THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF RELIGION.
[To rim EDITOR or rns Snow:or:1
Sra,—In your review of Mr. Sayoe's Hrbbert Lectures, the writer observes of certain passages that they "suggest a most interesting and important question ; and the question is,—How and why was the faith in the God of Israel so pure P If Babylon came so near to a true idea of God, why did it stop short P The answer cannot be found in the character of the Semites of Babylon on the one hand, or in the character of Israel on the other. For they were very like each other. We do not seek to discuss the question here, but it is one which con- stantly occurs in the study of comparative religion, and demands an answer." Your answer, I hope, would be the same as my own ; but as this passage stands, it seems to beg the question rather than state it. According to the Bible, Babylon did not "stop short" of Israel, but went further astray from the primaeval revelation. Israel was preserved by the call of Abraham out of Chaldsea, already serving other gods (Josh. xxiv, 2), into Canaan, where a purer worship remained with Melchiseclek, and further revelation was vouchsafed to the father of the faithful.
Mr. &yea does, indeed, suggest an important reflection,—that Babylon began, like modern science, with discarding the doctrine of creation ; and then, like ancient Egypt and Greece, after its example, subjected the Divine Fatherhood to the conditions of humanity, and so arrived at "gods many and lords many." This is also St. Paul's view,—" When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Know- ledge was first, then agnosticism, and then atheism. The history of religion is not one of light springing out of darkness, but of revealed troth corrupted by false philosophy, and dying out in immorality.
History and experience are full of this facilis descensus averni. Neither knows anything of an upward reaction, save by help from above. The decay of civilisation, the fall of nations, the degeneration of classes and of individuals, are facts as certain as the fall of the leaves in autumn. Bat nowhere have we a trace of spontaneous regeneration. Criminals do not reform themselves, nor savages originate civilisation. They are reformed and civilised through contact with those on a higher leveL So, also, true religion is from above, not from below. Many believe in God through divine revelation ; but never yet has a single individual by searching found out God without the aid of previous believers. The notion of religion, civilisation, science, and art growing out of savagery and ignorance, is as irrational as to expect grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. Yet we have still men, "professing themselves to be wise," who confidently propound a superstition which no African fetish equals in absurdity.—I am, Sir, &a,
[We publish this letter, without, of course, endorsing it, as a remarkable expression of an opinion exactly contrary to the one which now governs the Western world. The writer evidently holds that degeneracy is the natural tendency, and progress always a miracle.—En. Spectator.]
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