The Genius of the nation demanded it; accordingly there sprang up a body of men, neither political, sacerdotal, nor military—the philosophers.[1] They could have found no place in any theocratic government, but have done the world great religious service, building “wiser than they knew.” It was comparatively easy for Art, Science, and all the great works of men, to go forward under such circumstances. Hence comes that wonderful development of mind in the country of Homer, Socrates, and Phidias. But in countries where the temporal was subject to the spiritual power, the reverse followed; there was no change without a violent revolution. The character of the nation becomes monotonous; science, literature, morals, cease to improve. When the nation goes down, it “falls like Lucifer, never to hope again.” The story of Samuel affords us an instance, among the Jews, of the sacerdotal class resisting, and successfully, the attempt to take away its power. Here the Priest, finding there must be a King, succeeded at length in placing on the throne a “man after God's own heart,” that is, one who would sacrifice as the Priest allowed. The effort to separate the temporal from the spiritual power, to disenthral mankind from the tyranny of sacerdotal corporations, is one of the great battles for the souls of the world. It begins early, and continues long. The contest shakes the earth in its time.
V. Another trait of the polytheistic period is the
deification of men.[2] Fetichism makes gods of cattle;
Polytheism of men. This exaltation of men exerted great
influence in the early stage of polytheism, when it was a
- ↑ Perhaps none of the polytheistic nations offers an instance of the spiritual and temporal power existing in separate hands, when one party was entirely independent of the other. The separation of the two was reserved for a different age, and will be treated of in its place.
- ↑ See Farmer on the Worship of Human Spirits, London, 1783. Plutarch (Isis and Osiris) denies that human spirits were ever worshipped, but he is opposed by notorious facts. See Creutzer, ubi sup., p. 137, et seq. The deification of human beings of course implied a belief in the immortality of the human soul, and is one of the many standing proofs of that belief. See Heyne’s remarks on Iliad, XXIII. 64 and 104, Vol. VIII. p. 368, 378, et seq.
Vol. VIII. p. 391, et seq.; Aristot. Rep. III. 14, Opp. ed. Bekker, X. p. 87. See also César Cantu, Histoire Universelle, Paris, 1841-1844, Vol. I. Ch. xxviii. xxix.; Constant, Liv. V. Ch. v., and Brouwer's remarks thereon, p. 363, note.
