Some Observations Upon the Civilization of the Western Barbarians, Particularly of the English / made during the residence of some years in those parts.

by John B. Swazey

The Incantations do not differ from the Invocations, only they are droned out in songs, more dismally, perhaps. The burden of both is to deliver the true worshippers from "the wiles of the flesh and the devil"; to overthrow, if possible, this awful demon, and to save sinners, of whom the worshippers declare themselves, in a hundred different ways, to be chief, "miserable offenders" [ka-nt-lm-mbi]. These, and lofty exaltation of the Christ-God and of the Father Jah, who, when He had given his word that nothing could save man from Hell, graciously allowed the Jews to crucify the Son, that in the Son's sufferings He, Jah, might let off some of the sufferings of mankind. Possibly some of the present worshippers might be among the lucky saved. For this salvation endless praises are to be Sung in the Temples below; and for ever and for ever in the great Heavens, through the infinite eternal worlds without end.

A Hymn of Praise in which all join ends the act of worship. The Priest blesses the people and invokes the mercy of the gods; and they, making due obeisance to the idols, retire in silence or to the music of the great organs.

A special act of worship, or Incantation, is always made to the Triune-god, that is, the Three-in-one, called Holy Trinity (Threenity). To omit this would, in the opinion of devotees, be so terrible a thing that no one would dare to stay a moment, fearing that, like Korah in the Sacred Writings, the very world would open itself and swallow them up. This three-in-one seems like a Hindoo god.

The Bonzes attend upon the sick and the dying, moderating their fears of damnation by insisting upon the most abject devotion to the Superstition, and intimating that, if they heartily grieve over their offences, and with undoubting minds believe in all the points of the Creed, then they may receive the Sacraments—that is, Sacred Meats; which having received, the devil and Hell may be set at defiance. These Sacred Meats are symbols of the very body and blood of Christ—a shocking rite, borrowed wholly from the old, savage Jews, who held that a Sacrifice must be offered up to appease the wrathful Jah on almost any occasion, and who sometimes even devoted human victims.

The Bonzes, in general, perform the Marriage Ceremonies, which they will have to be a Sacred rite in their Superstition, though some Sects think otherwise. However, the High-Castes do not consider a Marriage without a Bonze safe; some evil to the children, or other calamity, might ensue. Thus the Bonzes, for their services in this matter, obtain consideration and good fees [tin-tin].

After all, however, with the lowest Caste the Superstition is not much more than a Fright; its morality does not touch them, nor those things which refine. They have only a dim and low idea of the Sovereign Lord—debased, in so much notion as they do have, by the Jewish debasement. The devil-and-Hell part is familiar to them, and, in truth, fits well to the origin of the Barbarous tribes, and to their rude and savage character. As I have said, the Upper Castes consider this portion of their Superstition the really valuable part, in practical use. All evidence in the Courts, and every sanction, touching important interests or statements, rest upon this hold upon the fears of the common people. "Oh" (as an Englishman once said to me), "we must keep the devil and his hot place in our service, I tell you, Ah-Chin; or we should have 'the devil to pay' in good earnest!"

It is very difficult to change the Superstitions of a people, because rooted in their fears; and, in a matter wherein the imagination has chief power, and nothing can be known, even honest men of wisdom fear radical changes; they prefer to bear inconveniences, and dread the effect of new doctrines upon ignorant masses.

Priests, and the varied interests, and large establishments and revenues—in fact, a great portion of the whole community—are concerned in maintaining the Superstition, on selfish grounds, or think that their own interests are involved. The higher orders regard the Established condition of things in Worship and in the State as too Sacred to be touched. They denounce all who endeavour, in any faint degree, to suggest reforms, as "infidel" [un-ti-dsi]—a term of deepest reproach—agitators, who covertly would overthrow "our Temples, our Idols, and the Queen-Pope herself."

But they cannot wholly suppress the Thinkers; [kog-ti-te] (as the reformers are called); and these honestly think that some revision may be made with safety and advantage. They are sneered at by the larger part of the literati, and by all the priests, as Tinkers. A tinker is one who mends and patches, not a real artisan; and the majority will have it that nothing in England requires mending or patching. They are also stigmatised, sarcastically, as members of a Mutual Admiration Society. A society where the members laud everything written or said by any other member; and where, as the members think, all true wisdom alone illuminates the surrounding darkness. I suspect this society is a mith [pho-gti]; that the true sense of the sarcasm is, that the Thinkers overrate the value of their published thoughts, and that wisdom will not die with them. Certainly, some of the thoughts which I have seen in books, though not so gross and hateful as the Idolatry, are quite as useless. Only one thing I do respect them for—they do not subscribe to the pretensions of the priest; and are really influencing the people by giving them hints of value. They do act upon the upper classes, at least, with a reforming effect.

I have not referred to obscure sects, of which there are many. Some of these shout and howl; some keep absolute silence; some lash themselves into a sort of phrensy, and fall down in fits, fancying that they are possessed by the Holy Spirit. Some will only be baptised by going into a river, and there, under the Incantations of the Priest, be violently plunged all over in the water, both women and men. Still, all of these, and many others, hold to the Sacred Writings and the other Idolatries: the main points are alike in all.