Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-08-04
RELIGION BY SIGHT.
OBJECT LESSONS L. GAIEXrAL
FAITHS AND MYTHS
of Worship, From Which to
Study Various Religions

Ot Worship FROM WniCn 10
Study Various Religions
Paris correspondent writing to .Scienc,
has the following account concerning
novel collection, or museum soon 10 be
opened to the public in that city:
A remarkable collection will sooa be
opened to the world in Paris. The muni-
cipality has given plot of ground that
cost two hundred thousand dollars on the
Avenue d'Jena, and large and beautiful
stone structure has been erected on it by
the State, under law passed while the
| present President, Carnot, was Finance
Minister. This law secures over three
hundred thousand dollars for the erection
! of a building, and endows the establish
ment with a perpetual annuity of nine
thousand dollars for purposes of mainten-
ance. The glass cases for the collection
are partly placed and partly filled, and
the public will be admitted in a few
months.
The collection is primarily intended to
teach the history OF the development, and
the characteristics, of the Oriental re-
| ligions. The Importance of this study
| strikes us forcibly when we reflect that
these forms Of faith still deeply influence
the daily lives of more than one-half of
| the human race, and that they have SOL
aced and guided tens of thousands of
millions of our fellow creatures.
The originator and collector of this
unique series Of objects is the well-known
student of Oriental languages, NJ. Etieune
Emile Guimet, the son of wealthy citi-
zen of Lyons. He has spent more than
twenty years of an active scholarly life in
voyages to, and residence in, China, Japan
| and other Asiatic lands, and has devoted
several millions of francs from his large
| fortune to this work of public instruction
In his native town he Is also known for his
persistent and muniticent efforts to secure
high-class musical entertainments for the
people and, if his Efforts are measured by
the exquisite congregational singing that
l recently heard in one of the Lyons
churches, his efforts have been signally
successful.
Yesterday spent the morning with NJ.
Guimet, examining the collections already
in place. We first passed through two
long halls, carefully arranged, and lighted
from both sides with high windows-halls.
models for the future architects of the
Metropolitan Museum. Here we found
two comprehensive collections of pottery
-one from China and one from Japan
each arranged geographically and histori-
cally, beginning, in the case of Japan,
with the southern provinces, and ending
with the northern. These most valuable
gifts of NJ. Guimei, however, do not be-
long to my present subject.
From these halls we entered the lofty
library, where are already placed twelve
thousand volumes OF books and manu-
scripts containing official statements in the
original tongues of the dogmas, creeds,
and myths of all the important Oriental
forms Of belief Thence we passed TO au
extensive hall, in which the Japanese re-
ligions are illustrated md classed
illustrations of the earliest form of the
Shinto nature-worship begin the extensive
series. First We have the round metal
mirrors resting upon minute waves of
sculptured wood, that stood high in the
temple to catch the earliest rays of the
rising sun then figures of the simply clad
priests; then the implements for making
the primitive offering of fire and incense
TO the unembodied god. In order of time
follow the paraphernalia OF the Buddhist
priests, who, Gin crossing from Corea,
brought with them their gorgeous ritual
and imposed it upon the nation Then we
have innumerable figures of Buddha and
attendant deities in gold, silver, bronze,
lacquer, and clay, representing the ideas of
the important contending sects into which
Buddhism was soon divided through the
agency of sacerdotal ingenuity
In the middle of the hall, under the
skylight, is the representation of the in
terror OF japanese temple of the first
class, with original images Of all gods be-
fore whom worship is usually conducted.
Here we may see how, in the imagination
of the japanese the sacred Buddha sends
forth four great agencies that save men
through persuasion), they are shown to the
popular eye in the form of golden figures
of prophets in silken robes; and also how
four other emanations from Buddha, SYM
bolical of darkness, compel men to do right
through fear, shown as carved images of
black devils with guashing teeth.
Beyond this group are series of cases
containing thousands of objects explain
ing japanese myths, lives of saints, and
| the stories told about their sacred people
and places. Another extensive hall con-
tains series Of figures and other objects
| calculating the forms Of belief, the myths,
and the folklore Of China. In another
the Greek mythology is systemized, in an
other the Roman, in another the Egyptian.
One of the most interesting cases is that
containing original images from many
places in the countries and islands bordered
by the Mediterranean, showing the yari-
GUS steps by which the Egyptian gods were
accepted and adopted under new names
successively by the Greeks and by the
Romans. The rooms containing the col
lections from the western lands are rs yet
but partly arranged. Enough can be seen,
however, to show how important and COM
plete the series of objects must be-enough
to show that the world furnishes no other
collection Of the kind nearly SO large, or
SO well prepared for the serious study of
the development of Oriental and ancient
civilization.
NJ. Guimet declared that he had no
theory to support in forming his museum.
lie has excluded the Christian and the
Hebrew forms of worship from his scien-
tific treatment, and has confined himself to
those lands where religion dawned upon
mankind, and where great faiths that
dominated extensive territories were de-
veloped. He simply presented the authen-
tic documents and the authorized SYM
bols for the use of the scholar.