|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 6
The introduction into the heathen world of the fundamental truths that
there is but one God, omnipotent and omniscient, who overrules every
event, that He has revealed Himself through His Son as a God of love and
mercy, and that man's duty to Him is obedience to His laws, was a mighty
step in advance of the gross conceptions of idolatry formerly prevalent
among these nations. But neither heathens nor Christians had for a long
time any clear idea that the overruling of God in Providence was
according to fixed laws. Being ignorant on this point, they ascribed to
unseen supernatural agency, working in a capricious fashion, all
phenomena which appeared to differ from, or disturb the ordinary course
of events. Upon such matters heathen and Christian ideas commingled, and
thus heathen ideas and practices were incorporated with Christian ideas
and practices. Then, when ecclesiastical councils met to determine
truth, and formulate their creeds, these combined heathen and Christian
ideas being accepted by them, became dogmas of the Church, and
henceforth those who differed from the dogmatic creed of the Church, or
advocated views in advance of these confessions, were regarded as
enemies of truth. Naturally, as the Church became powerful she became
more repressive, and opposed all enquiry which appeared to lead to
conclusions different from those already promulgated by her, and
finally, it became a capital offence to teach any other doctrines than
those sanctioned by the Church. The beliefs of the members of these
councils being, as we have already seen, a mixture of heathen and
Christian ideas, the Church thus became a great conservator of
superstition; and to show that this was really so, we may adduce one
example:--Pope Innocent VIII. issued a Bull as follows:--"It has come to
our ears that members of both sexes do not avoid to have intercourse
with the infernal fiends, and that, by this service, they afflict both
man and beast, that they blight the marriage bed, destroy the births of
women and the increase of cattle, they blast the corn on the ground, the
grapes of the vineyard and the fruits of the trees, and the grass and
herbs of the field." The promulgation of this Bull is said to have
produced dreadful consequences, by thousands being burned and otherwise
put to death, for having intercourse with the fiends.
We regret to say such beliefs and such means of repressing free enquiry
were not confined to one branch of the Christian Church. Protestants as
well as Roman Catholics, when they had the power, suppressed many of the
practices of heathenism after a cruel fashion, but at the same time
fostered the superstitions and Pagan beliefs which had originated these
practices, and punished those who protested against these beliefs. The
same method of procedure is in operation at the present day.
Nevertheless, the introduction of Christianity into the heathen world
made a wonderful revolution in their religious practices as well as in
their beliefs. Their idols and the symbols of their divinities were
abolished, along with the sacrifices offered to these. Their great
festivals, at which human sacrifices were offered and abominable
practices committed, were so modified as to be stripped of their
immorality and cruelty, and while being retained--retained because they
could not be utterly abolished--they were Christianized,--that is, a
Christian colouring was given to them,--and they became Church festivals
or holydays,--a subject I will treat more fully of in another chapter.
It is not, as I have already said, my intention to trace the gradual
development of our modern idea of Providence, our ascription of
universal government, of all direction of the phenomena of nature and of
life to the one only omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God, but
rather to place before the reader the practices and beliefs which
prevailed in this country during the early years of the present century.
And from this survey we shall discover what a mass of old Pagan ideas
still survived and influenced the minds and practice of the people,--how
they yet clung to the notion that many of the phenomena of nature and
life were under the control of supernatural agents, although they did
not regard these agents, as what in olden times they were considered to
be--divinities, but believed them to be a class of beings living upon or
within the earth, and endowed by the devil with supernatural powers.
In the northern sagas, and in the old ballads and saintly legends of
the Middle Ages--supernatural agents who played a prominent part--there
are giants of enormous size and little dwarfs who can make themselves
invisible, and do all sorts of good to their favourites, and harm to
their enemies. We are also introduced there to dragons and other
monsters which have human understandings, and, guided by a wicked
spirit, could do great mischief. Such beings took the place of the
ancient divinities, and in many cases when the hero or saint is in great
straits, in combat with these evil spirits or fiends, Jesus Christ comes
to their assistance. One instance will exemplify this:
"O'er him stood the foul fiends,
And with their clubs of steel,
Struck him o'er the helmit
That in deadly swound he fell.
But God his sorrow saw,
To the fiends his Son he sent;
From the earth they vanished
With howling and lament.
The Christian hero thanked his God,
From the ground he rose with speed,
Joyfully he sheathed his sword,
And mounted on his steed."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|