An Analysis Of Religious Belief - free ebook by John Russell Amberley

AN ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF.

BY VISCOUNT AMBERLEY. " Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you Free. " From the late London Edition. Complete. D. M. BENNETT: LIBERAL AND SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING HOUSE. 141 Eighth Street, New York. 1877 ....

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AMERICAN PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.

The appearance, a few months ago, of The Analysis of Religious Belief caused not a little excitement in England, and its introduction into our country had much the same effect here. While many were more or less shocked by the Viscount's boldness of language in examining the sources of the religious creeds of the world, and at the freedom with which he removed the sacred mask from many antique myths and superstitions, the thoughtful and the enquiring were furnished with a fund of material for new

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ADDRESS TO THE READER.

Ere the pages now given to the public had left the press, the hand that had written them was cold, the heart—of which few could know the loving depth—had ceased to beat, the far-ranging mind was forever still, the fervent spirit was at rest. Let this be remembered by those who read, and add solemnity to the solemn purpose of the book. May those who find in it their most cherished beliefs questioned or contemned, their surest consolations set at naught, remember that he had not shrunk from pain a

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INSCRIBED,

With all reverence and all affection, to the memory of the ever-lamented wife whose hearty interest in this book was, during many years of preparatory toil, my best support; whose judgment as to its merits or its faults would have been my most trusted guide; whose sympathy my truest encouragement; whose joyous welcome of the completed work I had long looked forward to as my one great reward: whose nature, combining in rare union scientific dearness with spiritual depth, may in some slight degree

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EXPLANATION OF SHORT TITLES.

In order to avoid encumbering the pages with notes containing the names of books, many of which would require to be frequently repeated, I have adopted, in referring to the under-mentioned works, the following abbreviations:— A. B....The Aitareya Brâhmanam of the Rig-Veda. Edited, translated, and explained by Martin Haug , Ph.D. Vol. i. Sanscrit text. Vol. ii. Translation, with notes. Bombay, 1863. A. I. C....An Account of the Island of Ceylon, by Robert Percival , Esq., of His Majesty's 19th Re

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GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Human nature, among all the phenomena it offers to the curious inquiries of the student, presents none of more transcendent interest than the phenomenon of Religion. Pervading the whole history of mankind from the very earliest ages of which we have any authentic knowledge up to the present day; exercising on the wild and wandering tribes, which seem to have divided the earth among them in those primitive times, an influence scarcely less profound than it has ever exercised on the most polite an

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INTRODUCTION.

Religious Feeling, like all other human emotions, makes itself objectively known to us by its manifestations. With its subjective character we are not concerned, our business in the present book being to treat it merely as an objective phenomenon. Thus regarded, its manifestations appear extremely various, but on closer examination they will be found to spring from a common principle. This principle is the desire felt by the human race in general to establish a relationship between itself and th

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CHAPTER I. CONSECRATED ACTIONS.

Adoration, or worship, is a direct result of one of the most universal of human instincts. After the instincts which impel us to provide for the necessities of the body, and to satisfy the passion of love, there is perhaps none more potent or more general. Men are driven to pray by an irresistible impulse. Differing widely as to the object of worship; differing not less widely as to its mode; differing in a minor degree as to the blessings it secures; they are agreed as to the fundamental ideas

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CHAPTER II. CONSECRATED PLACES.

Consecrated actions of various kinds being the primary method of approaching the beings in whose honor they are performed, there remain various secondary methods; sometimes tending to heighten the effect of the primary method, sometimes supplementing it. These secondary means of giving effect to the religious sentiment may be divided into three classes:—the consecration of places, of things, and of persons; while the last of these falls into two subdivisions: the self-dedication of certain indiv

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CHAPTER III. CONSECRATED OBJECTS.

Besides consecration of places to religious uses, material things may be consecrated to the deity worshiped by those who thus apply them. These things may be of the most varied description, from common objects of the most trifling value, to those of the utmost possible estimation. Among consecrated objects are the furniture of temples or churches, which is reserved for divine service; the garments worn by priests in their liturgical functions; the votive tablets in which men record their gratitu

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CHAPTER IV. CONSECRATED PERSONS.

We have seen the religious instinct leading to the consecration of actions, to the consecration of places, and to the consecration of things. We are now to follow it in a yet more striking exhibition of its power, the consecration by human beings of their own lives and their own persons (or sometimes of the lives and persons of their children). Not only is such self-dedication to the service of religion common; it is well-nigh universal. There is no phenomenon more constant, none more uniform, t

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CHAPTER V. CONSECRATED MEDIATORS.

Having seen the manner in which individuals devote themselves to the special service of their deities, we have now to observe the further fact that a whole class of men is devoted to this service by the demands of society. This class is the priesthood. They differ from the persons last treated of, inasmuch as the consecration of ascetics has reference exclusively to their own personal salvation, while the consecration of priests has reference exclusively to the salvation of others. A monk or a n

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CLASSIFICATION.

We proceed now from the several methods by which men, in all ages and in all countries, have sought to convey their wishes, aspirations, and emotions upwards, to those by which their several deities have in their opinion conveyed their commands, decisions, and intentions downwards. The classification will follow as closely as the subject permits that of the preceding part. Consecration, the quality pertaining to man's instruments of communication with God, will be replaced by holiness, the quali

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CHAPTER I. HOLY EVENTS.

Manifold beyond the possibility of complete computation are the signs and intimations vouchsafed to the ignorance and weakness of man by the celestial powers. They speak to him through the ordinary phenomena of nature; they instruct him through her rare and more striking exhibitions; they guide his footsteps through prodigies and marvels. Sometimes addressing him spontaneously, without any attempt on his part to elicit their intentions, they open their views or announce the future; sometimes rep

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CHAPTER II. HOLY PLACES.

"Draw not nigh hither," said the occupant of the burning bush to Moses; "put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Exod. iii. 5). This verse embodies the universal theory of holy places. They are spots occupied in a special and peculiar manner by the deity or his representative; and where he finds it easier to communicate with mankind than it is elsewhere. Hence, those who hope or desire to receive some celestial intimation, resort to such holy pla

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CHAPTER III. HOLY OBJECTS.

While a highly-exalted conception of the First cause of nature would see him equally in everything, and believe the whole world to be alike natural and divine, no actual religion, believed by any considerable number of persons, has ever reached so abstract an idea. To all of them some things are more sacred than others; in the more primitive forms of faith these things are either a species of divinities themselves, or they are the abode of some divinity; in the more advanced types, they are held

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CHAPTER IV. HOLY ORDERS.

Rites, acts of worship and sacrifices, originally performed by each individual at his own discretion, or by each household in its own way, fall (as we have seen) with advancing development into the hands of professional persons consecrated for this especial purpose. Very great importance attaches to these consecrated persons. The place they occupy in all societies above the level of barbarism is one of peculiar honor; and their influence on the course of human history has in all ages with which

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CHAPTER V. HOLY PERSONS.

Although for the ordinary and regular communications from the divine Being to man the established priesthoods might suffice, yet occasions arise when there is need of a plenipotentiary with higher authority and more extensive powers. What is required of these exceptional ambassadors is not merely to repeat the doctrines of the old religion, but to establish a new one. In other words, they are the original founders of the great religions of the world. Of such founders there is but a very limited

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CHAPTER VI. HOLY BOOKS, OR BIBLES.

Vast, and even immeasurable, as the influence has been which has been exercised on the course of human development by the great men of whom we have spoken, it has been equaled, if not surpassed, by the influence of the peculiar class of writings which we have grouped together under the designation of Holy Books. Of this, the last manifestation of the Religious Idea, it will be necessary to speak in considerable detail; both on account of its intrinsic importance, and because it is a branch of th

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APPENDIX TO SECTION II. Translations of the Taò-tĕ-Kīng, ch. 25.

Abel Rémusat. —"Avant le chaos qui a précédé la naissance du ciel et de la terre, un seul être existait, immense et silencieux, immuable et toujours agissant sans jamais s'altérer. On peut le regarder comme la mère de l'univers. J'ignore son nom, mais je le désigne par le mot de raison . Forcé de lui donner un nom, je l'appelle grandeur , progression , éloignement , opposition . Il y a dans le monde quatre grandeurs; celle de la raison, celle du ciel, celle de la terre, celle du roi, qui est aus

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CHAPTER VII. THE ULTIMATE ELEMENTS.

We have now examined and classified the various phenomena manifested by the religious sentiment throughout the world. We have found these phenomena to have been in all ages of history, and to be now among all races of men, fundamentally alike. Diverse as the several creeds existing on the face of the earth appear to a superficial observer, yet the rites, the practices, the dogmas they contain, admit of being ranged under certain definite categories and deduced from certain invariable assumptions

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CHAPTER VIII. THE OBJECTIVE ELEMENT.

The general result which has thus been reached by the decomposition of religion into its ultimate constituents must now be rendered somewhat more specific by illustrative examples tending to explain the character of the power the idea of whose existence forms the foundation of the religious sentiment, and such examples will tend to throw light upon the question whether the admission of such a power is or is not a necessity of thought. For the proof of necessity is twofold; a posteriori and a pri

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CHAPTER IX. THE SUBJECTIVE ELEMENT.

When speaking of the fundamental postulates involved in the religious idea, we pointed out that, besides the unknown cause of physical phenomena, "every religion assumes also that there is in human nature something equally hyperphysical with the object which it worships, whether we call this something soul, or mind, or spirit." Let us call it soul. And first let us examine what it is that religion says of the soul, after which we may be in a position to consider what degree of truth, if any, is

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CHAPTER X. THE RELATION OF THE OBJECTIVE TO THE SUBJECTIVE ELEMENT.

One final postulate has been found to be involved in all religion, namely, that between the human essence spoken of as the subjective element, and the power spoken of as the objective element, "there is held to be a singular correspondence, their relationship finding its concrete expression in religious worship on the one side and theological dogma on the other." Ritual, consecration of things and places, ordination of priests, omens, inspiration of prophets and of books, all of them imply the s

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