CHAPTER IV

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THE SUBJECT IN A NUTSHELL.

Not in vain the nation-strivings, nor by chance the currents flow; Error-mazed, yet truth-directed, to their certain goal they go. EBN-EL-FARID.

Oh, yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed, Or cast as rubbish to the void, When God hath made the pile complete. ALFRED TENNYSON.

In this chapter it is proposed to survey rapidly the progress of the whole heathen world in idolatrous worship from its first introduction. We have already seen how the world began with the worship of one God, but passed into the worship of the objects, powers and forces of nature; and how to these were given tangible forms in the shape of idols. Further we have noticed the gradual introduction of the worship of animals, and men, and their idols.

METHODS OF GROUPING RELIGIONS.

The various religions might be classified by dividing them into two groups; first, those having sacred books, and secondly, those having no sacred books. According to this method, for example, the Hindu, Parsee, Egyptian, Chinese, Buddhist and Mohammedan religions would be placed in one group, and the religions of the Japanese Shintoists, of the Indians of America, of the Pacific Islanders, of the African Fetichists and of our heathen ancestors, in another group. This is rather an arbitrary division.

Another mode of arranging them is as missionary or proselyte-making religions and non-missionary religions. Thus, Brahminism, as it never went beyond India, and Confucianism, as it never sent its teachers out of China, would be in one class, while Buddhism which was spread all over Eastern Asia by its missionary priests, and Mohammedanism whose priests went over Western Asia and Northern Africa making proselytes, would be in another class.

We must have some system of classifying and arranging the different religions, and the following has seemed to be the most simple and natural classification. To look at them first, as _original_ religions and as _reformed_ religions, and secondly, as _dead_ and as _living_ religions. It happens that most of the _dead_ religions were original religions, and so we take these up first. Then we notice the living original religions, and afterward the reformed religions, which are nearly all living. The religions which will be described in the following pages, from Chapters V. to X., are dead original religions; those in Chapters XI. to XIX. are living original religions; and those in Chapters XX. to XXXVI., are living reformed religions. It is proper that these terms, as they are intended to be used here should be quite clearly defined.

DEAD RELIGIONS AND LIVING RELIGIONS.

Many religions still exist, but some are extinct. We speak of languages as dead or living; the ancient Greek and the Latin, which are no longer spoken, are called dead. The French, German or English, which are in common use to-day, are called living. Though these dead languages are no longer spoken, words and phrases which are derived from them still survive in the living languages. Indeed some of the living languages are built up out of these dead languages. Just so in religions, there are worships which have no followers to-day; there are ruins of their temples and idols, and portions of their sacred books remaining to us. The accounts which ancient historians have preserved for us of their worships, the ruins of their temples, their majestic monuments and inscriptions, and their sacred books which have of late years been translated into our language, enable us to learn very minutely of many of these worships. Of the living religions, we have but to study the narratives of travelers and of those scholars who have taken special pains to study and explain the sacred books, rites, legends and customs of the people following these faiths.

ORIGINAL RELIGIONS AND REFORMED RELIGIONS.

By original religions we mean to denote those which are, or were, the religions of the earliest inhabitants of the various countries, and which are but little changed in the course of time. By reformed religions we mean such as at some later day have branched off from the earlier religions. These reforms are always begun by some great man, who, seeing or imagining error in the old system, undertakes to correct it, and before he is hardly aware of it, establishes a new faith. Thus Zoroaster rebelled against the impure worship of the corrupt religion of his country and founded Parseeism; thus Confucius gathered together some of the traditions and sayings of the ancient Chinese writers, added to them a great many teachings of his own and founded Confucianism; thus Gautama, the Buddha, convinced of the inability of the ancient Hindu faith to help the world’s sorrow or to heal its wounds, founded Buddhism; and thus Mohammed felt himself called of God to wage a war against idolatry, and so he founded the Moslem faith.

Further, we shall take up these religions in each class as far as possible, in the order of time, taking the oldest first and the youngest last.

DEAD RELIGIONS.

The gods of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Jews, Greeks, Romans and Britons (including all other peoples of Western Europe), are no longer worshiped. They sank into neglect from various causes. Some fell by a natural decay; there was not enough in them to enable them to retain their hold upon their worshipers as foreign religions were introduced. Some of the peoples holding these faiths lost their distinctively national existence and their faith faded out along with their national life. Stronger races of strange peoples swept over their lands, driving them out or subduing them. The conqueror’s customs and religious worship then took the place of those of the conquered people.

Another cause of the death of certain religions, and a more frequent cause, has been the coming in of a better system. In this way the Egyptian religion gave place to the Christian, and that in turn (in Egypt) to the Mohammedan. The false gods of the Greeks, Romans, Britons and other nations were forgotten in the coming of the religion of Jesus Christ. Mrs. Browning’s beautiful poem, “The Dead Pan,” is based on a tradition mentioned by Plutarch, according to which, at the hour of the Saviour’s agony a cry of “Great Pan is dead!” swept across the waves in the hearing of some sailors, and immediately the oracles ceased. She writes:

“Gods of Hellas, Gods of Hellas, Can ye listen in your silence? Can your mystic voices tell us Where ye hide? In floating islands, With a wind that evermore Keeps you out of sight of shore? Pan, Pan is dead.

“And that dismal cry rose slowly And sank slowly through the air, Full of spirit’s melancholy And eternity’s despair! And they heard the words it said-- PAN IS DEAD--GREAT PAN IS DEAD-- PAN, PAN IS DEAD.

“’Twas the hour when One in Sion Hung for love’s sake on a cross; When His brow was chill with dying, And His soul was faint with loss; When His priestly blood dropped downward, And His kingly eyes looked throneward-- Then, Pan was dead.

“By the love He stood alone in, His sole Godhead rose complete, And the false gods fell down moaning, Each from off his golden seat; All the false gods with a cry Rendered up their deity-- Pan, Pan was dead.”

The Greek and Roman faith and the worships of Western Europe have all yielded to the advancing Christian army. The process of tearing down and building up is still going on. Parseeism and the American Indians’ religion are dying, because the people who belong to these nations are dying out. Mohammedanism is making great inroads on the Fetich-worship of Africa. Buddhism is lessening the respect for Confucius and Lao-Tsze in China, and is gaining ground on Shintoism in Japan. Christianity is, in almost every land, lessening the hold of heathen religions upon their followers and is slowly leavening the whole world, as the facts and figures prove. Before the bright light of the Sun of Righteousness the dark night of error and superstition is fleeing away.

LIVING WORSHIPS.

The first group, that of original faiths, will include the religions of Hinduism, Shintoism, of Africa, America, Oceanica, and of the Karens of Burmah. The next group, that of the living reformed religions, will include Parseeism, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism and Mohammedanism. This last is not, strictly speaking, a system of idolatry, and therefore we do not give it an extended notice; yet, as it exists as a fierce opponent of idolatry, and properly has a part in the history of idolatry, we cannot pass it by altogether, but shall give it such attention as is consistent.

The signs of these times, as well as the signs of the gone-by ages, shows that the world is moving back to its first worship of one God. As an opponent of idolatry and as a great missionary system, Christianity is likely to do this great work of bringing the world back to its first faith. So we propose, briefly, after showing the contrasts between the Christian religion and the idolatrous worships, to refer to the present attitude of the Christian system in its work among existing heathen nations. This will involve a view of the great battle-field of the world, and of the forces fighting for and against the true worship of the one God. To this true worship the world is slowly but surely tending.

THE PROPOSED TREATMENT.

Heathen religions have often been described as they are found in their sacred books or in the teachings of their founders. This is not as it should be. They should be studied from these sources, but not from these only. These show the religions, not as they are, but as they were intended to be. The test of time which has been applied to them, their after-growth and their effect upon their followers should be carefully studied. It not seldom happens that the religion as its founder taught it, and the religion of later days which was built up on his teachings are very different. Take Buddhism for an example. How widely different is the Buddhism of Burmah from that established by Gautama! What vast changes has the system undergone during the centuries that have passed since Gautama’s death! Or take Mohammedanism, which was, as Mohammed taught, a crusade against the idolatrous reverence for relics, images, sacred places and sacred things generally. To-day, in one of the most famous of Mohammedan mosques--that at Delhi, India--_a hair from Mohammed’s beard, a part of his garments and his sandals_, are exhibited to the devout worshipers in the mosque. The Brahminism of the Vedas, the sacred Hindu books, differs greatly from the Hindu worship of to-day with its myriads of idols and its great system of caste. The same religion often differs in different lands. The Buddhism of Ceylon and the Buddhism of Burmah and Siam are different, and they together (often called by way of distinction, Southern Buddhism), differ very greatly from the Buddhism of China and Japan (called Northern Buddhism). The same religion has a still different form in Thibet.

It is a part of our plan to look into these religions as they existed in their beginnings and in their growths, and so to present a complete picture. The life of a religion is not to be found in its sacred books only, but in the life, worship and habits of thought of its followers. From the idols, temples, worship, festivals and religious customs of the every-day life of the household or business circles, we can gain a yet more perfect picture. The traditions, legends and superstitious practices of the people generally contain those facts which are most widely accepted. The folk-lore, fireside stories, children’s tales, the myths and songs of any people contain the principal ideas of their religion. Thus we propose to try to present as perfect a picture as possible of the various heathen religions of the past and present, and we trust the effort may succeed.

A CONCISE VIEW.

Let us take a glimpse of the roads over which we shall now travel. Heretofore we have followed but _one_ wide road. From this other roads begin to branch off, and by-roads in turn occasionally. It will not be difficult to follow these paths, however, if at the outset we place ourselves where we can take a bird’s-eye view of the whole and pursue our way steadily to the end.

PARSEEISM.

For some time after the confusion of tongues the nations remained in the vicinity of the tower of Babel. Then they began to disperse, all but one nation. This one journeyed only a short distance to the south and founded the empires of Assyria and Babylon, the Persia of later days. Here we find traces of that idolatrous worship which soon passed into Parseeism. Zoroaster was the man who was instrumental in reforming the ancient Assyrian religion. Zoroaster retained the worship of the sun and of fire, and taught that there were two gods, a good god and an evil god, Ormuzd and Ahriman. There are only a few Parsees left to-day and the old Assyrian religion is entirely extinguished.

AFRICAN RELIGION.

The nations who passed south-west across Northern Arabia and Sinai, finally came to Africa. In Egypt we find relics of a very high civilization, and they seem to indicate that one of the greatest of the nations of the earth settled there. Their worship was of the sun, moon and stars and of animals. The River Nile, upon which their very life depended, was soon received as an object of worship. Some part of those who came to Egypt wandered up the Nile and passed south and west to Central Africa. Here they were brought in contact with nature in its wildest forms. There was little need of tilling the soil for crops, as nature produced of herself so abundantly in this tropical climate. The heated atmosphere did away with the necessity either of substantial dwellings or of more than a little clothing. Hence the nations had little to do, and as the old proverb says, “Satan finds mischief for idle hands to do,” he soon, evidently, set these nations to occupy their time in quarreling among themselves. Thus the most brutal habits were brought about and the traces of their original nobility and civilization were rapidly destroyed. Theirs was a quick degeneration. Together with their civilization their religion decayed, until they were left with a religion hardly worth the name, and were little above the apes and gorillas inhabiting the wild woods about them. But they could never become wholly animalized, they always retain some traces of their religious faith.

WESTERN EUROPE.

The nations who passed north-west entered Germany and soon scattered over Norway and Sweden and France, and finally across the channel to the British Isles. Among these peoples, the Teutons, Celts, Scandinavians and Gauls, the early nature-worship was long preserved. Indeed traces of it are found even at the time of the birth of Christ. The coldness of their climate, the severity of the storms gradually developed them into a hardy race and finally led them to introduce changes into their religious faith corresponding to their surroundings. Their myths, legends and songs, as well as their more directly religious worship, partook largely of the heroic element. Christianity early overspread these lands and the early religions died out as Christianity grew.

THE SOUTHERN MIGRATION.

One of the strongest of existing religions is found in the Brahminism of India. This is the religion of the people who moved south-east till they came to the Indus River. They settled along its banks until they were well-established in their habits of life and religious faith, and then some of them wandered away to the East, till they came to the River Ganges, and settled in its valley. Others wandered south, and soon the whole of India was occupied. These people kept up communications with one another and preserved one language, though this was modified in different parts of the country. Their religion retained most of its features in common among them all. Early in their history other Vedas, or sacred books, were written in addition to the Rig-Veda or book of hymns to the gods. Other sacred books were added to these, called Brahmanas and the laws of Manu. Their gods were multiplied, temples and shrines were built. The larger rivers were believed to be holy, and were, together with the crocodiles dwelling in them, worshiped.

From India people wandered overland or across the Indian Ocean to Burmah and Siam, and thence to the Malay Archipelago, and from there to the Pacific Isles and America. These migrations (or wanderings) occurred before the Hindu religion was developed. The peoples who thus strayed away, carried with them the early worship of nature. We find this still among many of the savage tribes of North and South America and of the Pacific Isles. These tribes gradually became savage in the same way as the African tribes. They possess traditions of an early civilization.

BUDDHISM.

In India in the fifth century before Christ, the Hindu religion had become a very poor religion indeed. It was at that time a mere system of priestcraft. The nation groaned under the burdens which the priests placed upon them. Then a man was raised up to reform this religion. Sakya-Muni was born in the middle of the century; after attempting to find in the Hindu religion that help which the people needed, he cast it all aside and struck out for himself a new line of reasoning. He called himself the Buddha, that is, the “Enlightened One.” Soon his teachings were accepted in all India, going as far as Ceylon even. But in India the priests soon triumphed over the new faith and Buddhism was expelled and Brahminism re-established. Excepting the Jains, a Buddhist sect in Western India, there are now no Buddhists in India proper. In Ceylon it still remains. Buddha taught his disciples to preach his teachings everywhere. So they went to Burmah (from Ceylon) not long after Buddha’s death. From there it spread East to Siam, and North-east up the Irrawady River along the route that the Chinese traders were accustomed to pass over. From China it entered Japan. The Tripitakas, or “Three Baskets,” as they are designated, are the sacred books of the Buddhists.

CHINA’S RELIGIONS.

The Chinese legends say that Noah was their first emperor. Whether this be true or not, we know that China, like Egypt, was early settled and possessed a high civilization. The nations moved from Persia in the West until they came to the great Hoang Ho River; along its banks, and to the north and south of it, they settled. Of their early religion we know but little. The great sage Confucius (or Kong the teacher), was born somewhere about 551 before Christ. He was a statesman reformer. He was not a priest, nor even noted for piety. But he gathered together the sayings of the ancients, and weaving in with them his own wisdom, he produced the system now known as Confucianism. The books containing his teachings, and those of his immediate disciples, are called the King.

A little before Confucius, lived Lao-Tsze, a philosopher and astrologer, who did something toward re-establishing the old religion, and who also added new teachings. His weird system is called Taoism, and its sacred books are the Tao-Te-King. Buddhism in China has taken in with Buddha’s teachings the doctrines and gods of Confucius and Lao-Tsze.

SHINTOISM IN JAPAN.

The early inhabitants of Japan are supposed to be the Ainos, a race now almost extinguished. The few that are left live in Yezo, the northernmost island of Japan. Many sailors from the islands of the Malayan Archipelago were washed upon the shores of Japan and soon mixed in with the Ainos. They gradually became stronger and stronger and, finally, the children of the mixed races conquered the entire land. The Japanese retained their early nature-worship, which is called Shinto, or Kami-no-michi, the “way of the gods,” until Buddhism came in to disturb its hold upon the people’s hearts. Buddhism entered Japan in 552 after Christ.

MOHAMMEDANISM.

About five hundred years after Christianity was established, it had degenerated in most parts of Arabia and Syria into a system for the worship of saints and relics. The people of Arabia were given from the earliest times to idolatry. Mohammed was born 570 A.D. He built upon the ruins of Judaism, Christianity and the Arabian idolatrous worship, the system called Mohammedanism. His motto was (and it contains the sum and substance of his teachings) “There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” He began a vigorous crusade against idols and relic-worship. At first he sought to extend his system by teaching only, afterwards he used the sword. From Arabia his religion spread to Turkey, to India, to Egypt and Africa, and even to China.

CHRISTIANITY’S CONQUESTS.

Christianity is _the_ religion for the world. It is infinitely superior to all religions of either past or present. It was intended to be the world-religion. Its founder, Jesus Christ, designed that it should be spread over the whole world, and gave His disciples their marching-orders before He left them at His ascension. They were bidden to go into all the world and preach His gospel to every creature. They were assured of His assistance and of final success. Without any of the power of pomp or wealth, or wisdom, or numbers, the little band undertook to obey their orders. They have spread from land to land, until their camp-fires have been kindled almost all around the globe. Their triumphs have been gained by the powers of persuasion. Their past history is grand, their present outlook glorious, and their future prospects full of assurance.

Now let us take up more in detail these various systems. Retracing the roads we have hurried over let us start afresh and proceed more leisurely to study the religious life of mankind, and especially as it is associated with false gods and idols.

[Illustration:

========================================================================= | | | | | CHRISTIANS. | | BUDDHISTS. | | | | 327,000,000. | | | | | | | | 500,000,000. | Of which | | | | | ---- | Roman Catholics have | | | 152,000,000; | | | | | Including the Chinese, | Greek Church, | | who are also Confucianists | 75,000,000; | | and Taoists, as well as | | | Buddhists. | Other Christians, | | | 100,000,000. | | | ----------------- | | | Found all over the world. | | | | | ---------- |--------------------------------------| | | HINDOOS. | | Found in India, Ceylon, | | | Burmah, Siam, Thibet, China, | 160,000,000. | | and Japan. | | | | ------ | | | | | | Found only in India. | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------------| | | JEWS, 7,000,000. | | MOHAMMEDANS. |--------------------------------------| | |Shintoists, Parsees, etc., 3,000,000. | | 155,000,000. |--------------------------------------| | |Fetichists, or Devil Worshipers. | | Found in Arabia, Turkey, | 100,000,000. | | Egypt, India, China, | These include the American | | and Persia. | Indians, African races, | | | and Pacific Islanders. | | | | =========================================================================

Comparative Exhibit of the Number of Followers of the Leading Systems of Religious Faith.]

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