The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-02-29
THE ORIGIN OF MYTHOLOGY AND
SOME OF ITS TEACHINGS
BY G. H. HICKMAN.


Mankind in all ages has held to some form
of religion. That there is God, or supreme
overriding intelligence that creates and con-
trolls in all the realm of nature, is, and ever
has been, a ruling sentiment of the human
heart. That mantis.an accountable, immortal
being, and that he owes allegiance to su-
preme ruler and moral governor of the uni
verse is also cardinal principle in mans
religious faith. Hence, in all ages, we find
disposition among men to ascribe that which
cannot be oomprehended by sense to the will
and power of god also disposition to con-
ciliate divine favor by means of ceremonies
and sacrifices Assuming then the PROPOSE
ton that man is by nature religious being,
we proceed to consider some of the sources
by which the different nations conceived the
idea of the gods.
In the possession of the art of writing
modern times have advantages far superior to
the early ages. History, written in the truth
of the time, admits of no after innovation
and consequently is uniform as to time and
place. Truth committed to written history is
therefore preserved indefinitely in comparative
purity. But before the art of writing came
into general use, tradition was the only mode
of preserving and spreading knowledge of
accepted truths and remarkable occurrences.
Among the early nations of antiquity many
circumstances contributed to give to traditions
a fabulous character. The employment, on
account of defective language, of allegorical
and symbolical images to express ideas q
disposition to eulogize and exaggerate the ex-
PLOTS of ancestors; natural tendency toward
the marvellous; mistaken conceptions of the
preternatural.an supernatural, all conspired to
corrupt truth and to blend fable with history,
SO that it became impossible in later times to
separate accurately the true from the false.
History thus perverted the Greeks dis
tinguished from authentic history by the
name of naythe ; the contents of such history
as well as the knowledge or study of it,
nythosoqy. By the term mythology we now
consider that branch of knowledge which has
reference to the nations and stories, particu-
larly among the Greeks and Romans, re-
speeding gods and demigods, their supposed
origin, their names, stations, attributes wor-
ship, etc. In its broader sense it includes the
religious fables of all ages and nations.
These fables, interviewer with the national
history and religious faith of the ancient
nations, exhibit to us the reflection upon ma
ture and deity of men guided by sense and
imagination and mistaking natures forces for
independent or voluntary powers. Originally
the traditions of mythology were founded in
part on actual occurrences in part on arbi-
trary fiction, springing from fear, reverence,
gratitude, patriotism, credulity, or duplicity,
and ambition. In passing down from one
generation to another they received many ad-
ditions and subtractions and consequently re-
ceived many changes. Although sometimes
of native origin, they were more frequently
borrowed from foreign sources, and therefore
were, to great extent, the common property
of all nations. Poets wove them into epic
song philosophers clothed them in mystery
and allegory artists gave them expression on
marble and canvas. Very many of the
fictions of mythology had their foundation in
the idea, born of the simplicity and mex
perience of the first ages, viz. that in nature
everything was endowed with activity and
spontaneity like that of man. Consequently
this idea led to the belief, whenever an I'M