Effect of Poetry. Still greater was the effect of poetry. What Herodotus" has asserted of Hesiod and Homer, that from them the Greeks learned their theology, is nearly true of the earlier poets of all nations. The ancient heroes of each country form the first and natural theme of its bards; and these either had passed into the rank of gods, or were intimately connected with others who had attained that eminence. Embracing then as his subject gods and departed heroes, the poet encountered a twofold difficulty. In his description of the gods, it required no slight exercise of genius and fancy to create a definite image of a divine nature, active, and employed in an appropriate sphere of activity, without exposing it to so exact a scrutiny, as might betray the materials of which it was composed, and destroy the illusion. The task was doubtless easier where it was aided by the same efforts in the sculptor, but in all nations the method adopted was the same. They took as their basis a human being, and by amplifying its several qualities, and extending the sphere of their exercise, undertook to produce a god-a being not merely superior, but of a different nature from man. All their taste and ingenuity were put to the test, in keeping out of view those qualities which might betray the real character of this pretended divinity. But a more trying task awaited the poet, in his representation of man as existing in a future state. The popular creed admitted no idea of bodily existence in a future state, but only of the existence of the soul. How then were men to be brought on the scene, divested of all which rendered them objects of perception? The same materials were again resorted to, and human nature was again moulded by the fancy into an immaterial essence. In the former instance it was a system of amplification, in this it was one of diminution. The disembodied man was described, by sometimes concealing one of his corporeal qualities, sometimes another, and so shifting the point of view, as never to expose more at once, than was barely enough to render the figure perceptible. For an illustration of this we may refer to almost any passage in the sixth book of the Eneid, or the twelfth book of the Odyssey. Thus when Virgil brings his hero into the presence of the Grecian ghosts:1 "Ut videre virum, fulgentiaque arma per umbras, Ingenti trepidare metu: pars vertere terga, Ceu quondam petiere rates." 12 He had made them see, move, and turn their backs. This was carrying the image almost too near; he therefore makes his escape at the close: 66 pars tollere vocem Exiguam inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes." Homer, who was a more plain-spoken and inartificial poet, by a whimsical contrivance allowed himself greater latitude in his pantasmagoria; but, as if apologizing for his boldness, he occasionally puts in an avowal, that what he has so dressed up as to seem flesh and blood, has no more substance than a dream: αὕτη δίκη ἐστὶ βροτῶν, ὅτε κέν τε θάνωσιν· Οὐ γὰρ ἔτι σάρκας τε καὶ ὀστέα ἶνες ἔχουσιν, Now these fictious being interwoven with the most vivid, if not the most serious, notions of religion, to the Divine nature was attributed all that was found in the human character-passions, prejudices, infirmities; and the stories which adhered to each god out of his true and original history as a man were perpetuated, and contributed still further to degrade the character of the deities. Add to this, that so palpable were the fabulous ingredients which Poetry as a were mixed up with what was taught as serious truth, that the least vehicle of reflection on the subject was productive of scepticism and disbelief. story fatal Hence Pythagoras represented Hesiod and Homer doing penance in to its credit. hell, and Plato, the most poetical of philosophers, condemned all mythological poetry, even that of Homer, as unfit for the perusal of 14 the young. 15 Similar to this was the effect produced on the belief of a future state. The efforts of the poets, to make positive images of what only admitted of a negative description, reduced the notion of future existence to nothing. The rewards of the good were only shadows dealt out to shadows, and the punishments of the wicked the same. No wonder that the chequered scene of real life should be boldly maintained to be preferable to the fair but unsubstantial glories of Elysium, or even of the heavenly mansions. Βουλοίμην κ' ἐπάρουρος ἐὼν θητευέμεν ἄλλῳ was a sentiment, thought not unworthy of the high-minded Achilles, Religious maintained From this view of the subject it would appear, that the religion Credit of of the Gentiles must have lost ground from its connexion with the Religion fine arts and poetry. In another point of view, however, (which through the will be briefly adverted to by and by,) they made ample amends to it for the injury. It is time now to consider what provision had 13 Odyss. Lib. XI. 217. 14 Diogenes Laertius, Lib. VIII. 15 De Republica, Lib. III. Cicero, in his Tusculan Disputations, (Lib. II. C. 11,) where Plato's censure is spoken of, 16 Odyss. Lib. XI. 488. Mysteries. respecting been made by the policy of legislators against these and other casual sources of irreligion. This consisted in the establishment of those remarkable institutions, the Mysteries. Their origin has generally been attributed to Egypt, and their progress from that country to the rest of the Gentile world, has been traced through the legislators or founders Conjectures of states, which Egypt either sent forth or instructed. According their origin. to the conjectures of some, they were the invention of a crafty priesthood, employed in maintaining their influence by investing religion with imposing and solemn circumstances. The author of the "Divine Legation of Moses" has, by the application of an immense body of learning to the subject, set them in the light of political devices, originating with the legislators, and designed to support civil society, by inculcating the doctrine of a future state. 17 Probably the priests devised these, or the institutions out of which they were formed, solely with a view to the support of religion; and statesmen and legislators, observing the success of the stratagem, contrived to have them moulded so as to suit their political views. Co-operating with the priest in the furtherance of his general object, they might both combine to give prominence to the great political doctrine of a future state of reward and punishment. In many instances, doubtless, the priest would himself be the chief man of the nation, as was the case with Melchisedech, and with Anius, whom Virgil describes as Their general adoption by states and people widely different in their other customs, plainly shows their importance to religion, whether supported on its own account, or for the sake of good government. Every where the celebration of the rites was a secret, and the most awful penalties were affixed to the divulging of it.19 The secret Every where also the secret was twofold, one for the great body of of the Mysteries twofold: The reason of this. those who applied for admission, and another contained in a second initiation, reserved for a select few. In both some preparatory discipline was requisite, but in this latter it was rendered so inconvenient and even terrible, as to repress the curiosity or ambition of all, except those who from their rank in society, or from a higher tone of mind, sought it as a mark of distinction from the vulgar. In this was displayed the policy of the institution. The exoteric doctrine, contained in the first initiation, was essential to the support of the popular religion, and of its great political feature, the dread of punishment after death. In this, therefore, was asserted the real existence of the gods, and the duty of public sacrifice and of 19 See Meursii Eleusinia, C. 20. 17 Book II. 18 Æneid, Lib. III. 80. obedience to the laws, as constituting a character meet for future reward. Those who were admitted to the second initiation, and instructed in the esoteric doctrine, were intrusted, it appears, with a secret, which at first view might seem inconsistent with the alleged application and intent of the Mysteries; for it exposed the true nature of the gods, and made a future state a dream.20 But it might have been deemed necessary or useful that the nature of the error should be partially known, so that there might be always a supply of persons the better qualified to preserve it, from their very knowledge of its weakness. It might also have been deemed more prudent to confess the truth to bold and inquiring minds, than to allow men to discover it for themselves, and to make use of it as their own acquisition and property. On this principle we may conjecture why Socrates declined initiation, and why this refusal was imputed to him as somewhat suspicious in his character.21 In this, then, the tales of Tartarus and Elysium were explained away into fable and allegory, and the soul was represented as a portion of the Divine essence in a state of temporary separation from its source, and destined to return to its original condition either immediately upon death, or after passing through certain migrations, the object and necessity of which was to purify it from all that was extraneous to it. the Gentiles clearer Jews. Over all this scene of darkness, superstition, and fraud, the wide Whether dispersion of the Jews might be expected to have scattered some derived any rays of truth. To this source has been traced the general expecta- cles from tion which preceded the birth of the Messiah. National vanity, and the dispersed the approaching crisis of long-cherished hopes, might have prompted the Jews to disclose this part of the Scriptures, however reserved they may be supposed to have been on other topics of religion. In their zeal for making proselytes, they might likewise have occasionally taught purer views of the Divine nature; but if so, their instruction does not appear to have created generally any higher notion concerning Jehovah, than as of the tutelary deity of their nation. Their boasted claim to his peculiar care, perhaps tended to encourage this misconstruction. from their of Fate. One doctrine certainly there was, vaguely but universally enter- Unlikely tained by the Gentile world, which was inconsistent with more belief in the correct views of God, than those above attributed to it. It was the supremacy belief in fate, necessity, or by whatever other name was expressed that mysterious principle, by which all that is divine or human was supposed to be controlled. Its supreme dominion was a main article in the popular creeds of all nations. It was supposed to circumscribe the free agency of the gods themselves, and even to assign a term to their existence. Prometheus is represented by Eschylus as 20 Warburton's Divine Legation, B. II. 21 Luciani Demonax. Sect. 11. The notion of Fate considered further. Superstitious arts which seem to have arisen out of it. These arts differing character of the several solacing his spirit, when galled under the tyranny of Jupiter, by the reflection, that even this Lord of gods and men could not escape the sentence which fate had pronounced on him. And that sentence was annihilation.22 The effect of this notion, even on the creed of the learned, was considerable. It was professedly maintained by the Stoics, and occasionally and perhaps unconsciously biassed the speculations of all sects, even of those who discarded it from their systems, or refused to recognise its existence as an independent principle. The term fate, in its original import, is something uttered, a decree, a law, or expression of authority of some kind. To admit the existence of such a law, involves the admission of two further truths, that there is a being who framed it, and that there is a subject to which it is applicable. Now if in its subject be embraced human affairs, (as was the Gentile doctrine,) and the law be not derived from God, nor controllable by him, the Being from whom it proceeds must at least hold divided empire with him, and the notion of one distinct and supreme nature is destroyed. Nevertheless, in this doctrine of fate, however corrupted and abused,--in this universal impression of a supreme Word which could not be reversed or gainsaid, we may possibly discover the last imperfect remnant of the true religion, as it existed at the era when men first began to corrupt it. the With the Gentiles, however, it rather served to perplex their view of a Supreme Being, and gave rise to the most mischievous and artful contrivances of their religion. Under a pretence of discovering the application of the eternal decrees of fate to any given case, wily, or enthusiastic, took on them the characters of soothsayers, augurs, and magicians. The abodes of those most famous for their skill became the seats of oracles, and their art was transferred to their successors, and at length associated with the places. Agreeably to this notion, few oracles appear to have existed in the earliest ages of which there is any record, and the business of the oracle was performed by the soothsayer. These arts and fraudulent practices of course took a tinge from according to the general character of religion, as it existed in different parts of the general the world. Thus in Egypt, where the doctrine of the MetemReligion in psychosis was most prevalent, they were connected with magical parts of the rites, and the consulting of departed souls. In the East, where the heavenly bodies were worshipped and were supposed to represent demons and spirits, the Wise men pretended to apply to these sources for supernatural information. So arose the practice and the name of Astrology. The flight of birds, and the character of the entrails world. 22 Eschyli Prom. v. 527. Many similar sentiments will readily occur to the classical reader: e.g. πρὸς τὴν ἀνάχκην οὐδ' *Αρης ἀνθίσταται. Sophoclis Frag. Δούλοι βασιλέων εἰσίν· ὁ δὲ βασίλευς Θεῶν, ὁ Θεὸς άváyzn. Philemonis Reliq. See the remarks of Gassendi and others in the notes on Cudworth's Intellect. System, p. 56, and Mosheim's Dissert. ad Hist. Eccl. Pertinentes, Vol. I. p. 355. |