Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1870-09-08
ssThe God of Our Fathers

Mr.. Max Muller, in his third lecture
On the .sScience of Religion" (printei
recently in Fraser, referring to a former
lecture at the Royal Institution. obser-
red ~ wish to cali back to your recollec-
ton the fact that, exploring together the
ancient archives of languages, we found
that the highest God had received the same
name in the ancient mythology of india,
Greece, Italy and Germany, and had
retained that name whether worshipped on
the Himalayan mountains, or among the
the oaks of Dodona, on the Capitol, or in
the forests of Germany. [ pointed out
that his name was Dyaus in Sanskrit,
.Zeus in Greek, Jovis in Latin, Tn in
German !; but [ hardly dwelt with sufi-
Gent strength on the startling nature of
this discovery. These names are not
mere names; they are historical facts,
aye, facts more immediate, more trust
worthy, than many facts Of medieval his
tory. These words are net mere words,
but they bring before us, with all the
viyidness Of anevent which we witnessed
ourselves but yesterday. the ancestors of
the whole Aryan race, thousands Of years
it may be before Homer and the Veda,
worshipping an unseen Being, under the
self-same name, the best, the most exalted
name they could find in their vocabulary
under the name of Light and Sky
And let US not turn away, and say that
this way after all but worship and
idolatry. No, it was not meant for that,
though it may have been degraded into
that in later times; Dyans did not mean
blue sky, nor was it simply the SKY
personifed +; it was meant for something
else. We have in the Feda, the invoca-
ton Dyaus pitar, the Greek, Zen pater,
The! Latin, Jupiter. /; and that means in all
shree Languages what it meant before the
three languages were torn asunder-lt
means Heaven Father These two words
are not mere words they are to my mind
the Oldest poem, the oldest prayer of man
kind-or at least of that pure branch to
which we belong-and | am as firmly
convinced that this prayer was uttered,
that this name was given to the unknown
God before Sanskrit was Sanskrit and
Greek was Greek, as when [ sec the
Lord Prayer in the languages of Pol
ynesia and Melancsia, feel that it was
first uttered in the language ofJerusalem.
We little thought when We heard for the
first time the name of Jupiter, degraded
it may be by Homer or Ovid into scold-
ing husband or faithless lover, what
sacred records leg. enshrined in this IN
holy name. I'VE shall have to learn the
same. lesson agsin and again IN the Sci
ence of ReIigion-viz. that the place
whereon we stand is holy ground. Thou
sands of years have passed since the
Aryan nations separated to travel to the
North and the South, the Fast and tue
West; they have ea"h formed their laDgua-
ges, they have each founded empires and
PHILOSOPHERS, they have each built temples
and RACED them to the ground they have
all grown older, and it may be wiser and
better but when they search for name
for what is most exalted and yet most
dear to every one Of US, when they wish
to express both awe and love. the Infinite
and the finite. they can but do what their
old fathers did when gazing up to the
eternal sky, ana feeling the presence Of a
Being as far as far: as near as near can
be they can but combine the self-same
words, and utter once more the primeval
Aryan prayer, Heaven Father, in thai
form which will endure forever, ."Oul
Father which art in heaven"