Ten Great Religions: An Essay In Comparative Theology - free ebook by James Freeman Clarke

An Essay in Comparative Theology

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James Freeman Clarke

Prophets who have been since the world began.—Luke i. 70. Gentiles ... who show the work (or influence) of the (that) law which is written in their hearts.—Romans ii. 15. God ... hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth ... that they should seek the Lord, if haply they may feel after him and find him.—Acts, xviii. 24-27. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by James Freeman Clarke, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washin

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Chapter I.

The present work is what the Germans call a Versuch , and the English an Essay, or attempt. It is an attempt to compare the great religions of the world with each other. When completed, this comparison ought to show what each is, what it contains, wherein it resembles the others, wherein it differs from the others; its origin and development, its place in universal history; its positive and negative qualities, its truths and errors, and its influence, past, present, or future, on the welfare of

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Chapter II.

In qualifying the Chinese mind as prosaic, and in calling the writings of Confucius and his successors prose , we intend no disrespect to either. Prose is as good as poetry. But we mean to indicate the point of view from which the study of the Chinese teachers should be approached. Accustomed to regard the East as the land of imagination; reading in our childhood the wild romances of Arabia; passing, in the poetry of Persia, into an atmosphere of tender and entrancing song; then, as we go farthe

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Chapter III.

It is more than forty years since the writer, then a boy, was one day searching among the heavy works of a learned library in the country to find some entertaining reading for a summer afternoon. It was a library rich in theology, in Greek and Latin classics, in French and Spanish literature, but contained little to amuse a child. Led by some happy fortune, in turning over a pile of the "Monthly Anthology" his eye was attracted by the title of a play, "Sácontala, 30 or the Fatal Ring; an Indian

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Chapter IV.

On first becoming acquainted with the mighty and ancient religion of Buddha, one may be tempted to deny the correctness of this title, "The Protestantism of the East." One might say, "Why not rather the Romanism of the East?" For so numerous are the resemblances between the customs of this system and those of the Romish Church, that the first Catholic missionaries who encountered the priests of Buddha were confounded, and thought that Satan had been mocking their sacred rites. Father Bury, a Por

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Chapter V.

In the southwestern part of Persia is the lovely valley of Schiraz, in the province of Farsistan, which is the ancient Persis. Through the long spring and summer the plains are covered with flowers, the air is laden with perfume, and the melody of birds, winds, and waters fills the ear. The fields are covered with grain, which ripens in May; the grapes, apricots, and peaches are finer than those of Europe. The nightingale (or bulbul) sings more sweetly than elsewhere, and the rose-bush, the nati

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Chapter VI.

The ancient Egyptians have been the object of interest to the civilized world in all ages; for Egypt was the favorite home of civilization, science, and religion. It was a little country, the gift of the river Nile; a little strip of land not more than seven miles wide, but containing innumerable cities and towns, and in ancient times supporting seven millions of inhabitants. Renowned for its discoveries in art and science, it was the world's university; where Moses and Pythagoras, Herodotus and

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Chapter VII.

The little promontory and peninsula, famous in the history of mankind as Greece, or Hellas, projects into the Mediterranean Sea from the South of Europe. It is insignificant on the map, its area being only two thirds as large as that of the State of Maine. But never was a country better situated in order to develop a new civilization. A temperate climate, where the vine, olive, and fig ripened with wheat, barley, and flax; a rich alluvial soil, resting on limestone, and contained in a series of

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Chapter VIII.

In the Roman state nothing grew, everything was made. The practical understanding was the despotic faculty in the genius of this people. Fancy, imagination, humor, seem to have been omitted in the character of the Latin race. The only form of wit which appeared among them was satire, that is, wit used for a serious purpose, to punish crimes not amenable to other laws, to remove abuses not to be reached by the ordinary police. The gay, light-hearted Greek must have felt in Rome very much as a Fre

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Chapter IX.

The great Teutonic or German division of the Indo-European family entered Europe subsequently to the Keltic tribes, and before the Slavic immigration. This people overspread and occupied a large part of Northern Central Europe, from which the attempts of the Romans to dispossess them proved futile. Of their early history we know very little. Bishop Percy contrasts their love of making records, as shown by the Runic inscriptions, with the Keltic law of secrecy. The Druids forbade any communicatio

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Chapter X.

Palestine is a word equivalent to Philistia, or the land of the Philistines. A similar name for the coast region of Syria has been found on a monument in Nineveh, 336 and at Karnak in Egypt. 337 Josephus and Philo use the term "Palestine," as applying to the Philistines; and the accurate learning of Milton appears in his using it in the same sense. 338 "The land of Canaan," "The land of Israel," and "Judæa" were the names afterward given to the territory of the children of Israel. It is a small

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Chapter XI.

Dr. Samuel Johnson once declared, "There are two objects of curiosity, the Christian world and the Mohammedan world; all the rest may be considered as barbarous." Since Dr. Johnson's time we have learned to be curious about other forms of human thought, and regard the famous line of Terence as expressing more accurately the proper frame of mind for a Christian philosopher. Nevertheless, Mohammedanism still claims a special interest and excites a peculiar curiosity. It is the only religion which

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Chapter XII.

We have now examined, as fully as our limits would allow, ten of the chief religions which have enlisted the faith of mankind. We are prepared to ask, in conclusion, what they teach us in regard to the prospects of Christianity, and the religious future of our race. First, this survey must have impressed on every mind the fact that man is eminently a religious being. We have found religion to be his supreme and engrossing interest on every continent, in every millennium of historic time, and in

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E.

Ecclesiastes, a wonderful description of utter despair, 435. Eddas, the, chief source of our knowledge of the early Scandinavians, 363. " elder, or poetic, described, 364. " its author, Sæmund, 364. " prose, by Snorro Sturteson, 369. " " its contents, 369. " " its account of creation, 370. " " its account of the gods and giants, 371. " " story of Baldur, 372. " " adventures of Thor, 374. " " consummation of all things, 37

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F.

Faunus, an old Italian god, 330. Fenrir, the wolf, how he was fastened, 382. Feudal system, its essential character, 391. Flamens, priests of particular deities, 336. Fontus, god of fountains, 328. Frey, and his daughter Freyja, 379....

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G.

Geiger, Swedish history quoted, 357. Genius, a Roman god, 329. German races essentially Protestant, 395. German tribes converted by Arian missionaries, 506. Gods of Egypt, the three orders of, 239. " " " names of the first order, 239. " " " character of the first order, 240. " " " significant of the divine unity, 242. " " " second order of, their human qualities, 243. " " " third order of, the Osiris group, 242. Gods of Greece before Homer, 270. "

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H.

Haruspices, derived from Etruria, 338. Havamal, or proverbs of the Scandinavians, 366. Heathen religions must contain more truth than error, 6. " " cannot have been human inventions, 6. " " must contain some revolution from God, 8. " " how viewed by Christ and his apostles, 9. " " how treated by Paul at Athens, 10. " " how regarded by the early apologists, 12. Heimdall, warder of the gods, 380. Herder, his description of David

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I.

Icelanders converted to Christianity, 394. Incarnation, the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, 28. India, always a land of mystery, 81. " overrun by conquerors, 81. Infinite and finite elements in Brahmanism and Christianity, 137. Injustice done to ethnic religions, 4. Inspiration, its origin in the intuitive faculty, 439. Isis and Osiris, their legend, from Plutarch, 244. " " " explanations of their myth, 246. " " " identified with the first and second order, 248..

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J.

Janus, one of the oldest of Roman gods, 322. " presided over beginnings and endings, 322. " invoked before other gods, 322. " his temple open in war, closed in peace, 322. " believed by Creuzer to have an Indian origin, 323. " has his chief feast in January, 323. " a Sabine god on Mount Janiculum, 323. Jews, a Semitic race, 399. Job, its grandeur of thought and expression, 438. Jones, Sir William, his life and works, 78. " progress since his time, 80. Judaism,

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K.

"Kings," Chinese, names and number, 47. " teach a personal God, 57. " republished by Confucius, 47....

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L.

Language of Ancient Egypt, 236. Lao-tse, founder of Tao-ism, 50, 52. " called a dragon by Confucius, 51. " three forms of his doctrine, 54. Lares, gods of home, 328. Loki, the god of cunning, 381. Lower Egypt, gods worshipped in, 248. Lucretius, his view of religion, 343. Luna, the moon, a Sabine deity, 327. Lustrations, or great acts of atonement, 338....

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M.

Magna Mater, a foreign worship at Rome, 330. Maine, his work on ancient law quoted, 351. Mann, laws of, when written, 100. " account of Creation, 101. " dignity of the Brahmans, 103. " importance of the Gayatari, 104. " account of the twice-born man, 105. " description of ascetic duties, 106. " the anchorite described, 107. " duties of the ruler described, 109. " crimes and penalties described, 110. " the law of castes described, 110. " penance and expiati

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N.

Names of our week-days Scandinavian, 358. Neptunus, origin of the name, 328. Nestorian inscription in China, 71-78. Njord, ruler of the winds, 378. Northern and Southern Europe compared, 359. Northmen in France, Spain, Italy, and Greece, 389. Number of Christians in the world, 146. " of Buddhists in the world, 146. " of Jews in the world, 146. " of Mohammedans in the world, 146. " of Brahmans, 146. Nyaya, system of philosophy, assumes three principles, 122. " system of p

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O.

Odin, or All-father, eldest of the Æsir, 377. " corresponds to Ormazd, 385. " his festival in the spring, 386. Opa, goddess of the harvest, 330....

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P.

Pales, a rural god, 330. Palestine, or the land of the Philistines, 397. " resembles Greece and Switzerland, 397. " its mountainous character, 397. " a small country, 398. " its mountains and valleys, 399. Palgrave, note giving an extract from his book, 486. Papacy, mediæval, good done by it, 350. " a reproduction of the Roman state religion, 350. Parsî religion, its influence on Judaism, 205. " " its influence on Christianity, 204. " "

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R.

Ramses II. a powerful king B.C. 1400, 233. " supposed to be the same as Sesostris, 234. " birth of Moses during his reign, 335. Recognition of God in nature, best element of Egyptian religion, 257. Relation of the religion of the Avesta to the Vedas, 201. Results of the survey of ten religions, 489. " in regard to their resemblance and difference, 490. Resemblance of the Roman Catholic ceremonies to those of Pagan Rome, 350. Roman calendar, described, 332. Roman Catholic

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S.

Salii, ancient priests of Mars, 336. Sánkhya philosophy, 114. " founded on two principles, 120. " considered atheistic, 120. " the basis of Buddhism, 121. " a very ancient system, 122. Saturnus, Saturn, god of planting, 330. Scandinavia, consisting of what regions, 358. " surrounded by the sea, 358. " its adaptation to the Teutonic race, 359. " formerly inhabited by the Cimbri, 360. " the home of the Northmen, 361. Scandinavian

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T.

Tacitus, the spirit of his writings, 346. Tae-Ping (or Ti-Ping) insurrection, its origin, 62. " " its leader the heavenly prince, 62. " " essentially a religious movement, 64. " " based on the Bible, 65. Tae-Pings (or Ti-Pings), their prayers, 65. " their public religious exercises, 66. " their moral reforms, 68. " put down by Britis

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U.

Ulphilas, the Arian, first Christian teacher of the Germans, 390. " his translation of the Bible into Gothic tongue, 390....

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V.

Vedanta philosophy assumes a single principle, 116. " " knows no substance but God, 119. " " described by Chunder Dutt, 118. " " souls absorbed in God, 119. Vedas, the, when written, 89-99. " their chief gods, 89-99. " traces of monotheism in, 90. " some hymns given, 91, 92, 93, 95. Vedic literature, divided into four periods, 95. " " contains Chhandas, Mantras, Brâhmans, Upanishads, Sûtras, and Vedângas, 96

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W.

Wahhabee, revival in Arabia, described by Palgrave, 478. Wedding ring, in Egypt and Christendom, 253. Welcker, his opinion of the substance of Greek religion, 286. Works on Scandinavian religion (note), 362. Worship of the Scandinavians, 385....

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Z.

Zend Avesta, a collection of hymns, prayers, and thanksgivings, 187. " " extracts from the Gathas, 188. " " extract from the Khordah Avesta, 189. " " hymn to the star Tistrya, 190. " " hymn to Mithra, 190. " " a confession of sin, 191. Zoroaster, mentioned by Plato, Diodorus, and other classic writers, 175. " account of him by Herodotus, 175. " account of him by Plutarch, 176. " inquiry as to his epoch, 180. " resid

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