Some Observations Upon the Civilization of the Western Barbarians, Particularly of the English: made during the residence of some years in those parts.Swazey, John B.
Philosophy
Some Observations Upon the Civilization of the Western Barbarians, Particularly of the English: made during the residence of some years in those parts.
Swazey, John B.
England -- Social life and customs
When the great bells sound from the high, stone towers, the High-Castes
go, richly dressed, into the Temples, uncover and bow the heads to the
Idol, in silence--making Invocations, silently. By the command of the
Jewish _Sacred Writings_ the Seventh day (so, continuously, for ever)
is devoted to the grand Worship in the Temples. This is a marked thing
among the Western Barbarians--this devotion of one day in every seven
to the Worship of Jah--as ordered in the Sacred Word. It is declared to
be Jah's day--_Holy_-day. And it is so sacred, that there is danger of
Hell to him who
"Does any work or play
Upon the sacred day,"
as the mongrel verse-makers of the _Superstition_ have it! And the
Priests vehemently denounce all who do not worship upon that day.
Some object to so great strictness; and the quarrel, as usual, is
bitter between the strict and the not-so-strict Holy-day worshippers.
Those not-so-strict think that the poor, who work six days, should be
allowed to go to the places of amusement on the seventh, and enjoy
harmless recreations. The strict say they should be punished for
desecrating the day by their neglect of worship; yet the poor cannot
go in dirt and rags to the Temples. The High-Castes go there in rich
attire, and would be incommoded by the poor--indeed, the High and Low
Castes never mingle, not even in their worship. In truth, not many of
any rank attend upon the Priests in worship. The devotees are mostly
old women and older men, a few young people attracted by opposite
attraction of sex, children and servants; a few pauper children may be
huddled into a dark corner for fear of offending the idols.
The Priests face the Idol, and make Incantations, which are repeated,
age after age, without any alteration; no Priest dare to make any the
least change; the wrath of the gods would follow.
One peculiarity is, that the most abject _confessions_ are made, by
Priests and devotees, of heinous offences--making eternal punishment
fitly their due. They beg for pardon and that _salvation_ (meaning
deliverance from the awful Hell) may be granted, not for any good
in them, but wholly for the sake of the Son--the _Christ_. On my
first attendance in a Temple, when I heard these fearful confessions
and looked upon the fine women; the carefully dressed worshippers, I
thought, "How dreadful, these High-Castes such wretches--incredible!"
I afterwards discovered that the _sins_ [ly-ie], the offences
confessed, were merely _ecclesiastical_ (we have no term like it);
nobody ever really confesses any wrong which he may have committed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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