see the same spiritual truth. Thus, a savage Saint, living in a nation of Idolaters or Polytheists, worships the one true God, as Jesus of Nazareth has done. In a Christian land superstitious men may be found, who are as much Idolaters as Nebuchadnezzar or Jeroboam.
I. Fetichism denotes the worship of visible objects,
such as beasts, birds, fish, insects, trees, mountains, the
stars, the sun, the moon, the earth, the sea, and air, as
types of the infinite Spirit. It is the worship of Nature.[1]
It includes many forms of religious observances that
prevailed widely in ancient days, and still continue among
savage tribes. It belongs to a period in the progress of
the individual, or society, when civilization is low, the
manners wild and barbarous, and the intellect acts in
ignorance of the causes at work around it; when Man
neither understands nature nor himself. Some writers
suppose the human race started at first with a pure
Theism; for the knowledge of truth, say they, must be
older than the perception of error in this respect. It
seems the sentiment of Man would lead him to the one
God. Doubtless it would if the conditions of its highest
action were perfectly fulfilled. But as this is not done in
a state of ignorance and barbarism, therefore the religious
sentiment mistakes its object, and sometimes worships
the symbol more than the thing it stands for.
In this stage of growth, not only the common objects above enumerated, but gems, metals, stones that fell from heaven,[2] images, carved bits of wood, stuffed skins of
- ↑ It will probably be denied by some, that these objects were worshipped as symbols of the Deity. It seems, however, that even the most savage nations regarded their Idols only as Types of God. On this subject, see Constant, Religion, &c., Paris, 1824, 5 vols. 8vo; Philip Van Limburg Brauwer, Histoire de la Civilization morale et religieuse des Grecs, &c., Groningues, 1833–42, 8 vols. 8vo, Vol. II. Ch. IX. X. et alibi; Oldendorp, Geschichte der Mission-auf-St Thomas, &c., Barby. 1777, p. 318, et seq.; Du Culte des Dieux fétiches [par De Brosses, Paris], 1770, 1 vol. 12mo; Movers, Untersuchung über die Religion und der Gottheiten der Phönizier, Bonn, 1841, 2 vols. 8vo; Comte, Cours de Philosophie positive, Vol. V.; Stuhr, Allg. Gesch. der Religionsformen, Berlin, 1838, 2 vols. 8vo; Meimers, ubi supra; and the numerous accounts of the savage nations, by missionaries, travellers, &c. Catlin, ubi supra, Vol. I. p. 35, et seq., p. 88, et seq., p. 156, et seq.
- ↑ These Stone-fetiches are called Baetylia by the learned. Cybele was worshipped in the form of a black stone, in Asia Minor. Theophrast. Charact. 16. Lucian, Pseudomant. § 30. The ancient Laplanders also worshipped large
