INTRODUCTION

TO THE

SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION
TO THE

SCIENCE OF RELIG
FOUR, LECTURES
DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL INSTITUI
IN FEBRUARY

AND MAY,
"BY

1870.

P,

MAX
Fortfffn

MtTLLEB,
&
the

M.J*

Member

French

Institute, ttc.

ISTew 'Edition.

SSMPBft,

QU^^B

OMN2St||C

LONGMAN^ GBEEN, AND

1882.

<3t>

OXFORD:
BY
X,

HOKABD BALL,

M.A.,

AND

J.

H. STACT,

FBINKEBS TO THE U^lVJUtSITY.

CONTENTS.
ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION:
Lecture I
Lecture II
*

Lecture
Lecture

HI
IV
:

52 83

145

AND ILLUSTBATIONS

The Emperor AH>ar The Languages of Africa

Tedic Literature
Polynesian Mytholog7
.

....
.
.

236

The Chinese name

for

God

*
,

24

Mythology of the Hottentots , The Sacred Books of the East

2>?6
.

Index

2^8

PREFACE,
THESE Lectur&, intended as an
introduction to a

comparative study of the principal religions of the worid4 were delivered at the Boyal Institution in

London, in February tod March 1870, and printed in Fraser's Magazine of February, March, April, and May of the same year. I declined at that time to
publish them in a s'Sparate form, hoping that I might find leisure n to wOrk up more fully the materials
whicify I

had

collected for

many

years.

I thought
these lectures

that I should thus be enabled to

make

more

and more complete, and at the same time meet several objections that had been raised by some critics against the very possibility of a scientific
instructive

study of religions, and against the "views which I ventured to put forward on the origin, the growth, and the real yalue of the ancient systems ol faith,
elaborated

by

different branches of the

human mee.

small edition only of these 'lectures wad printed privately, and sent to some of my frienda, whose

remarks 4iave proved in

man$
oa.

cases most valuable

and
If

instructive.

republishing these Lectures, I have done so because I fear that as during

I

now

have decKled

the three years that have elapsed since their delivery,

VOX

PREFACE.
"

so again during the years to come I shall find little * I have just finished a lefeure fo* thesu researches*

new -edition
feef^ bound

to print* the

of the test of the Kig-veda, ami I now lasi* vdlurae of iffy large

edition of the
S&yarza,

Big-vda witB
tha*
is

the

commentary of

When

done, Ihe translation of the

hymrta of the Big-veda, of wlfich \he first volume was published in 1869, mil h&ve te be continued,

and I

see but little chance tnat,

before me, I shall be able to devote

with these .tasks much time to my

favourite study- of ancient language, mythology,

religion.

and

I should gladly

have

left these

Lectures to their

hav8 beeiurepublished in America, and translated in France and Italy /they have become the subject of friendly and unfriendly
ephemeral fate; but as they

remarks in several works on Comparative Theology. A German translation also being on the eve of publication, I at last

determined to publish them in their

original form, find to rendej

them at

least as perfect

as I could at the present moment. The Lectures as now printed, contain considerable portions which

were written in 1870, but had to be

course of
delivery,

left

out in the

and

therefore also in Fraser's

and supnotes as I had made from timfc to time plementary in the course of my reading, and a few remarks were
Magazine.
I have inserted such corrections

added at the

last

moment, whifet seeing these sheets

through the Press.

For more complete information on many

PREFACE.
touched upon in these Letjires, I must refar
reader? to

IX

my
J

of"Religi<m and the Essays on Mythology * Traditions and .Customs, published in 9863 nder tfie title of'Chiptf ^x>m
Scieitfg

my

Essays

w^

tfc$

a Girma|i Workshop^, The literature -of Cdfcaparative .-Theology is growing rapidly, particularly Jh Aratajea. The works of JSames
F. Clarke, Sanwiel Johnson, O. B. Frothingham, the lectures of T. W. Higgbison, W. C. Gannett, and J. W.

all

Chadwick, the philosophical pa$>ers by F. E. Abbot show tiiat the New World, in* spite of all its preoccupations, has not ceased to feel at one with the
a

witness to a deep conviction that the st^dy of* the ancient religions of mankind will ^Lot remain without momentous practical results.

Old World;

all

tofer

'That study, I feel convinced,

if carried

on in a bold,
spirit,

but

scholar-like, careful,

and reverent
difficulties

will

remove

many

doubts and

which are due

raise our

entirely to the narrowness of our religious horizon;

it

will enlarge

our sympathies,

it ^rill

thoughts above the small controversies of the day, and at no dis^nt future evoke in the very heart of
Christianity a fresh spirit,

and a new

life.

F.MLM.
OXPOED, May
1

is, 1873*

Since reputti&ed with 1881.

ad&tona

in 'Selected Essays,* a vols.

DEDICATED

TO RALPH WALDO EMERSON

IN

MEMORY OF

HIS VISIT TO

OXFORD

IN MAY, MDCCCLXXIII,
AftD IN

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF CONSTANT REFRESHME1

OF HEAD AND HEART
DERIVED FROM HIS WRITINGS

DURING THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS,

LECTUEE.
DELIVERED AT JTHE ROYAL INSTITUTION",
Ip, 1870.

I Undertook for the first time to deliver a course of lectures in this Institution, I chose for my subject the Sciefice of Language. What I then had at heart was to show to you, and to the woi'ld at

WHEN
scientific

large, that the

comparative study of the principal

languages of
results

mankind was based on sound and truly principles^ and that it had brought to light

whict deserved a larger share of public interest

than*they had as yet received. I tried to convince not only scholars by profession, but historians, theologians, and philosophers, nay everybody who had once felt the charm of gazing inwardly upon the secret workings of his own mind, veiled and revealed
as they are in the flowing folds of language, that the discoveries made by comparative philologists could no

longer be ignored with impunity; and I submitted that after the progress achieved in a scientific study
of the principal branches of the vast realm of human speech, our new science, the Science of Language,

might claim by right

its

seat at the Bound-table of

the intellectual chivalry of our ftge, Such was the goodness 01 the cause I haft then to defend that, however imperfect my own pleading, the
verdict of the public has been immediate and almost unanimous. During the yeara that have elapsed since

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE

0:F

BELIGIOtf,

the deliv^ujr of
nition

my first

of Language has Lad

its

course of lectures, the Science share of public recog-

Ml

Whether we look at the number

3

*of

books

that have been published for tha a$vaneen*3nt and elucidation of our scienee or.at the excellent articles in the daily, weekly, forfcaightly, monthly, and
quarterly reviews, or at the fi^que^t notices of
results* scattered
its

about

in

works

theology,
satisfied.

and Gej'rcmny in founding chairs of Sanskrit and Comparative Phi* lology, has been followed of late in nearly all tho
need not fear
universities of England, Ireland, and Scotland. for the future of the Science of Language*

and ancient The example

history, we set by France

philosophy, "may well rest

on

We

career so auspiciously begun, Jta spite of strong prejudices that had to be encountered, Vill lead on from year to year to greater triumphs. Out best
if they have not done so already, will soon have to follow the example set by tho universities* It is but fair that nchoolboyB who arc made to devote so many hours every day to the laborious acquisition of* languages, should now and thon IKS taken by a safe guide to efijoy from a higher point of

public schools,

view that living panorama of human speech which has been surveyed and carefully napped out by patient explorers and bold discoverers nor is there any longer an excuse why, even in tho most elementary lessons, nay I should aay, why more particularly in theae elelnentary lessons, the*dark and dreary passages of Greek and Latin, of French and Gorman, grammar, should not Jbe brightened by the
:

electric light of Comparative Philology. last year I travelled in Germany I

When

found

LECTURE

I.

SL

that lectures on Comparative Philology Wco attended in the universities by nearly all who Btftdy fireek and

At Leipzig there were Jmndreds of ntti/lents room of the Profi!Ms<# of Comparajiive Philolog/, and tfce classes of the Professor of Sanskrit conn&ted of more than fifty uitdi?rLatin.

who

crrftoded the Tecticre

graduates,

most*x>f

them wishing

to

acquire *thafc
is

amount of knowledge *of Sanskrit which

necessary before
entering

absolutely

upon a study of Com-

paratire Grammar. The introduction of Greek into the imiverHiUcs of

Europe in the fifteenth century could hardly have caused a greater revolution than the discovery of Sanskrit and the study of Comparative) Philology in the nineteenth. Very few indeed now take their
degree of Master of Arts in Germany or would bo allowed to teach at a public nchciol, without having been examined in the principle** of Comparative
Philology,

nay

in the elements of Sanskrit

grammar,

be different in England? Th0 intellectual fibre, I know, is not different in the youth of England and in the youth of Germany, and if there is but a fair field and no favour, Comparative* Philology, I feel convince^ will noon hold in Kngland too, that place which it ought to hold at overy public school, in

Why

should

it

* every university, and in every classical examination In beginning to-day a courae of lectures on the

to

Sinoe thi8*wuB written, CompitrMivo Ailology hftft beta admitted In th fiiwi Pobtto place in the University of Oxford. 4 Examination candidate* for Honour* in or L*tia LiWhitaiw wtt
its rightful

Grk

Comparative Philology iliu*far*tlag the Greek and Latin Ungu*g, In th flnul Pnbllo Comp*rative Philology will form * spl*l subject, by tfaa tide rtf th hittory of Ancient Literature.

be

oxfttnined in th* elenientu

<ff

B a

LECTUEE3 OK THE SCIENCE JF KELIGION.

e crflteliffion,

or I should rather say

on some

preliminary points that have to he settled before we can enter upon a truly scientific study of the* religions
of
this

I feel as I felt* whfcn first pleading in for th>Bcience*of very place Language. I know that I shall have to meet determined antfio

world,

tagonists
Hcientitic

denied

possibility of a of religions, as formerly they the possibility of a ^cientifTe treatment of

who

will

deny the Tory*

treatment

languages.

I fores* to

even far more serious

conflicts

with familiar prejudices and <loip-rooted convictions; but 1 feel at the same time that i am prepared to moot my antagonists, and I have such faith in their
honesty and love of truth, that
patii-rifc

I doubt not of a nml impartial hearing out their part, and of a vonlicfc itittminctul by nothing but by* the evidence that I shall have to place before them,

In these our days it i almost impossible to speak of ruligioa at all, without giving offunoo either on the With nowu, religion mutinM too right or on tin loft,
1
,

Haeruil
it

a subject for scientific tri*atitiunt; with others stands on fi lovoi with lchotny and astrology, as a
tissue of errors or haluci nations, far beneath tho

mere

notice of the

man

of science,

I accept both tnese views, R$* a sacred subject, and whether in its most perfect or in its most imperfect fonn it has a right to our highest reverence. In this respect we might learn something from those whpm we are so ready to teach. I quote .from tho Declaration of Principles' by which the church founded by Keshufe Chuader Sen professes to be guided, After stating that no created object ahali ever be worshipped, nor any man or inferior being

In a certain sonso,

ligion is

LECTURE

I.

like

or material object be treated as identical ^ijb God, or unto God, or as an 'incarnation o God* and tltat

no prayer or hymn shall be sai$ unto or In the <name of any one except declaration continues Ood^the 'No created being $r object that has been or^ay
:

hereafte? be worshipp^i liy any sect shall be ridiculed or contemned injhe Bourse of the" divine service to be

conducted here.

'No book
infallible

shall be

acknowledged or received as the

;

Word

of

or
*

may

hereafter

Go3 yet no book which has been be acknowledged by any sect to be

infallible shall

be ridiculed or contemned.'

No

sect shall be vilified, ridiculed, or hated.*

It might bo thought, perhaps, that these broad sentiments of religious toleration were borrowed by Keshub Chflnder Sen, or rather by the founder of

the Brahma-Sam&j,
writers.

Eammohun Boy,
bo
so.

from Christian

That

may

But they need not have

gono to Europe for these truly Christian principles. They might have found them inscribed on the very rocks of India, placed there more than 2000 years ago by Aaoka, who ruled from 259 to sm B,c. Aaoka, who had left thfc old Vedic religion, and had embraced the essential principles of Buddha's teaching, says"in ono of bin Edicts: 'Tho King Piyadaei wishes that all sects should dwell everywhere
(

(unmolested); for all of them approve of restraint (of the sonsos) and purification of the soul,' And again, 6 The Kinjf Piyadasi honours all sects, monks and: householders; he honours them* by liberality and various kinds of favours. . * * But there is a fundamental law
for every sect,

namely moderation in

speech, that one

should not exalt one's

own

sect in decrying others,

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE. OF BELIGIGN,

and not depreciate them lightly, but that one ought on tbe contrary to^how always^to other sects the honour due o them. In th$ manner one exalts one's own se<$, and benefits others, while in Acting otherwise ono injiftes one's own sect, and cfges not benefit others,

He who
It

exalts his

own

sect

from devotion toliis own sect in order to make it illustrious, but really in acting thus he only damages
his
all

agd decries

otfeers, cloes

own sect. Therefore peace 'alone cs good, so that should hear and listen glailly to the opinion of

others

The Students

of the Science of Religion snouui

at all events endeavour not to be outdone in impartiality by this ancient king. Apd, as for myself, I

can promise that no ono who attends these lectures, be he Chrintian or Jew, Hindu or iWohanmiGdan, shall hear his own way of serving God spoken of irreveBut true reverence does not consist in derently claring a subject, because it is dear to us, to bo unfit for free and honest inquiry: far from itt Truo reve'*

rence

IH

shown

in treating ovrry subject,

howewr

however dear to u, with jwrfnct confidence; without fear and without favour; with tenderness and love> by all moans, kit, before all, with an unflinching and uncompromising loyalty to truth, On the other hand, I fully admit that roligion ban
sacred,
1

*Le

TfutcriptionB

<fo

rfyatburi,'

par K, Hetmrt,
to

1881,

p,

174$

8epttt<me Kdit; p. 349, DoussJlm

9

Kclit.

My

fttttmtinn

haw

\mm

direc-teil

& cunoun ln^7io

tlie

of reni

AtaviMin,

founder of the PMtttn' that in the genrftl thr(ij>innm,B,t DeHSfin, wrote Rlnifmt { of idem rertn divine wervico at hin achmil nothing Hh^ihl happen by wont or Awd, oouU iwi be approval if by every wnrfthipptr of Ood, be h* Jw, Moliamfnodan, PeiHt/ He ' Aroliiv fur Leben*bo' / p. 63; Kftuiuer, Gusolm-hto der Padagogik/ ii. p. 374.
fnibm*,

My great grand

BAe<low,

LECTUEE
stood" in former ages,
if

I.

7
ojir

and stands also in

own

age,

abroad, andif we look iafco some of the highest and some of the lowest places af home, on a
level with
tions, little short of

we look

alchepiy^nd astrology. There exist supeKati* fet^hism and, what is worse, %ere
;

exists hypocrisy, as

ba/jl

as

thaof the Roman

to

augurs*

In practical
neutral

Jife it

would bo wrong

assume a

position between such conflicting^ views. see* that the reverence due to religion 5s violated, we are bound to protest; where we see that superstition saps the roots of faith, and hypocrisy

Where wo

poisons the springs of morality, we must take sides. But as students of the Science of Religion we move
in

a higher and mere serene atmosphere.

error, as the physiologist studios

its causes,

We study a disease, looking for

tracing its influence, speculating on possible l/wte i/o5<ro?, but leaving the application of such remedies to a different class of men, to

remedies of this

the surgeon and the practical physician. Dwer&oa diver&a jtwant applies here as everywhere else, and a division of labour, according to the peculiar abilities

and

tastes of different individuals, will

always yield

tho best results.

The

stftdont of the history of the

physical sciencoB is not angry with tho alchemists, nor docs ho arguo with tho astrologies : ho rather
tries to enter into their

view of things, and to

dis-

cover in the errors of alchemy the seeds of chemistry, and in the halucinations of astrology a yearning and groping after a true knowledge of the heavenly bodies.
It is the

same with the "student of the Science of

Religion.

He

what foundation
laws
it

wantg, to find out what Religion is, it has in the soul of man, and what

follows in its historical growth,

For that

LEtfTTOES Off

THE SCIENCE

0ff

BELIQION.

more instructive purpose th study of errors is to him than the ^tudy. of that religion which he considers the ijrue on, and the^smiling augur as interesting a face in subjject as the Boman suppliant wl^o*veiled his, his God. be alone*with he might pray%r,-that

The very title of the* Science^of Keligion w*ll jar, I know, on the ears of many persons, and a comparison of alF the religions of the world, in which none can claim a privileged position, will no doubt seem to 1 many dangerous and reprehensible because ignoring that peculiar reverence which everybody, down to the mere fetish worshipper, feels for his (nun religion and for his own God. Let me say then at once that I myself have shared these misgivings, but that I have tried to overcome them, because I would not and
,

to be the truth, or

could not allow myself to surrender*eitherwhat I hold what I hold still dearer tha* the

Nor do I regret it. truth, the right of testing truth. I do not say that the Science of Religion is all gain. No, it entails losses, and losses of many things which

we hold dear. But this humble judgment goes,

if

it

I will say, that, as far as does not entail the loss of

my

anything that is essential to true religion, and that we strike the balance honestly, the gain 'is immeasurably greater than the loss. One of the first questions that was asked by classical

when invited to consider the value of the Science of Language, was, 'What shall we gain by a comparative study of languages V Language*, it was
scholars
said, are
1

wanted

for practidal purposes, for speaking

<Tbe so-called "Science of Religion" Sf the present day, with its attempts to put into competition the sacred books of India and the Holy Scnptrcures, is deeply to be deprecated.' Bishop of Gloucester*

LECTURE

I.

and

and by studying too many languages au the risk of losing the firm g^asp which we ought to have on the few th%t are really important. Our kfcowledge^ *ljy becoming wider, must needg, it was thought, become $iallower, and the gain, if $here
ifeading
;

once,

we run

is

at all, would pr$duce,d any literature certainly be outweighed by the loss in accurate and
havfe

any,*in knowing never

he structure of dialects which

practical scholarship.* if jbhis could be said of

a comparative study of

languages, with

how much
a

urged

against
I

greater force will it be comparative study of religions!

do not expect that those who study the religious books of *Brahmans and Buddhists, of Confucius and Mohammed and Nanak, will be

Though

Laotse,jpf

accused of Cherishing in their secret heart the doc* trinen of those ancient masters, or of having lost the firm hold on their own religious convictions, yet I

doubt whether the practical utility of wider studies in the vast field of the religions of the world will be admitted with greater readiness by professed theologians than the value of a knowledge of Sanskrit, Zend, Gothic, or Celtic "for a thorough mastery of

Greek and Latin, and for a rettl appreciation of the nature, the purpose, the laws, the growth and decay of language was admitted, or is even now admitted, by some of our most eminent professors and teachers.
People ask, What is gained by comparison? Why, higher knowledge is acquired by comparison^ n,d If ?t is said that the kharact&r rests on comparison.
all

of scientific research jn our age is pre-emfeatly comparative, this really means that our researches are

now

based on the widest evidence that can be ob*

10

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE

on
t]ie

rOF BELIQION.

tained,

broadest inductions that can be gifcsped

by the hujnan jaind.

Wfcat
caiS

be gainqfl

by comparison ?

Why, look

a hundred years and examine ijjae folios of the most learned writers on questions connected with language, and then open a bofck written Igr the merest tiro in Comparative Philology, you will see what can be
at Jhe study of languages.
If ypfl ftgo bacfc but gained,' by the comparative few hundred yeafs ago, the idea^ that Hebrew was the original language of mankind was accepted as a matter of course, even as a matter of iaith, the only problem being to find out by what

gained,

what has been

method.

process Greek, or Latin, or

any

oiier language could

have been developed out of Hebrew.

The

idea, too,

that language was revealed, in the *scholatic sense of the word, was generally accepted, although, as arly as the fourtih century, St. Gregory, the learned bishop 1 of Nyssa, had strongly protested The against it . grammatical framework of a language was either considered as the result of a conventional agreement, or the terminations of nouns and verbs were

supposed

to have sprouted forth like *huds from the roots and stems of language; and the vaguest similarity in the sound and meaning of words was taken to be a sufficient

criterion for

testing

their origin

relationship.

Of

all this

philological

and their somnambulism

hardly find a trace in works published since the days of Humboldt, Bopp, and Grimm. Has there been any loss*here ? Has it not been pure gain"? Does language exjite our imagination
less,

we

because
1 '

we know

that,

though the faculty of

i.

Lectures on the Science of Language,' vol.

p. 32.

LECTUBE
speafting is
things, the

I.

11

the

work

of
<*>f

Him who

"W$ijJ$:s

nNS2

words for, naming each object was left to man, and j^as achieved through the working of %fre human mind? Is Hebrew Jess carefully studied, because it is no longer believed to be a repealed language, sent down from heaven, but a language doseljr allied to Arabic, Syriac and ancient Babylonian, and receiving light from these Cognate, and in some respects more primitive, languagesj for
invention

tha explanation of ifiany of

its

grammatical forms,

and

for

the

obscure and
articulation

interpretation of many of its difficult words? Is the grammatical

exact

of Greek

and Latin

less

instructive,

because instead ofseeing in the terminations of nouns and verbs merely arbitrary signs to distinguish the
plural from the singular, or the future from the
present,

we

can

now

perceive an intelligible principle

in

gradual production of formal out of the material elements of language? And are our etythe

mologies less important, because, instead of being suggested by superficial similarities, they are now

based on honest historical and physiological research? Lastly, has our own language ceased to hold its own Is our lover for our own native peculiar place?

tongue at alb impaired ?

Do men speak less boldly or pray less fervently in their own mother tongue, because they know its true origin and its unadorned history; because they know that everything in
language that goes beyond the objects of sense, is andOr does any one deplore the fact that there j.a in all languages, ^ven in the

must be pure metaphor?

the lowest savages, order and wisdom; jargons of nay, something that makes the world akin?

12

LEOTUBKS ON THE SCIENCE

iji$n,

dOF RELIGION.

Why,

should

we

hesitate to apply the* com-

results parative method, which has produced such great in otfcer spheres of knpwledge, to a study of religion?
it will change many of the *vjews commonly held*about the origin, the character, the growth, and decay of the religions "of the -yorld, I do n<ft deny;

Th%t

but unless
inquiries,

we

which

hold Tihat fearless, progression in new is our bounden duty and our honest

pride in all other branches of knowledge, is dangerous allow ourselves to in the study of religions, unless

Ve

be frightened by the once famous dictum, that whatever is new in theology is false, this ought to be the

why a comparative study of religions should no longer be neglected or delayed. When the students of Comparative Philology boldly adapted Goethe's paradox, He who &nows one language
very reason
'

knows none^ people were startled at first; butthey soon began to feel the truth which was hidden beneath the paradox. Could Goethe have meant that Homer
did not

know

Greek, or that Shakespeare did not

I

know

bhan his

them knew more own mother tongue ? No what was meant was that neither Homer nor Shakespeare knew what
English, because neither of
that language really ^ras
f

which he handled with so much power and cunning. Unfortunately the old rerb to can/ from which 'canny' and 'cunning,' is ost in English, otherwise we should be able in two tfords to express our meaning, and to keep apart the wo kinds of knowledge of which we are here speaking.
Is

we say in German konndh

to can,
;

is

not bennen,

we might
is

ay in English,

m
.t

that

is to Jbe

cunning,

not

to

that is to

once,

would then become clear that the most eloquent speaker and the most
it

know and

LECTURE

I.

19

gifted poet, with all their cunning of wordg ^nd skilful mastery of expression, ^rould have toot litfte to say if asked, -vfhat really is language,? The same applies to
religion.

He

tyfto^knows one,

knows none.

There, are

thousands of people -^hose faith is such that'it'fcould move mountains, ang who yet, if they were asked what religion ^ally is, would remain silent, or would speak of outward tokens rather than of th^ inward
nature, or of the faculty of faith. 3t will be easily perceived that religion
rt

means

at

least

two very

different things.

When we

speak of

the Jewish, or the Christian, or the Hindu religion, we mean a body of doctrines handed down by
tradition, or in canonical books, and containing all that constitutes the faith of Jew, Christian, or Hindu.

Using religion in that

sense, we may say that a man has Changed his religion, that is, that he has adopted the Christian instead of the Brahmanical body of religious doctrines, just as a man may learn to speak

English instead of Hindustani. But religion is also used in a different sense.

there
is

As

a faculty of speech, independent of all the historical forms of language, there is a faculty of
faith in

If

we say

man, independent of <all historical religions. that it is religion which distinguishes man

from the animal, we do not mean the Christian or Jewish religion; we do not mean any special religion; but we mean a mental faculty or disposition, which,
independent
enables

nay in spite of sense and jreaacv apprehend the Infinite under different names, and under pwrying disguises. ,"Wtoout that of faculty, no religion, not even the lowest worship idols and fetishes, would be possible ; and if we will
of,
fc

man

to

14

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

we can hear in all religions a the ingroaning o/ the,j9pirit, a struggle to conceive r a utter to longing after conceivable, $ie unutterable, a love of*God. Whetjbfir the etymology the
but listen attentively,
^Infinite,

the ancients gave of the rGreek word fodptoiros, man, be true or not (thfy derivejj. it from 6 &v& &6p&v, he who looks upward), certain it r is tljat what makes man man, is that he alone can turn his face to

whic

heaven f certain

it is

that he alone yearns for some-

thing that neither sense nor reftson can supply,, nay for something which both sense and reason by themselves are
I

bound to deny. then there is a philosophical discipline which examines into the conditions of sensuous or intuitional

knowledge, and if there is another philosophical discipline which examines into the conaitions*of rational or conceptual knowledge, there is clearly a place for a
third philosophical discipline that has to examine into the existence and the conditions of that third faculty of man, co-ordinate with, yet independent of, sense and
1 reason, the faculty of the Infinite , which is at the all of In we German can distinguish root religions. that third faculty by the name of Vernunft, as opposed

In English I to V&rstand, reason, and Sinn, sense. know no better name for it, than the faculty of faith, though
it

in order to confine

will have to be guarded by careful definition, it to those objects only, which can-

not be supplied either by the evidence of the senses, or ,by the evidence of reason, and the existence f which is nevertheless postulated }fy something without us
1 I use the word Infinite, because it is lescfliable to be misunderstood than the Absolute, or the Unconditioned, or the Unknowable. On the distinction between the Infinite and the Indefinite, see Kant, * Critique

of Pure Reason, translated

by M. M.,

vol.

ii,

p.

443.

LECTTOE

I.

15

which we cannot resist. No simply historical fact can e^er fall under the> cognisance of faijji, in our sense of *the word.
look at*t]ie history of modern thought,, we dominan school of philosophy, pretious to Kanf, had reducec^all intellectual activity to one NiMl in intellects quod faculty, that of _the Censes, non ante fuerit in sensu' Nothing exists in the
If

w$

find that the

'

but what has before existed in the senses/ watchword ;*and Leibniz answered epigrammatically, but most profoundly, 'Nihil nisi intellectual Yes, nothing but the intellect.' Then followed Kant, who, in his 'Criticism of Pure Eeason/ written ninety years ago, but not yet antiquated, proved that our knowledge requires, besides the data of sensation, the admission of Ihe intuitions of space and time,
intellect

wa

their

and the categories, or, as we might call them, the laws and necessities of the understanding. Satisfied
with having established the a priori character of the
intuitions of space and time, or, to technical language, satisfied with, having proved the possibility of synthetic judgments a priori, Kant declined to go further, and he most energetically

categories

and the

use his

own

denied to the human intellect tbe power of transcending the finite,* or the faculty of approaching the InHe closed the ancient gates through which finite.

man had gazed into Infinity ; but, in spite of himself, he was driven in his Criticism of Practical Reason,' to open a side-door through which to admit the sense of duty, and with it the sen& of the Divine. Tbis has always seemed to me the vulnerable point *in Kant's philosophy, for if philosophy has to explain what is, not what ought to be, there will be and can be no
*

16
rest

LECTURES ON THE SCIENOE.OF RELIGION.

till

we admit that
fr

there

is

in

man a

third faculty,

TOhich I

the faculty of apprehending the ^all si$nply in ndb only religion, but in all things; a Inflate, poorer independent o sense and refispn, a poorer in a certfiur sense contradicted by^sense and reason, but

yet a very real powefj which as held its cTwn from the beginning of th% world, neither nor reason jiense being able to overcome it, while it alone is able to

overcome in many cases both reason and sense 1 According to the two meanings of the word* re.

ligion, then, the science of religion is

divided into two

parts; the former, which has to deal with the historical forms of religion, is called Comparative Theo1 As this passage lias given rise to strange misunderstandings, I ' It is quote a passage from another lecture of mine,m not yet published difficult at present to speak of the human mind &n any technical language whatsoever, without being called to order by some philosopher or other. According to some, the mind is one and indivisible, and it is the subject-matter only of our consciousness which gives to the acts of the mind the different appearances of feeling, remembering, imagining, knowing, willing or believing. According to others, mind, as a subject,

has no existence whatever, and nothing ought to be spoken of except I states of consciousness, some passive, some active, some mixed. myself have been sharply taken to task for venturing to speak, in this enlightened igih century of ours, of different faculties of the mind, faculties being purely imaginary creations, the illegitimate offspring of mediaeval scholasticism* STow I confess I am amused rather than frightened by such pedantry* Faculty, facultas, seems to me BO good a word that, if it did not exist, it ought to be invented in order to express the different modes of action of what we may still be allowed to call our mind. It does not commit us to more than if we were to speak of -&.Q facilities or agihfaes of the mind, and those only who change the forces of nature into gods or demons, would be frightened by the faculties as green-eyed monsters seated in the dark recessfs of our Self. I shall therefore retain the name of faculty/ &c. On the necessity of admitting a faculty of perceiving the Infinite I ' have treated more folly in my Lectures on the Science of Language/ voL ii pp. 635-632. The subject is ably discussed by Niootra Sangiawmo, in IS In/into di Masc-Mitiler, Oatama, i8Sa,

LECJTTOE
i

I.

IT

latter,

under which
lowest form,

religion,

which has to explain the<nditions whether in its'higjiest or its

is possible, is callecfr Theoretic Theoltyy. skall at present Jiave to*deal with the Jfopner only; nay it will be object to show that the

We

my

problems which chieiy occupy .theoretic theology, ought not to be*taken up till all the evidence, that can possibly be gained from a comparative sfoidy of the religions of the world has been fully collected, I feel certain that the time classified, and analysed. will come when all that is now written on theology, whether from an ecclesiastical or philosophical point of view, will seem as antiquated, as strange, as unaccountable as the" works of Vossius, Hemsterhuys, Valckenaer, and Lqpnep, by the side of Bopp's Comparative Grfftnmar.
It fhay seem strange that while theoretical theology, or the analysis of the inward and outward conditions under which faith is possible, has occupied so many

thinkers, the study of comparative theology has never as yet been seriously taken in hand, But the explanation is very simple. The materials en which alone

a comparative study of the religions of mankind could have been founded were not acceSsible in former days, while in our own days they have come to light in
such profusion that individual to master
it is

almost impossible for any

all.

them

It is well known that the Emperor Akbar (1543-* 1605)* had a passion for the study of religions, a&cl that he invited to his court Jews, Christians. Moham-

medans, Brahmans, and Zoroastrians, and had as many of their sacred books as he could get access to, trans*SeeNoteA,QnAkbar,

18

LEOTUBT3S ON

THE

SarEJSTOE'OF RELIGION.

lated for fcfe

lection

own study *.

Yet,

how small was $e col-

We have the original text of the scholar which Veda, neithgr the bribes nor the threats of Akb^r could extort from the Brnhmnns. The translation f the Veda which he is said to have obtained, was a translation of the so-called AtHarva-veda, and comprised most likely the Upanishads only, ai^tic and philosophical treatises, very interesting, very important in themselves, but as far removed from the ancient poetry of the Veda as the Talmud is from the Old Testament, as Sufiism is frofh. the Koran. We have the Zendavesta, the sacred jmtings of the soany poor
!

parejfl

offered books that even an Emperor of India could command not more than 300 years sigo, comto what may now be {ound in the library of

it,

called fire-worshippers, and we possess translations of far more complete and far more correct thafl any

that the Emperor Akbar obtained from Ardsher, a wise Zoroastrian whom he invited from Kirman to India 2 The religion of Buddha, certainly in many
.

respects more important than either Brahmanism, or Zoroastrianisnr, or Mohammedanism, is never men-

Thursday evening

tioned in the religious discussions that took place every 3 at the imperial court of Delhi.

no one
ism.

We possess the whole sacred canon of the Buddhists in various languages, in Pali, Burmese, and Siamese, in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese,
1 a 8

Abulfazl, it is said, the minister of AJ&ar, could find< to assist him in his inquiries respecting Buddh-

mpiinstone's History of India,' e< CWell, book ix. cap. 3. See 'Journal of tiie Asiatic Society of Bengal/ 1868, p. 14. See 'Ami Atbari/ transl. by Blochnmam, note
p. i/j,
3.

LEOTUBE

I.

19

and i is our fault entirely, if as yet tbfere is no complete translation in any European tojigue of this important collection of sacred" books. The arfeient religion* of China again, that of Confucius and^fhat of Laotse, may now be studie in excellent transla1

tions of their sacred feooks

by anybody
owe

interested in

the ancient

faitl

of ^mankind.

But

this is not all.

We

to missionaries par-

care&l accounts of the religious belief and wofship among tribes far lower in the scale of civilisation than the poets of the Vedic hymns, or the followers of Confucius. Though the belief of African and Melanesian savages is more recent in point of time, it may or may not represent an earlier and far
ticularly,

more primitive phase

in point of growth,

and

is there-

fore as instructive to the student of religion as the study* of uncultivated dialects hae proved to the

student of language 1 Lastly, and this, I believe, is the most important advantage which we enjoy as students of the history of religion, we have been taught the rules of critical
.

No one would venture, flow-a-days, to from book, whether sacred or profane, any quote without having asked these simple and yet momentous questions w hen was it written ? "Where ? and by whom? Was the author an eye-witness, or does he only relate what he has heard from others? And if the latter, were his authorities at least contemporaneous with fiie events which Jbhey relate, and were
scholarship.
:

See Tiele,

'

De

Plaats van de Godsdienflten der Nairarvolken in de

GodsdienstgesoluedeniB/ Aixurterdam, 1873. Keview,' *866, p. 71.

o a

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE

'OS

BELIGUON.

under the* sway of party feeling or any other disturbat once, ing influence? Was the whole book written or ddes it contain portions of an earlier date and if earlier docuso, 2^ it possible for us to separate tiisse
;

ments from the body of the bock ? A study of the original documents on wfiich the to be founded, principal religions of the world profeis carriedon in this spirit, has enabled some of our best living scholars to distinguish in each religion between

what
and

is

really ancient

dern; between what

their

and what is comparatively fiaowas the doctrine of the founders immediate disciples, and what were the

afterthoughts and, generally, the corruptions of later study of these later developments, of these ages.

later corruptions, or, it

without
lessons
;

its

own peculiar

yet, as it is

improvements, is not charm, and is full of practical essential that we should 'know

may be,

the most ancient forms of every language, before we proceed to any comparisons, it is indispensable also that we should have a clear conception of the most
primitive form of every religion, before we proceed to determine its 1 own value, and to compare it with other forms of religious faith. Many an orthodox Mo*

hammedan, for instance, will relate miracles wrought by Mohammed; but in the Koran MTohammed say%
distinctly, that

he

is

man

like other

men.

He

dis-

and appeals to the great works of Allah, the rising and setting of the sun, the
miracles,

dains to

work

rain that fructifies the eyth, the plants that grow, and the Jiving souls that are born into the world who can tell whence? as the leal signs and wonders in the eyes of a true believer. * I am only a warner,
1

ne says; <I cannot show you a sign

a miracle

LECTURE

I.

21
Signs are

except what ye see every day and night,,

withtk>dV The Buddhist legends teem with miserable miracles attributed to Buddha and his disciples miracles w^ieh
in wonderfulness certainly surpass the miracles 8 any other religion yet in^their own sacred canon a saying of Buddha's is jecoi;ded, prohibiting his disciples from
:

working miracles, though challenged to do so foy the multitudes, wtio required a sign that they might believe. And what is 'the miracle that Buddha comperform? 'Hide your good and confess before the world the sins you have committed/ That is the true miracle of Buddha. Modern Hinduism rests on the system of caste as on a rock which no arguments can shake but in the
his
disciples to
'

mands

deeds/ he says,

Veda, the highest authority of the religious belief of the Hindus, no mention occurs of the complicated system of castes, such as we find it in Manu: nay, in one place, where the ordinary classes of the Indian,
or

any other

society, are alluded to, viz. the priests,

the warriors, the citizens, and the slaves, all are represented as sprung alike from Brahman, the source
of all being.
It

would b too much

to

say that the

critical sifting

of the authorities for a study of each religion has been

already fully carried out. There is work enough still to be done. But a beginning, and a very successful beginning, has been made, and the results thus brought to light will serve as a wholesome caution, to every*

body who
1

is

engagejjL

in religious researcSes.

Thus,

'The Speeches and Table-talk of the Prophet Stanley Lane-Poole, 1882, InirocL p, juuvi and xtt.

Mohammad/ by

82
if

LEOTUBES ON THE SpIENCE

Otf

RELIGION.

the primitive religion of the Veda, we carefully, not only beween the h^rnms 'of the KSg-veda on one side, and the hyinns collected in th S&ma-veda, Ya#ur-ve$a, and

we stuj

ha?e to d^tingijish most

Athafv#-veda on the other, bu^

critical scholars dis-

tinguish with equal cate betwqpn the more*ancient and the more modefn hymns of Jthe Jlig-veda itself, so far "as even the faintest indications of language, of

grammar, or metre enable them to do sot In order to gain a clear insight into the motives and impulses of the founder of the worship of Ahuramazda,
the

we must
dialect,

chiefly, if

not entirely, depend on

thos-e portions

of the Zendavesta which are written in

GatM

a more primitive dialect than that

of the rest of the sacred code of the Zoroastrians, In order to do justice to Buddha,"we must not

mix

the practical portions of the Tripifaka, the Dharma, with the metaphysical portions, the Abhidharma.

Both, it is true, belong to the sacred canon of the Buddhists ; but their original sources He in very dif-

We have in Jhe history of Buddhism an excellent opportunity for watching the process by which a canon of saored books is called into existence.

ferent latitudes of religious thought.

We

see here, as elsewhere, that during the Hetime of the teacher, no record of events, no sacred code

the sayings of the master

containing

was wanted.

future, and more ^ particularly, of future greatness, seldom entered the

was enough, and thoughts of the

His presence

minds of those who followed him.

wuw
it

It

was only

after

vrxavL, ujjfuv

-MUjKt

VLJLBuJLUlGQ CbUUVjill UuUU

and master.

to recall the sayings and doings of their departed Mend At that time everything that seemed to

,LECTTIRB

I.

23

redound to the glory of Buddha, however extraordinary afcd incredible, -was eagerly ^elcojned 'while -witnesses who would have ventured to criticise or reject
unsupported statements, or to .detract in any Vay from the holy cfiaractef of Buddha, had no chanoe" of even beig listened to 1 Andwhen, in spite of all this, differences of opinion arose, they were not brought
.

to the test

by a

careful weighing of evidence, birt the

'

names of 'unbeliever and 'heretic' (n&stika, p&fihamfo) werp quickly invented in Injdia as elsewhere, and bandied backwards and forwards between contending
parties, till at last,

when the doctors disagreed, the help of the secular power had to be invoked, $nd kings and emperor^ assembled councils for the suppression of schism, for the settlement of an orthodox creed, and f<jr the completion of a sacred canon.

We

kno-v^ of King Asoka, the contemporary of Seleucus, sending his royal missive to the assembled elders, and
telling

them what

to do,

and what

to avoid,

warning

them

of the apocryphal or heretical character of certain books which, as he thinks,

also in his
2 ought not to be admitted into the sacred canon
1
.

own name

'Mahavansa,' p. 12, TX&nnebi tatha vatftabbam ita, 'it cannot be allowed to other priests to be present.' 3 The following is Professor Kern's translation of the Second Bairat Book Inscription, Containing the rescript which Ajoka addressed to the Council of Magadha; 'King Priyadarsin of Magadha greets the

denes) and wishes them welfare and happiness. Ye is our reverence and affection for the Triad which All that oar is called JBuddha (the Master), Fmth, and Ass&nlly. Lord BudcUp has spoken, my Lords, is well spoken. "Wfcerefor*, Sirs, it must indeed be regarded as hiring indisputable authority, se the
Assembly
(of

know,

Sirs,

now great

true faith shall last long. Thus, my Lords, I honour in Jhft first place these religious works : Summary of the Discipline, T&e Supernatural Powers of the Master (or of the Masters), The Terrors of the Future, The Song of the Hermit, The Sutra on Asceticism, The Question of Upatishya, and the Admonition of Mania concerning Falsehood,

24

LECTTJBES ON THE SOIENC^ OF BELIQ-ION.

here learn a lesson, which is confirmed .by the of Study *other jeligions, that canonical books, though most they furmsti in most cases the most ancientoand
authentic information within the reach of the. student of are not to be trusfted implicitly, nay, that
religion,

We

they must be submitted to a more searchingr>criticism and to more stringent tests than any other historical
books. For that purpose the Science of Language has proved in many cases a most valuable auxiliary. It is not easy to imitate ancient language so 9$ to deceive the practised eye of the grammarian, even if

were possible to imitate ancient thought that should not betray to the historian its modern origin. forged book, like the Ezour-ve^, which deceived even Voltaire, and was published by him as 'the most precious gift for which the West wag indebted to
it

scholar of the present day. from the East to the West,

the East,' could hardly impose again on any Sanskrit This most precious gift is about the silliest book

that can be read by the student of religion, and all one can say in its defence is that the original writer never meant it as a forgery, never intended it for the purpose for wfiich it was used by Voltaire. I may add that a J3ook which has lately attracted
considerable attention,
Jacolliot, belongs to the

La

same

Bible dan** FInde, by M, class of books. Though

the passages from the sacred 'books of the

Brahmans

uttered by our Lord Buddha. These religions works, Sirs, I wish that the monks and nuns, for the advancement of their good name, should

uninterruptedly study and remember, as also the laics of the male and female sex. 'For this end, my Lords, I cause this to be written, and have made my -wish evident,' See Indiai Antiquary, vol. v, p. 257 ;
pitaka,* voL L,

Cunningham, 'Corpus lasoript. India,' Xntrod.p,xL

p.

133; Oldenberg. 'Yinaynr

'

LECTUBB

I.

85

are ndt given in the original, but only in a vBeigr poetical French translation, no Sanskrit scholar woujd hesitate
for one tnoment to say that they are forgeries^ and that MdTacollio&Ihe President ef the Court of Justice at Chandernagore, hag been deceived by his* ri&tive
teacher.
*

We find man.y childish and foolish things in

line,

the Veda, but vtfien .we read the following extract from the Veda
:

as

an

'La famine
it is

c'egt

TAme de

1'htunajait^,

not difficult to see that this is the folly of the nineteenth century, and not of the childhood of the human race. M. Jacolliot's conclusions and theories are such as might be expected from his materials 1
.

With

all the

genuine documents for studying the

history of the religions of mankind that have lately been "brought to light, and with the great facilities

which a more extensive study of Oriental languages has afforded to scholars at large for investigating the deepest springs of religious thought all over the
world, a comparative study of religions has become a necessity. If we were to shrink *irom it, other
nations and other creeds would take up the work. lecture was lately delivered at Calcutta, by the
>

the Old Church), *0n tttfc Adi-Samaj (i.e. the Superiority of Hinduism to every other existing The lecturer held that Hinduism was Religion.'
minister of
superior to all other religions, 'because it owed its name to^io man; because it acknowledged no Baediator between God and* man; because the Hindu

worships God, in tha intensely devotiomf sense, as the soul of the soul because the Hindu alone caa
;

See Selected Essays, roL

Si.,

p.

468

sq.

26

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE. OF RELIGION.

worship

and everything; because,

at all times, in business and pleasure, -while other Scriptures inand virtue for the sake of culca^te the practice oi;piety eternal happiness, th Hindu Scriptures alon# mainfor the sake of tain*that God should be

God

worshipped

virtue J>ractised^for the sake*bf virtue alone ; because HMduism inculqates ijniversal benevolerfce. while other faiths merely refer to man;
alone,

God

and

because Hinduism
faiths are

is

good

if

the

non-sectarian (believing that all men whfl hold them are good),

non-proselytizing, pre-eminently tolerant, devotional to an entire abstraction of the mind from time and
sense, and the concentration of it on the Divine of an antiquity running back to tiie infancy of the human race, and from that time till now influencing in all particulars the greatest affairs of the State and the most minute affairs of domestic life 1 A Science of Religion, based on an impartial and
;

.*

truly scientific comparison of all, or at all events, of the most important, religions of mankind, is now only

a question of time. It is demanded by those whose voice cannot be disregarded. Its title, though implying as yet a promise rather than a fulfilment, has
become more or lese familiar in Germany, France, and America its great problems hava attracted the eyes of many inquirers, and its results have been anticipated either with fear or with delight, It becomes therefore the duty of those who have devoted
;

their life to the study of the principal religions of the

world in their original documents, and who value religion atd reverence it in whatever form it may present
itself,

to take possession of this

1

new

territory in

See 'limes, Oct.

27, 1872.

LECTURE
the

I.

7
to
jmjtectits

name

of true science,

and thus

sacred precincts from the inroads of those who think that they have a right to speak on* the ancieitt religions

of mankind, whejbter those of the Brahmans, the Zproastrians, or Buddhist^, or those of the Jews ftnd
Christian^ -without ev^r having'taken. the trouble of learning the languages in which their sacred books are written. What should we think of philosophers writing on the religion of Homer, without knowing

Greek, or on the religion of Mpses, without knowing

Hebrew

'<

wonder at Mr. Matthew Arnold 1 speaking scornfully of La Science des Religions, and I fully
I do not

agree with him that such statements as he quotes would take away the breath of a mere man of letters. But are these statements supported by the authority
of any* scholars? Has anybody who can read either the Vedas or the Old and New Testaments in the
original ever maintained that the Aryas passed into Palestine
c

the sacred theory of

from Persia and India, and got possession of the founder of Christianity and of his greatest apostles, St. Paul and St. John be;

and returning more and more to " its true character of a transcenAent metaphysic," as the doctors of* the Christian Church developed it$'
perfect,

coming more

lias Colebrooke, or Lassen, or Bournouf, ever suggested that we Christians, who are Aryas, may have the satisfaction of thinking that the religion of Christ has not came to us from the Semites, and that it is
'

in the

hymns

of the Veda^ind not in the Bible thafc

we

are to look for the primordial source of any religion ; that the theory of Christ is the theory of the
i
'

literature and Dogma,' p. 117.

28

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OP RELIGUON,

Vedic Agni, or fire\ that the Incarnation represents %he Ved^c solemnity of the*production of fire, symbol
of every ksnd, of all movement,* life, and and Spirit thought; that the Trinity o Fatfier, Son, is the* Vedic Trinity of Sur^ Fire, and Wind; and Mr. Arnold quotes God finally a cosmic unity*'
of
re

indeed the
successor.

name

of Burnouf, but ke ought to have

knowp. that Eugene Burnouf has left

Those

no son and no

use a comparative study Sf rea means for lowering Christianity by exalting the other religions of mankind, are to my mind as dangerous allies as those who think it necessary to
ligions as

who would

lower

all

other religions in order to exalt Christianity.

Science wants no partisans. I make no secret that true Christianity, I mean the religion of Christ, seems to me

more and more exalted the more w8 know and the more we appreciate the treasures of truth hidden in the despised religions of the world. But no one can honestly arrive at that conviction, unless he uses honestly the same measure for all religions. It would be fetal for any religion to claim an exceptional treatment, most of all for Christianity. Christianity enjoyed no privileges and claimed no immunities when it boldly confronted and Confounded thj most ancient and the most powerful religions of the world. Even at present it craves no mercy, and it receives no mercy from those whom our missionaries have to meet face to face in every part of the world. Unless Christianity has ceased to be what it was, its
to become

defenders should not shrink from this

new

trial

of

strength, but should encourage rather than depreciate the study of comparative theology.

I.

29

no other

this, in the very beginning, that with th exception, pojchaps. of early religion, Buddhism*, would have favoured the idea*of an^ im-

And -let me remark

partial qpmparisotf of the principal religions of the world would ever hav^ tolerated our science. Ne&rly

every reHgion seems Jp adopt *the language of the Pharisee rather ijian that of the Publican. It is Christianity alone which, as the religion of humanity, as

the religion

of*

no

caste,

of no chosen people, has

taught us to study tife history of mankind, as our own, to discover the traces of a divine wisdom and love in the development of all the races of the world, and to recognise, if possible, even in the lowest and crudest forms of religious belief, not the work of the devil, but something that indicates a divine guidance,

something that makes us perceive, with St. Peter, that God. is no respecter of persons, but that in every
'

nation he that feareth

is

him and worketh

soil so

righteousness

accepted with him/ In no religion was there a

well prepared for

the cultivation of Comparative Theology as in our own. The position which Christianity Jfrim the very

beginning took up with regard to Judaism, served as the first lesson in comparative tieology, and directed Jhe attention wen of the unlearned to a comparison of two religions, differing in their conception of the Deity,
in their estimate of humanity, in their motives of morality, and in their hope of immortality, yet shar-* ing so much in common that there are but few of the

psalms and prayers in thP01d Testament in which a Christian cannot heartily join even now, anil but few rules of morality wliiich he ought not even now to
obey.
If we have once learnt to see in the exclusive

80

LTECTTJSES

ON

THE

SCIENCE OF BELIGION.
"to

religion *of the

ifoe

Jews a preparation of what was

be

all-embracing religion df humanity, we shall feel muck less*difficulty in recognising in the mazes of
it

other religions a hidden purpose;

desert?

may

be,

wanderiag in the but a preparation also for the land

of promise.
these two religions, th% Jewish and the as it has long been carried on by some such Chrfstjp, of our moat learned divines, simultaneously with the

A study of

study of Greek and Boman mythology, has, in fact, served as a most useful preparation for wider inquiries*

Even the mistakes that have been committed

scholars

by earlier

have proved useful to those who

followed after; and, once corrected? they are not likely to be committed again. The opinion, for instance, that
the pagan religions were mere corruption* of the
reli-

gion of the Old Testament, once supported

by men

of

high authority and great learning, is now as completely surrendered as the attempts of explaining Greek and Latin as corruptions of Hebrew l
.

The theory again, that there was a primeval pre-

human

ternatural revelation granted to the fathers of the race, and that the grains of truth which catch

our eye when exploring the temples of heathen idols, are the scattered fragments of that sacred heirloom, the seeds that fell by the wayside or upon stony
find but few supporters at present no than the theory that there was in the beginning one complete and perfect primevaWanguagej

places

would
fact,

more, in
1

Tertolliqp, 'Apolog.* xtoii:

'Undo

liaeo,

poetistam oonflimilia* Nonnisi de aostri| sacrameutis : sacramentie, nt de prioribus, ergo fideliora aunt nostra
deada,

oro voa, philosophis aut si do nostris

quomm imagines quoqne fidem inveninnV

vol.
i.

magisque creSee Hardwiok, 'Christ

and other Masters/

p. 17.

LECTUBE

I.

31

broker* up in later times into the numberless^nguages of the world.

Some

dther principles, too, hg,ve been Established

within tiis limit^d'sphere by a comparison of Judaism and Christianity with 'the religions of Grfceca %nd
Borne, wffich will provf extremely useful in guiding us in our own researches. It haS been proved, for instance, that the language of antiquity is not like

the language of our own times that the language of the East is not like th% language of the West; and
;

that, unless

we make

allowance for

this,

we

cannot

but misinterpret the utterances of the most ancient teachers and poets of the human race. The same words do not meaa the same thing in Anglo-Saxon and English, in Latin and French: much less can we expect that tke words of any modern language should be th^ exact equivalents of words belonging to an ancient Semitic language, such as the Hebrew of the Old Testament. Ancient words and ancient thoughts, for both go together, have in the Old Testament not yet arrived
at that stage of abstraction in which,, for instance, active powers, whether natural or supernatural, can

be represented in any but a personal and more or human form. When we speak of a temptation from within or from without, it was more natural for the ancients to speak of a tempter, whether in a human or in an animal form ; when we speak <>f the
teas

ever-presemt help of God, they call the Lord fteir and their fortress, their buckler, and their big& tower. They even sp^ak of 'the Rock tfc|& begat
rock,
s

them* (Deut. yinrii. 18), though in a very different sense from that in which Homer speaks of the rock

32

LECTUBES ON TEE SCIENOm OF RELIGION.

from whence man has sprung.

What with

us'

is

was to them a winged a heavenly message, or godsend, divine wecall what guidance, they speak messenger?
a pillar of a cloud, to lead thsm the w$y, and a the pill&r -of light to give them %ht ; a refuge from
of.as

meant

Whafr is really storm, and a shadow'from the. heat. is no doubt the same, and the ^ault is ours, not

we wilfully misinterpret the language of ancient prophets, if we persist in understanding their words in
their*s, if

their outward and material asjfect only, and forgetathat before language had sanctioned a distinction between the concrete and the abstract, between the purely spirikial as opposed to the coarsely material, the intention of the speakers comprehended both the concrete

and

in a

both the material and the spiritual manner which has become "quite sirange to us though it lives on in the language of every trua poet.
tiie abstract,
s

Unless we make allowance for this mental parallax, our readings in the ancient skies will be, and must be, erroneous. Nay, I believe it can be proved that more than half of the difficulties in the history of
all

religion owe heir origin to this constant misinterpretation of ancient language by modern language, of

ancient thought by modern thought, particularly when-

word has become more sacrednthan the spirit. That much of what seems to us, and seemed to the best among the ancients, irrational and irreverent in the mythologies of India, Greece, and Italy can thus be removed, and that many of their childish fables
ever the
sense, h&s

can thus be read again 9x their original child-like been proved by the researches of Compa-

rative Mythologists.

The phase

of language

which

gives rise, inevitably,

we may

say, to these misunder-

LEOTUEE L

33

standings, is earlier than the earliest literacy documents.' Its work in 'that Aryan languages was dona

before the time of the Veda, befqre the time of Homer, though Jts influence continues io be felt to a much
later period. Is it Mkely that the Semitic* languages, .and,

more

particularly, Hejbrew, should, as *by a miracle, have escaped altogether the influence of a process which is-

inherent in the very nature and growth of lafiguage, and* which, in fact, may rightly be called an infantine
disease, against

which no precautions can be of any

avail?
I hold indeed that the Semitic languages, for reasons

which I explained on a former occasion, have suffered less from mythology than the Aryan languages yet we have only to read the first chapters of Genesis in
;

derstand

order*to convince ourselves, that we shall never units ancient language rightly, unless we make

not be taken in its bare, literal #ense. We need not dwell on the &ct that in the first chapter of Genesis 'a far less startling account of the creation of man and woman had been given. What could be simpler, and therefore truer, than; 'So God created man in his ow$
image, injihe image of God created he him male an4 female created he them. And God blessed them, *&} God eaid unto them, Be fruitful, and muH%>Iy, and
;

allowance for the influence of ancient language on ancient thought* If we read, for instance, that after the first man was created, one of his ribs was taken out, and that rib made into a woman, every student of ancient language sees at once that this" account must

replenish th$ earth,

and subdue

it?'

The question
creation of

then

is,

bow,

after this account of the

34

IECTXJBES OK

THE SCIENCE* Off BELIQION.

man an4 woman,

could there be a second of the creation *)f man, of hislone estate in the garden of Egen, aifll of the rgmoval of one of his ribs, which
to be made into a help meet foshim? TQose who are familiar witSi the genius
of ancient

wqp

Hebrew, can hardly hesitate as to the original inLet us remember that tention of such traditions. whefi we, in our modern languages, speak of the self-

same thing, the Hebrews speak of the bone (DSEP), the Arabs of the eye of a*thing. "This is a well knt>wn Semitic idiom, and it is not without analogies in other 'Bone' seemed a telling expression for languages.
should call the innermost essence; 'eye* for In call the soul or Self of a thing. the ancient hymns of the Veda v too, a poet asks : Who has seen the first-born, when he who had no bones, i. e. no form, bore him that had bones ? i e.*when
whfot

we

what we should
(

'

that which was formless assumed form, or, it may be, when that which had no essence, received an essence? And he goes on to ask: Where was the life, the
*

blood, the soul of the world?

Who

sent to ask this

from any thaihknew

it?'

the Veda, bone, blood, more than what we sRould call their material meaning ;

In the ancient language of breath, are all meant to convey

but in course of time, the Sanskrit dtman, meaning originally breath, dwindled away into a mere pronoun, and came to mean self. The same applies to the Hebrew 'etzem. Originally meaning bone, it came to be used at last as a mere pronominal adjective, in
the senseA of self or same. After these preliminary catenations, we can well tmderstand that, while if speaking and JvhiTiTdng a

modern language

Adam

might have been made to say

%EOTURB

I.

85

to Eve,;' Thou art the same as I am,' such a thought would in ancient Hebrew be expressed by: 'Thou art* bone of m^ bone, and flesh of Let sucb an flesh.'

my

expression be rep&ted Jfor a feV generations only, and a literal, that is to flay, a material and deceptive
interpretation, would so$n spring'uj^ and people would at last bring themselves to believe that the first woman

was formed from the bone

rib, for

of the first man, or %om a the simple reason, it may be, because it could better be spared than any other bone. Such a misunderstanding, once established, retained its place on account of its very strangeness, for a taste for the
unintelligible springs up at a very early time, arid threatens to destroy among ancient nations the power

of appreciating whatever is simple, natural, and wholesome. Thus o&ly can it be explained that the account pf the creation of the woman obtained its place in

had been

the second chapter, though in dear opposition to what said in the first chapter of Genesis \ It is not always possible to solve these ancient riddles, nor are the interpretations which have been

The attempted by various scholars always Bright. misthat is I for stand this, only principle up understandings of this kind are iaevitable in ancient languages, and tkat we must be prepared to meet with tfiem in the religions of the Semitic as well as of the

Aryan

nations.
religion, the ancient

Let us take another Semitic

religion of JBabylon, as described to us in the fragments of Berosus. The similarities between thai religion and the religion^ of the Jews are noJ to be mistaken, but such is the contrast between the simi

See 'Selected Essaya,'

vol.

ii.

p. 45<*.

36

LECTURES ON THli BOIESOa OF

<rf

RELIQIOtf.

plicdty

the Bible language

sad the

wild; estra-

iragance0f tha Babylonian fheogonies, that it requires soxoe courage to guess at the original outlines behind
tbe distorted featured of a hideous caricature*. We* have no reason to doubt the accuracy of

Berosus in describing the religion of the Babylonians, at least for the time in which he lived. He' was a Baby^nian by birih, a priest of the temple of Belus, a contemporary of Alexander the Great. He wrote the History of the Ghaldseans, in Greek, evidently
intending
it to be read by the Greek conquerors, and he states in his first book that he composed it frta the registers, astronomical and chronological, which wete preserved at Babylon, and which comprised a period of 200,000 yearj (150,000, according to the Syncellus). The history of Beroeus is lost. Extacte from it had been made by Alexand* Polyhistor, in the first eeatury before our era-, but his
Ife still existed, lost, however, at the Eusebius {1*70-340) wrote his Chrtmicon, Mid wa& used by him in describiBg the ancient

work

too is

&ne when

history of Babylon, * But the Chronicle of Eusebius, too, is lotj at least ia Greek, and it is only in an Armenian trat&h&oii of Eus%bittg that many of the passages have beea preserved to us> which reffir to the bisto^ of Babylon, a& originally described by Berosns. This

Armenian

translation
first

importance was

we
1

was published in 1818, and its 2 As pointed out by Niebuhr

,

possess large extraejs from

usebitt$ preserved

BnnSOT,-EgypViT.> 364. Eusebii Pwaphili OaesMitte Eptacopi Ghronfoott Bto^tekXL. jxtmo ynsam ex Armemaoo textu in Latinum conversmn, opera P. Jo.
8

BAwjfcer Vena

LEOTUKE

I.

87

by Geergius the

Syneellus, i. e, the coneellanens, or cell-companion, the Vice^patriarch of Constantinople,

it

who wrdte a Chronography about 800 "A. p.,

is

possible* in several places to compare the original Greek text "with the Armenian, and thus to establish

the trustworthiness of $ie

:

Arm&dan

translation.

Ber&sus thus describes the Babylonian traditions of the creation *

*

There was a time in which

all

was darkness and

water, and in these were generated monstrous orear

tures,

having mixed forms men were born with two and some with four wings, with two faces, having one body, but two heads, a man's and a woman's, and bearing the marks* of male and female nature; and other men with the legs and horns of goats, or with
;

having the hind quarters of horses, fore part of men, being in fact like Hippocentaurs. Bulls also were produced having human
horses' feet, *and

but

ttie

heads,
1

and dogs with four

bodies, having fishes' tails

springing from their hinder parts; and horses with dogs heads, and men and other creatures, having

heads and bodies of horses, but

tails

,,of

fishes

and

other creatures having the shape of all sorts of beasts. Besides these, fishes, and reptHes, and snakes and

^many

other wonderful and strange beings, one having the appearance of the other, the images of which are to be seen in the temple of Belus. At the head of all

was a woman, called Qmorka* (Armen, Mwca$a)> -which

*

Eusebii duonioan, voL

1.

p,

29* 'Pwgmentft mtia&#wa*? Vt*.

,

*t

P- 497-

V
P

In According to Lenaraaitf (' Deluge,* p, 30) BotH TTn*TTwtk Prof. moeEerm Armenian, Ana-iurg* is said to mean teotor.e*rth

!Dietrf<&e^ii^ttewOT4w^
Bnnaen's
*

See

Egypt,'

fr. p.

150.

38

LEOTUBES ON THE SOIENCJB OF BELIGTOff.

1 to be Thalatih in Chaldean,

is said

and translated
:

in

When all these were Greelj;, Thalassa (or serf). thus togetBer, Belus eame and cut the wonufn in two and one half of her he made the e&ih, and the other half the sky; and he destroyed all the creatures that were in her. But thiS account* of nature i&Tx) be understood aUegoricafty. For when allr was stilt moist, and "creatures were born in it, then the god (Belus) cut off his own head, and the gods mixed the blood that flowed from it with the earth, and formed men wherefore men are rational, and participate in the
;

divine intelligence/

*And

Belus,

whom

they explain as Zeus (and the

Armenians as Aramazd), cut the darkness in two, and separated earth and heaven from each other, and ordered the world. And animals which could not

commanded one of the gods to cut off his head, to mix the earth with the blood flowing from it, and to form men and
beasts that could bear the air.
also the stars^and the sun,
planets.'
1

when he saw

bear the power of the light, perished. the desert and fertile land,

And

<33elus,

And

Belus established
five

and the moon, and the

Mr. Sayce writes to mtf: 'Perhaps Lenonnant is right in correcting (when compared with the Toi>0* or Tavftjaof Damascins) into that is, the Assyrian T&amtu or Tamtu, the sea, ihe Hetf In this case the correspondence of ihe Babylonian account

with Genesis i. 2 will be even greater ' Bunsen explained Tal&deth from the Hebrew yalad, as meaning 'laying eggs.' Bunsen's 'Egypt,'
p. 150, Dr, 276) points out ifcat that the same change
p.

vol. iv

m in Sumei^Accadian dwindled down to v, and

may be observed in Assyrian also. Thus the (- tahmatu, or ti 'amdu, ti'tontu, stat. oonstr.

Haupt ('Die SumeriBohe^kkadis^he

Spraohe,'

Assyria^ Tdmdu, sea

t'

ftmat; cf Hebrew tehom) is represented as Tavfll by Damascius, 'Qsestaones de primis principiis/ ed. Eopp. p. 384), and Damkina, the

LECTTOE
Nothing can be at
first

I.

89

sight

more

senseless

and

confused than this Babylonian version* of ttye genesis of the earth and of man yet, ifr we examine it more
;

carefully,

we can

stjjl

distinguish

the

following

elements

i. In file beginning tthere waS darkness and water. In Hebrew: Darkness was upon the face of the

deep,

The heaven was divided from the earth. Hebrew Let there be aftrmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the And God called the firmament Heaven waters and God called the dry land Earth. 3. The stars were made, and the sun and the moon, and the five planets. In Hebrew And God made two great lights the
a.

Ift

greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night ; he made the stars also.
4.
5.

Animals of various kinds were Men were created.

created.

It is in the creation of animals in particular that

the extravagant imagination of the Babylonians finds It is said that the images of these its widest scope. creatures are to be seen in the temple of Belus, and as
their description certainly agrees with

some of the

in figures of gods and heroes that may now be seen the British Museum, it is not unlikely that the Baby-

lonian story of the creation of these monsters

idols in the temples of BaBylon.

may
still

have arisen from the contemplation of the a&efc&t

But

this

waM

leave the original conception of such moj&$ere unexplained.

The most important

point, however, is this, that

40

LEOTUBES OK THE SOIENOEf OF RELIGION.

*

the Babylonians represented man as participating in divine intelligence. The syntbolical language in which disthey* express this ida is no doubt horrible* and
recollect tfeat JIebrewsymbol, gusting, but let too,*' that God breathed into n>an's nostrils the breath of life/ is after all but another weak attempt at extlie

us

no pressing the same idea, an idea so exalted tnat or loss it ever without can injury, express language
In order to guess with some hope of success at the meaning of ancient traditions, it is absolutely necessary that we should be familiar with the genius of the language in which such traditions took their origin. Languages, for instance, which do not denote grammatical gender, will be free from many mythological stories which in Sanskrifc, Greek, and Latin
original

are inevitable.

Dr. Bleek, the indefatigable student of African languages, has frequently dwelt oft this In the Preface to his Comparative Grammar fact.
of the South-African Languages, published in 1863,
:

he says
'

The forms of a language may be said to constitute in some degree the skeleton frame of the human mind whose thoughts they express .... How dependent,
highly be upon this manner of speaking has been shown by Max-Muller, in his essay on Comparative Mythology (Oxford Essays, I855) 1 This will become still more evident from otfr African
civilized nations,

for example, the higl&st products of the human mind, the religious ideas and conceptions d? even

may

researches. The primary cause of the ancestor worship of the one race (Kafirs, Degrees, and Polynesians), and of the sidereal worship, or of those forms
1

'Chips from a

German Workshop,'

vol.

ii.

pp. 1-146.

LEOTUBE

I*

4rl

heavenly bodies, of

of religion which have sprung from the veneration of th<J other (Hottentots, North-

African, Semitic, and Aryan nations), is Supplied "by their languages. the ve^p- forms, The nations are distinguished speaking Sex-denoting languages

by a higher
agencjis

poetical^ conception, by which human transferred to other beirfgs, and even to in-

animate things, in consequence of which iheir* personification takes place, forming the origin of*almost all mythological legends. This faculty is not dein the not suggested by Kafir because mind, veloped the form of their language, in which the nouns of persons are not (as in the Sex-denoting languages) thrown together with those of inanimate beings into the same classes or but are in separate classes, genders, without anj* grammatical distinction of sex 1 /
If ttierefore, without* possessing a knowledge of the Zulu language, I venture on an interpretation of an account of creation that has sprung up in the thought and language of the Zulus, I do so with great hesitation, and only in order to show, by one instance at least, that the religions of savages, too, will have to
See also his Preface to the second volume of the Comparative Mr. E. B.* Tylor has some valuable on the satne subject, in his article on the Beligion of Savages, yremarka in the Fortnightly Review, 1866, p. 80. Looked at from a higher poiftt of view, it la, of couse, not language, as such, which dominate* &* mjnd, but thought and language are only two manifestations of the same energy, mutually determining each other. Failing to jtewarw ifc& '" *& haa to take efnge, like ^ylor, with the oM ao-aOU* atf as the apparent source of all mythology. Bat tautological, not a genetic explanation of my$i
1

Grammar, published 1869.

'

important difference betwee^the inevitable nd 4fe* of the genius of language. The deepest ecruroe of mjCfce&gy lies in tho former, and must be carefully dm$pgraBhed from the later sporadic diseases of language.

42

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF EELIGION.

submit hereafter to the same treatment whidi

we

and apply to the sacred traditions of the Semite Axypn nations. I should not be at all surprised if tile tentative interpretation whidf J venturgi to proto be untenable by those who pos$, -were proved but I shalFbe much have studied the ZuJu
dialec^p,

more ready

interpretation, fehan to lose*the conviction that there is no solid foundation

to surrender

my

for the study of the religions of savages except the study of their languages. How impossible it is to arrive at anything like a correct understanding of the religious sentiments of

savage tribes without an accurate and scholarlike knowledge of their dialects, is best shown by the old controversy whether there are any tribes of human
beings entirely devoid of religious sentiments or no.

Those who, for some reason or other, hold that religious sentiments are not essential to human nature, find little difficulty in collectijjg statements of travellers and missionaries in support of their theory. Those who hold the opposite opinion find no more
difficulty in rebutting

such statements

1
.

Now

the

real point to settle before

other view

is,

adopt the one or the what feind of authority can be claimed

we

by those whose opinions we quote; did they really know the language, and did they know it, not onljT
sufficiently well to converse on ordinary subjects, but to enter into a friendly and unreserved conversation

on topics on which even highly educated people are so apt to misunderstand %ach other? want informant^, in fact, like Dr. Callaway, Dr. Bleek, men

We

Sir

See Schelling, Werke, vol. i p 72 ; and Mr. B. B. John Lubbock, 'Primitive Culture,' vol. i p. 381.

Tyler's reply to

LEOTUBE

I.

43

who

are both scholars and philosophers. Savages are shy and silent in th3 presence of white ^itien, and they have a superstitious reluctance against mention-

ing evott the naifies of their gods and heroes. Not many years ago it wae^supposed, on what would 'seem to be gold authority, Jthat the Zulus had no religious ideas tit all ; at* present our very* Bishops have been
silenced

by

their theological inquiries.

Captain Gardiner, in his Narrative of a Journey to theZoolu Country undertaken in 1835, gives the
following dialogue:

the world

'Have you any knowledge of the power by whom was made? When you see the sun rising and setting, and tbe trees growing, do you know who made them and who governs them 2'
TPAI, a Zlu (af^er a little pause, apparently deep in thought), 'No ; we see them, but cannot tell how they come; we suppose that they come of themselves/

A.

'

To

whom

then do you attribute your success

'

or failure in war ? TPAI. 'When we are not suceessfu], and do not take cattle, we think our father (Itango) has not

looked upon us.' A. 'Do yoa think your father's 'made the world ?
'

spirits

(Amatongo)

TPAI.

'No.'
spirit of

A.
after

'Where do you suppose the it leaves the body ?*

1

man

goes

TPAI,

'We

cannot

tell/
it lives for

A.

'Do you think

ever?'

TPAI.
spirit

'That we cannot tell; we believe that the of our forefathers looks upon us when we go

44
to

LECTURES ON THE SOIEKOB OF BELIQION.

war
3

but we do not think about

it

at

any

"other

time.

A* *T?oft admit that you cannot control &e suu or th moon, or even make a hair of J^ur head J/o grow.

Eafeyou no
this?'

idea of

any fiower capable of doing

know tbat we TPAJ *No; we*know of none: camfot do these things, and we suppose that they
come
It

of themselves.'

may seem

difficult to

find

a deeper shade of

religious darkness

But now

pictured in this dialogue. let us hear the account which the Eev, Dr.
is

than

1 Callaway gives of the fundamental religious notions which he, after a long residence among the various clans of the Zulus, after acquiring an intimate knowledge of

their language, and, what is still luvu-e jB^portant, after their was able to extract from their confidence, gaining

old men and women. They all believe, first of all, in an ancestor of each particular family and clan, and also in a common ancestor of the whole race of man. That ancestor is generally called the Unkulunkulu,

which means^ the great-great-grand&ther 2

1

When

God is rendered fn Zulu, is derived, according to Bleek, by reduplicatton of a (nasalised^ form of the 9th class from the adjective stem -kulu (great, large, oldf n-ku-kula, to grow, etc.), and seems to mean originally a great-greatgrandfather, or the first ancestor of a family or tribe, though perhaps the unnaBalised form v-kuluJcuTto is at present more usual in this
signi-

Dr. Callaway, 'TTnfculimkulu,' p. 54 Ibid, p. 48. UAfalufi&ufa, the word by which

Then it was applied by metapnor to that being from whom everything was derived, who ae*>rding to the Zulu tradition has created airmen, animals, and other things to whom life and death are due, &c. In Inhambane the word for God, derived from the same root is Mvfa&ffufa; in Ki-hiztu, Ki-kamba, and Kinika it is JKW^^w; in Ej-suiJheli, Mhagu; in Makua, Muhngo or MuMo; in Sofala, Tette, Murwiffo or Mornngo ; in the Ku-suaTieli dialect
fication.

LECTURE

I.

45

pressejL as to the father of this great-great-grandfather,

the general answer of tfie Zulus seems to 1$& that he 'branched off fronj a reed/ or ihat he 'c&me from a bed of *eeds.' Here, I cannot help* suspecting that languag has

been at

Vork

spinning mytholbgy.

In Sanskrit the

word ^parvan) which means originally a knot or joint in a cane, comes to mean a link, a member;* and,
transferred to a family, it expresses the different shoots and* scions that spring from the original stem. The name for stem or race and lineage in Sanskrit is
vajrc&a,

which originally means a reed, a bamboo-cane. In the Zulu language a reed is called uthlanga, strktly speaking a reed which is capable of throwing out off* It comes thus metaphorically to mean a shoots 1. father is the uthlanga of his chilsource of besng. dren* who are supposed to have branched off from him. Whatever notions at the present day the ignorant among the natives may have of the meaning of this tradition, so much seems to be generally admitted, even among Zulus, that originally Ifc could not have been intended to t$aeh that men 2 lt cannot be doubted/ sprang from a real reed T)r. Callaway writes, 'that the*word alone has come down to the people, whilst the meaning has been

&

108k*
of

Mombas, Mtingu; in the Ki-pofeomo, JfvA^o; in Otyi-Hererd,

;

Afiubcn*

see Bleek,
IB
s.

taU Jftftett
Dictionary,'
1

Comparative Grammar,' 389-394, our fatter Muter* ; eee Eolbe^

'

T.God.

Dr. Callaway, ' TTnknlunbalu,' p. a, note, 9 In Herero, ' tna memnjsi Mtzkurtt meaas, ^fe'l^wa oreftted, i.e. broken trat of the omiinoboromtKjng* (<a**fck-kde) 1n Herero ' fashion by Hukuru ; see Kolbs'e English-Heraro rfiatianary,* s v. God.
1

46

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUOff.

The
this

Zulu myth

interpretation which I venture to progose of is this: The Zulus may have said

originally that they T*ere all offshoots of a re6d, using reed in the same sense in which vawfeq, is usedIn Sanskrit? and meaning therefore no jnore than that they all were children of one father, members of one ft,ce. As

the

word uthlanga, Much came to meaji race, retained also its original meaning, viz. reed, people, unaccustomed 6> metaphorical language and thought, would

soon say that men camja from A reed, or were fetched from a bed of reeds, while others would take Uthlanga for a proper name and make him the ancestor of the

human
langa

race.

Among some Zulu

tribes

we
.

actually

find that while TJnkulunkulu is the first

is represented as the first other tribes where Unkulunkulu

man, Uth-

woman 1
was the

Among
first

man, Uthlanga became the first woman (p. 58). Every nation, every clan, every family requires sooner or later an ancestor. Even in comparatively
Britons, or the inhabitants of Great were persuaded that it was not good to be without an ancestor, and they were assured GeofBritain,

modern times the

by

frey of

Monmouth

Brutus.

that they might claim descent from In the same manner the Hellenes, or the

ancient inhabitants of Hellas, claimed descent from Hellen. The name of Hellenes, originally restricted 2 to a tribe living in Thessaly , became in time the name of the whole nation 8, and hence it was but natural that ^Jolos, the ancestor of the Eolians,
1

the

first

Dr. Galloway, 'Unkulunknln,' p. 58. According to tlie Popol Voh woman was created from the xnarrW of a reed see 'Selected
i

Essays/ ii. p. 394* Horn. E. a. 684.

Hmcyd,

i.

3.

LECTURE
ijhe

I,

47

ancestor of the Dorians,

and Xuthos, the

lorQ should all be represented as the sons of Hellen. So far aft is intelligible, if,we

father of Achseos

and

will onlyrxemembQr*that this is the technical language of the heraldic office of ancient Greece. But very soon the question "arose, who was the father o Hellen^the ancestor of the Greeks, or, ac-

cording to the intellectual horizon of the ancient Greeks, of the whole human race? If he was the ancestor of the whole Human race, or the first man,

he could only be the son of Zeus, the supreme god, and thus we find that Hellen is by some authorities
Others, however, actually called the son of Zeus. give a different account. There was in Greece, as in many countries, the tradition of a general deluge by

which every living being had been destroyed, except a few ^ho escaped in a boat, and who, after the flood had subsided, repeopled the earth, The person thus saved, according to Greek traditions, was called Deukahon, the ruler of Thessaly, the son *of Prometheus. Prometheus had told him to build a ship and furnish it with provisions, and when ths flood came, he and his wife Pyrrha were the only people who
escaped.

Thus

it

will be seen that the Greeks

had

really

two

ancestors of the

human

race, Hellen and Deukalion,

and in order to remove this difficulty, nothing remained but to make Hellen the son of Deukalion. All this is perfectly natural and intelligible* if only we will learn to s|>eak, and not otofy $o
speak, but also to think the language of tte*aii@&Lt world. The story then goes on to explain how Deukalion

48

LECTUBES ON THE SOIENOS OF

RELIG-IOff.

became the father of all the people on earth; .that he and his^ffife Pyrrha were t6ld to throw stones (or the bones of &e earth) backward behind thenf, and that tfeese stones became men and woin^n. No^ here we have "clearly a myth or a joiracle, a miracle, too,
without any justification, for jf Pyrrha was the wife of Deukalion, wh should not Eellen be thear son? Alll)e.jsomes clear, if we look at the language in which
the story is told. Pyrrha means the Red, and was originally a name for the red Dearth. As the Hellenes

claimed to be indigenous or autochthonic, born of the earth where they lived, Pyrrha, the red Earth, was naturally called their mother, and being the mother
of the Hellenes, she must needs be

made

the wife of
Originally,

Deukalion, the father of the Hellenes.

however, Deukalion, like Manu In India, was represented as haying alone escaped from the deluge, and hence the new problem how, without a wife, he could

have become the father of the people ? It was in this perplexity, no doubt, that the myth arose of his throwing
stones behind him, and these stones becoming the new population o| the earth. The Greek word for people hence what could be Xiwfe, that for stones A ;

WB

more

natural, whei* children asked, whence the Acwfe or the people of Deukalion camea tban to say that l they came from XSes or stones ?

I might give many more instances of the same kind, all showing that there was a meaning in the

The IJortii American Indians told Roger Williams, that 'they hud from their fathers, that Kautantowwtf made one man and woman of a stone, which disliking, he broke thfim in pieoes, and made Another man and woman of a tree, which were the fountain of all mankind.'
it
*

Publications of Narraganaett Club/ voL

i.

p. 158.

LEOTUBE

I.

49

ing,

most t&aaningless traditions of antiquity, all showwhat is still more important, that these traditions, many of them in their present sttffee* absurd and repqjlsive, regaftn a simple, intelligible, and even beautiful character if ^e divest them of the -cflist which language in its inevitable decay has formed around "them.

We never lose, we always gain, when we discover the most ancient intention of sacred traditions, instead
of beong satisfied with 'their l$ter aspect, and their
misinterpretations. Have we lost anything while reading the story of Hephsestos splitting open with his axe the head of Zeus, and Athene springing

modern
if,

it, full armed** we perceive behind this savage imagery, Zeus as the bright Sky, his forehead as the East, Hephsestos"as the young, not yet risen Sun, and Athene as the Dawn, the daughter of the Sky,

from

stepping forth from the fountain-head of light r\av/c7rw, with eyes like an owl (and beautiful they
are);

UapO&os, pure as a virgin; Xptftro the golden ;

'Ajcpfa, lighting up the tops of the mountains, and her own glorious Parthenon in he$own favourite town of Athens ;

JIoXAeiy,

'AX^o, the genial

whirling the shafts of light; warmth of the morning; the foremost Uptpaxos, champion in the battle
H(iz;o7rXos,

between night and day;

in full armour* in her panoply, of Bgit, driving away the darlpiess of night, and r &a$ng men to a bright life, to bright thoughts, to bright endea-

vours?

60

LEorraEs ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGHON.

Would the Greek gods lose in our eyes i instead of believing that Apollon tnd Artemis murcfered the twelve children of.Niobe, we perceived feat Niobe was, in a former period of language, a nam^ of snow and innter, and that no nft>re was intended by the
ancient poet than tfeat Apolfon and Artemis, the vernal deities, must ftlay every year wi|h their darts the briHiant and beautiful, but doomed children of the

Sno\^? Is it not something worth knowing, worth knowing even to us^ after the lapse of four qr five thousand years, that before the separation of the
race, before the existence of Sanskrit, Greek, before the gods of the Veda had been worLatin, or, shipped, and before there was % sanctuary of Zeus

Aryan

among

the sacred oaks of Dodona, one supreme Deity

had been found, had been namdfl, had .been invoked by the ancestors of our race, and had been mvofced by a name which has never been excelled by any other name, Dyaus, Zeus, Jupiter, Tyr, all meaning originally light and brightness, a concept which on one side became materialized as sky, morning, and day, while on the other it developed into a name of the bright and heavenly beings, the Devas, as one of
first expression^ of the Divine? No, if a critical examination of the ancient language of our own religion leads to no worse results thaJh those which have followed from a careful interpreta-

the

tion of the petrified language of ancient India and Greece, we need not fear; we shall be gjiineors, not losers. Like an old previous metal, the ancient reli-

come out in

gion, after the rust of ages has been removed, will all its purity an*d brightness: and the
it

image which

discloses will be the

image of the

LECTURE
Father,' the Father of all the

I.

51
;

nations upon earth and the "superscription, when we can read it again,
will be, not in Judaea only, but i$ the languages of of thfc world, the Word of God, all the rjces re; vealedj where alone it cafi. be revealed, revealed n the heart 06 man.
fl

SECOND LECTURE.
DELIVEBEp AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION^ FEBBUABY 36, 1870.

JL the Science of "Religion. It is true tha, compared with the number of languages which the comparative philologist has to deal with, the number of
religions is small.

flpHERE

is

no lack of materials for the student of

In a comparative study of lan-

guages, however, we find most of our materials ready for use ; we possess grammars and dictionaries, while
it is difficult

grammars and
of the world.

to 'say, where we are fc> look for the dictionaries of the principal religions

Not

in the catechisms, or the articles,

not even in the so-called creeds 1 or confessions of faith which, if they do not give us an actual misrepresentation of the doctrines which they profess to epitomise, give us always the shadow only, and never the soul and substance of a religion. But how seldom do we
find even such helJ>sJ

Eastern nations it is not unusual to distinbetween guish religions that are founded on a book, and others that have no such vouchers to produce.

Among

'What are creeds? Skeletons, freezing abstractly metaphysical expressions of unintelligible dogmas; and these I am to regard as the expositions of the fresh, living, infinite truth which came from Jesus !
I aught with equal propriety be required to hear and receive the
lispings of infancy as the expressions of wisdom,

Scriptures,

what

rushlights are to the sun.*

Creeds/

Creeds are to the Dr. Charming, 'On

LECTURE

II.

53
respectable, and,

The former are considered more

though they may contain* false doctrine, th#y are looked upon as a kind of aristocracy among the
vulgar and nondescript crjpwd of bookless or
1
.

illiterate

reKgions To the student of religion canonical books are, no doubt, of the utmost importance, but he ought never to forget that canonical books too give the reflgofed

image only of the real doctrines of the founder of a new religion, an image always Wurred and distorted by the medium through which it had to pass. And how few are the religions which possess a sacred canon!

how

small is the aristocracy of real book-religions in the history of the world Let us look at the. two races that have been the principal actors in that great drama which we call
1

the history of the world, the Aryan and the Semitic^ and we shall find that two members only of each race

can claim the possession of a sacred code. Among the Aryans, the Hindus and the Persians; among the Shemites, the Hebrews and the Arabs. In the Aryan family the Hindus, in the Semitic family the Hebrews,

have each produced two book-religions; the Hindus have given rise to Brahmanism aad Buddhism; the Nay, it is I^pbrews to Mtf&aism and Christianity,
important to observe that in each family the third book-religion can hardly lay daim to an independent. origin, but is only a weaker repetition of ike firsi, Zoroastrianism has its sources in the aams
1 Even before Mohammed, people in posaeo&mrf ktt&Owerein Ajabio distiiigiiififad from the mnsaiynn, ttofeatihea. The aama ahl i klttfb W9*> howler, property restricted to t 868 Jfate A*

fc{

54

LECTTOES ON THE SCIENCE OP BELIGUON,

X>f

which fed the deeper and broader stream

Vedie

most religion ^Mohammedanism springs, as far^fts its vital doctrines are" concerned, frgm the ancient fountain-head of the religion o Abraham, the Worshipper andlhe friend of the one tnre God.

you keep befofe your mind the following simple you can see at one glance tile river-system in which the religious thought of the Aryan and the
If
outline,

those, at least,

Semitic nations has been running for centuries of who "are in possession of sacrdd and

canonical books.

ARYAN FAMILY.
Veda

SEMITIC FAMILY,
Old Testament

Zend-Avesta
ZoroastaanJBm

Ttjpirfaka

New Testament
Christianity

Buddhism

Koran

AKYANWhile Buddhism is the direct offspring, and, at the same time, the antagonist of Erahmanism, Z/oroastrianism is rather a deviation from the straight course of ancient Vedic fedth, though it likewise contains a protest against some of the doctrines of the earliest worshippers of the Vedic gods. The same, or nearly the same relationship holds together the three prin-

LEOTUBE

II.

55

cipal religions of the Semitic stock, only that, chronologically, ]ohanimedanism is later than Christianity, while Zoroastrianism is earlier than. Buddhisin.

Observe also another, and, as we shall see, by no means accidental coincidence in the parallel ramifications of these two religious stems? BuddMsm, which is the offspring of, but at the same time marks a reaction against, the ancient frahmanism of Eadia, withered away after a time on the soil from which it had sprung, And assumed its real importance only after it had been transplanted from India, and struck root among Turanian nations in the

Buddhism, very centre of the Asiatic continent. being at its birth an* Aryan religion, ended by becoming the principal religion of the Turanian world. The same transference took place in the second
stem.

was

rejected

Christianity, being the offspring of Mosaism, by the Jews as Buddhism was by the
It failed to fulfil its purpose as
faith,

Brahmans.

reform of the ancient Jewish

a mere and not till it

had been transferred from Semitic to Aryan ground, from the Jews to the Gentiles, did it devjelope its real nature and assume its world-wide importance. Having been at its birth a Semitic religion, it became the
of the Aryan world. jrincipal religion There is one other nation only, outside the pale of

the

or even

Aryan and Semitic families, which can claim one, two book-religions as its own. China is the mother ofr two religions, each founded on a &&3R&
code
the religion of Conrucius, (Kung Fu-tee, i e. Rung, the Master,) and the religion of Lacntee, the former resting on the ^Tive King and the Four Shu,

the latter on the Tao-te-king.

56

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUON.

With these eight religions the library of th^ Sacred Books of the whole humarf race is complete, and an
acqirate Study of these eight codes, written in Sanin Eebrew^Cfcreek, and Arabic, s^rit, P&li, and Zend, in Chinese lastly might in itself not seem too formids

able an undertaking dor a single scholar. Yet, let us begin at home, atfd look at the enormous literature

devoted to the interpretation of the Old Testament, and the number of books published every year on
controverted points i^ the dtfctrine or the history of the Gospels, and you may then form an idea of what a theological library would be that should contain

tbe necessary materials for an accurate and scholar-

The like interpretation of the eight sacred codes. the followers of of book the canonical Tao-te-king,
Lao-tse, contains only about 5,320 woids, the commentaries written to explain its meaning are endless 1 .

Even

illiterate

in so modern, and, in the beginning, at least, so a religion as that of Mohammed, the sources

that have to be consulted for the history of the faith during the early centuries of its growth are so abundant, that few critical scholars could master their completeness 2 .

them in
the

If
1

we turn our
'

eyes to the
xrsv; see

Aryan
1

religions,

Julian,

Tao-te-king,* p.
'

infra, p. 62.

Sprengsr, Das Leben des Mohammed, vol. i. p. 9 : 'Bie Quellen, die ich benutzt babe, sind 90 zallreich, trad der Zustand der Gelehrsamkeit war unter den Moalimen in ihrer Urzeit von dera unHrigen so

verscMeden, dasa die Materialien, die ioh fiber die Quelfen geaammelt tabe, ein ziemlich beleibtes Banchhen bilden werden, Es 1st in der Th%t nothwesdig, die Literatnigesohiohte dee Islam der ersten zwei

Jabrhunderte am. schreiben, mn den setzen, den Les^f in. den Stand tier gesammelten kritisohen Apparat zn bemitzen. Ioh gedenke die Eesoltate meiner Foreohungen ala eins separates Werkohen iwwh der PtopheteoibiograpMe horauszngeben.^

LEOTtTBB

II.

67

sacred ^writings of the Brahmans, in the narrowest acceptation of the word?, might seem within easy The hymns of the Big-*reda, whiBh are the grasp. real bible of the-ancient faith of the Vedic Bishis, $re only 1,028 in number consisting of about scQjSo
verses . ^The commentary, however, on these hymns, * of which I ha?we published six good-sized quarto volumes, is estimated at 100,000 lines consisting of 32 syllables each, that is at 3,200,000 syllables 2
.

the three minor Vedas, the Ya#urveda, the S&ma-veda, the Afcharva-veda, which, though of less importance for religious doctrines, are indisare, besides,

There

pensable for a right appreciation of the sacrifioial and ceremonial system of the worshippers of the ancient Vedic gods.
these" four Vedas belong collections of Br&hmanas, scholastic treatises of a later time, it is true, but nevertheless written in archaic Sanskrit, and reckoned by every orthodox Hindu as part of his revealed literature. Their bulk is much larger than that of the ancient Vedic hymn-books. And all this constitutes the text only for numberless treatises, essays, manuals, glosses, &c., forming an

To each ef

so-called

uninterrupted chain of theological literature, extending over mor^than three thousand years, and receiving new links even at the present time. There are, besides, the inevitable parasites of theological literature, the controversial writings of different scboofe of to be orthodox, thought and faith, all

claiming

yefe

differing
lastly,
1

from each other *Hke day and

uigfetj

od

the compositions of writers, pcofefeedly at

'History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,' p. aao.

Max Muller,
SeeffoteB.

58

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

variance with the opinions of the majority, declared enemies ef the Brahmanic taith and the B^ahmanic
priesthood,

wnose accusations and

insinuations,

whose

arrows sledge-hammer arguments, and whose*poisone<f

of theological warfare In any other country. Nor can we exclude the sacred latf-books, nor the
ancieni^ epic poems, the Mah&bh&rata and K&m&yana, nor the more modern, yet sacred literature of India,

the Pur&was and Tantras, if we'wish to gain an insight into the religious belief of millions of human beings, who, though they all acknowledge the Veda as their

supreme authority in matters of faith, are yet unable to understand one single line of it," and in their daily life depend entirely for spiritual food on the teaching conveyed to them by these more receiffc and more
popular books. And even then our eye would not have reached many of the sacred recesses in which the Hindu mind has taken refuge, either to meditate on the great problems of life, or to free itself from the
temptations and fetters of worldly existence by penances and mortifications of the most exquisite cruelty. India has *always been teeming with religious sects,

and as

far as

we can

r lo ok

back

into**

the history of that marvellous country,

its religious

life has been broken up into countless local centres which it required all the ingenuity and perseverance of a priestly caste to hold^ together with a Semblance

of dogmatic uniformity. Some of these sects may almost claim the title of independent religions, as, for instance, the once famous sect of the Sikhs,
possessing
their

own

sacred

code and

their

own

LECTURE

II,

59

priesthood, and threatening for a time to become a formidable rival of Brahmanism and Mohammedanism in India. Political circumstances gave to" the sect of

Mnaknts
fame.
of

historical

To the student
sects

many

prominence and more lasting of religion it is but 0n out which took theirnorigin in the fifteenth
centuries,

corruptions of

and attempted to replace the n Hinduism and Mohammedanism by a purer and more spiritual worship. The Granth, i.e. the Volume, the sacred book of the Sikhs, though tedious as a whole, contains here and there treasures of really deep and poetical thought: and we may soon hope to have a complete translation of iir by But there are other collections of Dr. Trumpp 1 religious poetry, mgre ancient and more original than the stanzas*of N&nak nay, many of the most beautiful verses of the Granth were borrowed from these
.
;
1

and s&teenth

earlier authorities, particularly

from Kabir, the pupil Here there is enough to occupy the students of religion an intellectual flora of greater variety and profuseness than even the natural flora of
of

R&m&nand.

that fertile country.

And yet we have not said a word as yet of the second book-religion of Indian of the religion of Buddha, originally one only out of numberless sects, but possessing a vitality which has made its branches to overshadow the largest portion of the inhabited
can say I do not speak of European but of the most learned members of the Buddhist fraternities who can say that he has
globe. scholars* only,
* 1 This translation has since been published* The Adi Gr*nth, or the Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs,' translated from the original Guraukhi by Dr. E. Trumpp, London, 1877.

Who

60

LECITUBES ON

THE SCIENCE OP BELIGION.

read the whole of the canonical books of the BuiL&hist Church, if say nothing of th&r commentaries, or later
treatises
?

According to a tradition preserved Jby the Buddhist scho8ls' of the South and of the North, the sacred canon comprised originally 80,000 or 84,000 tracts, but most of them were lost, so that 4ihere remained only 5 ooo \ According to a statement in the Saddharm&laikara, the text and commentary of the Buddhist canon contain together, 39,368*000 letters, while the
s

English translation of the Bible is said to contain 3,567,180 letters, vowels being here counted as separate.from the consonants.

At present there exist two sacred canons of Buddhist writings, that of the South, in P&li, and that of the North, in Sapskrit. The Budihist canon in P&li
has been estimated as twice as large as the Bible, though in an English translation it would probably be four times as large 2 Spence Hardy gave the
.

number of stanzas

as 375,350 for the P&li canon,

as 361,550 for its Commentary, and a line of 33 syjjables.

is called

and by stanza he meant

The Buddhist canon in Sanskrit consists of what the "Nine Dkormas V In its Tibetan translation that canon, divided into two collections, tbe KanjurandTanjur, numbers 335 volumes folio, each weigh-* ing in the Pekin edition from four to five pounds. Besides these two canons, there is another collateral branch, the canon of the ffainas. The ffaihas trace
1

See Burnouf, 'Introduction

'

&,

rhistojre

du BuddLJfome

indien,*

37.
8

'Selected Essays,' ii. p. 170, 1 Selected Essays, ii. p. 170.

Ibid. p. jSa.

LEOTUBE H.

61

the origin of their religion back to Mah&vira, who was believed, however, to halve been preceded bv 23 Tir-

thakara?the 33rd being P&rsva.

(2,50 before

HaMyira).

Mahavfra
or

is ca^LetL also tffl&taputra 1

91

or OT&tnputra

ffadnas and Eauddha&(lfStaputta N&yaputta in ^aina Prakrit), and is reported by both sects to have died at P&pft. The date of his death, as given by the <?ainas, 527 :BUC,, would make him older than Buddha. The true relation, or followers however, of the #ainao to the r Bauddhas, of S&kyamuni, remains still to be determined. Their

^tiputra by both
itf P&li,

sacred books are written in a Prakrit dialect, com-* monly called Ardhamagadh!, while the dialect o the Fall scriptures is .called Magadhi. According to the

SiddhUnta-dharma-sara these #aina scriptures are colc%Ued Sutras or Siddhantas9 and classed, first? under two heads of Kalpa-siltra and Agama, five works coming under the former, and forty-five under the latter head; and secondly, under eight different heads, viz. i, eleven Afigas; 2, twelve Upaiigas, &edas ; 3, four MMa-sutras ; 4, five Kalpa-sutras ; 5, six 6, ten Payannas; 7, Nandi-sutra; 8, Anuyogadvaralectively
sutra.

The

total extent of these fifty

works together

with their commentaries is, according to 6tadna belief, 2 In the form in which we now 600,000 tflokas * the <?ainas Sutras are not older than possess them,
the
fifth

century A.IX

(See

Indian Antiquary,'

ix.

p. 161.)

Withfc a smaller compass

1

lies

the sacred literature

of the third of the Aryan4>ook-religioDS, the so-called

Chi See BQhlec, 'Indian p. 143; HJaoobi, ^tiquaiy,' his predecessors,* Indian Antiquary, is. 158; also bis preface to the Ejtlpftsdtara of KisdrabAliti, 1879* * iii. p. 67. EajendriUla, Mitra, 'Noticce of Swakrit MSS.' vol.

MaMvlra and

62

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE

Ofl

RELIGION.

Zend-Avesta.

But here the very

scantiness of the

ancient texts increases the difficulty of its successful and th$ absence of native commentaries interpretation,

has thro-wn nearly the whole burdetf of deciphjring.on

the patience and ingenuity of European scholars. If lastly we turn to !hina, we find that th religion
is founded on the Fivet King apd the Four*Shu books in themselves of considerable extent, and su$*ounded by voluminous commentaries, without which even the most learned scholars would not venture to fathom the depth of their sacred canon 1

of Confucius

Lao-tse, the contemporary, or rather the senior, of Confucius, is reported to have written a large number of books 2 no less than 930 on different questions of
:

and worship, and 70 on magic. His however, the TadHe-king, which rework, principal presents the real scripture of his followers, theJTao3 sse, consists only of about 5,000 words , and fills no more than thirty pages. But here again we find that fqr that very reason the text is unintelligible without copious commentaries, so that M. Julien had to consult more than sixty commentators for the purpose of his translation, the earliest going back as far as the year
faith, morality,

163 B.C. There

is

a third established religion yi China, that

of Fo; but

Fo

is

only the Chinese corruption of

1 'The Chinese Classics, with a Translation, Notes, Prolegomena, and Indexes/ By James Legge, D.D. 7 vols. See also 'Sacred

Books of the East,' vols. iii, xvi, * Stan. JuKen, ' Tao-te-king,' p. rmi.
8

Ibid, pp? xaod. xxxv. The texts vary from 5,610, 5,630, 5,688 to 5,722 words. The text published by M. Stan. Julien consists of 5,320 words. new translation of the ' Tao-te-king ' has been published at Leipzig by Dr. Victor von Strauss, 1870.

LECTUEB XL

63

ferred

Buddha, and though, the religion of Buddha, as transIrom India to China, has assumed a peculiar character*and produced an enormous literature of its

own, yet Chinese Buddhism cannot be called an independent religion. We ftiust distinguish betwegntne Buddhism of Ceylon, Burmah, and Slam, on one side,

and thjrfi of Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Corea, and Japan on the other. In China, however, although the prevailing form of Buddhism is that of tlS Sancommonly, called the Northern canon, some of the books belonging to* the P&li or Southern canon have been translated and are held in reverence
skrit canon,

by certain schools. But even after we have

collected this

enormous

library of the sacred books of the world, with their indispensable commentaries, we are by no means in

possession of* all the requisite materials for studying the growth and decay of the religious convictions of

mankind at large. The largest portion of mankind, ay, and some of the most valiant champions in the religious and intellectual struggles of the world, would still be unrepresented in our theological library. Think only of the Greeks and the Romans think of the Where Teutonic, the Celtic, and Slavonic nations fire we to gain jn insight into what we may call their
1 I

jfcal

religious convictions, previous to the comparatively recent period when their ancient temples were

ground to make room for new catheand Jheir sacred oaks were felled to be changed into crosses, planted along -every mountain pass stid forest lane ? Homer and Hesiod do not tell $ what was the religion, the refcl hearir-religion, of the Greeks, nor were their own poems ever considered as sacred,
levelled to the
drals,

64

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELKHON.

or e-ven as authoritative and binding, by the Hghest intellects among the Greeks In Rome we have not

even an IHad or Odyssey

and when we

as*k for

the

religious worship of the Teutonic? the Celtjp, or the SldJVoctic tribes, the very names of many of the deities

they believed are forgotten and lost for ever, scattered* notices of their feith ha^ to be picked up and put together like the small stones of a broken mosaic that once formed the pavement in the ruined temples of Rome.
in

whom

and the

The same gaps, the same want of representative which we witness among the Aryan, we meet again among the Semitic nations, as soon as we The step out of the circle of their took-religions. Babylonians, Assyrians, the Phenicians and Carthaginians, the Arabs before their c&nversign to Mohammedanism, all are without canonical books, and a
authorities,

knowledge of
well as
ditions,

may

be,

their religion has to be gathered, as from monuments, inscriptions, tra-

from proper names, from proverbs, from curses, and other stray notices which require the greatest care before they can be properly sifted and success1 fully fitted together .

But now let us <go on further. The two beds in which the stream of Aryan and Semitic thought has been rolling on for centuries from south-east to nortBIt has been pointed out by Professor Noldeke that not only the great religions, but mere sects also are sometimes in possession of Sacred Books. Suoh are the Mandseans (representing the Aramsean nationality), the Druses, the Yezidis, Jttfosairis, and, it may DO, some more
1

under a Muslim garb. Even some of the Manich&an which fragments exist, might be added to this class, and would throw much light on the independent growth of gnosticism, which can be by no means fully explained as a mere mixture of Christian and Iranian ideas.
half-pagaji. sects

writings, of

LEdTUBE

II,

65

west, from the Indus to the Thames, from the Euphrates "to the Jordan, and the Mediterranean, cover but a narrow tract of country Compared *mth the vastness $f our gljbb. As we rise higher, our horizon

expands on every
of

side, aftd

wherever there are traCes

als|p

human Mfe,

there are traces

of religion.

Along

the shoi$s of the, ancient Nile we see still standing the Pyramids, and the ruins of temples and labyrinths, their walls covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions,

and with the strange

On rolls

time, we certain sense called the sacred books of the Egyptians. Yet, though much hq,s been deciphered in the ancient records of that mysterious race, the main spring of

pietures of gods and goddesses. of papyrus, which have defied the ravages of have even fragments of what may be in a

the religion of Egypff and the original intention of its cerem(iial worship are far, as yet, from being fully
disclosed to us.

As we follow the sacred stream to its distant sources, the whole continent of Africa opens before us, and wherever we see kraals and cattle-pens, depend upon, it there was to be seen once, or there is to be seen even now, the smoke of sacrifices rising up from earth to heaven. The relics of the ancient African faith are rapidly disappearing ; but what has been preserved is fffll of interest to the student of religion with its
strange worship of snakes and ancestors, its vague hope of a future life, and its not altogether faded reminiscence^of a Supreme God, the Father of the black as well as of the white man 1
*.

Dr. Oallaway, UDkulunktlu, p. 45: 'It is as though we sprang from Utblanga ; we do not know where we were made. We black men 1 h*d the somei origin as yon, white men.

'

66

LECTURES ON THE SOIEffOE OF BELICUON.

From

the eastern coast of

AMca
-

our eye i& tarried

across ihe sea where, from Madagascar to Hawaii, island after island stands out like so many pillars of

sunken bridge that once spannea the Indian and oceans. Everywheia, whether among the dark Papuan or th yellowish Malay, or the brown Polynesian races* scattered -on these islands, even among the lowest of the low in the scale of humanity, there are, if we will but listen, whisperings
8*

Pacific

about

divine

there are prayers

beings imagrnings of a future life; and sacrifices which, even in their

most degraded and degrading form, still bear witness to that old and ineradicable faith that everywhere there is a God to hear our prayers, if we will but
on Him, and to accept our offerings, whether they are offered as a ransom for sin, 01 as a token of a grateful heart. Still farther east the double continent of America becomes visible, and in spite of the unchristian vandalism of its first discoverers and conquerors, there, too, we find materials for the study of an ancient,
call

and, it woul^L seem, independent faith. Unfortunately, the religious and mythological traditions collected
the
first

by

European* who came in contact with the natives of America, reach back but ft short distance beyond the time when they were written down, and they seem in several cases to reflect the thoughts of
the Spanish listeners as
narrators.

much

as those of the native

The quaint hieroglyphic manuscripts of Mexico and Guatemala hltve as yet told us very little, and the accounts written by 'natives in, their native Janguage have to be used with great caution, Still
the ancient religion of
.the

Aztecs of Mexico and of

II.

6?

the Irioas of Peru

is full

of interesting problems.

As

towards tta north and its red^skinned inhabitants, our information becomes more meagre
still,

we advance

an<! after

Livre des Sauvages

again.
"?et

what happened some years ago, mo is likely to come to our assistance there are wild and home-grown specieven

mens

oftreligioua faith to be studied

now among

the receding and gradually perishing tribes $f*the Bed Indians, and, in their languages as well as in
their religions, traces may possibly still be found, before it is too late, of pre-historic migrations of men

from the primitive Asiatic to the American continent,

either across the stepping-stones of the Aleutic bridge in the north, or low^r south by drifting with favourable winds from island to island, till the hardy canoe

was landed or wrecked on the American coast, never to retilrn again to the Asiatic home from which it had
started.

Ajad when in our religious survey we finally come back again to the Asiatic continent, we find here too, although nearly the whole of its area is now occupied

by one

Mosaisra,

by and Mohammedanism, by Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Zoreadtrianism, and in China by the "religions of Confucius and Lao-tse, that nevertheless partly below the surface, and in some places still on the surface too, more primitive
Christianity,

or the other of the eight book-religions,

I forms of worship have maintained themselves. mean the Shamanism of the Mongolian race, and the beautiful half-Homeric mythology of the Fimajsh and Esthonian tribes. And now that I have displayed this world-wide

panorama before your

eyes,

you

will share, I think,

68

LECTTTBES ON

THE SCIENCE OF

RELIGION",

the feeling of dismay with which the studeq&bf the science <pf religion looks around, and aslsp himself

whsre to

That there are fiegin and tiow to proceed* materials in abundance, capable of scientific treatment, no on& would venture to deny. But how are they to
be held together? these religions share in
are wo to discovdr what all common? How they differ? How they rise and how they decline ? What they arc and what they mean ?
et impera, and somewhat freely by Classify and understand/ and I believe wo shall then lay hold of tfv9 old thread of Ariadne which has led the students

How

Let us tako the old saying, Divide

*

translate it

of many a science through darker labyrinths even than the labyrinth of the religions of tho world. All real science rests on classification, and oily in case wo

cannot succeed in classifying tho various diaftcts of faith, shall we have to confess that a science of religion is really

an

impossibility,,

If the

ground before

us has once been properly surveyed and carefully parcolled out, each ncholar may then cultivate his own
glebe,

without wasting hi energies, and without losing sight of the general purposes to which all special researches must be subservient*

How, then, is the vast domain of religion to ha parcelled out? How are religions to be classified, or, we ought rather to ask first, how have they been
classified before

now? The

simplest classification, and

one which

find adopted in almost evftry country, is thafcjnto true and/0/se religions. It is very much

wo

like tho first classification of languages into one's own language and the languages of the rest of the world ;

as the Greeks would say, into the languages of the

LECTURE
the Barbarians
;

II.

69
as the

or,

Jews would

say, into the languages of the Jews and th j Sentiles ; 1 or, as the Hindus would say, in to* the languages of the
aftd Mleftfc&as ; oy, as the Chinese would $y, into the languages of tbe Middle Empire and t*hat of the Outer* Barbarians. I need tfot^say why that sort of classification fe useless for scientific purposes.

Aryas

There
scientific

is

another classification, apparently of A more

character,

but

if

examined more

closely,

equally worthless to the* student of religion* I mean the well-known division into revealed and natural
religions.

I have first to say a few

attached to natural Religion.

words on the meaning That word is constantly

It is applied

used in very different acceptations.

by

several writers to certain historical forms of religion, whiclf are looked upon as not resting on the authority

of revelation, in whatever sense that word

may

be

Thus Buddhism would be & hereafter interpreted. natural religion in the eyes of the Brahmans, Brahmanism would be a natural religion in the eyes of
the Mohammedans.
us, all religions except in lesser degree, Mosaism, a Christianity and, though would be classed as merely natural; and though

With

natural does not imply false, yet it distinctly implies the absence of any sanction beyond the sense of truth,

or the voice of conscience that

is

within us.

But Natural Beligion

ferent senlo, particularly
last

is

also used in

a very

dif-

century*

When

philosophers of the people began to subject the

by the

principal historical religions to they found that after removing

& critical analysis, what was peculiar

which they

to each, there remained certain principles

70
all

LECTOTES ON THE SCIENCE OF EELIGIOtf,

These were suppose>i*to be shared in common. the principles of Natural Religion. Again, when everything that seemed supernatural,

mi^culous, and irrational, bad been removed from the p^ges of the New Testament, there still remained a kind of skeleton ofrreligion, and this too was passed off under the name of Natural Religicm.
the last century, philosophers who were the spread of scepticism and infidelity, opposing thought that this kin4 of natural, or, as it was also

DuMg

called, rational religion,

might serve an a breakwater

against utter unbelief; but their endeavours loci to When Diderot said that all revealed reno* result.

were tho heresies of Natural Religion, ho meant by Natural Eeligion a Jbody of truths implanted in human nature, to bo discovered by the eye of reason alone, and independent of an^ such
ligions
historical or local influences as give to each roligion
its

Tho peculiar character and individual aapuct, existence of a dotty, the nature of MB attributes,
as

Buch

Omnipotences Onminek'nco, Omnipresence,

Eternity, Htdf-exiskmec, Spirituality, tho Goodness also of the Deity, and, connected with it, the ad-

mission of an absolwto distinction between

Evil,

Good and

between Virtue and Vice, all thisT and according to some writers, tho Unity and PorHonality also of the Deity, were included in the? domain of Natural Re-

Tho scientific treatment of this so-called Natural Religion received^ the name of NafUraJ Theology, a, title rendered famous in tho beginning of our
ligion.

century by tho much praincd $uid much abused work of Paloy, Natural Eeligion corresponds in the science of

LECTUKE

II.

71

in the science of language used to religiof^o what be called Grammaire generate, a collection o funda-

mental rules which were supposed to be seff-evidant, and indispensable in every grammar, but whicb,
strange to say, never e2yst in their purity and* completeness to any language that -is or ever has been

human beings. It iS the same with There never has been any real religion. rejigfion, of the pure and simple tenets exclusively consisting of Natural Religion, thcfagh thgre have been certain
spoken
tf>y

philosophers

who brought
was

themselves to believe that

their religion If

entirely rational, was, in fact, pure

and simple Deism.

we

speak, therefore, of a classification of all

historical religions into revealed

is

and natural, what meant by*naturat is simply the negation of revealed? and if we tried to carry out the classification practically, we should find the same result as before. We should have on one side Christianity alone, or, according to some theologians, Christianity and Judaism on the other, all the remaining religions of the
;

world.

This classification, therefore, whatever

practical value,
poses*
is

may

be

its

mor

perfectly usele^ for scientific purextended study shows us very soon

is sot

that the claim of revelation

or
if

up by the founders,

not by them, at all events by the later preachers and advocates of most religions and would therefore be decline* by all but ourselves as a distinguishing
;

shall 000, feature of Christianity and Uudaism, in fact, that the claims to a revealed authority are

We

urged far more stronger and elaborately by the believers in the Veda, than by the apologetical theolo*

72
gians

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF EELIGIOK.

among Jews and

Christians,

Even

/ifuddha,
self-de-

originally the most thoroughly

human and

pendent among ttfe founders of religion, is by a sfcpange kind of inconsistency represented? in later controversial writings, as in possession of revealed He himself could not, like Numa or Zorotruth 1 3 claim communication with aster, or Mohammed
.
,

higher spirits; still less could he, like the poets of the Veda, speak of divine inspirations and god-given utterances: for according lo him there was none among the spirits greater or wiser than himself, and
the gods of the
worshippers.

Veda had become his servants and Buddha himself appoaln only to whafc

we should call the inner light 3 When he delivered for the first time the four fundamental doctrines of
his system, he said, of these previously
*

unknown

Mendicants, for i&6 attainment doctrines, the ^o, the

knowledge, the wisdom, the clear perception, the light were developed within me/ He wan called Sarva///?a or omniflciont by his earlioBt pupils but when in later times, it was soen that on several points Buddha had but spokea-4ho language of his age, and had shared the errors current among his contemporaries with
;

regard to the shapa of the earth and the movement of the heavenly bodies, an important" concession w$s made by Buddhist theologians* They limited the

meaning of the word 'omniscient,' as applied to Buddha, to a knowledge of the principal doctrines of his system, and concerning these, but*these only,
1

*
9

'History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,* by Max MUllw, p. 83. ' Mohammad/ vol. ii, p. 496, Gogerly, 'The Evidences And Pootrioti of Christian
Sprenger,
x 86a,

Colombo,

Parti

LECTURE

II.

73

they cltqlared him to have been infallible. This may seem to Ije a late, and almost modern view, but whe-

modern or ancient, it certainly reflects "great Creon the Buddhist ^heologians. In the Milin$a Prasna, however, whicl* is a canonical book, we see that the same idea was already rising in the mind of the grett Nagasena. Being asked by King Milinda whether Buddha is omniscient, he replies Yes, Great
ther
dit
*

does not at

King, the blessed Buddha is omniscient. But JBuddha all times Sxercis^, his omniscience. By

meditation ho
tinction
is

knows

all things

everything he desires to know/

meditating he knows In this reply a dis-

may bo known by
main

evidently intended between subjects that Sense and reason, and subjects that

can be known by meditation only. Within the doof sense and reason, "N&gaHena does not claim omniSeieneo or infallibility for Buddha, but ho claims for him both omniscience and infallibility hi all that is to be perceived by meditation only, or, as wo should

you hereafter the extraordinary contrivances by which tho Brajimans endea* voured to eliminate every human element from the hymns of tho Voda, and to establish, not only the ^revealed, but*tho pro-historic or oven ante-mundane
character of their scriptures. No apologetic writers have ever carried the theory of revelation to greater extremes,

say, in matters of faith. I shall have to explain to

In the present stage of our inquiries! all that I wish that when the founders or de* to point out is this, fenders of nearly all Jjbe religions of the world appeal
their doctrines,

to some kind of revelation in support of the truth of it could answer no useful purpose were

74

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIOION.

to attempt

we

any classification on such the claim of a natural or preterWhether ground.^ natpral revelation, put forward by nearly all religions, is well founded or not, is not the question at It falls to the pro^nce of Theoretic TheopreSent.

logy to explain the

different senses.

trjjie

words have been Used

meaning of revelaticfa, for few so vaguely and in H* many

It falls to its province to explain,

not only how the veil was withdrawn that intercepted for a time the rays of divine truth, but, what is a far more difficult problem, how there could ever have been a veil between truth and the seeker of truth, between the adoring heart and the object of the highest adoration, between the Father and his children.

In Comparative Theology our task is different: wo have simply to deal with tho facts such as w# find

them.
IB to

them a revealed

If people regard their religion aa revealed, it religion, and hu& to bo treated

aa such by every impartial hmtorian.

But

thin principle of dnHificafcion into revoalwl

and

natural roligionB appuarn atili more faulty, wht*n wo Jook at it from another point of view. Kvon if wo granted that all religipiiH, except Christianity and Mosaiara,

mind only which, according

derived their origin from those faculties of th& to Paley, arc sufficient by

themselves for calling into life tha fundamental toneU of what wo explained before as natural religion, the clarification of Christianity and Judaism on one ido as rpw.<x??J and of the other religions as natural, would slJlll l>o ddfoctivo, for tho simple reason that no religion, though founded on revelation, can over be
t

entirely separated from natural religion.

Tho

tenets

LECTUKE

II,

75

of natural religion, though they never constituted by themselveg a real historical religion, supply the only

ground on which even revealed religions can stand, the only. soil where they can strike root, and from which they can receive nourishment and life. If Ve took awa$ that soil, or if we supposed that it, too, had to b$ supplied hy revelation', wo should not only run counter to the letter and spirit of the Old andthe

New Testament, but we should degrade revealed religion by changing it into a mere formula, to be accepted by a recipient incapable of questioning, weigh-* ing, and appreciating ita truth ; we should indeed have the germ, but we should have thrown away the congenial soil in which alone the germs of revealed truth

can live and grow.

Christianity, addressing itself not only to the Jews, but ateo to the Gentiles, not only to the ignorant, but also to the learned, not only to the believer, but, in

the

first instance, to the unbeliever, prenupposed in all of them the elements of natural religion, and with

them the power of choosing between truth and untruth* Thus only could St. Paul say: Prove all things, hold fast that which is good/ ( Ttheas, v, at.) The same is true with regard tj the Old Testament. There, too, thoboliof in a Doity, and in Homo at least of its indefeasible attributes, is taken for granted, and tho prophets who call the wayward Jews back to the worship of Jehovah, appeal to them as competent by
*

the truth-testing power that is within them, to choose between Jehovah and the gods of the Gentiles, between truth and untruth. Thus Joshua gathered all
the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their

76

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION,

judges, and for their officers; themselves before God.

and they
:

the Lord

'.And Joshua said unto all the^people Thus saith God of Israel: Y$ur fathers dweit on the

father of

other* side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the Abraham, *ind the father of Nachor: and

they served other "gods.'

jn$ then,
done

after

for them,

reminding them of all that God has he concludes by saying:

'Now,

therefore, fear the *Lorci,

and serve him

in

sincerity and in truth ; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the ilood, and

inJEgypt, and serve ye the Lord. 'And if it seem ovil unto you* to servo the Lord, choose ymi this 'day whom ye wiy nerve; whether the

gods which your fathers served that *wero on tho other side of the flood, or tho gods of the AmorTtes in whose lands ye dwell but as for mo and my house, wo will servo tho Lord/ In order to choose between different gods anjj different forms of faith, a man must possess the faculty of
;

choosing, theanstrurnents of testing truth

:

and untruth,

whether revealed or not ho must know that certain fundamental tenets cannot be absent in any true religion, and thut thero are doctrines agrflnat which hfc rational or moral conscience revolts as incompatible with truth. In short, there must be the foundation of religion, there must bo tho solid rock, before it is possible to erect an altar, a temple, or a chufth and if
:

we

foundation natural religion, it is clear that no revealed religion can bethought of which does not rest more or less firmly on natural religion.
callr that

These

difficulties

have been

felt distinctly

by some

LECTUEE

II.

77

of outmost learned divines, who have attempted various Classifications of religions from their own New definitions* of natural religion point of view.

have therefore

beefi

overlapping of the
.

two

proposed in order to avoid the definitions of natural and Re-

Natural religion has, for instance, vealed religion 1 been explained as the religion of/hature before revelation, such as may be supposed to have existed ann>ng
the patriarchs, or to exist still among primitive people who have not yet been^ enlightened by Christianity or debased by idolatry*

According to this view we should have to distinguish not two, but three classes of religion the pri* mitive or natural, the debased or idolatrous, and the revealed. But, as pointed oiit before, the first, the
:

so-called priinitivo

tfr

natural religion, exists in the

modern philosophers rather than of ancient History never tollw us of any poets and prophets.
mindfibof
race with

whom

tho simple feeling of reverence for

l^gher powers

was not hidden under mythological disguliisr Nor would it be possible even thus to separate the three classes of religion by sharp and
definite lines of demarcation, because botfi the

debased
religions

or idolatrous

and tho purified or revealed

would of necessity include within themselves tho Cements of natural religion.

Nor do we diminish

these difficulties in tho classifi-

catory stage of our science if, in tho place of this simple natural religion, we admit with other theologians and philosophers, a universal primeval revelation.

This

universal

primeval revelation Is only

another
1

name

for naftiral religion,

*

and

it rests
p.

on

8de Profeisor Jowett's

Eswiy oa Natural Religion,*

458*

78

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

the. speculations

no authority but The same class of

of philosophers. Ianphilosophers, considering^hat for the gujige wfi,s too wonderful an achievement human mind, insisted on the necessity of admitting a
universal

primeval

God

to

men, or rather to niute beings;

language, revealed directly by while the

more thoughtful toS the more reverent among the Fathers of the Church, and among the founders of modern philosophy also pointed out that it was more consonant with the general* working of an all- wise and all-powerful Creator, that he should have endowed human nature with the essential conditions of speech, instead of presenting mute beings with grammars and dictionaries ready-mad*. Is an infant less wonderful than a man ? an acorn less wonderful than an oak tree? a cell, including potentially within itself all that it has to become hereafter, less wonderful than all the moving creatures that have life? The same
1

applies to religion.

A. universal

primeval religion re-

vealed direct by
atheists,

God

may,

to

man, or rather to a crowd of our human wisdom, seem the best

to
:

difficulties but a higher wisdom speaks to us from out the realities of history, and teaches us, if we -vyjll but learn, that 'we have all to

solution

of rt all

feeek the Lord, if

haply

we may

feel <after

him, and

find him, though he be not far from every one of us.** Of the hypothesis of a universal primeval revelation

and

all its self-created difficulties

:

we

shall

have

to speak again

for the present it

is

must

aaffice if

we

have shown that the problem of a

tion of "religions

scientific classificaits

not brought nearer to

solution

by the additional assumption of another purely hypo*

class of religions.

XEOTUBE
Another apparently mote

II.

79

scientific classification id

that wifrnational and individual religions, the former comprehending religions the founders of Winch .are
to us as fcey were to those who believed px them; the latter comprehending religious systlma which bear the names of those by whom they were to have been originally planned or estaBuppose<J blished. To the former class, speaking only of the religions with which we are most familiar, \"ould belong those of the ancient Brahmans, the Greeks, Eomans, Teutons, Slaves, and* Celts; to the latter

unknown

those of Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Lao-tse,

Christ,

and Mohammed.

This division, however, though easily applied in a general way, and useful for certain purposes, fails us as soon as w$ attempt to apply it in a more critical spirit* It is quite true that neither a Brahman, nor a Greek, nor a Roman would have known what to

answer when asked, who was the founder of his

re-*

declared the existence of Indra, Zeus, ligion, or Jupiter; but the student of antiquity can still discover in the various forms which the ancient Aryan
first

who

worship has assumed in India, Greece, and Italy, the on the influence of individual minds orj&chools. If, other hand, we ask the founders of so-called individual religions, whether their doctrine is a new one, -whether they preach a new God, we almost always Confucius emphatically receive a negative answer. asserts th%b he was a transmitter, not & maker;

Buddha delights in representing himself #s * w&t& link in a long chain of enlightened teacheraf Christ declares that he came to fulfil, not to destroy the L$w or the Prophets; and even Mohammed insisted on

80

LEOTTTEES ON

THE SOIEKOE OF BELHHOST.

tracing his faith back to Ibr&hym, i.e. Abrahgim, the friend of God, whom he called a Moslim, afod not a

Jew

tained,

or Christian, (Koran iii. 60,) and who, He main* had founded the temple at Mekka *. To de-

how much is peculiar to the supposed founder 4u's predereligion, how much he received from cessors, and how mu8h was added by his disciples, is
teiflnine

of

almost impossible; nay, it is perfectly true that no religicJn has ever struck root and lived, unless it found a congenial soil from which to draw its real strength and support. If they find such a soil, individual religions

have a tendency to develope into universal religions, while national creeds remain more exclusive, and in many cases are even opposed to all missionary
propaganda We have not finished
.

yet.

very important and,

certain purposes, very useful classification has been that into polytheistic, dualistic, and monotheistic
for

If religion rests chiefly on a belief in a Power then the nature of that Higher Power Higher would seem to supply the most characteristic feature
religions.
9

by which to classify the religions of the world. Nor do I deny Siat for certain, purposes such a classification has proved useful: all I maintain is that we should thus have to class togetherreligions most

heterogeneous in other respects, though agreeing In the number of their deities- Besides, it would certainly be necessary to add two other classes the henothewtic and the atheistic. Henotheistic religions
differ
1

from polytheistic because, although they recog-

'Mohammad,' vol. iii. ppf 49, 489. See 'Hibbert Lectures/ by Professor Kuenen, 1882. [Religions and Universal Religions.'
Sprenger,
a

'National

LEOTUBE
nise

II.

81

deities,

th^ existence of various deities, or names of they represent each deity as independent of

all the rest, as the only deity present in the* mind of the worshipper at thfc time of his worship and prayer. This character is most prominent in the religion of tfte

Vedic poeti. Although *many gods are invoked in different hymns, sometimes alsofcufche same hymn, yet there'is no rule of precedence established among

them and, according to the varying aspects of nftturej and the varying cravings of the human heart, it is
;

sometimes Indra, the god of the*blue sky, sometimes Agni, the god of fire, sometimes Varuna, the ancient god of the firmament, that are praised as supreme without any suspicion of rivalry, or any idea of
subordination. This peculiar phase of religion, this worship of single gods, forms probably everywhere the firji stage in the growth of polytheism, and deserves therefore a separate name \ As to atheistic religions, they might seem to be perfectly impossible and yet the fact cannot be disputed away that the religion of Buddha was from the be;

ginning purely atheistic. The idea of the Godhead, after it had been degraded by endless mythological absurdities which struck and repelled the heart of Buddha, was, fop a time at least, entirely expelled and the fro*m the sanctuary of the human mind highest morality that was ever taught before the rise of Christianity was taught by men with whom the
:

gods had b^some mere phantoms, without any aitais, not even an altar to the Unknown God. It will be the object of my next lecture tc^sfeow
1
'

edition, p, 532.

Hiatory of Ajooieut Sanskrit literature ' Hibbert Lectures/ p. 236.

'

by

Max MUUer,

second

82

LECTURES ON THSj SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

that the only scientific and truly genetic classification of religions is tliB same as the classification of Ian1

guages, and that, particularly in the early Instory of the human intellect, there exisft the most intimate
relationship between language, religion, and nationalitya relationship quite independent ofrthose physical elements, thelblood,

the skull, or the hair, on

ethnologists have attempted to found their classification of the human race.

wMch

THIRD EECTURE.
DEIgVEBED AT THE BOYAL INSTITUTION,

MABOH

5,

iS/O.
f

we

prejudices or predilections, in that frame of mind in which the lover of truth or the man of science ought to approach every subject, I believe w6
lines of demarcation

IFany

approached the religions

mankind without

should not be long before recognising the natural which divide the whole religious

world

sevefal great continents. I am speaking, injo of course, of ancient religions only, or of the earliest In that period in tiie history of religious thought.
toxic,

primitive period which might be {sailed, if act prehi0at least jmnely ethnic, because what we ko&tr
-consists

of it
tions,

and not in the

only in the general movements of naacts of individuals, of parties, or

of states

in that primitive period, I say, nations

have been called languages; and ifl our best works ozt the ancient history of mankind, a map of languages now takes the place of a map of nations. But during the same primitive period nations mighrti be called religions for there is *fc with equal right that time the same, nay, an even more intimate, lationship between Teligion and JiationaMty .between language and nationality. In order clearly to explain my meaning, I shall have to rrfei; as shortly AS possible, to the specular a %
;

84

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE

Off

RELIGION.

tions of

some German philosophers on the true relation 4q|;ween language, religion, and nationality speculations whicfi. have as yet Deceived less attention n the part of modem ethnologists than they seem to

me

to deserve.

It

was Scheming, one of the proloundest thinkers

first

of Germany, who makes an ethnosl

asked the question,

is

What

beings become a people? people? How did And the answer which he gave, though it sounded startling to me when, in 1845, 1 listened, at Berlin, to

What human

the true origin of a

^nore and more

the lectures of the old philosopher, has been confirmed by subsequent researches into the
history of language To say that man
like

and
is

religion.

a gregarious animal, and

that,

swarms of

bees, or herds of wilft elephants,

men

instinctively, into a people, is saying very little. It the agglomeration of one large flock of

keep together

and thus form themselves

might explain

human

beings,

but

it

would never explain the formation of peoples

possessing the consciousness of their national individuality.

Nor should we advance much towards a solution of our problem, if we were told that men break up into peoples as bees break up into swarms, by following
allegiance to different goto the same government, parAllegiance ticularly in ancient times, is the result rather than
different queens,

by owing

vernments^

the cause of nationality; while in historical times, suet has been the confusion produced by extraneous

by brute force, ar .dynastic ambition, that the natural development of peoples has been entirely Arrested, and we frequently find one and the same
influences,

LECTURE
people divided

III.

89

different governments, and different under the same ruler. peoples united Our question, What makes a people? ha** <x> be considered in reference to the most ancient times, How did men form themselves into a people bafoft, there were 'kings or shepherds of men? Was it doubt it. Comthrough community of blood? of blood families, clans, possibly munity produces races, but it does not produce that higher and pSrely moral feeling which binds men together and makes

by

them a

people. It is language

religion is even

and religion that make a people, but a more powerful agent than language.

The languages of maay of the aboriginal inhabitants of Northern America are but dialectic varieties of one type, but thos^ who spoke these dialects seem never to have*coalesced into a people. They remained mere clans or wandering tribes, and even their antagonism to foreign invaders did not call out the sense of a national coherence and unity among them, because they were without that higher sense of unity which
is

called forth,

or,

at all events, strengtiiened,

by

The Greeks 1 , worshipping the same god or gods. on the contrary, though speakigg their strongly marked, and I doubt whether mutually intelligible dialects, the MQ&G, the Doric, the Ionic s felt themselves at all times, even when ruled by different numerous republics, *& tyrants, or broken up into

one great Hellenic people.

viil 144

What was
rl

it,

tbe$

6Sw topSfurrt. r
P- 433-

ASri^

mt

>

t'Atopaiew <&*&*&$%<*. See Bdiab. BeviOTT,* 1874,

'

86

LEGTUB1S

Off

THE SOIENOE OF BELIGHON.

preserved in their hearts, in spite of dialects/bi spite of dynasties, in spite even of the feuds of tribes and the jealdusies of states, the feeling of that ideal
deep^
jonity

which constitutes^ jeople? It was their primitwe religion it was a. dim recollection of the common allegiance they owed from time Immemorial to the great fafoef* of gods and men; it^was their
;

beiief in the old Zeus

of Dodona, the Panhellenie

Zeus.

that

Perhaps the most signal-confirmation of this view it is religion even more than language which supplies the foundation of nationality, is to be found

in the history of the Jews, the chosen people of God. The language of the Jews differed from that of the
Phenicians, the
tribes

much

less

Moabites, and other neighbouring than the <Jreek dialects differed

from each

other.

But the worship of Jehovdh made

the Jews a peculiar people, the people of Jehovah, separated by their God, though not ty their Ian*
1 guage, from the people of Chemosh (the Moabites ) and from the worshippers of Baal and Ashtoreth. It was their faith in Jehovah that changed the

wandering
C

tribes of Israel into

a nation.

people/ as Spelling says, 'exists only

when

it

has determined itself with regard to it& mythology. This mythology, therefore, cannot take its origin after a national separation has taken place, after. a people has become a people: nor could it spring up while a people was still contained as*an invisible part in the whole of humanity; but its origin must be referred to that very of transition before
period
'

Numb, ro. 29

Jeremiah

xlviii.

And Ohemoah

shall

go forth

Into captivity, with his priests

and

his princes together.'

LECJTUBE in.

87

its definite existence, and when on th^ point of separating and constituting itself. The same applies to the language of a people; it becomes definite at the same time that a people be? comes definite 1 it is
.'

a peoplfe has assumed

Hegel, tBe great rival of Schelling, arrived at the same contusion. In his Philoi&pKy of History he says : The idea of God constitutes the general foundation of a people. Whatever is the form of a religion,
c

the same
it

is

the form of la

state,,

and

its

constitution:

springs from religion, so much so that the Athenian and the Eoman states were possible only with the
peculiar

heathendom of those

peoples,

and that ev#n

now a Eoman
and The genius

Catholic state has a different genius a different constitution from a Protestant state.
of *a people is a definite, individual genius its individuality in dif:

which^becomes conscious of
ferent spheres

in the character of

its

moral

life,

its

2 political constitution, its art, religion and science / But this is not an idea of philosophers only. His-

more particularly, the students of the have arrived at very mu$i the same of law, history conclusion. Though to many of them law seems
torians, and,

naturally to be the foundation

1
'

*>f

society,

and the

Vorlesungen uber Philosophic der Mythologie/ vol, i. p. 107 seq. * Though these words of Hegel's were published long before Schelling's lectures, they seem to me to breathe the spirit of Sohelling rather than of Hegel, and it is but fair therefore to state that Schelling's lectures, though not published, were printed and circulated among 1&& friends twenty years before they were delivered at Berlin. Baatto* tfu&b a* question of priority may seem of little importance

tfe* but there is nevertheless much truth in. Schema to difficult philosophy advances not so ttoch by the aagwes* gtvea problems, as by the starting of new problems, and by asking questions which no one else would think of asking.
these,

**^

88

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

bond that binds a nation together, those wrfo look below ihe surface have quickly perceived^ that law
itself,

its foj;ce,

at least ancfent law, derives its authority, its very life, from religion. Sir H. Maine is no

doubt right when, in the case of the so-called Laws Manu, he rejects the idea of the Deity dictating an entire code or body of law, as an idea of a Decidedly
of

modem origin. Yet the belief that the law-giver enjoyed some closer intimacy with the Deity than ordinary mortals, pervades the ancient traditions of
many
tells

nations.

Thus Diodorus Siculus

(1.

i. c.

94),

us that the Egyptians believed their laws to

;

have been communicated to Mnevis by Hermes the Cretans held that Minos receivecT his laws from Zeus,

from Apollon.

the Lacedaemonians that Lykurgos received his laws According to the Ariafts, their law-

giver, Zathraustes,

had received

his

laws from the

Spirit; according to the Getse, Zamolxis received his laws from the goddess Hestia; and, ac-

Good

cording to the Jews, Moses received his laws from the

god

lao.

supernatural presidency,' he writes, 'is supposed to consecrate and keep together all the cardinal institutions of those early times, the state, the race, and the family* 'The elementary group is the (p. 6). family; the aggregation of families forms the gens or the house. The aggregation of houses makes the tribe. The

one has pointed out more forcibly than Sir H. Maine that in ancient times religion as a divine influence was underlying and supporting every relation of life and every social institution. A
'

No

aggregation of tribes constitutes the commonwealth' Now the family is held together by the (p. ia8).

LECTURE

HI.

89

familyWcra (p, 191), and so were the gens, the tribe, and the bommonwealth and strangers could~only be
;

admitted to these Brotherhoods

their

tfy

being admitted to
time,

aawa

(p.

13 1)

&t

>& later

law breaks

away from

religion (p. 193), but even then many traces remain to sh&w that the hearth was the first

and children and slaves the first congregation gathered together round the sacred fire the Hestia, the goddess of the house, and in the end the goddess of the people. To the present day, marriage, one of the most important
altar, thft father the first elder, 4is 'wife

of civil acts, the very foundation of civilised

life,

has
it

retained something of the religious character which* had from the very beginning of history.

Let us see
'

now

v early ages of which

^yhat religion really is in those we are here speaking I do not

:

mean religion as a silent power^ working of man; I mean religion in its outward
religion as
finite,

in the heart

appearance,

something outspoken, tangible, and dethat can be described and communicated to

others.
lies

We

shall find that in that sense religion

A^few words, recognised as names of the deity; a few epithets that have been raised from their material meaning to a
within a very small compass.

mSre spiritual stage, I mean words which expressed originally bodily strength, or brightness, or purity, and which gradually had come to mean greatness, goodness, and holiness lastly, some
higher and
;

very different opinion prius de rebus humanis, de divinis

is

held by Varro.

'Varro propterea
. ,

quod prius

extiterint

autem postea scripsiase ifcestatur, . . civitatee, deinde ab eis haso institute aint

sicut prior eat, inquit, pietor quam tabula picta, prior &ber quam fcdifioium: ita priores emit oivitates quam ea qua a oivitatibus
1

inatituta sunt.

'

(August.

Civ. Dei,' 6. 4).

90

MOTTOES ON THE SCIENCE OF

leas technical

EELIGION.

more or
as

terms expressive of suclf ideas

sacrifice, altar, prayer, possibly virtue ^and sin, body and Spirit this is what constitutes the outward

framework of the incipient religions of antiquity. If we look at these simple manifestations of religion, we
see at once
calle d
r

why

religion,

during *those earfy ages of

which we are

here* speaking, really and^bruly be sacred dialect of human speech ; how at all

may

events early religion and early language are most

intimately connected,
its
^religioii depending entirely for outward expression on the more or less adequate

resources of language.
is

of early religion on language once clearly understood, it follows, as a matter of course, that whatever classification has "been found
in,

And if this dependence

most useful

the Science of Language ought to

prove equally useful in the Science of Beligidn. If there is a truly genetic relationship of languages, the same relationship ought to hold together the religions of the world, at least the most ancient religions
classification of religions, it will
it

proceed therefore to consider the proper be necessary to say few words on the present state of our knowledge
Before
If

we

viih regard to the genetic relationship of languages.

we
its

confine ourselves to the Asiatic continent

ijnportant peninsula of Europe, we find that in the vast desert of drifting human speech three, and

with

only three, oases have been formed in which, before the beginning of all history, language became per-

manen^ and traditional, assumed in character, a character totally 4iSerent ginal character of the floating and
speech of

fact a new from the ori-

human

beings.

constantly varying These three oases of Ian-

LEOTUBU m.
are

91

the name of Turanian, Semitic, In these three centres, more particularly in the Aryan and Semitic, language ce&sed to be natural; its growth, was . arrested, and it became

known by
.

and

Artywi.

permanent,
speech.
*I

solid, petrified, or, if

you

like, historical

have always maintained that

this cen-

traditional conservation of language could only have been the result of and religious* I and intend to now show that influences, political
tralisati^n

and

we

of three independent really have dear eVidence t settlements of religion, the Turanian, the Semitic, and

the Aryan, concomitantly with the three great settlements of language.

Taking Chinese for what it can hardly any longer be doubted that it is, viz. the earliest representative of Turanian* speech, we find in China an ancient coloufless and unpoetical religion, a religion we might
almost venture to call monosyllabic, consisting of the worship of a host of single spirits, representing the

and lightning, mountains aad one standing by the side of the other without any mutual attraction, without any higher principle to hold them together. In addition to this, we likewise meet in China with the worship of ancestral
sky, the sun, storms
rivers,
spirits,

to retain,

the spirits of the departed, who &re supposed some cognisance of human affairs, and to

possess peculiar powers which they exercise for good or for evil. This double worship of hmawn aad of

natural sjSrits constitutes the old popular r$Hgi$ of China* aad it has lived on to the preset d*y^ftfc &aet in the lower ranks q sxxsiefey, though, ifeee twers above it a more elevated range of hall religious and
half philosophical faith,

$ baUaf ia two higher Powers

92

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIG-TON.

which, in the language of philosophy,

and Matter, in the language of Ethics* Qkod and JW/j but which in the original language of religion as Heaven and Earth. andjnythology are represented
It is'true that

we know

of China from the

works of

the ancient popular religion Confttcius onl/, or from

even more modern sources. But Confucius,* though he is*c^led the founder of a new religion, was really He was but the new preacher of an old religion. 1 He says of emphatically a transmitter, not a maker himself, I only hand on I cannot create new things. I believe in the ancients, and therefore I love them 2 / "We find, secondly, the ancient worship of the Semitic races, clearly marked by a rtumber of names of the Deity, which appear in the pplytheistic religions of the Babylonians, the Phenicians, and Carthaginians,
.
c

tians,

as well as in the monotheistic creeds of Jews, (Chrisand Mohammedans. It is almost impossible to

characterise the religion of people so different from each other in language, in literature, and general
civilisation, so different also

from themselves at
;

dif-

ferent periods of their history but if I ventured to characterise the worship of all the Semitic nations by

one word, I should say

it

was pre-eminently a wor-

ship of God in History, of God as affecting the des^ tinies of individuals and races and nations rather than

of God as wielding the powers of nature. The names of the Semitic deities are mostly words expressive of

moral

qualities

they
;

mean

the Lor<J, the King and they divine personalities, definite in

1

the Strong, the Exalted a grow but seldom into

tfceir

outward appear-

See Dr. Legge,

liun-yu
(

i. a)

Life of Confucius,' p. 96. Schott, 'Chiaeaiscta Literatur,' p.

jr.

IB.

68

&nceV>r easily to be recognised by strongly marked features\of f> real dramatic character. Hence many of the ancient Semitic gods have a tendency to run
together, and a transition ^from the worship of single gods to the worship 5? o'ne God required ng great In the monotonous desert, more particularly, effort. the worship of single gods glidfd away almost imperceptibly into the worship of one God. If I wre to add, as a distinguishing mark, that the Semitic religions excluded the feminine gender in their names

of the Deity, or that all their female deities were only representatives of the active energies of older and
sexless gods, this
all
;

would be true of some only, not of would* require nearly as many limitations as the statement of M. Kenan, that the Semitic reand
it
1 wer$ instinctively monotheistic
,

ligions

"We find lastly the ancient worship of the Aryan race carried to the most distant corners of the earth by its adventurous sons, and easily recognised, whether
in the valleys of India or in the forests of Germany, by the common names of the Deity, all originally expressive of natural powers. Their worship is not, as

has been so often said, a worship of nature. But if it had to be characterised by one yord, I should venture

a worship of God in Nature, of God as appearing behind the gorgeous veil of Nature, rather than as hidden behind the veil of the sanctuary of
to call it

the

human heart. The gods of the Aryan pantheon assume an individuality so strongly marked and peer* manent, that with the Aryans, a transition* to monotheism required a powerful struggle, and selclom took
1

See

my essay on
'

Semitic Monotheism,' in

'

Chips from a Gorman

Workshop,

vol.

i.

pp. 342 380.

94
effect

LECrClTRES

ON THE

SCttEffOE

OF RELIGION.

without iconoclastic revolutions or philosophical

despair.

These 'three classes of religion are not to be mistaken, as

as the three classes of language, the the Turanian, Semitic, and tlje Aryan. They mark three events in the most ancient history of iftie world, of the events which have* deiermined the whole
little

fatg

human
our

race,

and of which we ourselves

still feel

the

consequences in our language, in our thoughts,

religion.

and in

But the chaos which these three leaders in language, thought, and religion, the Turanian, the Semitic, and the Aryan, left behind, was not altogether a chaos. The 'stream of language from whick these three channels had separated, rolled on; the sacred fire of religion from which these three altars had been lighted was not extinguished, though hidden in smoke* and ashes. There was language and there was religion everywhere in the world, but it was natural and wild* growing language and religion; it had no history, it left no history, and it is therefore incapable of that peculiar scientific treatment which has been found applicable to a study of the languages and the religions of the Chinese, the Semitic, and the Aryan nations. People wonder why the students of language have not succeeded in establishing more than three families
of speech or rather two, for the Turanian can hardly be called a family, in the strict sense of that word, until it has been fully proved that Chinese forms tiro centre of the two Turanian branches, the North Turanian on one side, and the South Turanian on the 1 other, that Chinese forms, in fact, the earliest settle1

See

my

'Lecture on the Stratification of Language/ p. 4.

LEOTUBB HI.

95

ment\>f that unsettled mass of speech, which, at a later stage, became more fixed and traditional, in the north*, in Tungusic, Mongolia, TaAaric, and
Mnnic, and in
thtf south, in

Taic, Malaic, Bhotiya*

and Tainulic. The reason why scholars have discovered no more than these two or three great^fanailies of speech is very sirSple. There were no more, and we caanot

make
tion,

more.
;

formations

they

Families of languages are very jfeculiar are, and they must be, the excep-

was always the

leaving
decay.
its

not the rule, in the growth of language. There possibility, but there never was, as far as I can judge, any necessity for human speech
If it

primitive stage of wild growth and mid had not been for what I consider a

purely spontaneous act on the part of the ancestors of the Samitic, Aryan, and Turanian races, all languages might for ever have remained ephemeral, answering the purposes of every generation that comes and goes,
struggling on, now gaining, now losing, sometimes acquiring a certain permanence, but after a season breaking up again, and carried away like blocks of
ice

by the waters that rise underneath the surface. Our very idea of language would then have been something totally different from what it is now. For what are we doing 1 "We first form our idea of what language* ought to
from those exceptional languages which were arrested in* their natural growth by social, religious,
be
political, or at all events by extraneous influences, and we then turn round and wonder why a*U Ian* guages are not like tnese two or three exceptional channels of speech. "We might as well wonder why

96
all

LECTURES OK THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

animals are not domesticated, or why, besides the garden anemone, there should be endless varieties of the same aower growing wild on the meadow and in
the woods.

li the Turanian class, i& tfhich the original concenwas never so powerful as in the Aryan and Semitic families, we $an still catch a glimpse of the natural growth of language, though confinefl within
tration

The different settlements of this great mass of homogeneous speech do not show floating such definite marks t>f relationship as Hebrew and Arabic, Greek and Sanskrit, but only such sporadic coincidences and general structural similarities as can
eertairf limits.

tration, followed

be 'explained by the admission of,a primitive concenby a new period of independent

It

would be wilful blindness noi to recogand characteristic features which North Turanian languages it would be the pervade impossible to explain the coincidences between Hungarian, Lapponian, Esthonian, and Finnish, except on the supposition that there was a very early concentration of speech from which these dialects branched We see uiis less clearly in the South Turanian off* group, though I confess my surprise even here has
growth.
nise the definite
:

always been, not that there should be go few, but that there should be even these few relics, attesting a
former c8mmunity of these divergent streams of lanThe point in which the South Turanian and North Turanian languages meet goes back as far as Chinese for that Chinese is at the root of Mandshu and Mongolian as well as of Siamese and Tibetan becomes daily more apparent through the researches
guage.
;

of Mr* Edkins and other Chinese scholars.

LEOTUBE
I rea5ily admit that there
is

III.

97

no hurry for pronouno

ing definitely qn these problems, and I am welljaware of what may be said against these wide generalisations affecting the 'origin of species' in language. My chief
object in publishing, mor>*than twenty years ago, my Letter to Brflasen On the Turanian Languages/ in which
'

first put forward, w&s to counteract the dangerous dogmatic scepticism which at that time threatened to stop all freedom of research, ana all progress in the Science of Language. No method was then considered legitimate for a comparative analysis of languages except that which was, no doubt, the only

these views were

legitimate

languages, but

method in treating, forinstance the Romance was ot therefore the only possible
s

method

for

scientific

treatment of all other lan-

prpofs of relationship were then admitted guages. even fof languages outside the pale of the Aryan and

No

Semitic families, except those which had been found applicable for establishing the relationship between
the various members of these two great families of speech. My object was to show that, during an earlier phase in the development of language, no such proofe

ought ever to be demanded, because, from the nature of the case, they could not exisj>, while yet their no way justify us in denying the absence would more distant relationship. At present of a possibility a complete change has taken place in the Science of Language, as in other branches of natural science.

Owiog chiefly to the influence of the ideas which Darwin, has brought again into the foreground of aJl natural philosophy, students are now directfaag^thOT
the special.
attention everywhere to the general rather than to Every kind of change, under ihe name

98

LUOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELKHON.

of development, seems now conceivable and/ admisbeen traced sible, and when all races of men have back to one common source, and even beyond the

ttf

no difficulty Is felt any longer as a 'refationship between any of of ijie possibility the so-called Turanian languages, nay, oA a common This beginning for ail -varieties of human speech.
level of humanity^
its

phase of thought in
1

extreme form wilf no doubt

the former, but these oscillations pass* away should teach us at least .this one lesson that no dictatorial authorit/'should ever stop the progress of
like
science,

and that nothing

is

so dangerous as a belief

in our

own infallibility. ^If we turn away from the Asiatic continent, the original home of the Aryan, the Semitic, and the Turanian languages, we find that in a Africa, too, a
comparative study of dialects has clearly pioved a

concentration of African speech, the results of which may be seen in the uniform B&ntu dialects, (Kafir,

Setchuna, Damara, Otyiherero, Angola, Kongo, Kietc.), spoken from the equator to the Keiskamma \ North of this body of B&ntu or Kafir speech, we have an independent settlement of Semitic speech in the Berber and the Galla dialects south of it we have only the Hot?entot and Bushm^i tongues, which
suah&i,
;

by Dr. Th. Hahn to be closely allied Whether there is any real linguistic relationship between these languages in the South of Africa and the Nubian, and even the aacient Egyptian, and whether these languages were separated
are

now

declared

to each t>ther.

Bleek,

p. a.

Comparative Grammar ofrth South African Languages/ See also Dr. Bleek's 'Report concerning his Researches into the
published in 1873.

'

Bushman Language/

LBCTUEE

III.

99

from each other by the intrusion of the Kafir tribes is a problem, the solution of which must be. left to the future. So much only is certain that tHe ancient
Egyptian represents to us an independent primeval
concentration of intellectual work in the country of the Ntte, independent, so far as we know at present, of the ancient .Aryan and Semitic concentration of language and religion. But while the spoken languages of the African continent enable us to perceive in a general way the

Africa

original articulation of the primitive population of for there is a continuity in language which

nothing can destroy we know, and can know, but little of the growth and decay of African religion.

In many places Mohammedanism and Christianity have swept ^way every recollection of the ancient gods find even when attempts have been made by
;

missionaries or travellers to describe the religious status of Zulus or Hottentots, they could only see the
faith, and these were but too often depicted in their ridiculous rather than in their serious character. It is here where_the theory of a primitive fetishism has done most mischief in blinding the eyes even of accurate observers as to

most recent forms of African

anything that aiight lie beyond tne growth of fetish worship The only African religion of which we possess
.

ancient

literary records is the religion of Egypt which has i*ng been a riddle to us, as it was to the Greeks and Romans, At last, however, the HgH is beginning to dawn on the darkest chambers Sf the ancient temples of Bgy^fc, and on the deepest recesses of the human heart, from which sprang both the belief

100

LECTURES ON THE SOIENOE OF BELIGUON.

and the worship of the ancient gods. At first sight nothing seems more confused, perplexing; and unpromising than the religion of Egypt, exhibiting at one time a grovelling worship of animals, at another the highest flights of a mysterious wisdom. It can

hardly be said that even now, after the decipherment of the ancient latfguage of Egypt, this strange contrast ha^ b^een entirely accounted for. Still no one can rise from the perusal of M. Le Page Renouf s excellent 'Hibbert Lectures' without feeling convinced that there
reason in the religion of Egypt also, nay, that the growth of religious ideas there is wonderfully alike
is

thp growth of religious ideas amongthe Aryan nations. The religion of the Egyptians was not from the first

a mere worship of brutes, Egyptian zoolatry belonged a period of decay, and was based upen symbols derived from mythology. Egyptian, like Aryan, tnythoto

logy dealt originally with those phenomena of nature which are conspicuously the result of law, such as the rising and setting of the sun, the moon, and the stars and a recognition of law and order as
:

existing

throughout the universe, underlies the whole system of Egyptian religion. Like the Sanskrit A'ta, the Egyptian "Ma&t, Derived from merely sensuous im-

became in the end the nam8 for moral order and righteousness. But besides the several powers recognised in their mythology, most of which have now been traced back to a solar origin, the Egyptians from tne very first spoke of the One Power also, by whom the whole physical and moral government of the universe is
pressions,
directed,

upon whom each

responsible.

whom

individual depends,
lastly

and

to

it is

And

they paid honour

LECTUBE

III.

101

to the departed, because death was considered as the beginning of a new life, a life that will never and.

With all this, mythology, as an inevitable disease of language, was terribly Aggravated in Egypt by the early development of art and the forms which it
assumed. *The Power which the Egyptians recogniseS without a^y mythological adjundb, to whom no temple

was ever

raised (as little as there was in India a, sanctuary dedicated to Para-Brahman, the Highest Brahman), 'who was not graven on^stone/ 'whose shrine was never found with painted figures/ 'who had neither ministrants nor offerings,' and 'whose abode was unknown/ must practically have been forgotten

by the worshippers*

Memphis, where quite ether deities received the homage of Efforts, however, prayer^ and praise, and sacrifice.
are visible, in Egypt as in India, to cling to the notion The 'self-existent, or selfof the unity of God

of the magnificent temples of Heliopolis, Abydos, Thebes, or Dendera,

becoming One, the One, the One of One, the One without a second' (as in Sanskrit, svayambhu, Ekam advitiyam), the Beginner of becoming, from the first, who made all things, but was not made/ are expressions constantly met with in the religious texts, and applied to this t>r that god (henotheistically), each in
'

his turn being considered as the supreme Go4of gods, the Maker and Creator of all things. Thus Ba, origi-

nally the sun, proceeding from Nu, 'the father of.tbp gods/ and limself the father of Shu (air) (dew), was worshipped as the supreme cele
Osiris,

the eldest of the five children of Seb

more (heaven), 'greater than his father, the husband of lais, the his than mother/ powerful

and Nut

102

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

father of Horus, was another representation of the sun, conceived chiefly in his character- of conqueror is the soul of Osiris, of darkness (Set). B&, we read, r
e

anj. Osiris the soul of

B&/, Horus again is a name of the sun, originally of the morning sun, 'whose eyes are restored at the dawn of da^/ Thoth i-epresente
'

the moon, ' the measurer of the earth/ the distributor of time/ and, at last, the inventor of letters and arts.

Sanskrit Truly does M. Le Page Renouf remark scholars who do not rknow a word of Egyptian, and Egyptologists who do not know a word of Sanskrit,
:

will give different

names

to these personages.

But the

comparative mythologist will hardly hesitate about assigning his real name to eadh of them, whether

Aryan
the

sum up in the words of Mariette: 'On summit of the Egyptian pantheon hovers* a sole God, immortal, uncreate, invisible, and hidden in the
inaccessible depths of his own essence. He is the creator of heaven and earth ; he made all that exists,

We may

or Egyptian/

and nothing was made without him. This is the God, the knowledge of whom was reserved for the initiated, in the sanctuaries. But the Egyptian mind could not, or would not, remain at this sublime altitude. It
considered the world,
its

formation^ the principles

which govern it, man and his earthly destiny, as an immense drama in which the one Being is the only actor. All proceeds from him, and all returns to him. But he has agents who are his own personified attributes who become deities in visible forms, limited in
their activity, yet partaking of his
qualities
*

own powers aad

M.

In

this account of the

Egyptian religion I have cHefly followed

LECTURE

III*

108

If we turn from Africa to America, we find there in the North numerous languages as witnesses of ancient migrations, but of Ancient religion we have hardly In the South^we know of two anything. linguistic and political centres; and there, in Mexico and Peru,

we meet with

curious,* though

not always trustworthy,

traditions, of an ancient and welt-established system of religious faith and worship.

Lastly, as

it is

possible to reconstruct
is

an

Polynesian language from* what

lects of the islands reaching

common

original to the dia-

from America to Africa of an (Madagascar), fragments original Polynesian religion also are gradually brought to light, which

would amply repay <he labours of a new Humboldt. The Science of Religion has this advantage over the
that
Science of Lamguage, if advantage it may be called, in* several cases where the latter has materials
sufficient to raise

problems of the highest importance, but not sufficient for their satisfactory solution, the former has no materials at all that would justify even a mere hypothesis. In many parts of the world where dialects, however degenerate, still allow jas a dark glimpse of a distant past, the old temples have completely vanished, and the very deities are cleaSi forgotten.

n%mes of the ancient

nothing,

We know

we

must be

with knowing nothing, and^the true scholar leaves the field which proves all the more
satisfied

a priori theories. otherwise, the students of religion would, I think, do well to follow tie eximiple of Le PageBenoufs 'Hibbert Lectures' of 1879, < Lectares c* the Origin and Growth of Beligion, as illustrated by the Beligion of Ancieni
attractive to the dabblers in

But even* if it were

des anciens Egypt; also Be BOUJ& <Sixr 1* Beligion 1 ' Annales de Philoeophie Cfe&iean^ NOT. 1869.

gyptteoB,* ia

104

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUON.

the students of language, and to serve their first apof $he Aryan and prentiqpship in a comparative study If it can be proved that the reliSemitic
feligions.

the same gions of the Aryan nationis are united by bonds of a real relationship -grhich have enabled us to treat their languages as so many* varieties 8f the same
type, and if th same fact can be established with reference to the Semitic world, the field thus opened

vast enough, and its careful clearing and cultivation will occupy several generations of scholars. And this
is

original relationship, 1 believe, can be proved. Names of the principal deities, words also expressive of the

most

essential elements of religion, such as prayer,

sacrifice, altar, spirit, law,

and faith, have been pre-

among the Aryan and among the Semitic nations, and these relics admit of one explanation
served
only. After that, a comparative study of tfte Turanian religions may be approached with better hope of success \ for that there was not only a primitive

primitive Semitic religion, but likewise a primitive Turanian religion, before each of these primeval j$ces was broken up and became separated
in language, worship, and national sentiment, admits, I believe, of little dgubt at present.

Aryan and a

Let us begin with our own ancestors, the Aryans. In a lecture which I delivered in this place some years ago, I drew a sketch of what the life of the Aryans must have been before their first separation, that is, before the time when Sanskrit was spok&i in India, or Greek in Asia Minor and Europe. The outline of
that sketch and the colours with which
it

was

filled

were simply taken from language. We argued that it would be possible, if we took all the words which

LECTtJBB
exist in the
ish, to

III.

same form in French,

Italian,

show what words, and

therefore

wha^
aid notTas

must have been known

to the people

who

yet speak French, Italiai^ apd Spanish, but who spoke that language which preceded these Romance dialects.

know that language: it was Latin; know a worck of 'Latin or a single chapter of Roman history, we should still be ablf, by using the evidence of the words which are common to
happSn
to

We

but

if

w^

did not

all

the

ture of

Romance languages, to draw some kind of picwhat the principal thougnts and occupations

must have been who lived in Italy a thousand years at least before the time of Charleof those people

magne. We could* easily prove that those people must have had kings and laws, temples and palaces,
ships

and cawiages, high roads and

this, as

bridges,
life.

and nearly

all th$ ingredients of

a highly civilised

We could

prove

I said, by simply taking the names of all these things as they occur in French, Spanish, and Italian, and by showing that as Spanish did not bor-

row them from French, or Italian from Spanish, they must have existed in that previous stratum of language from which these three modern Romance dialects

took their origin. Exactly the^same kind of argument enabled us to put together a kind of mosaic picture of the earliest civilisation of the Aryan people before the time of
their separation.

As we

find in Greek,

LS&B, e&A

Sanskrit, also in Slavonic, Celtic, and TeoteaSfc, same word for house, we are fully justified is

Ai

ing that before any of these languages had susanmed a Separate existence, a thousand years at least before kgamemnon and before Manu, the ancestors of the

<3jp$te&*

106

LECTURES ON THE

SdlEffCIE

OF BELIGION.

but Aryan, races were no longer dwellers in tents, l As we find the name builders of permanent houses
.

for

and Greek 2 we can with conclude equal certainty that, if not towns, in ouf sense of the word, ai aU events strongholds or camps were known to the Aryaas before reek and

town the same

in Sanskrit

before Sanskrit
for

was^poken.

As we

find the

name

king the same in Sanskrit, Latin, Teutonic, and we know again that some kind of kingly Celtic r ,
government was established* and recognised by the Aryans during the sarfle pre-historic period. I must not allow myself to be tempted to draw the whole of that picture of primeval civilisation over again*. I only wish to call back*to your recollection
the fact that in exploring together the ancient archives of language, we found that the highest. God had rein the ancient mythology of and Germany, and had retained that name, whe&er worshipped on the Himalayan mountains, or among the oaks of Dodona, on the
India, Greece, Italy,

ceived the same

name

Capitol, or in the forests of

Germany.

I pointed out

that his
Joui-8

name was Dyaus in Sanskrit, Zeus in Greek, in Latin, Tiu in German; but I hardly dwelt
:

with

on the startling nature of this strength These names are not merft names they discovery. are historical facts, ay, facts more immediate, more trustworthy, than many facts of medieval history. These words are not mere words, but they bring before us, with all the vividness of an e^ent which
sufficient
1

Sk.

dama MIMS, damns, Goth,

Goth, veih-s. or puri, Gk. mJA;

timrjan,

'to build,' SI.

'

dom;

Sk.

vew,

vicus, * Sk. pur, pur!, * Sk.

o7ffosy

Sfc. vftstu,

house,'

Bty, rtyan, rex, Goth, reika, IP. riogh. See 'Selected Essays,' vol. 1. p. 317 se$.

LECTURE

III.

107

we

witnessed ourselves but yesterday, the ancestors Aryan race, thousands of years Jit may be before Homer and the Veda, worshipping an unseea Being, under the selfsame pame, the best, the most
of the whole

exalted
lary

name which they could find in their voeafiuundSr the name of Light and Sky. And Iqjj us not turn away, awl day that this was, after all, but nature-worship and idolatry. Vas Ho,j.t not meant for that, though it may have been degraded into that in later times. Dyaus did not mean the blue sky, nor was it simply the sky personified: it was meant for something else. We have in the Veda the invocations Dyaus pitar^ the Greek ZeiJ irdtap, the
Latin Jupiter; and'that means in
all the three lan-

guages what it meant before these three languages were torn asunder-it means Heaven-Father These two words* are not mere words; they are to my mind the
1

oldest poem, the oldest prayer of mankind, or at least of that pure branch of it to which we belong and I

am

as firmly convinced that this prayer was uttered, that this name was given to the unknown God before

Sanskrit was Sanskrit and Greek was Gr^pk, as, when I see the Lord's Prayer in the languages of Polynesia and Melanesia, I feel certain thaj it was first uttered
in the languagS of Jerusalem. we heard for the first time the
it

We little thought when

name
of
Jijpiter,

de-

Ovid into & scolding may graded husband or a faithless lover, what sacred records toy enshrined *Sn tiiat unholy name. We stall fctfw Af learn the same lesson again and again in &e Setenee of Religion, viz. that the place whereon wo sknd is holy ground. Thousands of years bave passed since the Aryan nations separated to travel to the North
be by
or

Homer

108

LECTTOE3 ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUON.

East.

and the South, the West and the

They nave

each formed their languages, they have, each founded empires and philosophies, they have each built temples and razed them to the ground they have all grown older, and it may be wiser aqd better; but when they search for a name for what is most exalted and yet most near and ciear t to every one of us, when they
;

wist to express both awe and love, the infinite and the fhfite, they can but do what their old fathers did
presence of a Being ds far as far

and feeling the and as near as near can be, they can but combine the selfsame words, and utter once more the primeval Aryan prayer, HeavenFather, in that form which will endure for ever, Our Father, which art in heaven.'

when gazing up

to the eternal sky,

Let us

now

Semitic nations.

turn to the early region of the The Semitic languages, it is well

known, are even more closely connected together than the Aryan languages, so much so that a comparative grammar of the Semitic languages seems to have but few of the attractions possessed by a
comparative study of Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. Semitic scholars complain that there is no work worth doing in comparing the grammars of Hebrew,
Syriac, Arabic,

and

JEthiopic, for

they lave only to be

placed side
relationsHip,

by

side 1 in

order to

show

their close

I do not think this is quite true, and I still hope that M. Kenan will carry out his original design, and, by including not only the literary branches of the Semitic family, but also the ancient
dialect^ of Phoenicia, Arabia, Babylon, and Nineveh, produce a comparative grammar of the Semitic lan1

See Bunsen's 'Christianity and Mankind; 1 vol.

iii.

p.

246 *?,

LECTURE TU.
guage that
great

109

may hold its place by the side of Bopp's work on the Comparative Grammar f the

Aryan Languages. But what is still

faore surprising to me is that no e Semitic scholar should have" followed the example of the Arya scholars, and collected from the different Semitic dialects those common^ wards which must

have existed before Hebrew was Hebrew, before Syriac was Syriac, and before Arabic was Arabic, an<f from which some kind of ideamight be formed as to what were the principal thoughts arid occupations of the

The Semitic race in its earliest undivided state. materials seem much larger and much more easily 1 And though there may be some difficulty accessible
.

arising from the close contact which continued

to

exist between^several branches of the Semitic family, it would surely be possible, by means of phonetic
rules, to distinguish

between common Semitic words, and words borrowed, it may be, by the Arabs from

Aramsean

The principal degrees of relasources. for instance, have common names $mong tionship, the Semitic as among the Aryan nations, and if it

was important to show that the Aryans had named and recognised not only the natural members of a
family, such as*father

brother and

and mother, son and daughter, but also the more distant members, the father and mother-in-law, the son and laughterin-law, the brother and sister-in-law, would it not b
sister,

of equal interest to show that the Semitic na^#* fcact reached the same degree of civilisation long bSftroifa* time of the laws of Moses?
1

See Bnnsen's

'

Christianity

and Mankind,'

vol.

ift.

p. 246, iv.

P- 345-

110

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUON.

Confining ourselves to the more immediate 'object of our researches, we see "without difficulty, that the Semitic, like the Aryan languages, possess a number
of

names of the Deity in common, which must have

esSstgd before the Soutf&nf or Arabic, the Northern or Aramaic, the Middle or jffebr.aic branckes became

permanently separated, and which, therefore, allow us an insight into the religious conceptions of* the once united! Semitic race long before Jehovah was worshipped by Abraham, or Baal was invoked in Phoenicia, or El in Babylon.

meaning more general than the original meaning of the names .of the Aryan gods. Many of them signify Powerful, Venerable, Exalted, King> Lord, and they might seem, therefore, like honorific titles, to have been given independently by
of

It is true, as I pointed out before, that the

many

of these

names

is

the different branches of the Semitic family to the gods whom they worshipped each in their own sanctuaries. But if we consider how many words there were in the Semitic languages to express greatness, strength, or lordship, the fact that the same appellatives occur as the proper names of the deity in Syria, in Carthage, in Babylon, and in Palestine, admits of one historical explanation There
only.

must have been a time

for the their deities,

for the Semitic as well as

Aryan races, when they fixed the names of and that time must have preceded the

formation of their separate languages and separate

religions.

On5 of the oldest names of the deity ancestors of the Semitic nations was EL
Strong.
It occurs in the

among the It meant

Babylonian inscriptions as

LEOTTOE
,

III.

HI

x Hu, God and in the very name of Bab-il, &e gate or II. In Hebrew it occurs both in of temple its^general sense of strong or hero, and as a name of God. We have it in Beth-el? the house of God, and in many other names. If used ^th* the article as ha-Sl, the

Strong Ome or the. God, it always is meant in the Old Testament for Jehovah, th^ tnte God. E1 hows
3

appellative power, anA we find it applied therefore, in parts of tite Old Testament, to the gods of the gentiles also.
ever,

always retained

its

The same El was worshiped at Byblus by the Phoenicians, and he was called there the son of Heaven and Earth 2 His father was the son of Eliun, the most high God, who* had been killed by wild animals. The son of Eliun, who succeeded him, was dethroned, and at last slain by his own son El> whom Philo identifies *rith the Greek Kronos, and represents as the
.

8 In the Eimypresiding deity of the planet Saturn aritic inscriptions, too, the name of El has been
.

and more lately in many Arab proper names 6 but as a deity El was forgotten among the Arabs from the very earliest times.
,

discovered 4 ,

1 Scihrader, in the 'Zeitsohrift der Degtsdhen Morgenlandischen 1 Gesellschaft, vol. xii. p. 350 ; xxvi. p. 180.

Bunaen,

'Egypt/

iv.

187.

'Eragmenta Hist. Grac.' YoL

iii.

P- 567-

8 is tie 'Fragmenta Hist. Grac.' vol. iii. pp. 567-571. That presiding deity of the planet Saturn according to the CMLdfflans is also See also Euaebins, confirmed by JDiodorus Sioulus, ii pp. 30-33.

'Praep. evang/ L o. x. p. 90, ed G-aisfbrd, K/w^os Tolvwt fa of *o&wrw *EXov irpocrayopctiavfft, and Bernays' notes, ' Zn SanohonxAihon, ' in Khais. Mns. 1864, p. 632, who corrects *H\ov into*&\. 4 Oaiander, 'Zeitsotoift der Beutschen. Mor^enUndisdie achaft/ roL x. p, 61. 8 Noldeke, 'Monatsberiolite der BerL Akademie/ 1880, p. 768.

112

LEOTUfcES ON THE SOIENOE OF BELKHON".

of El,

With the name

PMlo connected the name

of

MoMm,

the plural of Eloah. In the battle between and tii father, the allies of El, he says, were called

JSloeim, as those
1
.

who were with Kronos were

is,

called

no dfcuBt, a very tempting etyJTrOntpt mology of Elodh; but as the bgst Semitic scholars, and particularly .Professor Fleischer, have declared against it, we shall have, however reluctantly, to
This
surrender
it.

the same word a the Arabic, Hdh, God, In the singular, Eloah is used in the Bible synonymously with El; in the plural it may mean gods in general, or false gods, but it becomes in the Old Testament the recognised name of the true God, plural in form, but singular in meaning. In Arabic, Ildh, without the article, means a God in general: with the article Al-Ilah, or Allah3 becomes the name of

Eloah

is

the

God of Mohammed, as it was the name of the God of Abraham and of Moses.
The
origin of

cussed

Eloah or Ildfi has been frequently disby European as well as by native scholars.
thirty,

The K&nius says that there were twenty, Mohammad

El Fas! that there were
Professor Fleischer 3, c
1
'

opinions about

it.

whose judgment in such matters

1

Fragmenta Hist. Greo.

*
c,

vol.

iii.

p. 568, 1 8
TS-p&vioi

fe fffypax 01 *K**v

rov Kp6vov "EXoeJju ^vtie^Orjaav,

lirl

els

hv

oSroi Tfffav of kerfjuvoi

Kp6vov.

The

plural of El, i.e.

EHm,

gods, occurs in Phoenician}

Noldeke, L
2

p. 775.

Jf,

&!*, *S%\, *SL On the

f

original

meaning of this AllAh see

Moluuninad,' i. p. 286. 3 See a note by Professor Fleiaclier in Delitzsch, ' Commentar fiber die Genesis/ 3rd ed. f 1860, p. 64; also 'Zeitschriffc der Deutsohen
Sprenger,
vol. x, p. 60; and Sitzungsberichte der konigl. SdchsiBchen. Gesellschaft der Wiasenschaften, Phalosoph. Hist. ClaBse,' vol. rviii (1866), pp. 390-392. Dr. W. Wright adopts

Morgenlandischen GesellschafV

LECTUBE

III.

113

we may

trust implicitly, traces El, the strong one,

back to a roo^c^ (with middle vav, aval), to ba thick and dense, to be fleshy and strong 1 But Tie takes
.

JEloak or Ildh for

an absjrapt noun, in the sense

^of

fear 2, derived from a totally different root, viz. ulah,

to be agitfted, confotmded, perplexed. From meaning fear, JEloah came to mean the object of fear or reverence, and thus rose to be a name of God. ^Uie

same way we
the sense of

find packad, which means fear, used in God Gen. xlxi. 43 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me.' And again, v. 54 'And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac/ In Aramaic, dachld, fear, is the recognised name for God or for an a idolj while in Sanskrit also, Brahman is called
6
;

great fear

8
.'

The^ame

ancient

name

appears also in

its

feminine

form as Alldt*. Her famous temple at

Taif, in Arabia,

was second only in importance to the sanctuary at Mekkah, and was destroyed at the command of Mohammed. The worship of Alldt, however, was not confined to this one place and there can be no doubt that the Arabian goddess Alilat, mentioned by Herodotus 5 is the same as the All&t$$ the Koran,
;
,

Professor Heischer's derivation; likewise Professor

Knenen

in his

work,
1

'

Be Godsdienst van Israel,'

p. 45.

Professor Noldeke, L o. p. 774, assigns to ibis root the meaning of being in front, leading. * Kuenen, 'Religion of Israel,' i. p. 41, Eloah is only aged by poets,

and
*
*

its

primitive meaning is
2,

'

fear,'

hence,

'

that which is

fcacftd.*

Ka2&a-upanishad, vi.
Osfonder,
vii.

monad bhayam vagrant mlystaw yaA.*

der Deutsohen MorgenlandJB&
Allat, goddess, is otetraetod

Zeitschrift

scharV
*

479-482,
iii.

^UJ*

from

Al-H&liat.

Herod,

'Oo/iC<tfi

(oi *A/H^toi)

rk

&

Aitowrov 'Oporto,

114

LBOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF

BELIGHOJST.

Another famous name of the deity, traces of which can be^ found among most of the Semitic nations, is
1 Assyrians and Babylonians the and Moabites the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, knew all Jews mus the we also, actd, Pfiilistines, and, of Bel or Baal as a great, or even as the supreme God. Baal cantar<Jlybe considered as a strange and foreign god in the eyes of the Jewish people, who, in

Baal,

of Bel The

Hebrew prophets, worhim so constantly i the groves of Jerusalem 2 He was felt by them Almost as a home deity, or at all
spite of the protests of the

shipped

events, as a Semitic deity, and among the gods whom the fathers served on the other side of the flood, Baal or
originally one

Bel held most likely a very prominent place. Though 3 Baal became divided into many divine
,

personalities through the influence of Jocal worship.

hear of a Baal-tsur, Baal-tsidon, Baal-tars,originOn two ally the Baal of Tyre, of Sidon, and Tarsus. candelabra found in the island of Malta we read the
Phoenician dedication to
*

We

Melkarth, the Baal of Tyre.

TJ)P fa Qipcnrbpr *AAiX<r.

In Herod
'

to'AAirra. See Osiander,

i. 131, 138, this name is corrupted Zeiteohnft der Deutachen Morgenlandischen

Gesellsehaft,' vol. ii pp ^.82, 483. Sprenger, 'Mohammad,* i p. 292, ' says, I hesitate to identify the Alilat of Herodotus with the al-Lftt of

T&ytf, for even if it could be proved that this goddess had been worshipped in his time* he (Herodotus) would not have heard of her. Arabia and its worship extended at that time far to the North, and one should compare the importance of Palmyra with that of T&yif. Secondly, the

form L&t
the root
1. c,

purer Arabic and older than H4t, alwayg supposing that and not alh.' See also his ' Remarks on Arabian idols/ Orotal has been explained as 'light* or 'fire' of El. p. 361.
is is l&h,
1

Kuenen, 'Religion of Israel, vol 1 ' Fragmenta Hist Gweo.' vol.

a 8

i.

p.

228

ii,

p. 498, a,

Ibid. vol.

iii

568, 21.
p. 135.

M, de Vogue^

'Journal Asiatiqne/ 1867,

LEG-TUBE

III,
1

115
,

At Shechem Baal was worshipped as Baal-berith supposed to mean, the god of treaties; at Ekron the Philistines worshipped him as Baal-zebub*, the lord of flies, while the Moabiteg, ajid the Jews too, knew him also by the name of Baal-peor*. On Phoenician
on Palmyrenian No. the B&al-sham&a, inscriptions (de Vogue*, 73^ Baal of heaven, which is the BeelsamSn of Philo, iddh4 tified by him with the sun When the heat became
coins Baal ft called Bftal-Shltmayim,
*
.

oppressive, the ancient rafees of Phoenicia,' he says, ' lifted their hand heavenward to the sun. For him

they considered the only God, the lord of heaven, him Beel-sam6n 6 which with the Phoenicianj3 calling is lord of heaven, and with the Greeks Zeus/ We likewise hear of Baattm, or many Baals or gods. And in the same way as by the side of the male Ildh or MWJI we found a female Alldt, we also find by the side of the male Baal, a female deity Baalt, the Biltu
,

of the Assyrians 6 the Baaltis of the Phoenicians. It may be that the original conception of female deities differs among Semitic and Aryan nations, and that
,

these feminine forms of All&h and Baal were at first intended only to express the energy or activity, or the
1

Judges

viii.

33

a
;

4.
'

Kings

i.

2,

$? 16.
is

8 *

Numbers zrv.

3.

impossible to 'Fragmenta Hist. Grssc vol. iii. p. 565, 5. change ijXwv to %\ov, because El or Kronos is mentioned afterwards. 8 the as Is this S&U18 T^p.-rpft-mnp^ montdoned. by MJoses of OlM^ne (His. Arm. TO! ip. 13) as a deified hero worshipped by the Syiwjs f Or is Barsamus the Son of Heaven 1 See Bawtoon, 'Anoimt Monarchies/ voL i. p. 116. ^ 8 See Sohrader, 'Zeitsohrifb der Deutschen Horgenl. G*BaIIsdbaft,' and to 'Abraham zxvi. p. 193, Professor Noldeke is inclined treaft Sarah/ 'the High Father and the Princess/ as a sifiuLar originally
di-vine pair.

It

116

LBOTUEES ON THE SCIENCE 07 RELIGION.

powers of the
a wife.

deity, not a separate being, 1 This opinion i& certainly con^all firmed when we see that in m$ny Carthaginian inBflriptions the goddess Tgmfc is called the face of Baal*, and* that in the inscription of Eshmunazar, the Sidocollective

least

triim Astarte is called

the

nam$ of Saal^ In course

of time, however, this abstract idea was jaupplanted by that of a female power, and even a wife, and as

Baaltis worshipped by Phoenicians 4, 6 Babylonians, and Assyrians , for the name of Mylitta 6 Dr. Oppert, a mere corto in Herodotus is, according

such

we

find

ruption of Baaltis. Another female goddess

(plural),

is

Ashtoreth or Ashtaroth

a name which presupposes a masculine deity, Asktar. Traces of this god or goddess have been discovered in the Ishtar of the Babylonian inscriptions, where Ishtar is always feminine, the Queen of heaven and earth 7 A Palmyrene inscription also, according to some authorities, and the Moabite stone speak of In her case, however, the female the same deity. character became preponderant, and as such she was
.

worshipped, not only

by

Carthaginians, Phoenicians,

but likewise by the Jews 8 when they forsook the Lord^ and served Baal and Ashtaroth 9 . The Syrians called her 'Atharathah* the Atargatis of

and

Philistines,

Straboi
1

The Phoenicians

called her Astarte,

and by

De Vogue*,

'Journal Asiatique,' 1867, p. 138.

*
8

'Eragmenta Hist. Grac.*

Ibid. vol. iv

vol.

iii.

p. 569, 25.
fl

Herod, i. 131, 199. See Sohrader, ?. d. D. M. G. ncvi. p. 169. * i Kings xi. 5 ; also Genesis xiv. 5. Judges ii. 13. 1 J0 See Noldeke, '2. d. D. M, G. zriv. 92, 109; Sfrabo, p, 667, 43; 636,48.

283, 9.

LECTURE
that otfinous

Itl,

117

Eomans.

name she became known to Greeks and She may have been a moon-goddess, as Kuenen supposes ('Religion of Israel, vol. i. p-^o), and she was originally a fiumen virginale before her service
1 ,

degenerated into wild excesses! When Jeremiah sp$a&s of the Quean of Heaven 1 this is probably meant for

Even in Southern Arabia there Astarte, or Baaltis. are traces' jf the worship of this ancient goddess, For in San&, the ancient capital of the Himjtoitic
kingdom, there was a magnificent palace and temple dedicated to Venus (Bait Ghumofc&n), and the name of Athtar has been read in the Himyaritic inscriptions
:

nay,

preceded in one place by the verb in the masculine gender 2.

it is

Another word meaning originally king, which must have beqn fixed upon as a name of the Deity
it

in pre-Mstoric times, is the Hebrew Meleck. find in Moloch, who was worshipped, not only in Carthage, in the Islands of Crete and Rhodes, but

We

likewise in the valley of Hinnom. find the same word in Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, who had

We

a sanctuary in Mount Olivet 3 ; and the gods Adrammelech and Anammelech, to whom the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire 4 seem again but local
,

varieties of the
1

same ancient Semitic

idol.

Jar. TO! 18,

Osionder,

Zeiteehrift
;

der Deutschen Morgenlandischen GeseU-

Gildemeister, 'Zeitsch. der D. M, G.' vol. aodv. pp. 1 80, 181; Jjenormant, 'Coznptee-rendus des stances de 1'Acad. dea Inscriptions et Belles-lettres del'tfonle 1867;' I^evy, 'Zeitechiift
sohaft.' vii. p.

472

der D.
8 a

M.

G-.'

vol. zziv. p. 189.

Kings inmi. 13. * a Sings xvii. 31. There was also an Assyrian god Adar, see Sobradeor, Z. d. D. M. G, xxvi. pp. 140, 149, and another god A&u, see
Schrader,

Lap.

141.

118

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.

i)

which in Hebrew means

my

lord,

and in

the OJd Testament is used exclusively of Jehovah, appears *in Phoenicia as the name of the Supreme
Deity, and after undergoing manifold mythological transformations, the same name has become familiar to us through the Greek tales about te beautiful

young Adonis, foved by Aphrodite, and

wiid _boar of Ares.

killed

by the

Elydn, which in Hebrew means the Highest, is used in the Old Testament as a predicate of God. It occurs
also

by

itself as

a nfime of Jehovah,

called emphatically the priest of of the most high God.

El

Melchizedek is Elydn, the priest

But

this

name again

is

It occurs in the Phoenician

not restricted to Hebrew. cosmogony as Miun, the

highest God, the Father of Heaven, who was the Dr. Oppert has identified this Eliun father of El

with the Jlinus mentioned by Damascius. Another word used in the Bible, sometimes in combination with El, and more frequently alone, as a name of the supreme deity, is Shaddai \ the violent or powerful. It has been derived from a kindred root to that which has yielded the substantive Shdd,

meaning demon i% Syriac and in the language of the Talmud, and the plural JShedim^ name for false M, de Vogue* 2 gods or idols in the Old Testament,
4. J.

---- ~

---

---

hieroglyphic inscriptions. It occurs there as the name of a god introduced by the Shepherds, "and having 3 Baal^as one of his epithets. Lepsius however, is op,

1
>Tfli

or '?

to
erste

Lepsius,

'Der

Aeg, Ootterkrefe,'

Journal Asiatique,' 1867, p. 160. See also Noldeke, p. 48.

LECTURE
posed

III.

119

t!o this identification. The same deity Shaddai, the Powerful, ^ has, by a clever conjecture, begn discovered as one of the deities worshipped by the

ancient Phoenicians 1

While these names of the Deity and some more are shared? in common by all, or by the most important branches of the Semitif family, and must
therefore liave existed previous to the first Semitic separation, there are others which are generally sup-

posed to be peculiar to one or the other branch. They either started into existence after the first Semitic
Separation, or at all events they became in after times the peculiar gods of their own peculiar people, such as Chemosh of the Moabites, Milcom of the Am2 monites, Ashtaroth of the Sidonians Thus the name of Jehovah, or Jahveh*, as it seems 4 originally to have been pronounced , has generally
.

been supposed to be a divine name peculiar to the Jews. It is true that in a well-known passage of 6 Lydus, IAO is said to have been the name of God

among

the Chaldseans.

the same

But granting that IAO was word as Jahveh or Jehovah or Jah (as in
A.
T.' p. 160,

'Ztir Kritik des

P. 653.
1

note ; and Cheyne, in the Academy, 1875,

;

p. 77. fl i
8

1 Bunsen, 'EgyjrtJ iv. 221 See also Noldeke, 1. o

;

De

Vogue*, 'Melanges d'Aicheologie,'

; Judges si. 23, 24. n Kings xi, 5, 7 Aou SJofirA Theodoret 'Quaest. xv. ad Exodum' (420 A,D.): Diod. Sic, i. 94 (59 B. 0.) : Sa/utpcfrat IABE, 'lovSeuot 5i IAH.
tc.

p. 775. 2 Kings xxii. 13

rotV 'louSa/ot? M0vffT)v rbv *Ia; kiriKC&aijfjifvov 9t6v,

*

r. X.

See Kuenen, 'Hibberfc Lectures,' p. 308. LyduB, *De Menribus,' iv. 38, 14 : Ol XaX8aT
u, oltar

rfa

Mp rois iirrA irrfAow, rovriarw b SqfHQVpy6s

1

Bnnsen,

193; Benan, 'SaobhonUaiaii,

Diodorus Siculua,
i.

p.

44, note.

And

sea

94,

a.

120

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OB RELIGION.

1

Hallelu-jah)>

may not Lydus by the Chaldseaife have meant the Jews? We should be driven to simply a different conclusion, if Jahu did really occur as a
divine

name

RawHnson,
the Jahu

in the Assyrian inscriptions. Sir Henry however, to "wtibm I applied for informa-

tion,* declares

who

himself to be doubtful, as jset, whether is mentioned in the Assyrian inscrip-

an Assyrian name. He thinks it may be a Syrian word that found an entrance into Assyrian, Other scholars, on like several other foreign words. the contrary, such as Professor Schrader, express themselves less doubtfully on this point, and claim Jahu as one of the old Assyrian gods. Nay, they now go
tio^s is really

a step further, and trace his first beginning back to Accadian. Thus Professor Delitzsch maintains that
evfcn

the simple sound I signified in Accadian 'god' and 'the supreme god/ just as Ui, ila (Hebrew fl) did; that the Assyrians pronounced this I with the nominative termination ia-u ; that accordingly the character for I was called by the Assyrians ia-u ; and that it

can only be regarded as an accident that hitherto Ya-u, as the name of the deity, has not been met with
in
inscription . It is difficult either to accept or to reject statements of facts put forward with so much authority, and it

any Assyrian

seems to me the most respectful attitude which we can assume with regard to the new evidence placed before us by Assyrian and Accadian scholars, if for the present we keep at a certain distance, and wait before finally recasting our received notions of Semitic
religion.

That the Babylonian and Assyrian docu1

See

Kuemn, 'Hibbert

Lecture,' p. 311.

LECTUBE

III.

121

merits are being deciphered in a truly scientific spirit has never been a matter of doubt to me, since the
first

Behistun inscriptions.

publication of the Babylonian version of the Nor have I been in the least

surprised at the frequent cnanges in the reading* of certain ncftnes, and in the rendering of certain sentences.

Though unable to follow Jhe bold investigators of these Semitic documents, it was not difficult for Any one acquainted with the history of the decipherment
of the Persian Cuneiform* inscriptions, to understand there should be at first stf much uncertainty in reading an alphabet like that of the Semitic Cunei-

why

form

texts. With regard to the Sumerian decipherments, I have no right to say even so much as tEis, but here too I feel we ought to learn to wait, and

not discourage those laborious explorers who try to translate a language of which as yet no more is really known than that it is neither Semitic nor Aryan. All I can say is, that if their endeavours are
will be

ever crowned with complete success, their achievement more wonderful than the decipherment of all other inscriptions.

Taking this view of the matter, I have, whenever I had to treat of the religion of the Semitic races, simply abstained from* touching on Babylonian or Assyrian, I prestill more on Accadian and Sumerian ground. ferred leaving a gap to filling it with materials which, from the nature of the case, were as yet so pliant and
so brittle.* I greatly admire the courage of otfoae students of ancient religion, and partienterly of fto~ fessor Tiele, who in his 'Comparative History of Ancient Religions has made such excellent use of the
'

same

materials.

But

I cannot disregard the warning

12

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OP RELIGION.

voices of other scholars, such as, for instance, M?. Guyard, who remarks that the gods of the Sumerian and

Accadian* religions called 'Moulge, Silik-moulon-chi' are in reality the names of Bel and Mardak, wrongly 1 It might b sfSd that M. Guyard is not deciphered a quite impartial authority in guch questions. But he quotes Mr. Binches, whose authority will hardly be questioned, and who remarks that suCh names
.

of AcSadian kings as should really be read

mat&ti.

Hammurabi and Burnaburias, Kimtu rapastu and Kidin-bel-

to shake

I say again that even such portents are not enough faith in that method of Babylonian and

my

ev&i of Accadian decipherment which has been followed for years by so many eminent scholars, but I think the historian of ancient religions is justified in waiting before he either accepts or definitely rejects tlw new light that the ancient Cuneiform Inscriptions are meant to shed over the most remote periods of Semitic thought. Thai some of our best Semitic scholars should be less patient, and point out what seems to them utter impossibilities in the conclusions to which Babylonian and Accadian researches seem to lead, is perfectly natural. Such criticism should be welcomed, not resented. Thus
Professor Kuenen, tBe great historian rf the 'Religion of Israel,* objects to the Accadian derivation of Jeho-

vah or Jahveh, because he sees difficulties which must be removed before such a derivation could be accepted. He remarks that as early as the inscription of Mesha, about 900 B. a, the name of Jahveh occurs in its quaY(a)hw(e)h, and such a form could never have growa out of lau; while lau, as he shows,
driliteral forms,
1

See

'

Athenaeum/ if June, 1883.

LECTUBTfi

III.

128

might well be understood as a secondaiy development of Y(a)hw(e)lj. 'In the eighth century as ti\e same 1 'the name of Jahveh was regarded by scholar adds or many, rightly wrongly^ as a derivative of the verb to be. It was explained as he is, and in it was. sSen the exprefeion of the unchangeableness and faithfulness of the God to whose essence the name corres,'

ponded.* was the

Professor
first

Kuenen

holds, in fact, that Ifoses

god of the sons or Israel Jahveh 2 instead of his t>ld name El-Shaddai, and I only wonder that he did not xfiention that the name of Jahveh occurs for the first time in the name of the mother of Moses, Jochebed, she whose glory is Jehoto call the
,
'

He leaves it open to explain Jahveh, either as He who is, or as He who alone is, while the other gods
vah.'

are not; butjie inclines himself to take the root in a caulal sense, and to take the name of Jahveh as

meaning he who gives

exist, the creator.

life, who causes everything to This would make Jahveh almost a reproduction of the old Vedic Asura, the life-giver, from as, to breathe, to be, asu, breath, asura, the

living

and enlivening

god, the

Ahura

of the Avesta,

showing again how the same thoughts and the same names may crop up on Aryan and Semitic ground without necessitating in the least the admission of an actual contact during pre-historic periods of Aryans and Semites in Iran 8 But whether for the present we include or exdtute Jehovah from the stock of derate a*$ftft the name
.

V
'

Ksenen,
i.

Hibbert Lectures,' p. 311

KBH,

<

vol.

p. 42.
'

Kuenen,

EeHgion of Israel/

-voL

p. 378.

8 Ibid, p, 354.

124

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

shared in

common by

the whole Semitic race,

we

have, I^think, that ther was a period during which the ancestors of the Semitic family had not yefc teen divided either in language or religion. That period transcends the
recollection of every one of the Semitic rdbes in the

sufficient witnesses to establish the fact

same way as neither Hindus, GreekSj nor Komans have any recollection of the time when tliey spoke a common language, and worshipped their Father in heaven by a name that wasas yet neither Sanskrit, nor Greek, nor Latin.* I do not hesitate to call this
in the best sense of the pre-historic period historical word. It was a real period, because, unless it was
real, all

the realities of the Semitic languages and the Semitic religions, such as we find them after their

separation, would be unintelligible. Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic point to a common source as mtteh as Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin; and unless we can bring

ourselves to doubt that the Hindus, the Greeks, the

Romans, and the Teutons derived the worship of their principal deity from their common Aryan sanctuary,

we

shall not be able to

a primitive

that UK, the ancestors of alf the Semitic race$, before there were Babylonians in Babylon, Phoenicians in Sidon

deny that there was likewise whole Semitic race, and the Strong One in heaven, was invoked by
religion of the

and TynTs, before there were Jews in Mesopotamia or Jerusalem. The evidence of the Semitic is the same as that of the Aryan languages the Conclusion
:

cannot be
and, as I

different.

come to the third nucleus of language, hope t<5 show, of religion also that which forms the foundation of the Turanian world. The

We "now

LEOTTTBE
subject

III.

125

is extremely difficult, and I confess I doubt whether I shall succeed in engaging your syjnpathy in favour of the of people &> strange, religious opinions so far removed from the Chinese, the Mongous,^as

lians, the Samoyedes, the 'Finns, and Lapps,. We naturally %ake an interest in the ancient history of the Aryan and Semitic nations^for,* after all, -we are ourselves*Aryan in language, and Semitic, at least to a certain extent, in religion. But what have*we in

common with

moyedes? Very

the Turanians, with Chinese and Saand yet it is not little, it may sdbm the yellow skin and the high cheekbones that make the man. Nay, if we look but steadily into those black Chinese eyes, we shall find that there, too, there
;

is

whom

a soul that responds to a soul, and that the God they wean is the same God whom we mean, however helpless their utterance, however imperfect

their worship.

That the languages of the Finns, Lapps, Samoyedes, Turks, Mongol and Tungusians presuppose an early, though, it may be, not a very firm settlement, is now
admitted by all competent authorities. That the Tamulic, Lohitic, Gangetic, Malaie and Taic languages presuppose a similar concentration, is as yet an hypothesis only, while the convergence of these two branches, the North Turanian and South Turanian, towards the most ancient Chinese as their common centre, though it may be called plausible, has certainly

not yet
dence.

tifeen

established

by

sufficient scientific evi-

If therefore

we endeavour

to discover

among

the religions of these people fragments, and, more parthe same ticularly, linguistic fragments which* betray

126

LECTUKES ON THE SCIENCE 0? BELKHON,

source,

we must never forget that, as yet, we are building

hypothesis on hypothesis only, and that our pleading for the existence of common Turanian concepts of the Divine

cannot count on the same willing acceptance which is fe^dily accorded to arguments in favour of common Aryan and Semitic concepts of. the Deit^ On the other hand it skould be borne in mind that, if we
succeeded in establisTiing the existence of *names of the Deity shared in common by some at least of the

Turanian peoples, this would supply a new and very important support of*the theory that the Turanian languages possess indeed a common prehistoric beginning, and a common historic continuity. 11 we take the religion of China as the earliest

representative of Turanian worship, the question is, whether we can find any names of $he Deity in Chinese which appear again in the religions anS mythologies of other Turanian tribes, such as the Mandshus, the Mongolians, the Tatars, or Finns.
tfeat,

I confess

considering the changing and shifting character <$ the Turanian languages, considering also the long interval of time that must have passed between the

and religious settlement in China, and the later gradual and imperfect consolidation of the other Turanian races, I was not very (ftmguine in expectation that any such names as Dyaus pitar
first linguistic

my

mites, could

Aryans, or El and Baal among the She* have survived in the religious traditions of the vast Turanian world. Such preconceived

among

tffe

ought not to keep us from further find is but little, we must never forget that we have hardly a right to, expect evea this little. There are in researches of this kind
opinions, however,
researches,

and

if

what we

LBCT0BE
different degrees of certainty,

III.

127

person to slu them over, results as equally certain.

;

and I am the very last and to represent all our But if we want lo arrive at terra ftrma, we must 3qpt a plunge now and jnind then and if we wish to mount a ladder, we musfc not
be afraid <JF taking ifce first step. The coincidences between the religious phraseology bf Chinese and other Turanian languages are certainly not Ube liljp coincidences between Greek and Sanskrit, or between Hebrew and Phoenician; but they are such that they ought not to be passed over by the pioneers of a new
science.

You remember that the popular worship of anciept China was a worship of single spirits, of powers, or, we might almost say, of names, the names of the most prominent powers of nature which are supposed to exerdteft an influence for good or evil on the life of man. We find a belief in spirits of the sky, the
sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the mountains, the rivers ; to say nothing as yet of the spirits of th$

departed. In China, where there always has been a strong tendency towards order and regularity, some kind of

two powers,

system has been superinduced by the recognition of one' active, the other passive, one male,

the other female, which comprehend everything, and which, in the mind of. the more enlightened, tower

high above the great crowd of minor spirits. These two powers %re within and beneath and behind every* thing that is double in nature, and they have frequently been identified with heaven and earth.

We can clearly see, however, that the spirit of heaven occupied from the beginning a much higher

128

LECTURES ON THE SOIENOB

Off

RELIGION.

in i&e hisposition than the spirit of the earth. It is 1 are told that we in the Shu-king torica^books only,
,

that hetfven and earth together are he father and mother of all things. In the most ancient poetry 2 This spirit Heayen alone is both fa&er and mother
.

in Chinese, by the natae of Tim, and wherever in other religions we should expect the name of the supreme deity, whether Jupitdr or Allah,

of heaven

is

known

we

This find in Chinese the name of Tien or sky. Tien, according to the Imperial Dictionary of Kanghee,
Oflfc,

means the Great

ginally the

he that dwells on high and

see in fact that Tien, ori-

regulates all below.

We

of sky, has passed in Chinese t&Vough nearly all the phases, from the lowest to the highest, through which the Aryan name for sky, dyaus, passed in the poetry, the religion, the my-

name

The thology, and philosophy of India and Greece. and this is compounded sign of tien in Chinese is
which means great, and yih, The sky, therefore, was conceived one. which as the One, the Peerless, and as the Great, the High, the Exalted. I remember reading in a Chinese book, *As there is but one sky, how can there be many gods?' In fact, their belief in Ti^i, the spirit of heaven, moulded the whole of the religious phraseo* The glorious heaven/ we read, logy of ihe Chinese. 'is called bright, it accompanies you wherever you
ta,

of two signs:

^ means

^,

la the 'Shu-king* (3, n) Tien is called Shaag-tien, or High la synonymous with Shang-te, High Spirit, another very commjm name of the supreme deity. The Confucians never made any
Heaven, which

image of Bhang-te, but the Tao-sse represented their (Yah-hwang) Shang-te under thefcuman form. Medhurat, 'Inquiry,' p. 46.
a

contrast between Shin

Chalmers, 'Origin of the Chinese/ p. 14; Medhurst, and Shangti,

1.

c p 124,

LECTTJBE

III.

129

go; the glorious heaven is called luminous, it goes wherever you roam/ Tien is called the ancestor of
the highest that is above. He is called the great framer, who makes things as a potter frames an earthen vessel. The Chinese also speak of the deall things;

Heaven The sages who Ijeach* the people are sent by heaven, and Confucius himself is said tojive been used by heaven as the 'alarum* of the worid. The same Confucius, when on the brink of despondency, because no one would beliSve in him, knows of one comfort only: that comfort is: 'Heaven knows
crees

and tHe

will of Heaven, of the steps of

or Providence.

me.'

It is clear

from

many

passages that with Con-

Heaven was the supreme and that he looked deity, upon the other gods of the people, the spirits of the air, the mountains and the
fucius Tien or the Spirit of
rivers, Tihe spirits also of the

departed, very much with the same feelings with which Sokrates regarded the mythological deities of Greece. Thus when asked on one occasion how the spirits should be served, he replied: lf we are not able to serve men, how can we serve the spirits?' And at another time he said,
c

in his short

and significant manner: 'Bespect the Gods, and keep them at a distance L* We have now\> see whether we can find any traces of this belief in a supreme spirit of heaven among the other branches of the Turanian class, the Mandshus, Mongolians, Tatars, Finns, or Lapps. As there are

many name? for sky in

the Turanian dialects, it would not be absolutely necessary that we should fincL the same name which we found in Chinese: yet, if traces of that name could be found among Mongolians and
1

Medhurst, *BepIy to

!Dr,

Booae/

p. 32.

ISO

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELICUON.

Tatars, our argument would, no doubt, gain far'greater of comparastrength. It is the same in all researches
tive mythology.
If

we
is,

find the

same

conceptions,

the same myths and and. Germany, there

legends, in* India, Greece, Italy,

no doubfc some presumption

in favour of their common origin, but nocnore. But if we meet with gods and heroes, having the same names in the mythology of the Veda, and?in the mythology of Greece and Eome and Germany, we stand on firmer ground. We hove then to deal with real

cannot be^iisputed, and alt that remains i$ to explain them. In Turanian mythology, however, such facts are not easily brought together. With the exception of
facts that

China, we know very little of the ancient history of the Turanian races, and what we knqpr of their present state comes frequently from prejudiced observers.
Besides, their old

heathendom

is fast

disappearing be-

Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. Yet if we take the accounts of the most trustworthy travellers in Central and Northern Asia, and more particularly the careful observations of Castr&i, we cannot but recognise some most striking
fore the advance of

coincidences in the scattered notices of the religion of the Tungusic, Mongolic, Tataric, afld Finnic tribes*

Everywhere we find a worship of the spirita of nature, of the "spirits of the departed, though behind an<J. above it there rises the belief in some higher power, known by different names, sometimes called the Fattier, the Old One, who is the Maker and Protector of the world, and who always resides in heaven \
Chinjese historians are the only writers
'

who

give qp

Vorlesungen ttbsr Fimujsohe Mytfcologie,'

p. 2.

LEOTTOB

III.

131

an account of the

earlier history of some of these Turanian, tribes, particularly of the Huns, whom they GB^lHiangnu, and of the Turks whom they call Tuhiu. They relate that the* Huns worshipped the sun, ths
9

spirits of the sfi:y*and the earth, and.tMb of tke depart^., and that their priests, the spirits Shamans, possessed a power over the clouds, being

moon, the

down snow, hail, rain", and wind Menander, a Byzantine historian, relates of the Arks that in his time they worshipped the fire, the water, and the earth, but that at the same time they believed in a God, the maker of the world, and offered to him
able to bri^g
.

sacrifices of camels, oxen,

and

sheep.

get some information from medieval 2 and Marco Polo 3, travellers, such as Piano Carpini
Still later
1

we

'

Castrfc, VorleBungen fiber Pnmisohe Mythologie,' p. 36. They believe in one God, the Maker of all things, visible

and

invisible,

and the Distributor

worship him not with NathelesB they have certain idols of felt, imitating the human face, and having underneath the face something- resembling teats; these These they believe to be the they place on either side the door. guardians of the flocks, from whom they have the boons of milk and Others they fabricate of bits of silk, and these are highly increase honoured .... and whenever they begin to eat and drink, they first * offer these idols a portion of their food or drinV See Maroo Polo/ ed.
Yule, vol. 8 'This
i.

of good and evil in this world, bnt they prayers or praises or any kind of service.

p. 249.

the fashion of their religion. They say there is a Most whom they worship daily with thurible and incense, but they pray to Him only for health of mind and body. But they have also certain other gods of theirs called Natigay, and bey say he is the god of fee Earth, who watohes over their children, 6**tf**'***
is

High God

of Heaven,

crops.

They show him great worship and honour, and evwy J*a* made of felt aadolofch; and they ftlflfl pafr* in the same manner images of his wife and children. Tfea wife thay pui on the left hand, and the children in front. And wfcen they eat, they take the fat of the meat and grease the god'a D&OQ& withal, as well as the mouths of his wife am* ckiltoau Than thft? take off the broth and
a
figure of him in his house,

Mb

E %

132

LEO-TUBES ON

THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

who say that the Mongol tribes paid great reverence to th$ sun, the fire, and the water, but that they believed also in a great and powerful God, whom they
called Natagai (Natigay) qs Itoga.

modern times we have

chiefly to

depend on

Castr&i, who had eyes to see -and ears tt) hear what few other travdlerj would have seen or heard, or un-

Speaking of the Tungusic trifles, he says, they worship the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, fire, the spirits of fbrests rivers, and certain sacred localities they worship even images and fetishes, but with all this they retain a faith in a supreme being e The Samoyedes,' he says, which they call Buga 1 worship idols and various natural objects but they always profess a belief in a higher divine power which they call Num.' This deity which is called Num is also callfd Junta 2 and is in fact the same deity by the Samoyedes which in the grand mythology of Finland is known under the name of Jumala. The mythology of Finland has been more carefully preserved than the mydSr^jOod.
'

.'

'

thologies of all the other Altaic races,

and in

their

ancient epic poems which have been kept up by oral tradition for cenijpries, and have been written down

sprinkle it before the door of the house ; and that done, they deem that 1 ' their god, and his family have had their share of the dinner. Marco 1 Colonel Yule traces these Nagatay Polo, ed. Yule, voL i p. 348, back to the Ongot of the Tongues, and the Noga& of the Bnriatee,

Marco Polo himself

ascribes the

same worship of the Nagatay to the

Catfcayans, i. e. Chinese (vol. i. p. 437), but Colonel Yale thinks that this may be due to a confusion of Chinese with Tartars. See also vol. ii.
p.

478
1

Is this the Bussian 'bog/ god? Castren, 'VorlesungenuberFinniBoheMythologie/p. 13.

LECTURE

III,

133

but very lately, we have magnificent descriptions of Jumala, the deity of the sky.
Castre'n has

Jumala meant origmally the sky. It is derived, as shown (p. 34)4 from Juma, thunder, and
*

la, the place, meaning therefore the place of thunder, or the sky. It is used first of all for sky, secondly for the god of the sky, and thirdly for gods in general.

The very
Lapps

sefme word, only modified according to the

phonetic rules of each language, occurs

(p.

among

the

Esthonians, the Syrjanes, the can Tcheremissians, and the Votyafes (p. 34). watch the growth and the changes of this heavenly

n), the

We

deity as

we

catch a glimpse here and there of the re-

old Saligious thoughts of the Altaic tribes. moyede woman who was asked by Castre'n (p. 16)

An

whether she e?er said her prayers, replied: 'Every morning I step out of my tent and bow before the " When thou riaest, I, too, rise from my sun, and say bed." And every evening I say " When thou sinkest That was her down, I, too, sink down to rest."* prayer, perhaps the whole of her religious service a poor prayer it may seem to us, but not to her for
:
:

it

made that old woman look twice at away from earth and up to heaven
;

least every
it

day

implied that

larger and higher life ; the daily routine of her earthly existence with something of a divine light. She herself was evidently proud of it, for she added, with a touch of * There are wild people who never self-righteouShess

her

life

was bouftd up with a

it encircled

say their morning and evening prayers/ While in this case the deity of the sky is represented, as it were, by the sun, we see Jumala, under different
circumstances,

conceived as the deity of the

sea*

134

LECTUKES ON THE SCIENCE OF EELIGION.

"When walking one evening with a Samoyede sailor the Polar Sea, Casfcr&i asked him along.the coast of Without a Tell me, where is NumT (i.e. ^umala.)
: '

moment's hesitation the ol<i sailor pointed to the dark, He is there. distant sea, and said wherf the hostess Again, in the epic poem Kal^&la, on and says she calls in is Jumala, of Pohjola labgur, into the bath, Jumala, into t&e warmth, now Obige Lord of the air I' (p. 19).
'

At another time Jumalafis the god of the invoked in the following lines (p. 31):
t

air,

and

ia

Harness now thyself, Jumala, Buler of the air, thy horses Bring them forth, thy rapid racers, Drive the sledge with glittering colours, Passing through our bones, our ankles. Through our flesh that shakes and trembles, Through our veins which seem all broken. Knit the flesh and bones together. Fasten vein to vein more firmly. Let our joints be filled with silver, Let our veins with gold be running
1

these cases the deity invoked is the same, it deity of the sky, Jumala ; but so indefinite is his character, that we can hardly say whether he is the god of the sky, or the sun, or tfce sea, or the air, or whether he is a supreme deity reflected in all these
all
is iihe
t

In

aspects.of nature.

any

However, you will naturally ask, where is there similarity between the name of tfyt deity and

the Chinese deity of the sky, Tim? The worship of Jumala may prove some kind of

common
religious

concentration among the different Altaic nations in the North of Asia, but it does not prove any pre-* historic community of worship between those nation*

LEOTUBE HI.

135

and the ancient inhabitants

of China. It is true that the Chinese Tien, with its three meanings of sky, god of the sky, ancf god in general, is the exact xsounter-

part of the North Turanian^ Jumala hut still we want more we want, if possible, iSraces of the same n/tnfe of the deitf in China* in Mongolia, and Tatary, just
; ;

as

and the naTne

name of Jupiter in India and Italy, of El in Babylon and Palestine. Well, let us reinember that Chinese is a fionothe

we found

have entered into the agglutinative

sy liable language, and thai the later Turanian dialects stage, that is to that use derivative suffixes, and we shall say, they

then without much difficulty discover traces of the Chinese word Tien, with all its meanings, among some at least of the most important of the Turanian In the. Mongolian language we find Tmg-ri\ races.

and

tihte

means,
;

first,

god in general and, lastly, good or bad. Thus we have gained the may now advance another

sky; then, god of the sky; then, spirit or demon, whether

first

step.

firm ground, and we It is a fortunate

accident that this very word tengri is one of the few that can be traced back historically from its modern
or ihe Yakuts 'tangara *tangry*((^kk ijjf3, ted&n), Buriates place Dsaiagachi or 'Chief Creator of -Fortune' in the middle of their hut, the place of honour. At the door is the Emelgelji, the tutelary of the herds and young cattle, made of sheepskins. Outside the hut is the Chandaghatu, a name implying that the idol was fanned:
1
'

Turkish

The

of a white har^kin, the tutelary of the chase, and perhaps of wax. Afl these have been eipelled by Buddhism except Daaia^cM, Tengri, and introduced among the Buddhist drrifcitia* Setf 'The Supreme Good ajppfcars to Polo,' ed. Yule, vol. i. p 2go.

have been

by the Mongols Tengri (heavn\and Ehormuzda, and by Schmidt with ih* Pe3nriaEca$cL IB BuddH* times he became identified vith Ipdra, L o. voL i p. 949.
called
is identified

SJgordt

136
to its

LBOTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIQION.

more ancient forms.

Chinese writers^

when

tell us speaking of the ancient history of the Huns, that i3ie title which the Huns gave t*o their leaders was tangli-kutu (or tchen-jti) 1 . This title is said to

have had in their language the meaning of 'Son of Heaven,' which reminds us of tlje still current title of 2 the Emperor of China, viz. 'Son of Heaven / tien-tze,
comyeying the meaTiing, not, as is commonly supas posecHT of Son of God/ but Son of Heaven/ or,
' c

we

should

say,

'Emperor, by the grace of God.'

tien*tse as

Taking therefore
kutu,

corresponding to tangli:

we

arrive at the following equation

Hunnish
tarig-li

Mongolian
teng-ri

Chinese
tien.

Again, in the historical accounts which the Chinese give of the Tukiu, the ancestors of the Turks, it is said that they worshipped the Spirits of the ISarth,

and that they

the
first

syllable

called these spirits purteng-i~li. Hero must be intended for earth, while in

teng-irli

we have again

the same

word as the Mon-

golian tengri, only used, even at that early time, no longer in the sense of heaven, or god of heaven, but as a name of gods and spirits in general. find a similar transition of meaning in the modern Yakuto

We

word

tangara.

It

means the sky, and^it means God

'

but among the Christian converts in Siberia, tangara is also used to signify the Saints.' The wild reindeer
it lives in the open air, or because God alone takes cfre of it. Here, then, we have the same kind of evidence whicf enabled us to establish a primitive and

is called

in

Takute God's reindeer/ because

'

Aryan

1 *

See Schott, See Sohott,

'

'

TJeber das Altaisolie SprachgesohlechV p. o. Chinemsohe Literatur/ p. 63.

LEOTUEB

III.

137

a primitive Semitic religion: we have a common name, and this name given to the highest, deity,
preserved in 'the monosyllabic language of China, and in the cognate, agglutinative, dialects of

though some of the principal North Turanian tribes. , We find in these words,not merely a vague similarity of sound and meaning, but, by watching their growth in Chines^, Mongolian, and Turkish, we are abl* to discover in them traces of organic identity. Everywhere they begin with the meaning of sky, they rise to the meaning of God, and they sink down again to the meaning of gods and spirits. The changes in the meaning of these words run parallel with the changes
that took place in the religions of these nations which comprehended the first intimation of the

Divine under ^the name of the sky, and thus formed for tlfemselves a god of the sky. By his various manifestations that god of the sky became more and

more mythologically individualised, was broken up many gods, and these many gods led again in the end to the concept of a God in general. Thus only can we explain historically, i. e. phonetically and etymologically, the connection between the French divinit^ and the Vedic Dyaus, sky; and the same applies to the Takute tangcvra, Samt, in its historical
into

relation to the Chinese

tien,

sky.

Did we allow ourselves to be guided by mere similarity of sound and meaning, it would be easy to take another stSp and to attempt a comparison between divine names occurring in the Northern and the
Southern branches of the Turanian
for instance, that the
class.

We

saw,

name of th supreme deity the Samoyedes was Num, and we are told among

138
that

LEOTURES ON THE SCIENCE OB BELIGIOff.

1

among

the Tibetans

mere seund

Nam

is

Nam means godhead. In no doubt much nearer to Num

than Num is to the Finnish Juwula. Nevertheless th$ real affinity of the Sjunayede Mtm and the Finnish tfumala admits of no doubt, while it would be

mere guesswork
betan

to connect

Samoyede

Num

and

Ti-

$i& phonetic rules had first been estaiil&hed which would justify the change of a into u, and a common source had been discovered from

Nam\ unless

which both words could havQ sprung. If we now turn for a moment to the minor spirits believed in by the large masses in China, we shall
ea^ly see that they,
ranian tribes.
too, in their character are strik-

ingly like the spirits

These
is

worshipped by the North Tuspirits in Chinese are called

Shin 8 which
,

really the

name

given- to every in-

visible

power or influence which can be perceived in

graduated according to their dignity; others are looked upon with fear. The spirits of pestilence are driven out and dispersed by exorcism; many are only talked about. There are so many spirits that it seems impossible to fix their * exact number. Th% principal classes ^re the celesis

operation in the universe. ceive real worship, which

Some Shin

or spirits re-

tial spirits

(tfan shin),

the terrestrial spirits

(ti

fa'),

and the .Ancestral

is

spirits (jin

kwd\ and

this is the

probably intended for *he word whioli Jaembkft In hi* pf 309, ^tes Tnam,* Thie rawmi heaven, sky. He adds that ynam-f el-dkrfr-po is Said to be a deity of the Horpa-w: Mongols. Nam-mk'a is 'the space above where the btafo ore flying, and the saints are where

a-EngliBh Dictionary,'

dotting,

it

lightens and

thundwi/

MedhmBt, 'Eeply/p.11,
Ibid, p. ax.

LECT0KE in.
order
1

139

in which. they are ranked according to their

Ampng celestial spirits (tim shin) vre find the spirits of the gun and the moon and the stars, the clouds, wind, thundery and rain; among terrestrial
dignity.
spirits, those of the mountains, the fields, the grain, the rivers* the trees? the year. Among the departed spirits ar^e those of the emperors, the sages, and other

public benefactors, which are to be revered^Jb^ the whole nation, while each family has its own manes

which are treated with

special reverence
2
.

and honoured

by many superstitious rites The same state of religious

feeling is exhibited

among the North Turanian tribes, only without those minute distinctions and regulations in which the
Chinese

mind

delights.

The Samoyedes, as we saw,

believed in a supreme god of heaven, called JNum; but Oastre'n, who lived so long among them, 'says :

'The chief

deities

invoked by their priests or sorcer-

ers, the Shamans, are the so-called Tadebcjos*, invisible spirits dwelling in the air, the earth, the water, and everywhere in nature. I have heard many a Samoyede say that they were merely the spirits of

the departed, but others look upon them as a class of inferior

delves.'

The same

scholar tells us (p. 105) that

'

the mytho-

1 Medhurst, 'Keply/ p 23. 'The spirits of heaven are called sUit; the spirits of earth are called lei; when men die, theit tfam&rfng aft& transformed fibula aad spirits are called aet.' * 9 <a- Skvn$~te> The great sacrifices are offered only to Ibid. p. 43, the same ad Tien. The five Te which used to be Joined Vftfajtkmy-te At the great border sacrifice were only the fife power* o* qttdtties of

STtanff-te personified.

Since the year AJX 136$ the wonftdp

1

five
*

2% has been abolished.

Castr&o,

'Fmmsohe

Mythologies,' p. 12*.

140

LECTURES ON THE SOIEffCE OF RELIGION.

of deities. logy of the Finns is flooded -with names called has a in nature haltia, genius, Every gbject which is supposed to be its creator and protector.

These

spirits

bu
soul,

wre
and

free to

were not tied ^p these outward objects, roam at>out, and had a body and

their

own well-marked

personality.

Nor

did their existence depend on the existence of a was no Sbject in singfe object; for though there
nature without a genius, the genius was not conany single object,but comprehended the This mountain-ash, this whole class or genus. stone/ this house has its own genius, but the same
fined to

genius cares for all other mountain-ashes, stones, houses.

1

and

We

of logic,

have only to translate this into the language and we shall understand at once what has

happened here as elsewhere in the growth of religious

ideas and mythological names. What we call a general concept, or what used to be called 'essentia gene9 'the stone-hood/ 'the houseralis,' 'the tree-hood,

the genus tree, stone, and house, is what and Samoyedes call the genius, the haltia, the tadelqo, and what the Chinese call Shin. We

hood/ in

fact,

the Finns

speak very glibly of^an essentia genercdis, but to the unschooled mind this was too great an Effort. Some*
thing substantial and individual had to be retained when trees had to be spoken of as a forest, or days as a year; and in this transition period from individual to general conceptions, from the intuitional to the conceptual, from the real to the abstract, the shadow, the ghost, the power or the spirit of the forest, of the yea'r, of the clouds, and the
lightning,

took possession of the

human

mind, and a class of

LECTUEE

IH.

141

being% was called into existence which stands before us as so-called deities in the religion and mythology of the ancienf world.
in

The worship of ancestral spirits is likewise shared common by the North Turanian races ar\d the Chinese. I do not lay much stresfi on that fact,

because the worship of the spirits of the departed is perhaps Uhe most widely spread form of natural superIt is nevertheless Uf some stition all over the world. interest that we should i$eet this superstition so fully developed in China and in the whole North of Asia. Most of the Finnish and Altaic tribes, says Castren
(p. 119),

cherish a belief that death,

terrible
fear,

upon with

individual existence.

which they look does not entirely destroy And even those who do not
life,

profess belief in a future

observe certain cere-

monits which show that they think of the departed as still existing. They take food, dresses, oxen,
knives, tinder-boxes, kettles, and sledges, and place them on the graves ; nay, if pressed, they would confess that this is done to enable the departed to hunt,
fish, and to %ht, as they used to do when alive. Lapps and Finns admit that the body decays, but they imagine that a new body is given to the dead

to

^rld. Others speSk of the departed as ghosts or spirits, who either stay in the grave or in the realm of the dead, or who roam about'on earth, of night, and during storm particularly in the dead
in the lower

and

rain. They give signs of themselves in the howling of the wind, the rustling of leaves, the cracfcHng of the fire, and in a thousand other ways. TEey are invisible to ordinary mortals, but*the sorcerers or

Shamans can

see them,

and can even divine

their

142

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

these Spirits thoughts. It is curious that in general $re supposed to he mischievous ; and the most mischievous of all are the spirits of the departed priests They interrupt the sleef, they send illness (p, 123).

&nl

misfortunes, and they frouble the conscience of their "relatives.* Everything is done to l|eep them away. When the corpse has been carried out of the

the ^departed, houqe, a redhot stonft is thrown after as a cfearm to prevent his return. The offerings of food and other articles deposited on the grave are accounted for by some, as depriving the dead of any
excuse for coming to the house, and fetching these things himself. Among the Tchuvashes a son uses thefollowing invocation when offering sacrifice to the

honour thee with a feast; and different kinds of meat; thou hast all thou canst want: but cl# not trouble us, do not come near us (p. 123). It is certainly a general belief that if they receive no such offerings, the dead revenge themselves by sending diseases and other misfortunes. The ancient Hiongnu or Huns killed the prisoners of war on the tombs of their leaders; for the Shamans assured them that the anger of the spirits could not be appeased otherwise. The sanfe Huns had regular sacrifices in honour of their ancestral spirits. One tribe, the
spirit

of his father:

We

look, here is bread for thee,

'

Topas, wfeich had migrated from Siberia to Central

Asia, sent ambassadors with offerings to the tombs of their ancestors. Their tombs were protected with high palings, to prevent the living from clambering in, anti the dead from clambering out. Some of these

tombs were magnificently adorned 1 and at

, 1

last

grew

Oastr&i,

'

Fianisolie Mythologie,' p.

aa.

LEOTUBE
1

III.

149

almost, and in China altogether, into temples where the spirits of the departed were actually worshipped, All this taketf place by slow degrees ; it begi&s with placing a flower on*the tomb ; it ends with worship2 ping the spirits of departed emperors %s equal* of the Supreme Spirit, the Shang~te or 3Hen, and as en* joying a divine rank*far above other spirits or Shin.

The difference, at first sight, ^between the minute ceremonial of China and the homely worship oWftnns and Lapps may seem enormous ; but if we trace both back as far as we can, we see fyat the early stages of
their religious belief are curiously alike. Firat, a worship of heaven, as the emblem of the most exalted conception which the untutored mind of man can entertain, expanding with the expanding thoughts of
its

the

worshippers, and eventually leading and lifting sil from" horizon to horizon to a belief in that
is

horizons, a belief in that Secondly, a belief in deathless spirits or powers of nature; which supplies the more immediate and every-day wants of the religious in-

which which

beyond

all

is

infinite.

stinct of man, satisfies the imagination, and furnished the earliest poetry with elevated themes. Lastly, a belief in the existence of ancestral spirits : which imin a spiritual or in plies, consciously or unconsciously

a material form, that which is one of the life-springs of all religion, a belief in immortality. Allow me in conclusion to recapitulate shortly the results of this Lecture.
1

eet

TOon an emperor died, and men erected an ajaoeBfcwl ' up a parental tablet (as a resting-place for the rihin* r Spe&of the
him
Te.

departed), they called

Medjwuat, 'ftupfry,'

p. 7;

from the

Ze-ke, voL

i.

p. 49.
y,' p. 45,

144

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION,

found,
first

We

of

all,

that there

is

a natural conthere-

nexior^ between language and

religion, and that

fore the classification of languages is applicable also to the ancient religions of the world.

"W& found, secondly, th&t there was a common Aryan

religion before"' the separation gf the Ary&n race; a common Semitic religion before the separation of the

Semitic race; and jf common Tnranic religion before the sljmration of the Chinese and the other tribes found, in fact, belonging to the Turanian *ckss.

We

three ancient centres^of religion as we had before thre ancient centres of language, and we have thus
gained, I believe, a truly historical basis for a scientific tr&ttment of the principal religions of the world.

FOUKTH
DELITORED AT THE BOTAL

MABOH

12, 1870.

course of lectures, I confess I felt sorry for undertaken so difficult a task; and if I could having have withdrawn from it with honour, I should gladly

WHEN

I came to deliver ihe

first

of this short

have done
left,

so.

Now that I have

only this one lecture

my

something wished to say, and what in four lectures I could say but very imperfectly. From the announcement of my lectures you must have seen that in what I called
'

I feel equally sorry, and I wish I could continue more of what I coiyse in order to say

An Introduction to the

Science of Religion 1 did not

intend to treat of more than some preliminary questions. I chiefly wanted to show in what sense a truly
scientific

study of religion was possible, what materials

there are to eniible us to gain a trustworthy knowledge of the principal religions of the world, and

according to
classified.

teresting once into the ancient temples to look #* tt$?%&$ idols of the past, and to discover, if possible, seifib of

what principles these religions rmay be would perhaps have been more jnto*some of my hearers if we had rn^ea
It

the ftmdamental ideas that found expression in the ancient systems of foifck and worship. But in order

146

LECTURES ON THE SOnBXTOK OF BELICUON.

to explore -with real advantage any ruins, whether of stone or of thought, it is necessary that we should In most kno-vf where to look and how to look.

works on the history of ancient

religions

iriven about like forlorn tourists in a vast

we are museum

whdre ancien^ and modern statues, gems^of Oriental and European workmanship, Original works of art and mere copies ate piled up together, ^nd at the en3 of our journey we only feel bewildered and disheartened.

We

have seen much, no doubt, but we

little.

carry

away very

It* is better,

before

we

enter

int<i these labyrinths, that we should spend a few hours in making up our minds as to what we really w^nt to see and what we may pass by; and if in

these introductory lectures

we have only
you

arrived at

a dear view on these

points,

will find hereafter

that our time has not been altogether silent ingrain. You will have observed that I have carefully abstained from entering on the domain of what I call Theoretic, as distinguished from Comparative Theology.

Theoretic theology, or, as it is sometimes called, the philosophy of religion, has, as far as I can judge, its right place at the end, not at the beginning of Comparative Theology. I have made no secret of my own
conviction that a study of Comparative Theology will produce with regard to Theoretic Theology the same

revolution which a study of Comparative Philology has produced in what used to be called the Philosophy of language. You know how all speculations on the nature of language, on its origin, its development, its natural growth and inevitable decay have had to be taken up afresji from the very beginning, after the

new

light

thrown on the history of language by the

LEOTUBE

IV.

147

I look forward to the same comparative method. with respect to philosophical inquiries into the nature of religion, its origin, and its development, I do not mean to say'that all former speculations on
results

these subjects will become Tisiless. Plato's Cratylut, even the Sfymes of Harris, and Horn* Tooke's *ZWversions of Purl&y

have not become useless after the

work done Jay Grimm and Bopp, by Humboldt ajid Bunsen. But I believe that philosophers who speculate on the origm of religion and on the psychological
conditions of faith, will in future write more circumspectly, and with less of that dogmatic assurance which has hitherto distinguished so many speculations

on the philosophy of religion, not excepting those af Before the rise of geology Schelling and Hegel. it was easy to speculate on the origin of the earth ; before the rise* of glossology, any theories on the
revealed, the mimetic, the inter] ectional, or the conventional origin of language might easily be held and defended. Not so now, when facts have filled

the place that was formerly open to theories, and those who have worked most carefully among the d&bris of the earth or the strata of languages are most reluctant to approach the great problem of the

when

first

beginnings.

to explain why in this introductory fcourse I have confined myself within narrower limits than some of my hearers seem to have expected. And now, asI have but one hour left, I shall try to make the best use of it I can, by devoting it entirely on which I have not yet touched, viz/7m to a

So much in order

point the right spirit in which ancient religions ought to be studied and interpreted.

148

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGHON.

judge,
if

No

criminals,

would

he had before him the tforst of treat him as most historians and

ffliai they without merdjr; every doctrinp that is not carefully sense that it will guarded is interpreted in the worst frwn our -own differs that act boftr; every of*worship and conridicule to is held God up way%f serving

the religion^ of the -world. theologians have treated their founders which shows of Every act in the lives were but metf, is eagerly seized and judged

tempt.
serfse of

And

this is

set purpose, nay, vftth

not dpne by accident, but with a something of that artificial

duty which stimulates the counsel for the

defence to see nothing but

aSid

an angel in his own client, anything but an angel in the plaintiff on the other side. The result has. been as it could not be otherwise a complete miscarriage of justice, an utter
misapprehension of the real character and purpose of the ancient religions of mankind and, as a necessary
;

consequence, a failure in discovering

features
all

the peculiar

which really distinguish Christianity from the religions of the world, and secure to its

founder his own peculiar place in the history of the world, far away from VasishiAa, Zoroaster, and Buddha,

from Moses and

Lao-tse.

Mohammed, from Confucius and

our

depreciating aft other religions, own in a position -which its founder never intended for it; we have torn "it away from the sacred context of the history of the world;

By undtily

we

3&ave placed

ignored, or wilfully narrowed the sundry times and divers manners in which, in times past, God spake unto the fathers by the prophets; and instead of recognising Christianity as coming in the fulness of time, and as the fulfilment of ttie hopes and

we have

LECTURE
desires of the

IV.

149

whole world, we have brought ourselves upon yis advent as the only broken link in that unbroken chain which is rightly called the Divine
to look

government of the world, Nay, worse than this there are people who, from mere ignorance of the ancient religions of mankind, have adopted a doctrine more unchristian than any that could te found in the pages of the religious J?oftks
:

of antiquity, viz. that all the nations of the earth, before the rise of Christianity, were mere outcasts,

forsaken and forgotten of thefr Father in heaven, without a knowledge of God, without a hope of salvation.

If a comparative study of the religions of the

this

world produced but

one

result, that it

drove this

godless heresy out of every Christian heart, and made us see again ia the whole history of the world the eternal wisdom and love of God towards all His
creatures, it

And

it is

have learnt to do justice to the ancient done. poetry, the political institutions, the legal enactments, the systems of philosophy, and the works of art of
nations differing from ourselves in

We

would have done a good work. high time that this good work should be

many

respects

we

have brought qjpselves to value $ven the crude and imperfect beginnings in all these spheres of mental activity; and I believe we have thus learn^ lessons from ancient history which we could not have learnt anywhere else. We can admire the temples of fee ancient world, whether in Egypt* Babytao, or Chepee j we can stand in raptures before the statues of Hodias j and only when we approach the religious conceptions which find their expression in the temples of Athene and in the statues of Zeus, we turn away with pity

150

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.

or scorn,

we

call these

gods mere idols and images,

and Mass foeir worshippers Periklas, Phidias, Soof stocks and krates, and Plato with the worshippers stones. I do not deny Jftsfc the religions of the BabylonTans, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans yrere imperfect and full of errors, particularly in their later
that the fact of tjjese ancient stages, but I maintain at all, however imperpeople having any religion

them nearer fect, raises them higher, and brings to us, than all their worfes of art, all their poetry, Neither their art nor their alUtheir
;

judge,

philosophy? have been possible poetry nor their philosophy would without religion and if we will but look without as we ought always to prejudice, if we will but judge with unwearying love and charity, we shall be

an truth surprised at that new world of bedTuty rises before us a of vernal which, like the azure sky, ancient the of the clouds behind from mythologies.
to be charitable.

can speak freely and fearlessly; we can afford There was a time when it was otherwise. There was a time when people imagined

We

that truth, particularly the highest truth, the truth of religion, could only conquer by blind zeal, by fire and

sword.

At

their altars to be destroyed,

that tkne all idols were to be overthrown, and their worshippers to

.
.
.

be cut &> pieces. But there came a time when the And if even sword was to be put up into its place. after that time there was a work to worlj; and a fight to fight, which required the fiery zeal of apostles and
martyrs, that time also is now past; the conquest is gained, and we^have time to reflect calmly on what is past and what is still to come.

Surely

we

need not be afraid of Baal or Jupiter.

LECTTJBE

IV.

151

Our dangers and our

different kind..

difficulties are

now

of

a very

Those

who

believe that there is a

God, and that He created heaven and earth, and that He ruleth the world by'IEf unceasing providenqp,

cannot believe that millions of human beings; all created like ourselves* in the image of God, were, in their time of ignorance, so utterly abandoned that

whole religion was falsehood, their whole w^rsTup whole life a mockery. An honest and independent study of the*religions of the world will
their
farce, their

teach us that

it

was not

so

will teach us the

lesson which it taught St. Augustine, that there is no religion which does not contain some grains of truth. Nay, it will teach us more; it will enable us to see
in the history of the ancient religions, more clearly than anywhere else, the Divine education of the human
race.
this is a view which has been much obIf we but I hold it as strongly as ever. must not read in the history of the whole human race the daily lessons of a Divine teacher and guide, if there is no purpose, no increasing purpose in the succession of the religions of the world, then we might

know
to,

jected

as well shut uft the godless book <$f history altogether, and look upon men as no better than the grass which
is

to-day in the field and to-morrow is cast^ into the oven. Ma.-n would then be indeed of less value than the sparrows, for none of them is forgotten before

God.

But those who imagine

of their

that, in order to mafce^sure

own

fixed between themselves

the world

must have a great gulf and all the other nations of between iheir own religion and the resalvation, they

152

LEOTCBES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.

ligions of Zoroaster,

Buddha, or Confucius

can hardly

be aw^&re

strongly the interpretation of the history of the religions of the world, as an education of be "supported by authorities tfce human race, can
before which l^ey themselves
silence.

how

would probably bow in need not appeal to an English bishop to prove the soundness, or to a German philosopher to

We

ties

pnfvBjbhe truth, of this view. If we wanted authoriwe could appeal to Popes, to the Fathers of the

Church, to the Apostles thSmselves, for they have all upheld the same view with no wavering or uncertain
voice.

I pointed out before that the simultaneous study of the Old and the New Testament, with an occasional reference to the religion and philosophy of

Greece and Borne, had supplied Christian Divines with some of the most useful lessons for a wider comparison of all the religions of the world. In
studying the Old Testament, and observing in it the absence of some of the most essential truths of Christianity, they, too, had asked with surprise why the interval between the fall of man and his redemption

had been so long, why men were allowed so long to walk in darkness.* and whether the^ heathens had Here is the really no place in the counsels of God,
answer gf a Pope, of Leo the Great 1 (440-461) * 'Let those who with impious murnmrings find fault with the Divine dispensations, and who complain
about the lateness of Our Lord's nativity, cease from

what was carried out in this age of the v^orld, had not been impending in time , What the apostles preached, the prophets past.
their grievances, as if
last
.
.

Hardwick, 'Christ and other Masters,*

vol.

i.

p, 85.

LECTUBB

IV.

163

had announced

and what has always been have been fulfilled too late. By this delay of His work of salvation the wisdom and love of Qofl fyave only made us m$ra fitted for Jis call so that, what had^een announced before by many signs*and words and mysteries during
before,

believed, cannot be said to

many Centuries, should not }& doubtful or uncertain in the days of the Gospel, . . . God has not 'provided for the interests of men by a new counsel or
so
late compassion ; but He had instituted from the beginning for all men one and the same path of sal-

by a

vation.'

This

is

Now

let

the language of a Pope of Leo the Greai. us hear what Irenseus says, and how he

explains to himself the necessary imperfection of the 'A mother/ he says, early, religions of mankind.

'may indeed offer to her infant a complete repast, but her infant cannot yet receive the food which is meant for full-grown men. In the same manner God might indeed from the beginning have offered to man the truth in its completeness, but man was unable to
receive
it,

for

he was

still

child.*

If this, too, is considered a

presumptuous reading

of the counsek of God, we have, .s a last appeal, the words of St. Paul, that 'the law was the schoolmaster
* Jews/ joined with the words of St, Jeter, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, d workeA but in evejy nation he that feareth him righteousness is accepted with him.' But, as I said before, we need not appeal toraay authorities, if we will but read tk$ records of the ancient religions of the world wfth an open heart and in a charitable spirit in a spirit that thinketh

to ther

154

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OB BELIGUON.

1

no

evil,

but rejoices in the truth wherever

it

can be

found.

hove

I suppose that most of us, sotfner or later in life, this wicked world, felt how the whole world as w& call it 4& changed as if by magic, if once we

can make up our mind to give" men credit for good motives, never to b^ suspicious, never to think evil, never -*o think ourselves better than our neighbours. Trust a man to be true and good, and, even if he is
your trust will tend to "make him true and good. same with the religions of the world. Let us but once make up our mind to look in them for what is true and good, and we shall hardly know our
not,
It ifiuthe

old religious again. If they are the work of the devil, as many of us have been brought up to believe, then never was there a kingdom so divided Against itself from the very beginning. There is no religion
if there is, I do not know it which does not say, 'Do good, avoid evil.' There is none which does not contain what Eabbi Hillel called the quintessence of

or

all religions, the simple

warning, 'Be good, my boy.' 'Be good, my boy/ may seem a very short catechism; but let us add to it, 'Be good, my boy, for God's sake,' and we have in it rery nearly the wh*le of the Law

and the Prophets. I wishj could read you the extracts I have

collected

from the sacred books of the ancient world, grains of truth more precious to me iihan grains of gold; prayers so simple and so true that we could all join in them if we once accustomed ourselves to the strange sounds of Sanskrit or Chinese. I can to-day give you a few
specimens only.

Here

is

a prayer of

YasishtfAa,

a Vedic prophet,

LEOTUBE

IV.

155

name

addressed to Vaniwa, the Greek Oipavos, an ancient of the $ky and of the god who resides in the sky. I shall read you one vrse at least in the origina,} it is the 86th hymn of the seventh book of the BigJ

you tnay hear the very sounds which more than three thousand year^ ago were uttered for the first lime in a village on the borders of JJie^Sutledge, then called the tfatadru, by a man who felt as
so that

veda

we feel, who spoke as we speak, who believed in many points as we believe a dark-complexioned
Hindu, shepherd, poet, priest, patriarch, and certainly a man who, in the noble army of prophets, deserves a place by the side of David. And does it not show
the indestructibility of the spirit, if we see how the waves which? by a poetic impulse, he started on the vast ocean of thought have been heaving and spread-

ing and widening, till after centuries and centuries they strike to-day against our shores and tell us, in accents that cannot be mistaken, what passed through the mind of that ancient Aryan poet when he felt the presence of an almighty Ood, the maker of heaven and earth, and felt at the same time the burden of
his sin,

and grayed

to his God^that

that burden from him, that

his sin?
this

He might take He might forgive him

pounds of even in this Eoyal

When you

listen to the strange

listening,

Vedic hymn, you are

Institution, to spirit-rapping to real spirit-j&ppiBgs, YasishtfAa*is really among us again, and if ycm will accept me as his interpreter, you will find that we

can

all

understand what the old poet wished to say 1 :

'History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature/ p. 540.

M. M,,

156
*

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUON.

Dhir& tv asya mahinS, TO yas tastambha rodasi Add urvi, pra n&kam n'shvam nunude briliantaw, dvit& nakshatram pajjrathafc k& bhuma,
fiie works of him who stemfirmaments (heaven rind earth).
;

Wise and mighty are

med asunder the wide

on high the bright and glorious heaven he out apart the starry sky and the earth. ' Do I say this to my own self? How can I get near unto Varuna? Will he accept my offering without
lifted

He

streitehgd

displeasure?

When

shS.ll I,

with a quiet mind, see

him
(

propitiated? 1 ask, Varuwa, wishing to know this my sin; I go to ask the wise. The sages all tell me the same:
rt

Varuna
*

it is

who

is

angry with thee."

an old sin, Vaxuna, thai thou wishest to destroy thy Mend, who always praises theeT Tell me, thou unconquerable Lord and I will quickly
it

Was

for

turn to thee with praise, freed from sin. Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those which we committed with our own bodies. Release Vasish^a, King, like a thief who has feasted on stolen cattle ; release him like a calf from
(

the rope.

was not our own doing, Yaruna, it was a an slip ^intoxicating draught, passion, dice, thpughtThe old is there to mislead the young; lessness.
c

lt
;

even sleep is not free from mischief. 'Let me, freed from sin, do service to the angry 1 The lord god enlightgodlike a slave to his lord
.

eneth the foolish ; he, the wisest, leads his worshipper to wealth.
J

&*> Benfey, 'Gottingar Gelehrte Nachribhten,' 1874, p. 370.

LECTORS
lord Varuna,
heait!

IV,

1ST

May we

this song go well to thy in prosper acquiring and peeping!

may

Protect us, gods, always with your blessings/ I am not blind to ttye blemishes of this ancient
4 prayer, but I am not blind to its beauty either, lad I think yfcu will admit that the discovery of even one

such poem among the hymns of the Rig-veda, and the certainty that such a poem #as composed in india at least three thousand years ago, without any inspiration but that which aU can find who seek for it if

haply they may find a life. It shows that

it,

is

woll worth the labour of

man was

never forsaken of God,

and that conviction

worth more to the student of history than all the dynasties of Babylon and Egfypt, worth more than all lacustrian villages, worth more than the slgills and jaw-bones of Neanderthal or
is

Abb^ille. I add a few more translations of Vedic hymns, some of which have been published elsewhere, while one is 1 given here for the first time

PHAYEB FOB FORGIVENESS (BIG-VEDA

1.

VH

89).

Let

me

not yet,

of earth ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy! 2. If I move along trembling, like a cloud driven; by the wind ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy I

Varuna^

enter into the house

Through want of strength, tiiou .gstapqpg bright god, have I gone astray 5 have H*ercy, b*^^, have mercy 4. Thirst came upon the worshiper, though &a
3.
I

See

<

Einleitnug in die Voglefebefcd*

MigioDwiawnach^'

p.

an.

158

LECTURES ON THE SOIENCE OF EELTGtION.

midst
of
1

stood in the

the waters;

have

tfiercy,

Blmigbty, have mercy

5.

Whenever we men,
;

before the heavenly host,

Varuna, conttnit an offence whenever we break the law

thfough thoughtlessness
that offence*

punish us not,

god, for

OP PBAISE ADDBESSED TO
(RIG-VEDA
i. I.

35).

However we break thy laws from day

as

to day,

men
3.

we are, god, Varuna, Do not deliver us unto death, nor to

;

the blow of

nor to the wrath of the spiteful I Varuna, we unbend thy 3. To propitiate thee, mind with songs, as the charioteer (unties) a weary
the Hurious
steed.
4. Away from me they flee dispirited, intent only on gaining wealth as birds to their nests. 5. When shall we bring hither the man, who is
;

victory to the warriors ; when shall the wide-seeing, to be propitiated?

[6,

we

bring Varuna,

They (Mtra and Varuna) take

this in

common;

gracious, they never

7.

Ml the faithful grver.]

the place of the Tbirds that fly the waters knows the

He who knows
j

through the sky,

ships
8.

who on

He, the upholder of order, who knows the twelve months with the offspring of each, and knows the
engendered afterwards; the track of the wind, of the wide, the bright/the mighty; and knows those who
9.

month that

is

He who knows
on high;

reside

LECTUBE

IV.

159

io.*He, the upholder of order, Yarurca, sits down among his people ; he, the wise, sits there to govern,
11.

From

sees

what has been and what

;

tbence perceiving all wondrous things, he will be done.

12.

all

our

May he, the wise A<Hty#,make our paths straight days may he prolong our livgs
!
;

Yaruwa, wearing golden mail, has put on his shining clgak the spies sat dowgi around him, 14. The god whom the scoffers do not ptovoke, nor the tormentors of men, nor the plotters of mis13.

chief ;
15.

who

He, who gives to men glory, and not half glory, gives it even to our own selves ;

1 6.

Yearning for him, the

as kine

move onwards,

move

far-seeing, thoughts to their pastures.

my

17. Let us speak together again, because my honey has been brought that thou mayest eat what thou
:

likest, like
1 8.

a friend 1
see the

Did I

god who

is

to be seen

by

all,

did

I see the chariot above the earth?

He must

have

accepted
19.

hear this

my prayers. my

calling,

Varuna, be gracious

now

longing for help, I

have

called

upon

thee.

wise god, art lord of all, of heaven and earth: listen 09. thy way! 21. That I may live, take from me the upper rope, loose the middle, and remove the lowest
zo.

Thou,

In most of the hymns of ihe Eig-veda, however, tbd gods assume a far more mythological character tiban in these songs addressed to Yaruna, though the spiri1 See BdletDflan, in Orient wid Occident, ii. p. 147. One migfct lead * totri-iva, because honey hag been, fcroight by me, as by a prieet, sweet

to taste.'

160
tual

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

and

entirely lost.
is

ethical character of the 'deity is but Seldom If we take for instance a short hymn ad-

dresseA to Agni or Fire, we easily see that Agni (ignis) conceived as the representative of fire, yet we also distant background, or a perceive even here a mgre
true Qivine element, only enveloped in a mythological
shell.

HYMN
i. JSgni,

TO AGNI (RIO-VEDA

II.

6}

this
3.

my

accept this log which I offer to thee, accept service ; listen well* to these songs.

my

With

this log,

Agni,
1

may we

thoif son of strength, conqueror of horses

this
3-

worship thee, and with

!

hymn, thou high-born

May we,

thy servants, serve thee with songs,

granter of riches, thou in riches!

who

lovest songs

and

delightest

4. Thou lord of wealth and giver of wealth, fob thou wise and powerful drive away from us the enemies 5. He gives us rain from heaven, he gives us inviolable strength, he gives us food a thousandfold.
;
I

6.

vofcer,

Youngest of the gods, their messenger, their inmost deserving of worship, come, at our praise,

to

him who worships

7.

For thou,

sage, goest wisely

thee and longs for thy help. between these

two

creations (heaven and earth, gods and men), like a friendly messenger between two hamlets 8. Thou art wise, and thou hast been pleased:
I

perform thou, intelligent Agni, the sacrifice without

interruption, sit

down on

this sacred grass

Here we may clearly observe that peculiar blending and physical elements in the character of one and the same deity, a blending which seems
of ethical

LEGTUBE

IV.

161

strange to us, but must have been perfectly natural in an earlier stage of religious thought, for meet

with the same ideas everywhere, whenever we are able to trace back the growth ef religious concepts to their first beginnings, not only among the Aryan nations, but in Aftiea, in America, and eveln in Australia, though nowhere with the same clearness and fulness as in the h^mns of the Yedic Aryans. I have often expressed my opinion tiiat we ought to be careful in ascribingthe same high antiquity to
everything occurring in the Ei^-veda. Not that I rewhat I tried to prove in my History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,' that the whole collection of the hymns must have been finished to the last lefter before the beginning of the Br&hmana period. Nor am I aware that a single weak joint has been dis.cover$L by any of my numerous critics in the chain
tract
'

of arguments on which I relied. But scientific honesty obliges me nevertheless to confess openly that own. I cannot even now feel quite convinced in

my

mind that all the hymns, all the verses, all the words and syllables in our text of the Edg-veda are really of the same high antiquity. No doubt, we should
all such questions witiiout any preconceived we cannot on the o3ier hand forget all but opinions, we have been taught by a study of post-Vedic literaWe ture, or by a study of other ancient literatures. must wait for further evidence, and be eareful^^rt to force these researches into a false directiw by /^^ ^mature dicta. In order to gjlve a epacHnen of wfifct J mean, I shall give a translation of the wall-k&trtfa hymn to Vwvaka^man from the last Handala, a Slantfala whiqh &as generally been Considered, though, as

approach

162
yet,

LEGTTTBES ON

THE SCIENCE OF KELIGION.

a repository of
this

without very

definite reasons, as

more Inodern poems. The very name of the deity, addressed in

hymn,

"SJsvakarman, indicates thafc the poet did not belong to the Earliest period of Vedic religion. It occurs as a

proper name in the tenth Manefeia only. Originally Vitfvakarman, the maker of all things, is an epithet of 1 likese-9%raj old gods. Indra is called Visvakannan
,

wise Sfrrya, the sun 2 and Visvakrit, he who makes 3 everything, occurs in the j&fcharva-veda as an epithet of typi, the fire, who In the Br^hmawas 4 also is iden,

tified

with Vwvakarman. Visvakarman, as an indepepdent, but very abstract deity appears, like Prar$-

pati

and similar divine individuals, as the creator, or, more correctly, as the fashioner and architect of the universe. In the hymns dedicated to him some rays break through here and there from the dark mythological background through which and from which the concept of Visvakarman arose. Sometimes we are
still

Sftrya,

able to recognise the traces of Agni, sometimes of although the poets themselves think of him
:

Thus we read in one verse 'The seer and a priest, who offering all the worlds as a sacrifice, camedown as our fathy, he, appearing first, entered among mortals, desiring wealth with
chiefly as the Creator.
first sight, is not very clear, nor do I pretend to say that this verse has as yet been rendered

blessing/ This, at

quite intelligible, in spite of the efforts of various translators and commentators. Still we may see a
little light,
1

if
viii.

^we remember that Vwvakarman, the

a

Big-Veda* 98, a. Atharva-yeda, vi. 47,

Ibid. x. 170, 4.
ir, 2, a.

z.

&atapatha-1br&lunaft^

LECTURE

IV.

163

maker
fire,

of all things,

and more

was originally Agni, the god of particularly, the god of the fire atfd the

light of the morning. Agni, as the god of the morning (aushasya), is often conceived as a priesi, who, with his splendour, pours out the whole -World and offers it as a moraing sacrifice. Such a sacrifice
is

represented as taking place either at the beginning of every day, or at the beginning of a new yqar,*or, by another step, at the beginning of the world. The

light of the morning sun wtis perceived by the poet as illuminating the world, like the 'actual fires lighteg in the morning on every hearth. Or the poet might see in the light of the rising sun a power that brings

forth the

whole world, brings

it

into sight

and
a
it

being,

in fact

makes or
;

creates the world.

This

is

poetical,
is

perhaps a fantastic
ceivable

idea; nevertheless
till

con-

and in interpreting the words

never rest

we must
is

we

of the Veda, arrive at something that

at least conceivable.

to think of Agni, the fire, says of Vbvakarman that he settled down as a father among men. The germ of this conception lies in the light of the morning appearing first as

The poet again seems

when he

something distant and divine, but fhen, unlike other divine powers, remaining with men on earth, on the very hearth of every dwelling. This thought that
take up his abode with men, that human, activity, workmanship, and art, and that through his blessing alone men obtain health and wealth, is expressed in many Vedic songs in ever varying ways. If we transfer these thoughts to the Ykvakarman, the maker or shaper of all things, some of the darfc

Agni

is

the

first to

his presence is the condition of all

164)

LECTUBES ON THE SdrENdE OF EELIGION.

words of the first verse become more intelligible, white some of the translations hitherto published leave the impression as if some of the Vedic poets bad really connected no thought whatever with their
metrical effusions.
i. l
*

What was

the place,

what was the support, and

it, from jrhence the all-seeing "^vakarman Aaker of all things), when producing the earth, (the displayed the heaven by his might? z. 'He, the one God, whose eyes are everywhere, whese mouth, whose arms, whose feet are everywhere ; he, when producing heaven and earth, forges them together with his arms and with the wings. 2e What was the forest, what was the tree 8 from 3. which they cut out heaven and earth ? Ye wise, seek in your mind that place on which he Stood w^en sup,

where was

porting the worlds.

O Visvakarman, rejoicing in the sacrifice, teach thy friends what are thy highest abodes, and what are thy lowest, and what are these thy middle abodes Sacrifice for thyself, increasing thy body 4
*

4.

priest, celebrated

Dr. Muir translates this verse : ' Our father, who, a rishi and a a saciifioe offering up all these gjeatures, he, earnestly
substance,
'

Langlois

the archetype, entered into later man.' (droa), notre pontife et notre pere, qui par son sacrifice % forme" tons ces mondes, vienne s'aeseoir (& notr fttyer) Qa*il desire et bemsse nos ofi&andea, Habitant des regions il
desiring
he,
;

Que le riohi

snperienrea,

descend aussi vers nous.'

*
8

Of. j8Veta*vatara

; Eig-Veda, x. 31, 7. This expression also 'Sacrifioe for thyself, increasing thy body/ refers primarily to Agni. It was a familiar idea with the Brahman* to look upon the are both as the subject and the object of a sacrifice. The fire embraced the offering, and was thus a kind of priest ; it carried & te- the god*, and wae thus a kind of mediator between gods and men.

We say fai? or materies, matter

TJpan

lii.

3.

LECTURE
*

rv,

163

5.

maker

of all things, growing

by the
for

oblations,

sacrifice for thyself, for earth

and

other

the

men wait around in darkness, wise man be powerful^

Let but among us let

heavenj

Let us invoke to-day, for our protection in battlfe, 6. the lord of speech, Visvakannan, th0 maker of all things, who inspires our mind. May he accept all our

who

he who is a blessing to everybody, jmd performs good deeds for our safety! My next extract will be from the Zendavesta, the
offerings,
1

sacred book of the Zoroastrians, older in its language than the cuneiform inscriptions of Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, those ancient kings of Persia who knew that they were kings by the grace of Awramazda> the

Zend Ahurd magddo\ and who placed

his

sacred

image high on the mountain-records of Behistun, That *ncient book, or its fragments at least, have
survived
still

many

believed in

dynasties and kingdoms, and are by a small remnant of the Persian

all

now settled at Bombay, and known racg, wond by the came of Parsis.
The
first

over th

its thirtieth chapter.

extract is taken from the Yagna, forming It has been translated or, I

But the fiie represented also something divine, a god to whom honour was due, and thus it became both the object and the subject of the sacrifice.* Hence the idea that Agni sacrifices Mmyflfj that he offers a sacrifice to himself, and likewise that he offers himself as a sacrifice This led to many later legends, see Both, 'Kirukta,' p. 142. Agni TO# also conceived as representing the rising sun and the wwon^ 9f4 that point of view sunrise was conceived as the great sacrifice ia ti&$toc&

&W

the light serving, lifce a sacrificial flame, for tfee gfcwy'WIwft'W&atta Jffiaace lastly 1fc6 eartft, and, at the same time, for his own gkay. is conceiva* *u *h. ooemogQiiic ideas by which the <J*Uy saxaiBce % sacrifice of creation and as the glory of the creator. e.^Qi, i. p. 339.

166

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.

it

should rather say, a decipherment of

has been

attempted by

several scholars, more particularly by It has also Professor Spiegel and Professor Haug* been referred to by Bunsen in his 'God in History'
(fol.
i.

p.

277, of

Misfl

winkworth's translation),
will

and'l may quote from him yhat

living,

erve as a

though imaginary, background

1

for this striking

'Leffus picture to ourselves, he writes, 'one of the holy hills dedicated to tlje worship of fire, in the neighbourhood of the primeval city of marvels in

Central Asia,
1

Bactra "the

glorious,"

now

called

From this height Balkh, "the mother of cities." we look down in imagination over the elevated plateau, which lies nearly 3000 feet above the level
of the sea, sloping downwards toward the North and ending in a sandy desert, which does not even* allow the stream Bactrus to reach the neighbouring Oxus.

On
it,

Hindukush,
feet high.

southern horizon, the last spurs of the or, as the historian of Alexander terms the Indian Caucasus, rear their lofty peaks 5000
the

Out

of those hills,

the Paropamisus or

springs the chief river of the country, the Bactrus or Dehas, which near the city divides into hundreds of Sanals, making tlffi face of the

Hindukush,

country one blooming garden of richest fruits. To this point converge the caravans, which travel across the mountains to the land of marvels, or bring treasures from thence ..... Thither, on occasion of
the peaceful sacrifice by fire, from whose ascending flame auguries were to be drawn, Zarathustra had convened the nobles of the land, that he might perf

Essays on the Sacred Language of the Parsees/ i86a, p. 141.

LECTUBE
form

IV.

167

*& Arrived there, great public religious act. at the head of his disciples, the seers and preachers, lie summons the princes to draw nigh, and to *choose

between

faith

and

superstition.'

I give the translation o

the

Haug

(18^8), partly after Spiegel (1^59),

hymn, partly after and I*have

likewise availed myself of some important emendations proppsed by Dr. Eubschm^nn 1. Yet, I must
confess that, in

numerous passages,

my translation
is

is

purely tentative, and all I can answer for general tenour of the hymn.
1.

the

listen,

I shall proclaim to all who have come to the praises of thee, the all-wise Lord, and the hymns of Vohumano (the good spirit). Wise Asjia!

'Now

I ask that (thy) grace

may

appear in the lights of

heaven.

Hear with your ears what is best, perceive with mind what is pure, so that every man may for your
2.

himself choose his tenets. Before the great doom, may the wise be on our side 3. 'Those old Spirits who are twins, each with his
!

good and what is Those who are good, distinguished between the two, not those who
is

own work, made known 2 what

evil in thoughts, words,

and

deeds.

are evil-doers.
4.

'When
'first

made

at last

two Spirits came together, they and death, so that there should be the most wretched life for the bad, but for the
these
life
die Tradition fibe/seteb

good blessedness.
1
'

"Em ZoroastrischeB Ijed, mat IttLckmcht

:

atrf

' tmd erklart von Dr. H. HubBchmann

Miinchen, 18^2.

Hang
it

takes

does not admit the causative meaning of aervfttem, bat in the sense of audiwrunt or auditi sunt, i.e. they were known,

they existed.

168

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OT BELKHON.

5. *0f these two Spirits the evil one chose the worstn deeds ; the kind Spirit, he whose garment is

the immovable sky, chose

also

who
'Those

faithfully

pleaje

what is right; and tyhey Ahuramazda by good

the Devas* and were

6.

who worshipped

deceived, did not rightly distinguish between the twq; those who hwi chosen the worst Spirit came

to

to hola counsel together, afflict the life of man.

and ran

to

Aeshma

in order

"

7. 'And to him (the good) came might, and with wisdom virtue; and the everlasting Armaiti -herself made his body vigorous. It fell to thee to be rich by

he?
8.

gifts.
e

But when the punishment of their crimes will come, and, oh Mazda, thy power will^be known as the reward of piety for those who delivered *{Druj) falsehood into the hand of truth (Asha), Let us then be of those who further this world ; 9.

mind be

pernicious Druj, but in the beautiful abode of Vohumano, of Mazda and of Asha, will be gathered for ever those

oh Ahuramazda, oh bliss-conferring Ashal Let our there where wisdom abides. TO. 'Then indeed there will be the fall of the

who

dwell in good report,

. ,
.

n. 'Oh men, if you cling to these commandments which Mazda has given, which are a tornfent to the wicked, and a blessing to the righteous, then there wiU be victory through them.' The next three verses are taken from the
thinl chapter of the

Ya9na

forty-

rifr. 3, ed.

Brockhaus, p. I3 o; Spiegel,

Hang, 'Essays/ p. 150.

'Yaai<p, 146; *

LECTURE
'I

IV.

168

ask thee,

tell

me

the truth,

Ahural

Who

was from the beginning the

Who Who
to

father of the pure jrorld? has macTe a path for the sun and for the staarsl (but thou) makes tia moon to increase and to

decrease?

That,
thee, tell

Mazda, tod other things, I. wish

know. 'I ask

me

the truth,

Ahura!

Who

holds the*earth and the doucfe that they do not fall? Who holds the sea and the trees? Wtto has

given swiftness to the mnd and the clouds? Who the creator of the good spirits? * Ahura! Whfi has I ask thee, tell me the truth, made the kindly light and the darkness, who has
is

made made

the kindly sleep and the awaking? Who has the mornings, the noons, and the nights, they
of his duty 2
'

who remind the wise

Whatever the difficulties may be, and they are no doubt most formidable, that prevent us from deciphering aright the words of the Zendavesta, so

much

is clear,

man
s

is

called

that in the Bible of Zoroaster every upon to take his part in the great

between Good and Evil which is always going on and is assured that in the end good will prevail. What shall^I quote from Buddha? for we have
battle

so

much

it is

indeed

left*of his sayings ancl his parables that In a collection of difficult to choose.

his sayings, written in Pali of which I 1 we read: published a translation

i.

have lately

'All that
it is

we

are

is

the result of whAfc

it is

we Jwra
macte

thought:

founded on our thoughts,

up

1 The Dhaminaj>%<3% a Collection of Verges, bea$g one of ike canonical books of the Buddhists, translated from P4U by F. M*i Mtiller, In 'Sacred Books of t&e East,' veL z. 1881.

170

LECTTOES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELKHON.

If a

of our thoughts.

man

speaks or acts with an

evil ijiought, pain follows him as the the foot of the ox that draws the cart.
'

wheel follows

collects toney and departs without or its colour, or scent, so let a sage the flower, ifijusing
c

49.

As the bee

dwell on earth. * 62. '"These sons belong to me, and this wealth bel^Dgs to me," with such thoughts a fool is tormented. He himself does not belong to himself, how

much

less sons

and wealth I

131, 122. 'Let no naan think lightly of evil, saying in hlfe heart, It will not come nigh unto me. Let no

man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, It will not benefit me. Even by the falling of water-drops
a water-pot is filled. 173. 'He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, brightens up this world like the moon* when
she rises from behind the clouds.
223. 'Let a man overcome anger by love, evil by 1 good, the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth . 'The of is fault others 252. easily perceived, but

that of oneself

is difficult to perceive ; a man winnows his ieighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he 2 bides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the player .

'Not by tonsure does an undisciplined man speaks falsehood become a saint can a man be a saint *who is stiU held captive by desires and
264.

who

greediness 1
394.
1

'What
rii.

is

the use of platted hair,

fool

See Rom.
1

ai .

'Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with

good,
*

See Matt

vii. 3.

brother's eye, but considerest not the

'And why beholdest thon the mote that is in thy beam that is in thine own eye ?
'
.

LECTUBE

IV.
1

171

what
there

of the raiment of goat-skins } is ravening, but the outside

Within thee thou makest

clean 1 .'

In no religion are we^so constantly reminded of our own as in Buddhism, and yet in no religiop. l&s

man beendrawn aw#y

religion of

so far fronntruth as in the

Buddha.

Buddhism and

Christianity are

indeed thetwo opposite poles wildi regard to the most

essential points of religion: Buddhism igno&ag all feeling of dependence on & higher power9 and therefore denying the very existence of a supreme Deity;

Christianity resting entirely on a belief in God afc the Father, in the Son of Man as the Son of God, and making all men children of God by faith in His Eton.

Yet between the language of Buddha and his disand thg language of Christ and His apostles Even some of the there ^are strange coincidences. Buddhist legends and parables sound as if taken from the New Testament, though we know that many of them existed before the beginning of the Christian
ciples
era.

Thus we read of Ananda,the

after a long

disciple of Buddha, who,

walk in the country, meets with Matangt,

}

a woman of the low caste of the K&ndt&&$ near a She tells him well, and ask? her for some water. what she is, and that she must not come near him. But he replies, My sister, I ask not for thy caste or thy family, I ask only for a draught of water/ She afterwards becomes herself a disciple of Buddto*:
*

* 'Now do ye Pharisees make dean the outside of See Lnke xi. 39 the cup and the platter; but your inward part fr full of ravening and wickedness/ f * Burnouf, Introduction fe rHiatoire du Buddhigme,' p. 305.

172

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OP RELIGION.

Sometimes the same doctrine which in the New Testament occurs in the simple form of a commandment, is inculcated by the Buddhists in the form of a
pjrable.

read was preaching to the priest, we In the had thaf multitudes gathered round hiin. crowd there was a king whose heart was full of

A*Buddhist

sorrtre^ because

he Bad no son to perpetuate his race.

While he was
5

listening, the preacher said:

difficult virtue

To give away our riches is considered the most in the Vorld he who gives away his
;

riches is like

very

life

a man who gives away his life for our seems to cling to our riches. But Buddha,
:

when his mind was moved by

grass, for the

pity,

gave his

life,

like

sake of others

why

should

we

think of

miserable riches!

By

this

exalted virtue, Buddha,

when he was
fore let
desires

freed from all desires, and had obtained divine knowledge, attained unto Buddhahood. There-

a wise man, after he has turned away his from all pleasures, do good to all beings, even unto sacrificing his own life, that thus he may attain
to trjie knowledge. c Listen to me: There

from

was formerly a prince, free worldly dqires. Though he yas young and handsome, yet he left his palace, and embraced the
all

Hfe of a, travelling ascetic. This aseetic coming one day to the house of a merchant, was seen by his young wife, and she, touched by the loveliness of his eyes, exclaimed: "How was this hard mode of life emthat

braced by such a one as thou art? Blessed, indeed, is woman on whom thou lookest with thy lovely
i.

eyes!"
38, i

wj.

LECTUBE

IV.

178

When
I

he heard

this,

the ascetic plucked out one

:

t( eye, placed it into his hand, and said Mothgr, look at this Take* this hideous ball of flesh, if you like it.

The other eye

is like untft this

tell

me, what

is

there

lovely in them?"'

The prd&cher continued in the same strain, quoting other parables to the same purpose, and finished by inculcating the lesson that the tme sage should neither
care for riches, nor for his
life,

and that he shSuld not

cling to his wife and chjj.dren, for they are like the grass that is cast away. It is impossible to read such parables withoutHbeing

reminded of verses of the Bible, such as (Matt. v. 29) And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and -cast l it from thee ;' and again (Matt. six. 39) Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or
: '
*

;' and again (Luke xii. 38): 'The grass which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven/ In the same collection, the Ocean of the rivers of stories, by Somadeva (vi. 37), we read of a merchant who had embraced the religion of Sugata, and showed great respect to the Buddhist monks. His yourijj son, however, despised his father, and called him a sinner. Why do you abuse me?' said^bhe father. You have abandoned the law of The son replied the Vedas, and followed a new law which is no law, You have forsaken the Br&hmans, and

father, or mother, or wife, or children

'

fitonuwas.

What

is

the use of the

1 In the Dialog Greatitranm, p. I> 4^ it ffl toM of DenworiWiha* hapqlled out bis eyes, (i) because they prevented 5hJm fcoto mediation, &e <frio&&l 50ttriBli, ^tHSGatme he ooold not took on (2) because be satt

174

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF EBLIGION.

is

which

followed only

by men

to find a refuge in the monasteries,

of low birth, who want who are happy

their foin cloth,

when

they have thrown

off

away

and

shaved

every hair on their head; who eat whatever rthey please, and perform neither ablutions nor
'

penances 1

The father
religion
:

replied: There are different forms of one looks to another world, the other is in-

tended for the masses.

kindness towards

But surely

true

Brahmanism

also consists in avoiding of passion, in truthfulness,

and in not recklessly Therefore you should not always abuse my religion which grants protection to all "beings., For surely there is no doubt that to be
all Hbeings,

breaEing the rules of caste.

kind cannot be unlawful, and I know no other kindness but to give protection to all living beings. Therefore if I am too much attached to my religion whose
is

object is love, and whose there in me, child?

1

end

is

deliverance,

what

sin

However, as the son did not

his father took

ordered

him

desist from his abuse, before the king, and the king to be executed. He granted him two

him

montRs to prepare for At the end of the two de^h, months the son wa^ brought before the king again, and when the king saw that he had grown thin and pale, he asked for the reason. The culprit repliejL that seeing death approach nearer and nearer every day, he
could not foiTyk of eating.
that he threatened to have

Then the Mng told him, him executed in order that

he Blight know the anguish that every creature feels at the approach of death, and that he might learn to
respect a religion
beings.

which enforces compassion for all Having known the fear of death, he ought

LECTURE

IV.

175

to strive after spiritual freedom, and never again abuse his father's religion 1. The son waif moved, and asked the king how he could obtain spiritual freedom. The king hearing that there was a fair in the towns ordered the young.msfii to take a TOssel brimijil of oil, and to arry it through

now

the streets of the town without spilling a drop. Two executionens with drawn swords Were to walk beltfnd

him, and at the cut off his head.

first

drop being
tfre

spilled,

they

-frere

to

When

young man,

walked through

all the streets

after having f the city, returned to

the king without having spilled one drop, the king said: 'Did you to-day, while walking through the
streets, see
*

anybody ? The young man replied My thoughts were fixed on the vessel, and I saw and heard nothing else. Then the king said Let thy thoughts be fixed in He who is collected, the same way on the Highest and has ceased to care for outward life, will see the truth, and having seen the truth, will not be caught again by the net of works. Thus I have taught you in few words the way that leads to spiritual freedom/ According to Buddha, the motive of all our actions should be pity, or what we should call love for our neighbour, and* the same sentiment is inculcated again and again in the sacred poetry of the Brahmans. Thus
e : 9
' :
I

we
4

reacl in

Thou

self.

the Mah&bharata, Udyoga-parva'cap. 38, what thou likest not thyThis is the law in short, everything else proceeds
shalt not do to others
:

from passion/

M^Mbharata, Amwasana-parva, cap. 145 'Not to hurt anybody by word, thought* or

1

deed,

0f.

176

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUON.

charitable.

and to be benevolent and eterngl law of the good.'

This

is

the

Mah&bh&rata, S&nti-parva, cap. i5o* 'Forgiveness and patience, kindness and equabletruthfulness and uprightness, restraint of the tffess,

and energy, gentleness and modesiy and graand calmness, contentment, kindliness of ^peech, and absence of hatred and malice these
senses
vity, generosity

together

make up

self-control/

MaMhhftrata, $Snti-parva, cap. no: 'Those who are dreaded by none and who themselves dread no one, who regard all mankind like themselves, such men surmount all difficulties.'

MaMbharata, Anus&sana-parva,
'Those

cap.

144 :
foes witfe

who always

treat friends

and

an

equal heart, being friends to all, such

men

shall

go to

heaven 1

.'

And

as in

Buddhism and Brahmanism, so again in

the writings of Confucius, we find what we value most in our own reHgion. I shall quote but one saying of the Chinese sage 3 :

'What you do not

notTlo that to others/

like

when done

to yourself, do

One passage only from the founder of the second

religion in China,

from Lao-tse
Being
4

(cap.
,

2)

'There

is

an

infinite

which existed before

heaven and

earth.
'the Pandit,' December,

1867.

*Dr. Legge's
8
(

'

Life
la

Le Lira de

and Teachings of Confucius,' p 47. Voie et de la Vertu, compos* dans le YI tiede

pax Lao-tseu,' iraduit par Stanislas Julien,
f

avant
4

1'ere chre'tienne,

Paris, 1842, p. 91.

Stan. Julien traDBlatee,

eat

UB

^tre oonfus/

and

lie

explains

LEOTtTEE IY.
* e

177

How

calm

it is

how free

It lives alone, it changes not. ' It moves evelywhere, but it never suffers.

'We may look on it as te Mother I, I know not its nama

C

of the Universe.

'In ordei*to give it a title, I call it Tao (the Way). * When I try to give it a name, I call it Great.
'After calling
it

'After calling 'After calling

it
it

Great, I call ii Fugitive. Fugitive, I call it Distant.

Distant,! say

it

comes back to me/

I say that Greek and Bpman writers abound in the most exalted sentiments on religion and morality,

Need

in spite of their mythology and in spite of their

idolatry 3 When Plato says that men ought to strive after likeness with God, do you think that he thought

of Jupiter, or Mars, or Mercury? When another poet exclaimed that the conscience is a god for all men, was he so very far from a knowledge of the true

God?
texts

African ground the hieroglyphic and hieratic of the ancient Egyptians show the same strange mixture of sublime and childish, nay worse than childish, thoughts to which all students of *pri~
mitive religion have become accustomed, nay from which they mtfst learn to draw Some of their most

On

important lessons. It is easy to appreciate what is simple, "and true, and beautiful in the Sacred Books of fiie East, but those who are satisfied with 'such gems, itre like botanists who should care for
* confus according to the Chinese commentaries by ce qu'fl eat impossible de distingue? olairemeni. Si par hazard on rn'mtewoge sur cef 6tre (le Tao), ]e re*pondif : II n'a ni commenoement, si fin,' etc. See, however,

Dr. J. Legge, 'The Religions of CMj%' 1880, p. 313.

If

178

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF &ELKHON.

etad lilies only, and in whose eyes the thorns and brier* are mere weeds and rubbish. This is not the

true spirit in which the natural development either of the flowers of the earth or of the products of the mind can be studied, and it is surprising to see how long it takes before the students of antimfpology will
learn that one simple lesson. in a papyrus at Ttfrin 1 , the following "wf>rds are put into tffe mouth of 'the almighty God, tie self-existent,

who made heaven and

of
life, fire,

bircfej

easth, the waters, the breaths the gods* men, animals, cattle, reptiles, fishes, kings, men and gods.' ... *I am the

of heaven and of the earth, I raise its mounand the creatures which are upon it; I make the waters, and the Mehura comes into being. ... I am the maker of heaven, and of the mysteries of the twofold horizon. It is I who have given to all the gods the soul which is within them. When I open my
tains
eyes, there is light ; when I close them, there is darkness, . , . I make the hours, and the hours come into

maker

existence.

am
(
:

Chepera in the morning, IU at noon,

Tmu
who

in the evening.'
.

Kail to thee, Ptah-tanu, great god concealeth his form, . . thou art watching when at rest; the father of all fathers and' uf all gods. . .
.

Jjid again

Watcher, who traversest the endless ages of eternity. The heaven was yet uncreated, uncreated was the earth" the water flowed not; thou hast put together the earth, thou hast united thy limbs, thou hast reckoned thy members; what thou hast found apart, thou
hast put into
1

its place ; O God, architect of the world, thou art without a father, begotten by thine own

Le Page Eenouf, ' Hibbert

Lectures,' p. aai.

LEOTUBE
blessing;

IV.

179

thou art without a mother, being born through repetition of thyself. Thou drivest aw&y the darkness by the beams of thine eyes. Thou ascendeat into the zenith of heaven, Ind thou comest down eve/) as thou hast risen. When tfiou art a dweller in* the infernal world, thy knees are above* the earth, and thine head is in the upper sky. Thou sustainest the substances vvhich thou hast made. It is by thige <?wn strength that thou mo vest; thou art raised up by the

might of thine own arms. .". is in the cloud; thy breath

.

The roaring of thy voice

the mountain-^ops ;

is So.

the waters of the inundation cover the lofty trees of . Heaven and earth obey the comevery region.
.

mands which thou hast given; they

travel

by the

road which thou hast laid down for them, they transgress not the -path which thou hast prescribed to Thou them, and which thou hast opened to them.
.

restest,

and

it is

night ;

when

we are illuminated. ... who hath raised the sky, and who causeth his disk to float over the bosom of Nut, who hath made the gods and men and all their generations, who hath madfc all
.

thine eyes shine forth, let us give glory to the God

land and countries And the great sea, in his name of "Let-the-earth-te." . . The babe which is brought forth daily, the ancient one who traverses every path, the height Tphich cannot be attained/

The following are extracts from a hymn addressed

to
1

Amon,

the

Museum

the great divinity of Thebes, preferrod at Bulak :

earth

Amon R&, Lord of -the thrones of &e the ancient of heaven, the oldest of the earth, Lord of all existences, the support of things; the supHail to thee,
port of all things.

The One N %

in his works, single

180

LECTURES OK THE SCIENCE OP BELIGlON.

among

the gods ; the beautiful bull of the cycle of the father of gods,*chief of all the gods ; Lord of Jjruth, ihe gods ; maker of men, creator of beasts, maker of l^rbs, feeder of cattle, goc power begotten of Ptah
,

whom the gods give honour . Most glorious Lord of teAor, chief maker* of the ea&h after his one, image, how great are his thoughts above every god Hsfil i$ thee, B&, Lorcl of law, whose shrine is hidden, Lord of the gods Chepra in his boat, at whose command the gods were madfc. Atmu, maker of men,
.

."to

m giving is in distress, gentle

.
.

them

life

*
. .
.

of heart

listening to the poor when one cries to

who
him

Lord of wisdom, whose precepts are wise, at v whose pleasure the Nile overflows: Lord of mercy, most loving, at whose coming men live: opener of
every eye, proceeding from the firmament, causer of pleasure and light; at whose goodness the gods rejoice
; their hearts revived when they see him. B, adored in Thebes, high crowned in the house of the

obelisk (EeUopolis), sovereign of life, health, and strength, sovereign Lord of all the gods ; who art visile in the midst of the horizon, ruler of the past

generations and the nether woild; whose name is hidden from his creatures Hail io thee the one, alone with many hands, lying awake while all men
.

seek out the good of his creatures, Amon, of all things. Tmu and Horus of the horizon pay homage to thee in jell their words. Sasleep,
tip

sustainer

lutation to thee, because thou abidest in us, adoration tcfthee because thou hast created us/

of

Are there many prayers uttered by kings King Barneses II?

like this

Who

then art thou,

my father Amonl

Doth a

LECTURE
father forget his son 1

IV.

181

Surely a wretched lot awaiteth

;

him who opposeth thy will but blessed is hg who knoweth thee, for thy deeds proceed from a heart full
of love.

I call

upon thee

f)

my father Amon!

behold

me

in the midst of

many peoples, unknown

to me.;

&l

nations ar8 united against me, and I am alone ; no other is with me. My many soldiers have abandoned

my horsemen hath? looked towards me and when I called them, none hath listened*.*) my voice. But I believe thatAnion is worth more to me than a million of soldiers, than a hundred thousand horsemen, and ten thousands of brothers and %ons, even were they all gathered together. The work of
me, none of
;

many men

is

nought

Amon will prevail over them.'

e

The following are a few passages translated from the book of ftahhotep, which has been called ihe most tacient book of the world/ and would indeed have a right to that title if, as we are told, the Paris MS. containing it was written centuries before Moses was born, while the author lived during the reign of 1 King Assa Tatkara of the fifth dynasty
:

lf thou art a wise

man, bring up thy son in the

dis-

love of God.'

'God loveth the obedient and hateth the

obedient.'

A good son is spoken of as the In the Maxims of Ani we read

'
:

gift of
'

God/

The sanctuary of God abhors (noisy manJ&efcaPray humbly with a loving heart tionsl). words of which are uttered in secret. He will
tect thee in thine affairs
;

He

will listen to

thy words.

He

will accept thine offerings/

1

Le Page Eenouf, 'Hibbert I^oturefi/

p. 76.

182
'

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.

of the world is in the light above the it is to ;

The God

His emblems are upon earth firmament. them, that worship is rendered daily.'

In conclusion, I add a few sayings from funeral 3 nfonuments, put into thep mouth of the departed 'Not a little ihild did I injiye. Not a*widow did I oppress. Not a herdsman did I ill-treat. There no wa4 beggar in my days no one stafved in my time. Sjid when the years of famine came, I ploughed
:

all the lands of the province to its northern and southern boundaries, feeding its inhabitants and providing their food. There was no starving person in it, and I made the widow as though she possessed a

husband.' In another inscription the departed says * Doing that which is right, and hating that which
:

wrong, I was bread to the hungry, water to the naked, a refuge to him that was in want ; that which I did to him, the great God hath done to me
is

thirsty, clothing to the

'

It is difficult to stop quoting.

With every year

treasures are brought to light from the ancient literature of Egypt, and I doubt net that in time, particularly if the hieroglyphic documents continue to be deciphered in a truly scholarlike spirit,*Egypt will be-

new

come one of the richest mines to the student of religion. But wfc must look now at sqme at least of the black inhabitants of Africa, I mean those whose language and religion have been carefully studied and described to
us .by trustworthy men, such as Bishop Oolenso, Bishop Callaway, Dr. Bleek, Dr. Theophilus Hahn; more partidilarly the Bdntu tribes, occupying the
*

Le Page

Beaouf, 'Bibbert Lectures,* p. 72.

LECTURE

IT.

183

Eastern coast from beyond the Equator to the Gape. What darkness there is at present ^among these races

we have learnt'from the history of the we should not forget howjiighly some

particularly the Zulus, are. spoken If the number of conve/ts missionaries.

is as

last wars, but of these races, of by

English

among them

yet small, perhaps

tells

Bishop Callaway

it is well that it should be so. us that.one lad, the first he

baptized in Natal, told him that his mother, T*O witnessed the battle between the English troops under Cathcart and the Basutos", an^ observed the terrible
effect of our artillery, was so much struck witk the power displayed, that she concluded that they who could shake the very earth, could not be mistaken in anything, and advised her son to accept their religion. old story, that truth is on the side of It is only the^ the big battalions. But the same Bishop is evidently gaining influence by better means, and chiefly by

schools which, as he truly says, 'must be the seed-bed of the Church, because Christianity flourishes with

more vigour in the cultivated than in the uncultivated mind/ One of the Zulus, whose confidence Dr. Callal way had gained, sajid to him 'We did not hear first from the white men nuuuu
:

the King wh5 is above. In sufhmer-time, when it thunders, we say, "The King is playing." And if there is one who is afraid, the elder people say to him, " It is nothing but fear.' What thing belonging^ tba

King have you eaten

"

'

Another very old man stated (p. 0)5 " The King is were children, it was said
;

Br, OaJteway, 'tfaMBnkulu/p, 79*

184

LECTTJBES ON

THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION.

they used to point to the King on high ; we did not hear Jhis name ; we heard only that the King is on We heard it said that the creator of the world high.

(Umdabuko)
A, very old

is

the

King

wfeich is above"

'

(p. 60).

woman When examined by one of her own countrymea, said (p. 53)- When we rifreak of the
origin of corn, asking,

"Whence came this?" the old

people said, "It came*from the creator whC created all things^ but we do not know him." When we asked
"
continually,
see," the old

Where

is

the*creator? for our chiefs

we

" defied, saying, And those chiefs, were we created Whom too, see, they by the creator." And when we asked, "Where is he? for he is not

men

visible at all;

where

is

he then?"

we heard

our fathers

* pointing towards heaven, and saying, The Creator of all things is in heaven. And there is a nation of

"

people there, too . ." It used to be said constantly, He is the King of kings." Also when we heard it
. .

said that the heaven

village
said,
(i.e.

had eaten the

cattle at such

when

"The King

the lightning had struck them), we has taken the cattle from such a
"
'

it thundered the people took The courage by saying, "K^g is playing/' Again, another very old man, belonging to the Amantanja tribe, who showed four wounds, and whose people had been scattered by the armies of Utshaka,

village."

And when

said (p. J6)

'The old faith of our forefathers was

"

this ; they said, There is Unkulunkulu, who is a man, who is of the earth." And they used to say, " There
is

a king in heaven."
"

When it hailed, and thundered,

is

they said,
I

The king

arming ; he will cause

it

to

hail; put things"in order." .,

As

to the source of being

know

that only which

is

in heaven (p. 59).

Tha

LEOTUBB
ancient
"

IV,

185

men said, The source of being (Umdabuko) above, which gives life to men." .... It was *aid at first, the rain came from the King, and that the sun
is

camQ from him, and themoon which gives a white light during the night, that *nen may go and npt Ibe
injured. 'If lightning struck cattle, the people were not distressed. It used to be said (jft 60): "The Bang. has slaughtered for himself among his own food? Is it

yours

Is

it

not the King's ?

If

He

is

for himself."

village is stwick
is

hungry he killa by lightning, and a

;

cow

is killed, it is said,

"This village will be*prosit is said,

perous."

King

struck and dies, has found fault with him."'

If a

man

"

The

Another name of the Creator is Itongo, the Spirit, and this is fte account given by a native (p. 94) Whdh he says Itongo, he is not speaking of a man who has died and risen again he is speaking of the Up-bearer of the earth, which supports men and cattle. The Up-bearer is the earth by which we live; and there is the Up-bearer of the earth by which we live, and without which we could not be, and by which
:
'

we are.'
Thus we find among a people who were said to be without any religious life, without any idea of a Divine power, that some of the most essential elements of a belief in an* invisible religion are fully developed,
God, the Creator of all things, residing in heaven, sending rain and hail and thunder, punishing tho wicked, and claiming his sacrifice from among the This shows how carefulcattle on a thousand hills. we should be before we accept purely negative evidence on the religion or the absence of all religion

186

LBOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGUON.

tribes.

among savage

Suppose an educated native of

India or China were to appear suddenly in the Black p country, and address some questions in scarcely intel1

ligible

English

ask him what

his ancestors

to a dust-begrimed coal-heaver, and had told him about the

countrymen of the
if all

source of being -*- what account ^jcould he give to his state of religious faith in England,

his information had been gathered from the answer? which he would be likely to receive from such witnesses! Perhaps fte would never hear the name of God except in a, God bless you which people uttered in England as well as in Germany and many
*

'

other countries, when any one present sneezed. It was in such an exclamation that Dr. Callaway first discovered one of the names of the deity among the Zulus.

Asking an old man who lived at the mission station, whether the word Utik#o had come into use after the arrival of the missionaries, he received the answer No the word TJtik#o is not a word we learnt (p. 64) from the English; it is an old word of our own. It used to be always said when a man sneezes, " May Utikajo ever regard me with favour." This Utikajo was (Supposed to have been conceal^! by Unkulunkulu (p. 67), and to be seen by no one. Men saw Unkulun*
:

'

kulu, and said that*he was the creator* of all things (Umveli^angi) ; they said this, because they did not
see

Him who madeTJnkulunkulu

was God.

they therefore said

that Tfokulunkulu

After these crude fragments picked up

1

among the

P. 67.

'

On

the arrival of the English in this land of ours, the

who came was a missionary named Uyegana. On his arrival he taught the people, but they did not understand what he said .... and although he did not understand the people's language, he jabbered constantly to the people, and they could not understand what he said.'
first

LECTURE
uncultured races of Africa,

IV.

187

who have not yet arrived at positive form of faith, let us now, in conclusion, look at a few specimens of religious thought, emanatany
ing from those who no hng&r hold to any positive form of faith. I take as theif representative Faiai, tfie "brother of ^.bulfazl, one of that smallcompany at the Court of the Emperor Akbar, who, after a comparative

study of thfc religions of the world, had renounced* the 1 religion of Mohammad, and for whom, as we shall see ,
the orthodox Bad^oni could not invent invective strong

enough to express

his horror.

Faizi

was one

of those

their contemporaries call heretics and*blasphemers, but whom posterity often calls saints and martyrs, the salt of the earth, the light of the world ; a

men whom

man

of real devotion, real love for his fellow-creatures, real faith in God, the Unknown God, whom we ignor-

antly Vorship, whom no

human thought and no human and whose altar, the same that can declare, language St. Paul saw at Athens will remain standing for ever
*

in the hearts of all true believers.

Take

Faizi's

Dfwan

to bear witness to the

wonder-

ful speeches of a free-thinker

sects.
C

who belongs to a thousand

I have

be&ome

dust,

grave, people shall dust,

know

but from the odour of my that man rises from such

wiiihout
*

2 may know Faizi's end from the beginning: an equal he goes from the world, aad -wl&ptife an equal he rises.

'They

the assembly of the day of resTjirection, when the gins of the Kabbah past things shall be forgiven,
In.
i

a*4 p.

a i s,

Faizi

means

also the heart.

188

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE

Otf

RELIGION.

will be forgiven for the sake of the dust of Christian

churches 1 .
1

Thou who

existest

ever, sight cannot bear

press. Thy perfection
f ;

from eternity and abidest for Thy light, praise cannot ex-

light melts the understanding, and*Thy glory baffles wisdom ; to think of Thee destroys reason. Thy

Thy

essence confounds thdught. 'Thy" holiness pronounces that the blood-drops of human meditation are shed, in vain in search of Thy

knowledge
dust."
*

human understanding

is

but an atom of

Thy jealousy, the guard of Thy door, stuns human thought by a blow in the face, and gives human ignorance a slap on the nape of the neck. 'Science is like blinding sand of the* desert on the road to Thy perfection. The town of literature is a
mere hamlet compared with the world of Thy know'

ledge.

'My

foot has

no power to travel on

this

path which

misleads sages ; I have no power to bear the odour of the wine, it confounds my mind.
f Man's so-called foresight and guiding reason wander about bewildered in the city of Thy glojy.

Human knowledge and

thought combined can only

spell the first letter of the alphabet "of

Thy

love.

'Mere beginners and such as are far advanced in knowledge are both eager for union with Thee; but
1

The

sins of

Islam are as worthless as the dust of Christianity.

On

{he day of resurrection, both Muhammadanfl and Christiana -will see the Men fight about religion on earth ; vanity of their religious doctrines

in heaven they shall find out that there worship of God's spirit.

is

only one true religion, the

LECTUBE

IV,

189

the beginners are tattlers, and those that are advanced

are
triflers.

'Each brain1 is
the

full

of thought of grasping Thee;

brow

of Plato even bjtrned with the fever-heat of

this hopeless thought. 'How shall a thoughtless

man

Ijke

me

succeed,

when Thy
1

jealousy strikes a dagger into the liver of

saints
'

that

Thy

not,

my restlessness will
nor permitted by

grace would cleanse my brauT; for if end in madness.

'To bow down the head upon the dust of Thy threshold and then to look up, is neither rigfet in
faith,

truth.'

man, tfcou coin bearing the double stamp of body and spirit, I do not know what thy nature is for thou art higher than heaven and lower than
;

earth.

Thy frame contains the image of the heavenly and the lower regions ; be either heavenly or earthly, thou art at liberty to choose.
'Do not act against thy reason, for it is a trustworthy counsellor; put not thy heart on illusions, for
the heart
*

'

is

allying fool.

thou wishest to understand the secret meaning of theVords, "to prefer the welfare of othdts to thy own," treat thyself with poison, and others with
If

sugar.
*

Accept misfortune with a joyful look,

if

thou

art

in the service of
*

Him whom

people serve.

Plunged into the wisdom of Greece, again from the deep in the land of Ind

my mind
;

ros<
i

be thou as

190

LEOT0EES

Off

THE

SCJIENCE OF BBLKHOff,

thou hadst fallen into this deep abyss (of

e.

my know-

ledge,^ 'If people would withdraw the veil" from the face of my knowledge, they would find that what those wfto are far advanced in* knowledge call certainty, is with me the faintest dawn of thought. *If people would take the screen from the eye of

learn of me).

my ^knowledge,

they <would find that what

is

reve-

lation (ecstatic knowledge) for the wise, is but

drunken

madness for me. n If I were to bring forth what is in my mind, I wonder whether the spirit of the age could bear it. 'My vessel does not require the wine of the friendship of time; my own blood is the basis of the wine
of

my

enthusiasm/

I wish we could explore together in this spirit the ancient religions of mankind, for I feel convinced that the more we know of them, the more we shall see that there is not one which is entirely false; nay,

that in one sense every religion was a true religion, being the only religion which was possible at the time,
whicte was compatible with the language, the thoughts, and the sentiments of each generation, which was appropriate to the 8,ge of the world. *I know full

well the objections that will be made to this. Was the worship of Moloch, it will be said, a true religion when they burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods ? Was the worship of
Mylitta,

the worship of K&H a true religion, when within the sanctuary of their temples they committed abo* minataons that must be nameless? Was the teaching of Buddha a true religion, when men were asked to
or
is

LECTTOB

IV.

191

believe that the highest reward of virtue and meditation consisted in a complete annihilation jpf the

soul?

Such arguments may toll in party warfare, though even there they have provoked fearful retaliation. Can that*be a trae.reUgion, it ha* been answered,
which consigned men of holy innocence to the flames, because they held that the Son was like unto, the Father, but not the same as the Father, or l>eeause they would not worship Jbhe Virgin and the Saints? Can that be a true religion which screened the same
teries?

nameless crimes behind the sacred walls of nftnasCan that be a true religion which taught the eternity of punishment without any hope of pardon or salvation for the sinner, not penitent in proper time? Feeble who judge of religions in that spirit will never understand their real purport, will never reach
their sacred springs. These are the excrescences, the inevitable excrescences of all religions. might as

We

well judge of the health of a people from If or of its morality from its prisons.

its hospitals,

we want
it

to

judge of a
is

religion*
1

we must

try to study

as touch
thai*

as possible in the

mind of its founder; and when

it is

but too offen, try to find it in impossible,*as the lonely chamber and the sick-room, rather than in

and the councils of priests. and if we bear in mind must accommodate itself to the intellaataal
the colleges of augurs
If

we do

this,

of those
to find

whom it is
much

to influence,

we

shall fee surprised,

of true religion where we only expected degrading superstition or an 'absurd worship of idols.

192

LEOTUEES ON THE SCIENOE OF BELIGUON.

intention of religion, wherever

we meet it, is childish a however imperfect, alwayi holy. soul in human the it be, may always places religion the presence of God; and however imperfect and howThe
However
e^far ghildish the conception of

God may

be, it

always

represents the highest ideal of perfection <which the human soul, for the time being, can reach and grasp.

Keljgion therefore places the human sou!4n the presence o? its highest ideal, it lifts it above the level of
after

ordinary goodness, and produces at least a yearning a higher and better life a life in the light of

God.

The expression that

is

given to these early manifes-

tations of religious sentiment is no doubt frequently childish : it may be irreverent or even repulsive. But has not every father to learn the lesson gf a charitable

interpretation in watching the first stammerings of religion in his children? Why, then, should people
find it so difficult to learn the

same lesson in the

ancient history of the world, and to judge in the same spirit the religious utterances of the childhood of the

Who does not recollect the startling and irreverent seemingly questionings* of children about God, and who does not know how perfectly guiltless the child's mind is <K real irreverence? Such outbursts
human, race?
of infantine religion hardly bear repeating. I shall only mefltion one instance. I well recollect tne dis-

was created by a child exclaiming, Oh was at least one room in the house where I could play alone, and where God could not see me !'

may

^rhich

I wish there

People who heard it were shocked but to my mind, * I confess, this childish exclamation sounded more
;

trutbfiil

and wonderful than even the Psalm of David,

LBOTUBB

IV.

19&

'Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence V It is the same with the childish language of ancient
religion.

We say very calmly that

God

is

omniscient

and omnipresent.

Heslod speaks of the sun, as ike

eye of Zeug, that sees and perceives everything. *Arae tus wrote, Full of eus are all* the" streets, all the

markets of^men
bours .... and

of Him js the sea and the harare also His offspring/ Vedic poet, though of more modern date than the one I quoted before, of the same Varuna
;

full

we

whom
he
is

speaking

Vasishtfia invoked, says: *The great lord of these worlds sees as if he were near. If a man thinks

walking by

stealth, Ivhe

man

stands or walks or rides,

gods know it all. if he goes to lie

If

down

or to get up, what

two people sitting together whisper, King Yaruwa \nows it, he is there as a third. This earth, too, belongs to Varuna, the king, and this wide sky with its ends far apart. The two seas (the sky and the ocean) are Varufta's loins; he is aJso 3p$$aMd
in this small drop of water. He who should ft&e far beyond the sky, even he would not be rid of Varuna, the king. His spies proceed from heaven towards
this

earth.

world; with thousand eyes they overlook this King ^aruwa sees all thss, what is between heaven and earth, and what is beyond. He has counted the twinklings of our eyes. As <a player throws down the dice, he settles all things V I do not cteny that there is in this hymn B|i$fcp8t
that it contains expressions W^tftiSf of the majesty of the Deity; but if I look at the language and the thoughts of the people who composed
is childish,
1
'

Chips from A German

Woirfesfcop,'

'

4*.

Atlutfro-vedV

iv.

16,

194
these

LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELHHON.

hymns more than three thousand years ago, I wonder rather at the happy and pure expression which

they iJave given to these deep thoughts than at the occasional harshnesses which jar upon our ears, <These are the words <jf a Hindu convert, when he

wentlbaek to India to preach the Gospel: 'Jtfow I am not going to India to injure the feelings of the people

by saying, outside *the

"

Your Scriptyire is all nonsen^, anything Old and New Testament is good for no-

thing." No, I tell you, I will appeal to the Hindu philosophers and moralists* and poets, at the same

time Jbringing to them my light, and reasoning with them in the spirit of Christ, That will be my work.

We. have sayings

to this effect:

"He who would be

You cannot call this nongreatest shall be least." " sense, for it is the saying of our Saviour, Whosoever would be chief among you, let him be your sewant."
The missionaries, kind, earnest, devoted as they are, do not know these things, and at once exclude everything bearing the name of Hindu. Go to Egypt, and you will find some pieces of stone, beautifully carved and ornamented, that seem to have been part of some &rge building, and by examining these, you can imagine how magnificent this structure must have Go to India, %nd examine the cdmmon sayings 'l^een. ike 0ft people, and you will be surprised to see what a splendid religion the Hindu religion must have
been 1 /

Much the same might be said of the religion of the Indians of North America also, however different the growth of their religious ideas has been from that of
1 'Brief Account <$ Jognth. Chandra Gangooly, a Brahman of High. $a0te and a Convert to Oliriptianity,' London, 1860.

LECTURE
their

IV.

195
missionaries

namesakes in the East.

The early

among the Red Indians were struck by nothing s* much as by their apparent pantheism, by their seeing thepresence of the Divine everywhere, even in what we^e>
clearly the works of man. Th&s Roger Williams related 'that wheif they talke^amongst themsalves of the Eng-

and great buildings, of the plowing of their Fields, and^specially of Bookss and Letters, tjjieywiU " end
lish ships
(

thus: Manittflwock, they are Gods," Oummanitt&ay ' "you are a God." He sees in these idioms an expression^,

of the strong conviction natural! in the soule of m*D,

that

and places, and ty&k aL Excellencies dwell in God, and proceed from him, and that they only are blessed who have that Jehovah for their portion/ It may have been so when Roger Williams wrote, but a scholarlike study of the North American languages such as has lately been inaugurated by a few American savants, shows that, if it was so, the equivocal character of language had more to do with producing this peculiar American pan-

God

is filling all

things,

theism than the independent evolution of thought, Manito, literally 'Manit,' plur. manMog (see TrumbuH 3 'Transact. Am. Phi^ Assoc. L p. 120), is no doubt the
TyiJTfrTi-

name

(ox their

Supreme

Spirit.

Lahontaine

defined it long ago as a name given by the savages ' to all that surpasses their understanding and proceeds

from a cauae that they cannot

ed. 1703, vol. ii 39).

trace* ('Voyages/

Engl

But

this

Manit

is

no*

of ihe ky or the sun or any other nomenon gradually developed into a Dyaus or Zeus, and then generalised into a name

of

the Divine, like deva or <few- If we^may trust the best students of the American languages the name of o 2

196

LEOT0RES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIGION.

It

Manit began with an abstract concept.

*

was formed
3

by pifcfixing the indefinite or impersonal particle to the subjunctive participle (anit) of *a verb which
to surpass," w to be more than." Anue, which an impersonal form of the same verb (in the indicat. and present), was the* sign of the comparative dfegree, " " As the word Manit, translated by more,* rather."
**

signifies

is

'

however, besides being the name of the Highest God, continued to be used in ordinary language in the sense
of excessive, extraordinary, wonderful, the missionaries hearing the Indians ai the apprehension of any excelleifey in men, women, birds, beasts, fish, etc., crying out Manitoo, took it in the sense of 'it is a God/

Possibly the two meanings of the word may have run together in the minds of the Indians also, and, if so,

we

should have here another instance otthe influence

of language on thought, or, if you like, of petrified on living thought, though in this case due, not to polyonomy, but to homonymy. The result is the

same, but the steps which led to the expression this is Manit* are different from the steps that led from * dyaus,' sky, to our saying this is divine.'
*

'

Ajfbient language is

difficult

instrument to handle,

particularly for religious purposes. It is^impossible to express abstract ideas except by metaphor, and it is

not too much to say that the whole dictionary of ancient With us these religion b made up of metaphors. metaphors are all forgotten. We speak of spirit without thinking of breath, of heaven without ih^TriTig of the sky, of pardon without thinking of a release, of revelation, without thinking of a veil. But in ancient language every" one of these words, nay, every word that does not refer to sensuous objects, is still in a

LEOTUBE

IV.

197

chrysalis stage: half material and half spiritual, and rising and falling in its character according to the

varying capacities of speakers and hearers.

Here is a constant source of misunderstandings, many of whjph have maintained their place Tn the religion and in the There are two dismythology of the ancient

world^

tinct tendencies to be observed in the

religion.

growth of ancient

mind against the material

of the struggle character of language, a constant attempt to strip words of their coarse covering, and fit them, by main fofce, for the purposes of
is,

There

on the on3

side,

the

abstract thought.

But there is, on the other side, a constant relapse from the spiritual into the material, and, strange to say, a predilection for the material sense instead of the spiritual. This action and reaction
has been goiag on in the language of religion from the earliest times, and it is at work even now. It seems at first a fatal element in religion that it

cannot escape from this flux and reflux of huioan thought, which is repeated at least once in every generation between father and son, between mother and daughter but if we watch it more closely we
;

shall find, I think,<that this flux

and reflux constitutes

the very life #f religion. Place yourselves in the position of those who first are saj.d to have worshipped the sky. say that they worshipped the sky, or that the sky was their

We

god; and in one sense this is true, but in a s$ra$,?iQr from that which is usually atfcad*e<$ &*ta0k statements. If we use 'god* in the sense which it has now, then to say that the sky was their god is to
different

say what is simply impossible. in the sense in which we use

it

Such a word as God, such a word even

198

LECTITBES ON

THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION,

as deus and fc&, in Latin and Greek, or deva in Sanskrit, *which could be used as a general predicate did not and could not exist at that early time in the

history of thought and speech. stand ancient religion, we must

ancient language.

If

we want

to under-

first

try to understand

Let us remember," then 9 that the first materials of language supply expressions for such Impressions only as are received through the senses. If, therefore, there was a root meajtfng to burn, to be bright, to warm, such a root might supply a recognised name for tffe sun and for the sky. But let us now imagine, as well as we can, the
process which went on in the name of sky could be torn

human mind before the away from its material object and be used as the name of something totally different from the sky. There was in the h&rt of

first, a feeling of incompleteness, of weakness, of dependence, whatever we like to We can explain it call it in our abstract language. as little as we can explain why the newborn child feels the cravings of hunger and thirst. But it was

man, from the very

so fr3m the

first,

and

is

so even

cow.

not whence he comes and whither he

for

Man knows He looks g<jes.

a guide, for a friend; he wearies for some one on he can rest; he wants something like a father in heaven. In addition to all the impressions which he received from the outer world, there was in the heart of man a stronger impulse from within a sigh, a yearning, a call for something that should not come and go like everything else, that should be before, and after, *and for ever, that should hold and support everything, that should make man feel at

whom

LBCTUBB

IV,

199

home in this strange world. Before this vague yearning could assume any definite shape it wanted a name it could not be fiilly grasped or clearly con:

ceived except

a name ?

But where to look for it. doubt the stSrehouse of language ^ there, but from every name thajj waft tried the mind of man shrank back because it did not fit, because it seemed \o fetter rather tb&n to wing the jthdfcght that fluttered within and called for light and freedom. But when at last a naifle or even many names were tried and chosen, let us see wBat took place, as far as

by naming

No

ww

the mind of
tion,

man was

concerned,

A certain satisfac-

no doubt, was gained by having a name or several names, however imperfect; but these names, like all other names, were but signs poor, imperfect signs j they *were predicates, and very partial predicates, of various small portions

only of that vague

and vast something which slumbered in the mind. When, the name of the brilliant sky bad been daoeen,
as it has been chosen at one time or other by nearly every nation upon earth, was sky the full expression of that within the mind which wanted expression? Was the mind satisfied ? Had the sky been recognised as its ^jod? Far from it^ People knew* perfectly well what they meant by the visible sky ; the

man who, after looking everywhere foj what he wanted, and who at kst in sheer exhaustion grasped at the name of sky as better than nothing, kjauaw b&fc
first

was after all A miaoraWe The brilliant sky was. no doubt, the most exalted, it was the only unchanging qpd infinite being that had received a name, and that could lend its name to that as yet unborn Idea of the Infinite which
too well that his success
failure.

200

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OP RELIGION.

this dearly,

disquieted the human mind. that the man

But

who

us only see chgse that name

let

slfcy

did not mean, could not have meant, that the visible was all he wanted, that the blue canopy above
kis god.

was

obSferv^ what happens when the name sky has thus been given and accepted. The seeking and*fin<Jing of such a nafce, however imperfect, was the

And now

act of a manly mind, of a poet, of a prophet, of a patriarch, who could struggle, like another Jacob, with the idea of God that was within him, till he had
it, and brought it forth, and given it its But when that name had to be used with the young and the aged, with silly children and doting grandmothers, it was impossible to preserve it from The first step downwards being misunderstood. would be to look upon the sky as the abode of that Being which was called by the same name the next step would be to forget altogether what was behind the name, and to implore the sky, the visible canopy

conceived

name.

over our heads, to send rain, to protect the fields, the and the corn, to give to man his daily bread. Nay, very soon those who warned* the world that it
cattle^

was not the visible^ sky that was meant, but that what was meant was something high above, deep below, far away from tbe blue firmament, wonld be looked^ upon either as dreamers whom no one could
understand, or as unbelievers who despised the sky, the great benefactor of the world. Lastly, many
things that were true of the visible sky would be told of its namesake, and legends would spring
divine^

up, destroying every trace of the deity that once wag, hidden beneath that ambiguous name.

LEOTUBE

IV.

201

I call this variety of acceptation, this misunderstanding, which is inevitable in ancient and also in modem religion, the dialectic growth and decay, or, if

you like, the dialectic life of religion, and we shall qpe again and again, how important it is in enabling us
thought.
to form a* right estimate of religions language and The dialectic shades in the language of

religion ar8 almost infinite; they explain the dacay, but they also account for the life of religion. You

may remember

that Jaoob Grimm, in one of his

poetical moods, explained the origin of High and LowGerman, of Sanskrit and Prakrit, of Doric and Ionic, by looking upon the high dialects as originally the

language of men, upon the low dialects as origin&lly the language of women and children. We can observe, I believe, the

guage*of religion,
dialect ; there is

same parallel streams in the lanThere is a high and there is a low a broad and there is a narrow dia-

lect; there are dialects for

men and

dialects for chil-

dren, for clergy and laity, for the noisy streets and for the still and lonely chamber. And as the child on

growing up to manhood has

to unlearn the

language

of the nursery, its*religion, too, has to be translated from a feminize into a more masguline dialect. This

does not take place without a struggle, and it is this constantly recurring struggle, this inextinguishable desire to recover itself, which keeps religion from
utter stagnation. From first to last religion Jg #tt$^. two opposite poles> and lating between these if the attraction of one of the two poles becomes too
,

$ &&$y

and stagstrong, that 'the healthy movement cejtses, nd decay set in. If religkm cannot aecomitself

on tte on

side to the capacity of

202

LECTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OF BELIOION,

children, or if

on the other
it

side

it fails

to satisfy the

requirements of men,

has lost

its vitality,

and

it

becomes either mere superstition or mere philosophy. If I have succeeded in expressing myself clearly, I taint you will understand in what sense it may he
said that there Js truth in all religions, ^en in the lowest. The intenfion which led to the first utter-

an<v of a name like sky, used no lotiger in its material sense, but in a higher sense, was right. The
spirit

was

witting,

but language was weak.

ot,

mental process was

as

The commonly supposed, an

identification of the definite idea of deity with sky. Such a process is hardly conceivable. It was, on the

contrary, a first attempt at defining the indefinite impression of deity by a name that should approximately or metaphorically render at least one of its

The first framer of that features. of the deity, I repeat it again, could as little have thought of the material heaven as we do when we speak of the kingdom of heaven 1

most prominent

name

us observe another feature of ancient religion that has often been so startling, but which, if we dhly remember what is the natoe of ancient language, becomes likewise perfectly intejjigible. It is well known that ancient languages are particularly rich in synonymes, or, to speak more in
correctly, ^that

And now let

by many names is, in While in modern languages most fact, polyonymous. objects have one name only, we find in ancient Sanskrit, in ancient Greek and Arabic, a large choice of
object is called

them the*same

words

for the

same
1

object.

This
1

is

perfectly natural,

Medhnirt, 'Eaqtdry, p. 20.

LECTUBE

IV.

208

Each name could express one side only of whatever had to be named, and, not satisfied with one partial
name, the early framers of language produced one name after the other, and after a time retained those which seemed most useful fospecial purposes. !bus, the sky m%ht be called ^ot only th Brilliant, but the
This
dark, the covering, the thundering, thfc pain-giving. is tkQ+polyonomy of language, and it iVwiw

are accustomed to call polytheism in religiot,

same mental yearning wtych found

its first

tion in using the name of the brilliant sky as an indication of the Divine, would soon grasp at other ifemea

and therefore more appropriate to a religious mood in which the Divine was conceived as dark, awful, all-powerful. Thus we find* by the side of Dyaus, another name
of the sky, not expressive of brilliancy,

of the* covering sky, Varuwa, originally only another attempt at naming the Divine, but which, like the name of Dyaus, soon assumed a separate and inde-

pendent existence. And this is not

The very imperfection of all all. the names that had been chosen, their very inadequacy to express the fulnqps and infinity of the Divine, tfould keep up the search for new names, till at last every
part of nature in which an approach to the Divine could be discovered was chosen as a name of the Omnipresent. If the presence of the Divine*was perceived in the strong wind, the strong wind b&&8& iig name if its, presence was perceived in the aa^^sp&
;
'

and the
names.

firet

the earthquake and the fire became

its

Do you
logy?

still

wonder at

polytheisft or at

Why,

they are inevitable.

They

are, if

mythoyou

204
like*

LEOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE OP BELIGION.

a parler enfantin of religion.

But the world has

its childhood,

child it spoke as a child, it understood as a child, it thought as a child; and, I say again, in that it spoke as a child its language was true, in that it believed as a child its

and when

it

was a

religion
insist

was

true.

The

fault Crests wittf us, if

we

language of children for the if w attempt to translate literally ancien? into modern language, oriental into occidental 1 speech, poetry into prose It is perfectly true that at present few interpreters, if airy, would take such expressions as the head, the face, the mouth, the lips, the breath of Jehovah in a

on taking language of men,

flie

literal sense.

Per questo la Scrittura conde^ende

Atfcribuisce

vostra facilitate, e piedi e mano a Dio, et altro intende 2

But what does it mean, then, if we hear one of our most honest and most learned theologians declare that he can no longer read from the altar the words of the Bible, 'God spake these words and said"? If we can make allowance for mouth and lips and breath, we can surely make tfle same allowance for words and The language of antiquity is the their utterance. of childhood ayv and we ourselveS, when language we try to reach the Infinite and the Divine by means
:

'An earl; Oriental historian

does not write in the exact and accurate

Canon Bawlinson, in the Lectures delivered under the auspices of the Christian Evidence
Society.

style of a nineteenth century Occidental critic.'

Dante, 'Paradise,'

iv,

44-46.

LECTURE
of

IV.

305
4.

more abstract terms, are wo even now than children trying to place a ladder agains^
sky?

The parkr
never will be.

wifantin in religion is not extinct', it Not only hare some of the an^ieA

childish religions beenjkept alive, as, {or insbance, the mind like a halfreligion of India, which is to

m^

megatherion walking about in the brgad the nineteenth century but in oflr oWn of daylight religion and in the language of the New Testament,
fossilised
;

there are

ing to those only

of,

many things which disjelose their true meanwho know what language is made

who have not only ears to hear, but a heart to understand the real meaning of parables. What I maintain, then, is this, that as we put the
most charitatje interpretation on the utterances of children, we ought to put the same charitable interpretation on the apparent absurdities, the follies, the
errors,

When we
from

nay, even the horrors of ancient religion. read of Belus, the supreme god of the Ba-

bylonians, cutting off his head, that the blood flowing it might be mixed with the dust out of which

man was

to be formed, this sounds horrible enough ; it what was originally intended by but depend uijon this myth was no more than this, that there is in man an element of Divine life that * we are also His blood, or His offspring.' The same idea existed in the ancient rsligioa j& the
:

Egyptians, for

we

read in the i?th chapter $F fiwir

Bitual, that the Sun mutilated himself, and that 1 the stream of his blood he created all beings .
1

frpm

And

Vicomte de Roug<3, in 'Ajanaies de PMloaophie c&r&tenne,' Nov.

I&69, P- 33^.

206

MOTUBES ON THE SCIENCE

Off

RELIGION.

the author of Genesis, too, when he wishes to express the sa^jne idea, can only use the same human and symbolical language
;

he can only say

tha*t

'

God formed

man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into

hfs npstrils the breath ofelife/ In Mexico, at the festival of BjuitzilpochtH,

an image

of ttuTgod, made of the seeds* of plants, and the blood of igimolated children, was pierced by a preest with an The king ate arrow kt the end of the ceremony.

among

the heart, and the rest ofr the body was distributed the congregation. This custom of eating the

c bo<Jy of God,

which can well be conceived sym-*

apt to degenerate into crude fetishism, 36 that the faithful believes in the end that he really feeds on his God, not in the true, the spiritual, but in
helically, is

the false, the material, sense 1 . If we have once learnt to be charitable

and

rea-

sonable in the interpretation of the sacred books of other religions, we shall more easily learn to fee

and reasonable in the interpretation of our shall no longer try to force a literal sense on words which, if interpreted literally, must lose their true and original purport, we shall no longer interpret the Law and the Prophets as if they had been written in the English of our own century,
charitable

own.

We

but read

hem

IB a truly historical spirit, prepared

for many'oiirlculties, undismayed by many contradictions, %rhich, so far from disproving the authenticity, become to the historian of ancient language and

ancient thought the strongest confirmatory evidence of the, age, the genuineness, and the real truth of
1

See Wundt,

'

VarleBungen dber Msnsohen und Thierseele/ yd.

ii.

p. 262.

LEOTTOE
ancient sacred books.

IV.

sacred books with neither

Let us but treat our own more nor less mercy than

the sacred books of any other nations, and they will soon regain that position and influence which they?
historical theories

once possessed^ but which the artificial and of the last three centuries
well-nigh destroyed,