The Catholic World, Vol. 07, April 1868 to September, 1868Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 07, April 1868 to September, 1868
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Nor is there any historical evidence that superstition is older
than religion, that men begin in the counterfeit and proceed to
the genuine,--in the false, and proceed by way of development to
the true. They do not abuse a thing before having it.
Superstition presupposes religion, as falsehood presupposes
truth; for falsehood being unable to stand by itself, it is only
by the aid of truth that it can be asserted. "Fear made the
gods," sings Lucretius; but it can make none where belief in the
gods, does not already exist. Men may transfer their own
sentiments and passions to the divinity; but they must believe
that the divinity exists before they can do it.
{162}
They must believe that God is, before they can hear him in the
wind, see him in the sun and stars, or dread him in the storm and
the earthquake. It is not from dread of the strange, the
powerful, or the vast, that men develop the idea of God, the
spiritual, the supernatural; the dread presupposes the presence
and activity of the idea. Men, again, who, like the professor's
man in the infancy of the savage state, are able to conceive of
spirit and to distinguish between the outward manifestation and
the indwelling spirit, are not fetich worshippers, and for them
the fetich is no longer a god, but if retained at all, it is as a
sign or symbol of the invisible, Fetichism is the grossest form
of superstition, and obtains only among tribes fallen into the
grossest ignorance, that lie at the lowest round of the scale of
human beings; not among tribes in whom intelligence is
commencing, but in whom it is well-nigh extinguished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account