The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-03-29
read the lovely chorus Of ATLANTA In Calydon,
o, that I now too were


o, that now too were
By deep wells and waterhoods.
Miss and Mr. Rossett are described together,
for qualities that neither possesses though they
are very unlike. Consequently MI. Eugene
Lawrence would better study Mr.. Stedman's
Victorian Poets, than which no critical volume
is more Just, more elegant or more fairly pro-
portioned.
O. her volumes of the Half Hour series are
Modern France, an interesting sketch by Mr..
G. M. Towle; John, q lively paper on the Chi
nese Question, by Mr.. 7. W. Knox; and Gold
smiths famous comedies, She Stops to Con-
quer, and the Goodnatured Man. Cor sale by
Loring, Short & HARMONY
Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Relig-
ion, as illustrated by the Religions of India, by
f. Max Muller, M. A, New York Charles
Scribner's Sons. For sale by Loring Short &
Harmon.
These lectures are interesting, in the first
place, as being Introductory to succession OF
scholarly discussions of religion by the most
competent English speaking minds. They are
called "The HILBERT Lectures" aud are the
first fruits of that "lectureship." James MAI
tineau, Dean Stanley and sixteen others adj
dressed memorial to the trustees of the Hb-
bert fund, in which they say;-"Such institu-
tions as the hampton Lecture at the UNIVERSE
ty of Oxford, and the younger foundation OF
the Congregational Lecture among one branch
of orthodox Nonconformsts, have done much
to direct the public mind to certain well-de-
fined views of Christianity. We believe that
similar institution might prove of high service
in promoting independence Of judgment COM
bined with religious reverence by exhibiting
clearly from time to time some of the most i'm
portant results of recent study in the great
fields of philosophy, of Biblical criticism, and
comparative theology"
The trustees acceded to this request and it,
stituted the "Hibbert Lecture" The lectures
before us are the first given on that foundation
and we're delivered last summer in the Chapter
House of Westminster Abbey. So great was
the demand for tickets that Prof. Muller was
obliged to deliver each lecture twice. The next
series is to be delivered by M. lie Page Renouf,
on the Religions of Egypt.
In the present series the author undertakes q
radical investigation of the sources of religion
He asks and answers the question, GLOW is it
that we have religion?"-a question which
he regards as having been too much neglected.
He finds the origin of religion-or rather no
primary and essential substance-in a natural
and universal presentiment of the infinite.
The naturalness of the faculty" which, inde-
pendent of sense and reason, enables man to
apprehend the infinite under different names
and DISCUSSES, he maintains by philosophical
/ L.
many historic sources, especially from the his
tory of religion in India. His work is in its
proper sense polemical, but there appears a
sufficiently pronounced antagonism to the
opinion that man has no natural present iment
of the infinite, to the opinion that religion
comes by revelation, and to the opinion that
religion has been evolved from primitive and
universal Fetishism.
In his first lecture, on The Perception of the
Infinite, he takes square issue with the posi-
tive philosophy, and, accepting pro torma its
dictum that sense and reason are mans only
sources of knowledge, he maintains that ever
by these are afforded intimations of an Infinite
presence.
The second lecture contains an elaborate and
exceedingly interesting discussion of Fetish
ism,-in opposition to the theory of many tina
it is the germinal form of religion. The au
thor holds on the contrary, that it has antece
dents, and is commonly associated with highe
and purer ideals than itself represents. Thi
point he illustrates as follows:-"A negro wa
worshiping a tree, supposed to be his fetish
with an offering of food, when some European
asked whether he thought the tree could eat
The negro replied, 'Oh, the tree is not the iet
ish, the fetish is spirit and invisible, but hi
has descended into this tree. Certainly he can
not devour our bodily food, but he enjoys it.
spiritual part and leaves behind the bodily
part which we see.'"
The other five lectures treat specifically Of
the religions of India, from the standpoint in
dictated in the lectures above mentioned. They
are entitled The Ancient Literature of India
so far as it Supplies Materials for the Study Of
the Origin of Religion;-The Worship of Tan
gble, semi-Tangible, and Intangible Objects;-
The Ideas of Infinity and Law;-On Henothe
sm, Polytheism, Monotheism, and Atheism -
Philosophy and Religion.
The book will be widely welcomed and mus
be regarded as an important contribution Il
the pending discussion of the bases and sane
tons of religion. c. w. B,