CONTENTS
[ PREFACE. ]
[ THE GOD-IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS. ]
[ INTRODUCTION. ]
[ CHAPTER I. ] SEX THE FOUNDATION OF THE GOD-IDEA
[ CHAPTER II. ] TREE, PLANT, AND FRUIT WORSHIP
[ CHAPTER III. ] SUN-WORSHIP—FEMALE AND MALE ENERGIES IN THE SUN
[ CHAPTER IV. ] THE DUAL GOD OF THE ANCIENTS A TRINITY ALSO
[ CHAPTER V. ] SEPARATION OF THE FEMALE AND MALE ELEMENTS IN THE DEITY
[ CHAPTER VI. ] CIVILIZATION OF AN ANCIENT RACE
[ CHAPTER VII. ] CONCEALMENT OF THE EARLY DOCTRINES
[ CHAPTER VIII. ] THE ORIGINAL GOD-IDEA OF THE ISRAELITES
[ CHAPTER IX. ] THE PHOENICIAN AND HEBREW GOD SET OR SETH
[ CHAPTER X. ] ANCIENT SPECULATIONS CONCERNING CREATION
[ CHAPTER XI. ] FIRE AND PHALLIC WORSHIP
[ CHAPTER XII. ] AN ATTEMPT TO PURIFY THE SENSUALIZED FAITHS
[ CHAPTER XIII. ] CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM
[ CHAPTER XIV. ] CHRISTIANITY A CONTINUATION OF PAGANISM—(Continued)
[ CHAPTER XV. ] CHRISTIANITY IN IRELAND
[ CHAPTER XVI. ] STONES OR COLUMNS AS THE DEITY
[ CHAPTER XVII. ] SACRIFICES
[ CHAPTER XVIII. ] THE CROSS AND A DYING SAVIOR
THE GOD-IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
Through a study of the primitive god-idea as manifested in monumental records in various parts of the world; through scientific investigation into the early religious conceptions of mankind as expressed by symbols which appear in the architecture and decorations of sacred edifices and shrines; by means of a careful examination of ancient holy objects and places still extant in every quarter of the globe, and through the study of antique art, it is not unlikely that a line of investigation has been marked out whereby a tolerably correct knowledge of the processes involved in our present religious systems may be obtained. The numberless figures and sacred emblems which appear carved in imperishable stone in the earliest cave temples; the huge towers, monoliths, and rocking stones found in nearly every country of the globe, and which are known to be closely connected with primitive belief and worship, and the records found on tablets which are being unearthed in various parts of the world, are, with the unravelling of extinct tongues, proving an almost inexhaustible source for obtaining information bearing upon the early history of the human race, and, together, furnish indisputable evidence of the origin, development, and unity of religious faiths.
By comparing the languages used by the earlier races to express their religious conceptions; by observing the similarity in the mythoses and sacred appellations among all tribes and nations, and through the discovery of the fact that the legends extant in the various countries of the globe are identical, or have the same foundation, it is probable that a clue has already been obtained whereby an outline of the religious history of the human family from a period even as remote as the "first dispersion," or from a time when one race comprehended the entire population of the globe, maybe traced. Humboldt in his Researches observes: "In every part of the globe, on the ridge of the Cordilleras as well as in the Isle of Samothrace, in the Aegean Sea, fragments of primitive languages are preserved in religious rites."
Regarding the identity of the fundamental ideas contained in the various systems of religion, both past and present, Hargrave Jennings, in referring to a parallel drawn by Sir William Jones, between the deities of Meru and Olympus, observes: