Yet in many places, now considered barbarous, we see the remains of previous empires—and when we are able to find some comparatively authentic history which tells of the overthrow of a powerful kingdom, it is clear that the civilized people have usually been destroyed by the barbarian. The wealth of Rome tempted the hordes from the inhospitable north, just as the gold of Mexico and Peru were the causes of their decadence under the Spaniards, whose people were in themselves scarcely superior to the troops led by Alaric, Genseric, and other so called barbarians. Yet we know, as in the case of Spain herself, that decadence from civilization to comparative barbarism may be due to causes inherent in the people and its governors, wholly independent of foreign conquest. This decadence is due to the bestial propensities of man being allowed to dominate over the intellectual, and the result is the same, whether the animal passions be cultivated by a debased and degrading policy of monarch and priest, or by the indolence of each individual.
By developing the train of thought thus indicated, we imagine that the philosophical reader will conclude that amongst men, some race, family, or tribe, has been created with intelligence, as much above the rest of their kind as the elephant is superior to the hippopotamus, and the dog to the cat, and that others are generically as low as is the Australian "dingo" in the canine race. Those once perfect may deteriorate, yet carry with them the power of rising again—whilst those originally low never rise at all, no matter what example may be set them, unless force is used to make them learn. To these we must add a third set, specially to include the American, for we have no evidence whatever that the civilization of the Aztec and Peruvian was anything more than a restoration of the scientific knowledge of a more ancient people, possibly of an Aryan stock. Who that is acquainted with the Shemitic race can fail to see in its people the type of an ancient condition which has decayed, until, like a fallen gentleman, it can only show what once it was, by conserving and exhibiting a few ornaments of no value, save from their age, but whose sons may yet become princes in their paternal domains? Who that studies the negro in Africa, America, and St. Domingo, can fail to see that he is, or, at any rate has hitherto shown himself, almost wholly incapable of development as a philosophic man? And who can read the pages of Prescott without recognizing the fact that some of the ancient inhabitants of America inaugurated—unassisted, as we judge by any example from others—a style of religion and government of which the world has hardly, if at all, seen an equal? Yet it is remarkable, that both the Mexican and Peruvian traced their laws and institutions to strangers who came amongst them, as Oannes did to the Babylonians, and who taught them what arts, religion, and science they themselves had. The subject of centres of human life into which our considerations have drawn us, is by far too vast for discussion here. It involves the study of geology, of anthropology, of glossology, of navigation, of physical geography, of climate, of the laws of reproduction, of the influences of climate over animals, and of diet upon man. Into all these we dare not enter: we shall confine ourselves rather to considering the religious ideas of the lowest of the known races of mankind; and then proceed to those which have been held by what we may call the oscillating people, i.e., those vibrating repeatedly between a state of empire and one of slavery, like the people of Hindostan, Babylon, Judea, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Egypt.
When we endeavour to ascertain the religion of the negro, by which term we include all the black native tribes of Africa, we find ourselves almost in the position of a modern chemist seeking for the philosopher's stone. In no single book, and I have read very many, can I find any trustworthy evidence of the negro having any religion at all. It is true that travellers in Abyssinia, and those who are now returned from their successful expedition against Magdala, tell us that in Abyssinia there is a form of religion which is evidently a corrupt form of Christianity, but with this exception, the blacks seem to have no idea of that congeries of fact and fiction, dogma, ritual, and practice, which passes current for religion in more civilized countries. Yet though they have no definite idea of a Creator, and the way in which He works throughout the universe, they have a dread of some unseen power, and, like a number of frightened children, dread the effects of "fetish," and the power of the Obi or Obeah man. When the mind is predisposed to fear, and it is so amongst the lower animals as well as in man, it is astonishing at what contemptible objects one may stand aghast. I can vividly remember being sent, whilst a very young child, with a message from an aunt, at whose home I was staying, to the maid, who was washing in an outhouse, but ere I reached the door of the latter, I was terrified at a head which seemed to be rising from the ground, Such was my horror that I ran away, too proud to scream, yet almost fainting with horror. To me that ancient battered barber's doll was "fetish," and if my friends had determined to cultivate the timidity which I then showed, it is quite possible that to this day I might have a dread not dissimilar to that of the African. As it was, my aunt told me that what had scared me, was only a piece of carved and painted wood, and so put me upon my mettle, that I delivered my message and gave the image a kick in the face; yet my valour was short lived, and during the rest of my sojourn I dared not venture within sight of the bugbear. To all intents and purposes that human head was, in my estimation, the guardian of the garden—its presence made all within its influence under taboo—had I ventured to tell a lie, or to have been naughty, I cannot conceive that any punishment would have been greater than being doomed to sit in the presence of the weird image. Hence I can easily understand the abject terror of the African at "fetish," and his dread of the Obeah man, who asserts that he can direct upon whom he will the power of the unknown god. So great is the fear of this negro magician, and so common is that fear to man in general, that we sometimes find the white man as full of it as the black. I have had, for example, under my own care, an Englishman of good education, who, whilst superintendent of a Jamaica plantation, became so cowed by "Obi," that he was obliged to give up his position and return to England, literally insane upon the subject of "fetish" and "Obeah," and wholly unfitted for any work whatever.
The objects to which the name of "fetish" is given are very numerous—a rock, a stone, a tree, a pool, a dried monkey, an alligator, man, or skull—anything will suit the purpose. One which is said to be very popular amongst chieftains is prepared somewhat in the following manner:—The head of a father is removed after death, and so placed, that as the brain decays and softens, it may fall into a receptacle already half filled with palm oil or other grease. The material so formed, consisting to a great extent of the thoughtful organ of the sire, is then supposed to give his spirit to the son, whenever the latter smears himself with it, or takes it as a potent medicinal spell. The head thus placed becomes the royal "fetish," and the king goes to take counsel from it just as ancient priests inquired, or pretended to inquire, from the god or lord of some shrine or oracle. I cannot charge my memory with everything that has been at one time or another regarded as an object of wonder, worship, or "fetish," but I have an indistinct recollection that a musical box has been venerated by Africans, as much as the Ancilia, the Palladium, the Diana which fell down from Jupiter, the Caaba or black stone of Mecca, the ark of the covenant, the brazen serpent, the wood of the true cross, the nails which pierced Jesus, and the handkerchief which was used to wipe the face of the suffering Nazarite, all of which have been sacred amongst civilized nations, and are still adored by some. It would be difficult for a philosopher to draw a distinction between an African "fetish" and a Papal relic. There is no virtue which the Romanist has attributed to old bones, old nails, old shoes, old coats, old houses, old staircases, old bits of wood, old links of chains, old hairs, old statues, &c., that has not been equally attributed by negroes to some absurd fetish in Ashantee, Dahomey, or elsewhere.
In some parts of the vast African continent, however, there seems to be an indistinct idea of a life after death, and when a great man dies, or is killed, his wives, and many of his slaves, are sacrificed for his future use, and vast human sacrifices are made annually in his honour, that the departed may hear, from time to time, of the welfare of those whom he has left behind. Feeling indisposed to regard this practice as the offspring of religious faith, I would compare it with the crude conceptions of some of the lowest class in Europe and America, aye, of some cultivated intellects as well, who profess to be able, by means of media, to communicate with the dead, or who send messages to their departed relatives by friends that are dying. The most remarkable development of this idea which I have yet met with has recently occurred in France, where a young man attempted to murder a beautiful young woman, to whom he was a total stranger, the reason he assigned being, that he intended to commit suicide immediately after the murder, so that he might enter the future world with a pleasant companion.
We can scarcely regard the persons figuring in the following true story as being very much superior to the King of Dahomey. In a well-cared for English village a poor woman was about to die in the full odour of Protestant sanctity. In youth she had lost one leg, and now had disease in the other. To her came an old woman and said,—"I hear thou's goin' to dee Betty, and that thou's goin' to heaven—at least parson says so—when thou's got there, willee tell my owd man that I've just bought that field as he set his heart on." "Oh dear," said the dying woman, "how can I go stumping all about heaven with my legs in the state they're in." "Well, you can tell him at anyrate if you happen to see him go by!"
Passing from the African, let us now say a word or two about the Australian. It is, I think, Mitchell, who states, in an account of his travels in that country, that the white men were used in a manner so considerate, in some instances, indeed, so kindly, that he was induced to inquire into the cause. He found that these friendly tribes were in the habit of eating their defunct relatives—being always short of provisions, they used man meat, as do other starving creatures when they devour their like—and they cooked the body much in the same way as we do dead pig. By scalding the carcass, the cuticle and the black layer, called rete mucosum, was removed, and the corpse became white. This gave the people the notion that Europeans were their own dead relatives returned from the spirit world. Sir G. Gray also, in his account of an expedition to the north-west coasts of the same vast island, describes how all the people with whom he came into contact believed in the power of sorcery or witchcraft. Without extending our inquiry into the undeveloped religious ideas of other barbarians, we may affirm, from the preceding examples, that there is, even amongst the lowest human beings, some idea of a future state, and of the existence of some unseen power, which may work mischief upon themselves or their friends. Beyond these vague notions the savage who has neither been taught, nor inherited the power or propensity to learn, rarely, if ever, passes.
If, then, the surmise to which we gave utterance awhile ago is founded in truth, we may fairly endeavour to ascertain what is the race, or the people, which have been born with a higher religious development, a greater capacity for learning, and a higher appreciation of the value of agriculture and civilization than the rest of the world's inhabitants.
We now find ourselves on the threshold of a question which has, for many years past, divided the scientific world, viz., Was there originally one human couple only, or were there many intellectual centres? Into this matter it would be unprofitable to enter, for to give an account of the Chinese, Egyptian, Aryan, American, and Shemitic races, would require many huge volumes. It will, probably, be permitted to me to omit from the inquiry all but Aryans and Egyptians. I select these because I have, in the preceding volumes, descanted largely upon the faith of the Babylonians, Assyrians, Tyrians, and others, and because I believe that these ancients have done very much to modify the faith of Europe. If time and opportunity permitted, I fancy that anyone might make a most interesting analysis of that which Europe owes to the Shemites, Egyptians, and Aryans respectively; but it is beyond our powers at present to go into the whole subject. The volumes which have recently been published about the Ancient Hindoo religion may be counted by dozens, and the writings of Egyptologists are almost equally numerous. We must, therefore, content ourselves with a reference to a few main points.
It seems to be an undoubted fact, that both the Egyptians and Aryans recognized the existence of a soul in human beings, and believed that it survived the dissolution of the body in some state, whose position and physical condition were unknown. They held, moreover, that the locality and condition of the spiritual part of man after death depended upon the actions of the individual during life. Both people believed in the influence of prayer, of sacrifices, of a maceration, or torturing of the fleshy body, and they had, moreover, each of them, a priestly race, who regulated festivals, ordained ceremonies, and prescribed everything which those who regarded their spiritual welfare should do. I believe that the Egyptians were, in reality, monotheistic; but my authority for the idea has escaped me. It is certain that the ancient Aryans were so, and I cannot do better than refer my readers to the History of Sanscrit Literature, by Max Müller, and the first vol. of the History of India, by Talboys Wheeler. Yet, as the first is out of print, and the second a volume of considerable size, it will, perhaps, be judicious if I quote some passages from both. The following hymn, translated by M. M., p. 559 sq., is, to my own ideas, far more grand in conception than any other which I have read, and shows a depth or sublimity of thought that could only be attained by a profoundly intelligent intellect. Moderns might equal it, none could surpass it. Speaking of the beginning, the words run, "Nothing that is, was then; even what is not, did not exist then." The poet then proceeds to deny the existence of the sky, and of the firmament, and yet, unable to bear the idea of an unlimited nothing, he exclaims, "What was it that hid or covered the existing? what was the refuge of what? was water the deep abyss, the chaos which swallowed up everything?" Then his mind, turning away from nature, dwells upon man, and the problem of human life. "There was no death, therefore there was nothing immortal There was no space, no life, and lastly, there was no time—no difference between day and night—no solar torch by which morning might have been told from evening. That One breathed breathless by itself, other than it, nothing since has been. That One breathed and lived; it enjoyed more than mere existence; yet its life was not dependent upon anything else, as our life depends upon the air we breathe. It breathed, breathless. Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled in gloom, profound as ocean without life." Müller then rather describes what the poet means than gives his words; I will, therefore, adopt now, for the rest of the hymn, the metrical version, which he gives at p. 564:—