The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-10-21
The Childhood OF Religion.

The New York World, reviewing Mrs Ed
ward Cfedd work Bearing thesabove title,
says; The tale of the creation and of the
origin of man, as told in Genesis, Is COM
pared in the present volume with the legends
of the Babylonians, Persians, Hindoos, ETC.,
and with the scientific record of geology,
and the general resemblance of many of the
earlier myths is pointed out as indicating
| their probable descent from still more an
cient common tradition. Following the
sketch of what little is known of prehistoric
man, comes an account of the migrations of
the .Aryan tribes, carrying with them the
legends 7of their birthplace, to be modified
in succeeding generations into not only re-
ligious systems, but much of the folk lore
and fairie which even now holds current in
civilized lands. Cinderella's lost slipper is
traced back to the Rig-Veda; many of
Esop's fables are shown to be borrowed
from Buddah, as half the fairy-tales of our
nursery days have their. prototypes in
chronicles thousands of years old; as the
story of the hound Gellert 'fs found in
China and Egypt" and the prowess of
William Tell, nsutdto aunaSne, lis told not
only in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Fin
land, Russia, Prussia, Persia, and perhaps
India, bls is common to the Turks and
Mongolians, while legend Of the wild
Samoyedes, who never heard of Tell, or
saw book in their lives, relates it, chapter
and verse. of one of their marksmen. +" An
Interestingly subscription is given of the growth
from theSSid Aryan creed of Brahamism; of
Zoroastrianism from which the Jews, dur
ing their Babylonian captivity, derived
ssideas about the immortality of the soul
which their own religion did not contain, 7"
and also borrowed SATAN; of Buddhism
(whence. as the writer argues, descended to
Roman Catholicism, the monastic tonsure,
the worship of relics, holy water, the con-
fessional, and sundry other items of rituaD !;
and of the religion of China. Turning to
Semitic nations, d brief argument showing
the common origin of their languages and
religious myths serves as an introduction TO
in turn to-a study Of the Bible, in which the
author sees book written by learned and
unlearned men, living in different lands
and centuries apart, who brought to its slow
compilation the legends of other races and
still older times, recording ''the experience
of the wisest and best of men of the past in
search after truth, but showing small evil
dence of the infallible inspiration claimed
for it in later days-an inspiration which
would, moreover, .'be without value unless
it was also bestowed upon the men who
translated them, and, in short, upon every
one who, in any way, has had TO do with
placing the Bible in the hands of people of
any age and clime.p In tracing the kinship
of the various mythologies, the object OF
the writer has been to demonstrate that the
Christian creed, s.while beyond question
the highest of all, takes place not distinct
from, but among all religions, past or pres
ent. Its relation to them is not that they
are earth-born, while Il alone. Is. devine.
but it is the relation of one member OF q
family to the other members, who are AL
brothers, having one work, one hope, and
one All-Fatker.T0 HAZ n =