , i v ; a n d w or b u r ia l , 5 4 ; i m m ortal ity a nd , iii ; v

446 IN DEX .

4 7 . 49 . so . 5 2 . 68 . 70 . 74 . 76 . 79 . T o te m -w orsh ip , 1 65 ; ori g i n o f, 1 74 ,

8 1 , 8 2 , 99 , 1 1 0 , 1 34 , 1 46 , 1 73 , 1 74 , I 7S
200 . 2 7 9 . 4 1 8 . 430 . 43 5 Totn e s Ti m es 2 5 9 ,

Sp e th , 2 54 , 2 7 1 T r e e s , a m o n g Ph oeni c a n s a n d i
Sp iri t -p osse s se d p e r son s i n rud e C a n a a n i t e s , s a cr e d , 1 50 ; in
so c i e ty , 23 0 S e m it ic a r e a d i in e , 1 49 ; off e r , v
k
S t a e , w o o de n , 93 i ng to , 1 43 sa cr e d 1 3 8 ,

k
S ta e s , sa cre d , 1 2 7 ; i nfe r i or to T ri n i ty, E g yp ti a n tri a ds of g o d s ,
s to n e s , 1 2 7 ; d e r i a t i o n o f , 1 2 8 ; v ori g i n o f, 1 7 , 3 69 ; e v ol u ti on o f,
w or sh ip o f , 1 29 ; e ol u ti on i n to v 40 7
i d ol 1 3 2
,
'
T u r ne r M r , Sa m oa n coll e cti o n o f
, .

S ta n d a r d o f r e fe re nce , Ch ri sti a n i ty 91 9 7 1 1 1
. .

a s, 3 T u r n e r R e v G e org e 3 4, 1 08, 1 46 ,
, .
,

, fi
St a lzic d e n i tio n o f , 249 29 8
Sta tu e s a n ou tg ro w th o f
, to m b T y l or . D 1 3 1 47 9 8 .
. 23 . . . . 99 . 1 00 .
s t on e s , 83 1 04 1 10 1 1 4 131
, 1 34 , , , , 1 44 , 1 46 ,
St e v e n son , R . L . , a u th or it y on 249 . 2 7 1 . 279
m e m o r i a l tre e -p l a n t i n g , 1 4 1
S t H u g h o f L in col n , 3 79
.

k
S t i c -w ors h p , 1 00 i
S to n e -c u l t , Se m it c , 1 1 6 i Un i v e r s a l R ev i e w v i ii ,

St on e -g o d s , H e b r e w , 1 8 7 U ni t a r i a n s R o m a n ph il osoph ers ,

S to n e h e n g e , 9 3 , 1 1 2 com p a r e d w i th , 393
Sto n e s , sa cre d 93 ci s e * Sa r d in ,

i a n , 1 0 1 ; o f th e H e r e ws 1 1 7 ,

e t s ea ; m e ta m orp h os s o f m e n i
i n t o , 1 07 V e n i ce , i n te r v e n tion o f sa i n ts in ,
St o n e w o r sh ip , P rofe s sor Ch e y ne 42 3
o n , 1 20 V e sa liu s , 4 5
Su n -w or sh ip , 1 05 V i c ti m s s u b s t i t u t e d
, , 253
S w in b u r n e u o te d 1 8 ,
q , Vi l l a g e Com m u n i ty , L G om
. m e s
’

Sy m b oli sm n e e r p ri m i ti e , 209
, v v 2 5 9 . 29 7
i
Sy ria n s , e a s l y H e l l e n i se d , 3 66 V i ll a g e fou n d a ti on , r i tu al o f, 2 5 7

T a y l or , D r I sa a c 82 Wa r d L e ste r 2 5
We ll sa cre d sa nctity
.
, , ,

T e m e n o s c e n o ta p h s if no t t om b s,
, , , fr om b u ri a l
1 48 1 52
T e m ple or ig i n of 74, pra y We ll s sa cre d 1 5 1
We l l sp i rits C orn i sh
, , , ,

i n g h o u s e or i g i n of , , 69 th e -
,
a nd I r i sh
t om b a s a , 1 5 9 to m b s of E g yp t, 1 2

41 6 Wo o d e n i dol s , p r ob a bl e orig in o f,
T h e G o d s of E g y p t , ii vi 69
T h e L i fe o f th e D e a d ,
”
iii v Wor s lzip of D e a t/z T/ze v 7 5
Wo r sh ip A do n is 245 3 1 2 a n
, , ,

T h e o to o s , 9 k , , ,

T h e ol o g y o r m y th ol ogy e sse nti a l l y c e s tor i n I n d ia , 3 2

1 82 e t sea ,

t h e ore t ca l , 2 3 i an d sa cr i c e p r m e fa c t or s of fi i
T h u r n I m 43 7
, , re li g i o n 40 c o r p s e o f C h r i st e n
, ,

T om b s o f th e
,
ing s 1 42 k , a nd d o m , a t th e t o m b o f C h r i st , 4 1 7 ;
v
c a e s of E g y p t 1 6 1 , v
G o d , d e e l o p m e n t o f se n t m e n t i
T o m b s t o n e s e a r l y 9 5 96 , , ,
fr o m c o rp se -w o r sh p to 1 62 i ,

T o te m J a p a n e se 3 60 ; r ite s
, ,
and v
g ra e st a e s
- a nd k
s ta n d n g i
fe a s t a t sa cr c e o f 3 60 ifi ,
s t o n e s o r t o m b s ton e s a s o b e c t j
T o t e m s E gyp t ia n , 1 68
, of, 8 2 , 8 3 H e b re w sn a e , p a r a l k
 I N DEX .
44 7

le l with Egypti a n op h i ol a try , 1 05 to te m , 1 65 ori gi n of , 1 74,

1 9 2 ; m u m m y , i n Eg yp t , 1 5 7 ; 1 75 as prov e n b y m on u m e n ts,
Na tu re , origi n o f, v ; of At ti s , 1 67

3 1 3 ; of co rn -g o d a n d P o tr aj Worsh ipp e r s , im H ui tzil o

ag e of .

v
fe st i a l , a nal o gy o f, 3 04 ; of p och tli , in d ou g h e ate n b y , 340
,

d e a d b o die s , 6 8 ; of d e a d g o d ,
v
u ni e rsa l i n cul t s 43 6
, of d e ifi e d Y
m a n 3 ; of d e a d a n d p oly th e i sm
,
‘
Y aril o , fune ra l of, 294
t h e t r ue r e li on of t h e E g yp
t i a n s , 1 79 o O s iri s , g rowth o f,
Z
k v
s ull , prim i ti e ,
k
1 6 7 ; o f sa cre d s t a e s
—
69 70 ;
, 1 29 ; o f
su n , Z e us Am m on , or Am on R a , 6
ment ? th olt ( to/s lRecent JBooks
“

S ketch es i n navenoe r. JBlue, ano G reen .

K J E R O M E a u th or o f I d l e
J
By E RO M E
Wi th
. ,

T oug / f
zt s o an I d l e Fe l l ow ,
e tc .
40
i l l u s tr a ti on s .
3 d E d i ti on i . zm o ,

H u m or o f t h e e x u s k n M u ch o f q ii te ly p lea s n g i id
i v v
.

bO th w it a n d p h lo so p h y Se e ra l o f th e t a le s h a e a
i i i
.

ng e m o t o n a l th e y a re a ll o r gi n a l a nd w e ll
—
n t e re s t ;
d
st
B os to n Tr a n sc r ip t
d
to
iv ii i i i i
. .

I m p re ss e o r g na l t y , ra m a t c for ce , s u b tl e , n fe ct o u s
i i
h u m o r , a nd st r k ng pow e r i n ch a rac te r e l nea t o n
" -
B uf d i i .

f a lo Com m e r c i a l .

ll n p lain a n .

A N o v el of N e w E n g l a n d T o -d a y . By E LI S
ABET H L Y M AN C ABOT t zm o ,
—
.

Sh e m a n ag e s h e r s t ory i n t h e c le v e re st m a n ne r .
”
N w e
Yor k Ti m es
v v —I
.

T h e m o e m e n t o f t h e s to ry n e fl a gs n d ep e n d e n t .
di
er
v i
.

"
A n o e l o f e x t r a o r na r y m e r t . Ti m es .

S p anis h Gas tles biz t b e l i ne .

A T r iptych al Y a rn . By D A VI D S F OSTE
. R Wi th .

12 i ll us tra t o n s i by H C . . C OU LI AU S ’ ‘
. I Bm o.
B uc k ra m Se r i e s. 75C .

Wri tt e n w i t h k i ll t h a t l ose s n o th ng o f it s e ffe c t t h roug h i

id
a s
0

b e i ng a cc o m p a n e b y a n a ir o f fre sh n e ss t h e s t u a t o ns i i
i n t h e se p l o t s g ro w fu n n e r a nd fu n n e r I n th e la s t M r F ost e r i i
i i i i v v
. .

r se s t o h e g h t s o f co m c a l t y M ore o e r, h e n e e r c e a se s t o
i v v v
.

b e p l a u s ble A o l u m e t o ca p t i a t e a n d t o l e a e a p le u a n t
id —
.

"
m e m ory b e h n N e w Yor k T r i b u n e . .

G be 1h onorab le mete r S t ir ling

‘

B y PAU L F O R D L
A b r ll a n t n o . . i i v el of N ew
k
Yo r P o l t ca l L fe 22d E di ti on ii i
d
.

i i iv
.

T m e l y , m a n l y , t h o ro u g h bre , a nd e m n e n t ly s u g g e s t e.
A t l a n t i c M o n t h ly
vi v
.

O ne o f th e s t ro ng e s t a n d m os t ta l c h a ra c t e rs th a t ha
d
e
a p p e a re i n o u r fi c t o n i . A v e ry ch a rm i ng lo v e s t ory .
"

Th e D i a l .

ll n 1! m m .

B y A ND R E C H EV R ILLO N r zm o , $i so
di di
. . .

T h e b oo k is e x t rao r n a ry , a nd th e re a ng o f it a de
l i g h t —Cr i t i c
"

i vivid i
. .

A m a s t e rp e ce Su ch a re fl e c t o n o f t h e cou n t ry ,
i ig i
.

i ts p e op l e , i t s a rc h te c t u re , a n d i ts re l tha t we b e co m
d
on , e
i i
u n co n sc o u s o f t h e f w e se e a nd fe e l t h a t
f h w ld —
p g pr n te a e, or m ys
t y er l di
o —b l
t e or n a .
" ’
o o em a n .

{Dozi ern p ol itica l ! r at ions .

T w e n ty-fo u r sp e e ch e s b y B ro u gh a m M a ca ul a y, ,

F o x C o b d e n B u lwe r-L ytt o n B r gh t M o rl e y,

, , ,
i ,

B e a co n sfi e ld G l a d s to n e C h a m b e r la n , P a r n el l , , ,
i
e tc E d b y L EOPO D WAG NE R
.
$ 1 n et
. L . .
b ent g 1h olt 8 (tofi s inew JBoohs .

C h e fl talians of G os m aig .

By R ENE BAZ I N T ra n sla ted b y I I AM . W LL

M AR C H ANT I zm o , .

An a ccou n t fi rst o f th e p eo ple , and in ciden tally of

th e co u n try , n du str e s , e con om cs , s cen e r ,
y i i i
i
l tera tu re , a n d o p er a .

S om e Q ue sti ons E nglis h

of (Boob .

E X AM I NE D IN C O NT R OVE R SI E S WI T H D R F I T Z
R
.

E D WA D HA By R A P H O WI I AM S, LL L LL
R R
. .

a uth or of O UR D I CT IONA I E S AN D O T H E
L
E NG I SH L ANG U AG E T OP I C S 1 2m o ,
v i— l i d
.

“
A olu m e of p rac t ca n t e re st , m ar ke th r o u g h ou t b y
fai rn e ss in c r t c sm " iii P f ro T M H u n t of P r i n ceton
i iv —R
. . . . .

”
B r g h t a n d s ugg e s t e R e v iews
“
I nv ari
’

of
d d —
e m em
i i i
. .

"
a bly re a a b le a n d a b o u n s in c u r o us ll us tra t ons 0u tl ook . .

( th e ll s lano of Cuba .

By L i
A S R OWAN U S A , and P rof M
e ut . . .
, . . . . .

M R AM SAY W th M a ps I nde x a nd Po nts

. . i , , i
o f I n te rna t o nal L aw 2d E d ztzon 1 2 m o i ' '

i di i
. .
,

E xce lle n t a n d t m e l y a cle a r a nd j u c a l accou n t o f C uba

a nd it s h is t ory
f T"/ze D i a l
’
C o n e y s j u s t t h e n form a t on
,

v i i
dd i
. .

'

th s ti m e
’

n ee e at .
-P li zl a d elp lzza Ti m es .

t elep ath y ano t h e S ub li m inal S elf .

B y D r R O SG O O D M ASO N . H ypno t sm , Au tom

. . i
a tis m , D re a m s a n d Ph a n tas m s W th front s , . i i
p e ce i
2 d E d ztzon 1 2m o ,
'

di id
. .

H e re p u a te s th e e a o f t h e s u p e rn a t u ra l al tog e t h e r a nd
i n th i s h e is i n a cco r d w i—
h h t b e s t t h ou g h t o f
t e th e da y
,

i nte re s t ng a n d i l og i ca l .
"
B os t o n Tr a ns c r ip t .

forces i n G erm an l it erature

S oci al a .

By P ro f . K U NO F R A NC K E E di ti on
. 2d . 8vo ,
n et H a s bee n tr a n s l a ted i n to G er m an
d
.

v i
.

I m u s t c o n fe s s t h a t I ha a ny ot h e r H st o ry o f
i li d
e n o t re a
L i
t e r a t u r e w h c h so s t r o n g ly nc n ei m e to u p th e t a ke
a u t h o rs m y se lf I t is n e t h e r a d r y su m m a ry n o r a w e a r so m e i i
i d v i d d
.

a t t e m p t t o n c l u e e e ry p oss bl e fa c t , n or o e s it a b o u n in
a ffe ct e d i iii
l t e r a r y cr t c s m s , o r h s t o r ca l re fl e ct o n s a b o u t m a t i i i
t e rs o f co u rse , b u t i t p u t s t h e r e a e r i n t h e c e n t e r o f t h e tal d vi
v
m o e m e n t s o f th e t m e i
O ne o ft e n fe e l s a s t h ou g h th e
d dd d v
.

a u t h o rs t re a t e of a t h e m se l es p e r so n a lly t o h i m ;
di d d
re sse
th e sc o u rs e c o m n g n o t th ro u g h b y g on e i ea b oo ks , b ut
—
ra t h e r t h r o u g h l ng m e n
”
ivi
P r of essor F r i ed r i ch P a n / se n .

of Ber l i n .

I nter nati onal JBim eta l lis m

R
.

B y F ANCI S A WALK E R 3 4 E d i ti on
d fi
. . .

A n e la b o ra t e s t u y o f b m e t a ll sm fro m t h e rs t b m e t a l i i i
i i d
l st i n th e U n t e St a te s a n d t h e re i s n o t a sy ll a bl e in i t t h a t
v i i d id d i
,

is fa ora b le to t h e fre e u n l m t e , a nd n e p e n e nt co na g e
iv i d
,

o f s l er b y t h e U n te Sta te s ” -Cl¢ r i s t i a n R eg is te r . .
 Third Ed i tion of a R em a rka bl e New Ro m a nce.

( th e (Baoflo .

By E L V OY NI C H . . . I zm o , cl oth .

N ew Yor k Tr i bu n e H e sh o w s u s t h e e r t a ble c o n s p ir v i
d i
3
i
a t or o f h s t o ry , w h o p lo tt e l ke a h u m a n b e n g a n d n o t l k e i i
a n o p e ra t c b a n t i di
I t is a t h r ll ng b ook a n d a b sol u t e ly i i
ii i i i
.

sob e r T h e G a d fi y ’ is a n o r g na l a nd m pre ss ve b e ng
.

”
a s t ory t o re m e m b e r .

N ew
Yor k Ti m es : “ Pa ra ox w orke up w t h nte nse d d i i
d i
ra m a t c e ffe c t is t h e s a l e n t fe a t u re o f
‘
T h e G ad fl y
’
i
d d d i iv
.

sh ows a w o n e rfu l ly s t ro ng h a n , a n d e s cr p t e p owe rs

i
wh ch a re ra r e a e ry re m a rk a ble r om a n ce v .

Th e D i a l : On e o f t h e m os t n te res t n g p h a se s o f i i
i i
t h e h sto r y o f N ne te e n t h C e n t u ry E u ro p e T h e s t o ry o f th e
i v v i i i
.

I ta l a n r e o lu t o n ary m o e m e n t is fu ll o f s u ch n c
d d i
e n t s a s t h e n o e l s t m os t i v v i t h s n o e l is o n e o f
vivi d d
e s res

t h e s t ron e s t o f t h e y e a r , i i
i n c o nce p t o n , a nd ra m a t c
g
i n e xe c u ti onfi d i i
l le i d
w t h n te ns e h u m a n fee l ng , a n d w orke
d i iv i
u p t o a t re m e n ou s ly m p r e ss
,

e c l m ax
"
.

Th C it i A hi i l vlp d wi h d p
fi
e r c n s t o r ca no e e r m e a te t a ee
l ig i i i wh i h f l
n t e re s t h y i d
fig
re ou s n c ro m rs t t o ast t e s to r s om
i d b bi g li v i
‘
G dfl y i
’
na n t a n Th a s or n e a s a ure t o e n
th i gi i ”
e m a na t o n .

Th N w Y k H e ld e A p i l ly l v
or y er a : n e xc e t on a c e e r s to r

em i ly f h d ig i l T h h h
n e nt re s pi l
an y or na . e a ut or a s a ca ta s to r
,

t o t e ll , h e t e l ls i t c o ns u m m a t e ly we ll
a nd T h e b e a te n
d
.

t r ack h a s n o t a l lu r e h i m , a n d t h e c h a ra c te rs t o w h o m h e
d v d
i n t ro u ces u s a re n o t s uc h a s we m e e t i n e e ry a y n o e ls v
i i i i
.

T h s is t h e c row n n g m e r t o f t h s bo o k .

Th Ch p B k G iv h d i g p bli pp ity t or t u n
dp y h
e a oo es e re a n u c an o
t w l w d i w i p f
dy
o e co m e a n e an n te n se r te r a ro ou n s c o
l gi l p w f l li Y h w v h
i b d h d i b
o ca s tu a o er u c m ax e t, o e er m uc
th i gi w i ll b f
.

e m a na t o n h e u se t e a ut or e oun to r se e
H ig h M
,

d i h h f fC p Ch i i t r st

p w f l i E g li h fi i
on t; t e sce ne a t a ss on e e as t o or us
bi ge n f h o ne o t e m os t o er u n n s ct on .
"

Th I d p d e t n W h v e en d h i p li en : e a e re a t s e cu ar r o m a nce
wi h b hl i f vl i y
n t e re s t
q
t re a t e ss a r o m a nce o re o u t on a r ex

p i i I ly ; l i f l i k i i g pi f
ifi
e r e nce s n ta t y e e, s t rr n c t u re s ue , a s or o

p i
as s o n , s a cr d gi gy ce , a n t ra c e ne r
,

q
.

y W ld d pi
v gl w g W h l d li f —h f w iki g
Th L it A p w f l
y—
e er a r or o er u an ct u re s ue
s t or it
d
a ca n as o in co o r a n e t e e s tr n
h a rac te rs s ta n fi l t li W h ily
d T h G dfly
c ou t i n rm , re so u e out nes . e e a rt
’
co m m e n e a .

Th p f l C
i e t i l a I
"
v y w y h p th i lli g
o o m m er c a n e er a s ar , r n ,
t
e n e r ta i n i n
g .

Th Ch i g P t A w f l d l ik h
k d h ld d
e ca o os o er u st or an un e ot e rs
of i ts h
in
p o i y
i ly h d
s t e re a e r 5 a tte n t o n s tr c t
, ,

to t e en
”
, .

Th Ch i g Ti H ld Th G dfl y i
m e s-
“ ‘ ’

w h i lw i d g h i g f
e ca o er a : e a s a t re
m
ed n
ou s s tory I g lik . t oe s o n e a r n , at er n orce
"
as i t r us h e s .

HENRY HOLT CD , fix fifi
z -z ?“
.
gz k
 S econd Ed i ti on of a Bri ll i a nt Wor k .

S oci al f orces in
(Berm an l i terature .

By P R OF E SSOR K UNO F R ANCKE e t . vo . ne .

A it i l p h i l p h i l d h i t i l t f a cco u n
d ti d t b d d
cr ca o so ca an s o r ca o
l it
, .

G e rm a n t th t i e ra ure t a s es ne o e a s an ar
w k f b th p f i l d g l an e ne ra
l t d i
or or o ro e ss o na
an d th t h ab t as G een y Th ra n s a e n erm an e
p th t i b gi
.

th tyl
’
i l d H m
fi ft h t y d d w i t h
au or s s y e s c ea r a n s a e c e e ns
w i th t h
.

g e f th sa as o e ce n u r an en s

y ti
' ”
H au pt m a nn s m l pl y H l s ca a a n ne e

N w Y k T ib A pid d p t ti an e ne n
It i d i
e or r une: ra ra re
vi w f w h l t i l l it t lt
d by
e o a o e na on a era ure s cu

y f it v l
.

t o se e h w it l o o se s f th l an o s a ue or e e arne
it i t y t i t t v y t h g h t f l d th l i
d f E p l it t d t
s ca p ac o n ere s e er ou u an ca o c
re a er o uro H ean p e ra u re . e res on s no
ly t th t b t t th t d i ll l
i d ivi d l
on o p e p as u o e r e se n an n a re a
ti
, ,

h i h P f um a n F k n
i d f wh i h h t t H
on s e s r o e s so r ra nc e ua
i
.

h p k it l; e m a
ld h dly b
ze s e a c er o o c e re a s es re a
ti
.

it w t y th t h xa on e en
d w it w i th
ou ar gg e an e e ra o sa a
th i g l i k h
so m e l ity um a n
t d
o s p n e a e rso na

p i i g w ith th li i
.

It i t hi m s co m
d h w —p t d
s sur r s n p e e S a ce a
ti t
,

h
—f
m an yo m an pm en oe s, ra m a s s, re a c e r s,
h il
,
y t ph l t f th or m e r s r om
f O t pi d t t h t f H i d p
e s sa i s s, y o so e r s, i er a r re e
ti m e o h h l e ne , asm a e r so n a
i d ivi d l d i t i t
r e o a o e e ,
”
n ua , s nc .

A d w D Wh i t
'
Th H e on x P
n ia t f C
re ll e, e - r es en o or n e
t i b ti
. .

U i i ty A bl
“
t th hi t f
t d
n ver s : no e co n r u on o e s or o
ivi l i t i d v l bl t ly t t f
i t t d i th
c za on, a n a ua e no on o s u en s o er
m an l it t erab t t l l wh ur e , u o a o a re n e re s e n e
"
p rog f
r e ss o o u r r a ce .

Th N t i Th f vi i “
i h co m
iv b t th d il did
e a g on : p e ra n e o s on s re en
t b Th pl
d tb f
s e, u e et a s are no o scu re e s en
l it
.

a n o ra m a o fG t ierm an
fi t tb t f h i
p p e ra ur e s s rea ou e or e
f ro mth g i th di m
d y f t h i t i d w t th l t t d i q i t i g
us e rs ou urs o ero c s on n e

d ti f q
s o e m ra on s, o n o e a es s u e n
gt h B l i
a
h l Th t
dp t th d
p ro uc o ns 0 e er n sc oo e re u en
ti
.

f th t th lt ox e s m a es are
d i ti t d
e a r u re s r om e or o e r e su
f th w vi w p i t Th y ft -

d it i t wl dg
o e ne e o n . e are o en a s nc a
on k o our no e e .

P f r o ess or F i d i h P l r f th U i
e r c i ty f a u se n o e n ve r s o
B l in :It i ith
“
d y w sum m a r
i l d v y p ibl f t
er s ne y er a r n or a eari
s om e tt pt t em It
d i th
a o nc u e e er o ss e ac
f t h vi t l v
.

p t th t t f m o em en s o
t d
u s e re a er n e cen er o e a
th t i m e O ft f l i f th th t
dd d th di
e ne o en ee s a s e au or s r ea e
lv
.

l ly t h i
e m se ; h m t
d d b k b t th
a r e ss e p es e r so n a o e sco u rse
com i g t th g h b y g
n no ro u on e ea oo s. u ra er
th roug h l ivi g n m en .

N ti l Ob d B iti h R i w A l t g th “

f it k i d t h t h d i G
a on a s e r ve r a n r s ev e : o e er
th b e t b es k oo o pp s n a as a ea re n er
m an y , t f it f
o r ou v y l g ti o , or a er on m e .
”

HENRY HOLT CO , .
M
a gg y
“