RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS. INTRODUCTION. Ir is a fact which we learn from history, that religion of some kind has existed, in every period of time, and among all nations. It can be traced Religion of some up to the infancy of the world, and among the fathers of kind has always the human race. The earliest account that has reached us, which is that of our sacred scriptures, informs us of its existence even before the origin of nations, while as yet the inhabitants of the globe were one entire community. existed. In the antediJuvian world. Some few notices appear in holy writ of the religious rites of the antediluvian world; as the offerings of Cain and Abel, the practice of prayer, or the profession of religion; mention is also made of the pious character of the descendants of Seth; the brief but touching story of Enoch's faith is given; and the family of Noah is particularly introduced in connexion with the religion of this period. After the origin of nations, consequent on the dispersion at Babel, we learn something from the Bible of the fate of divine institutions among the separate portions of mankind, so far as these are brought After the ori- into view in the sacred narrative. In confirmation of the gin of nations. Bible, the earliest fabulous accounts, as they are called, all refer to some kind of religion promulgated by the founders of nations, and held and practised by the latter. Profane history abounds in representations of this nature; and we learn from its pages how the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and other ancient nations, were accustomed to the observation of certain religious rites and ceremonies. Their notions and tenets also on this subject have been occasionally transmitted to us; and although these, in most instances, are extremely vague and absurd, they evidently betray a common origin. Thus the universality of religion of some sort, in the earliest ages, is a matter of history: and the same impartial guide introduces us to an acquaintance with the Through every varying creeds, forms, and observances of nations since, age since. whether in their rude or civilized condition. All seem to B have obeyed that law of the human mind, which bids it to seek repose in some sort of religion. sent time. Our knowledge of the different communities of men at the present time, which, by means of improvements in navigation and facilities in travelling, is nearly universal, confirms the same important truth. And at the pre- Scarcely a tribe, however unenlightened, is found, that possesses no kind of religious faith. Perhaps, strictly speaking, no one is found without the notion of God, and an invisible or future world; for although some two or three savage communities may have been reported by travellers to be thus destitute, there is reason to believe that further inquiry would show the fact to be otherwise. On the whole, it may be safely asserted to be a condition of mankind, which is essentially universal. If the representations above made are correct, religion may be supposed to be, in some sense, natural to the human species. This is an inference Hence religion which must readily suggest itself to every reflecting mind. is in some sense It could not rationally be accounted for, that in every period natural to man. of the world, and among all nations and tribes of men, some notion of God and human accountableness, and certain modes of worship should prevail, without referring religion to a settled law or principle of our common nature. A want surely exists in the human mind, which can be supplied only by some kind of religion. It is a confirmation of the This is conview here taken, that a survey of man as a rational creature firmed by a moral of God, must lead us to believe that, in some sense, religion survey of man. is natural to him. "Whoever," says a writer, "seriously reflects on the powers and capacities of the human mind, regarding them as the work of Him that doeth nothing in vain, and comparing them with those of the inferior creatures, will readily perceive that man alone was created to be religious. Of all the inhabitants of this earth, none else are capable of attaining any knowledge of their Creator, or of rendering him any worship or praise. Man alone possesses the capacity of distinguishing between truth and falsehood,-between moral good and evil,-and of receiving instruction in social and relative duties, with the obligation under which he lies to perform them, and the advantages of doing it. He alone is capable of being governed by a law, and of being influenced by the proposal of rewards and punishments; of acting as under the eye of an invisible Observer, and with reference to the future season of retribution." But although religion may be said to be thus natural to man, it does not follow that the truth will always be chosen. The want before But the right spoken of is a general want, and it may seem to be satisfied, religion is not though it should not be so in reality, with any and with every always chosen. form of religion. We say with every form of religion; for one people at least, viz. the Athenians, always imported the deities and superstitions of every nation with whom they became acquainted, and mingled them with their own creed. The tendencies of nature to some system of faith and worship are not a specific and unerring direction to any one system in particular. If they were such a direction, a perfect uniformity would have existed in the theology of all nations. We find a great variety of religions in the world. But this, we now have occasion to remark, is not the case. Notwithstanding religion, in the above respect, is natural to man, a great diversity of religious opinions has prevailed in the world, and different forms and ceremonies have been and still are observed. The religious notions and practices of mankind early diverged from one another, the sons of men were soon distinguished from the sons of God, the impious from the holy,—and, notwithstanding the purgation of the world by a flood, and the subsequent re-establishment of one common faith, no sooner did the earth begin to be peopled again, than a diversity of religions took place, each nation and tribe embracing some peculiarity of its own. Such has been the fact, through all the intervening periods of history, to the present day. Each distinct portion of the human family, especially its larger divisions, has had its separate religious dogmas and practices, ranging from pure theism to the grossest idolatry. At the present time, there are at least four general forms or departments of religious belief among mankind: viz. the Christian, the Jewish, the Mahometan, and the Pagan, which, for the most part, are subdivided into many others. In regard to Paganism, it may be remarked, that it is as various as the separate portions of people that constitute the Gentile world. chance. The causes of this diversity cannot but form an interesting subject of inquiry. The inquisitive mind of man very naturally desires to know, It is interesting how the same being, with the same essential wants, should to know the have fallen upon religions so unlike, and often so opposed causes of this di- to one another. What is there in the circumstances of versity. human nature that can afford a clue to this surprising fact? 1. Does the variance spoken of arise merely from chance? We are not believers in this phantom, as furnishing a solution of any phenomenon. It does not We do not think that it is the cause of anything in existspring from ence, much less do we suppose that it can account for the variety and difference in the religion of mankind. If accident operated here, it might indeed give a diversity to this propensity of nature, or it might give to it a uniformity. It were just as likely to effect the one as the other, only it would not be apt to produce a uniformity in variety. It would be infinitely unapt to do this. Yet such seems to be literally the case in the religions of the human species. They uniformly differ from one another, and most of them essentially from the truth. It concerns those who believe in chance as the cause of anything, or the cause of such a moral phenomenon, to make out the proof. There seems to us to be something extremely absurd in referring to contingency merely, as the cause of an effect, when, by the nature of the word, it neither is, nor can be known as such a cause. 2. Does the above diversity arise from circumstances foreign or external Nor from exto the mind, such as time, location, climate, or country? ternal circum- It is not unnatural to suppose that such circumstances might modify, in a small degree, the, religions of mankind; but stances. |