The Natural History of Society in the Barbarous and Civilized State (Volume 1 ); An Essay Towards Discovering the Origin and Course of Human Improveme

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1840. ... 164 CHAPTER VIII. SUPERSTITIONS AND DETACHED CUSTOMS. There is no circumstance connected with savage nations which has been the subject of greater curiosity than their religious tenets, and there is none on which our information is more indefinite and unsatisfactory. A great and natural difficulty besets every inquiry into the subject. The Rev. Henry Woodward has very ably shewn that most men are disposed to deduce their notions of the Divine character from an ideal exemplar of themselves, and this is not less true of nations and eras than it is of individuals. It is an aphorism with all modern philosophers, that the mythology of a people is an exponent of its intellectual character,--the converse is equally true; the general state of society in any country affords important aid to determine the nature and bearing of its religion. If we find a warlike ferocious race, delighting in cruelty and devastation, we may be assured that they will have deities delighting in slaughter, and rites polluted with blood. A more indolent race, whose sloth is only chequered by sensualism, will display deified passions and lustful ceremonies. Tribes scarcely rising above the brute creation, too apathetic to remember the past, or speculate on the future, who possess not in their language a single word to specify cause, will either have no notion of a God at all, or a notion so feeble and indistinct that it baffles the search of the inquirer. "Whoever," says Dr. Bobertson, "has had any opportunity of examining into the religious opinions of persons in the lower ranks of life, even in the most enlightened and civilized nations, will find that their system of belief is derived from instruction, not discovered by inquiry." He will also discover that the instruction is greatly mo...