religion. The highest order of priestesses were vowed to perpetual celibacy, and lived in consecrated places. A second order were allowed to live with their husbands on certain days, when their services were not wanted in religious ceremonies; some say it was only one day in the year. A third order, attendants upon the others, resided with their families, and reared children for the priesthood. Among Asiatic nations, voluptuousness is the only feeling excited by women; and the female character is consequently feeble and shallow. Never allowed to think or act for themselves, the intellectual and high moral qualities of human nature slumber in complete inaction. The customs of Celtic tribes in Europe were remarkably the reverse of this. Men were themselves in a rude and barbarous condition, but such as it was, women were on the same level. Both sexes held consultation together in councils of state, and fought in battle with equal bravery. Among the Teutones, women were the only physicians. In Asia, there were always ten prophets to one prophetess. But Celtic nations believed that women were endowed with supernatural powers in a pre-eminent degree. Tacitus says: "The Germans suppose some divine and prophetic quality resident in their women, and are careful neither to disregard their admonitions nor neglect their answers." Strabo relates that the Cimbri were followed to war by venerable gray-haired prophetesses, barefooted, in white linen robes, fastened with clasps and girdles of brass. "These go with drawn swords through the camp, strike down the prisoners they meet, and drag them to a brazen kettle. The priestess ascends a platform above it, cuts the throat of the victim, and from the manner in which the blood flows into the vessel, she judges of future events. Others tear open the bodies of captives thus butchered, and from inspection of the entrails presage victory to their own party." The Druids alone had power to determine whose blood would be most acceptable to the gods. They generally sacrificed captive enemies or convicted criminals; but sometimes innocent natives were chosen for that purpose, VOL. I.--32* and the dread of such a fate greatly increased the fear and reverence which the populace entertained toward priests and priestesses. In all cases where the life of a man was concerned, they supposed the deities could be appeased only by the life of a man. Thus, if one man had shed the blood of another, his own must be shed. If a man was in danger from desperate illness, or about to incur uncommon perils, they supposed the danger was incurred by sins, and that they might be atoned for by the sacrifice of another man. In such cases they made vows to the gods to sacrifice a human victim, if their own lives were spared; and such vows they were religiously bound to perform. Sometimes, to atone for national sins, or avert national calamities, they sacrificed whole hecatombs of human beings, as the Hindoos used to sacrifice a thousand horses at once, and the Greeks a hundred oxen. On such occasions, they made a huge image of basket-work, in the shape of a man, and filled it with men, women, and children. Then they surrounded it with combustibles, and they all perished in the flames. These victims were generally captives and criminals, who were sometimes reserved for several years, till an occasion occurred to offer them all together. The cruelty of this custom was softened to their own minds by a belief that victims offered to the gods were purified from all mortal stain by the process, and raised to an equality with superior natures. It was the universal faith that all events happened according to unalterable laws of destiny, known only to the gods, and revealed by them to certain favoured mortals. They fully believed that criminals could be detected by subjecting suspected persons to ordeals, such as walking on red-hot metals, or plunging the arm into boiling oil. If they were guiltless, people believed that Good Spirits would interfere for their protection, and they would escape unharmed. Earthquakes, tempests, and other convulsions of nature, were supposed to be occasioned by the death of some great man. Their morality was rather of an external character, but extremely strict in its laws. Bravery was the crowning virtue in men, and chastity in women. A high proud sense of personal honour was the restraining principle in both. Licentiousness was much detested, and of rare occurrence. Heroes, who died fighting for their country, were perfectly certain of passing at once into a paradise of eternal joy, whatever might be their character in other respects. This belief inspired men with wild and furious courage, and a reckless contempt of death. They gave strong proof of faith in a future existence; for they frequently loaned money on a solemn promise that it should be repaid to them in another world. It was likewise common to put letters in the hands of the dead, with the fullest belief that they would deliver them to departed souls, according to direction. If people killed themselves, from a wish to accompany deceased friends, it was supposed that their souls would dwell together. Druids had the Persian feeling concerning statues. They never represented the gods by images. Their religious ceremonies were períormed in consecrated caverns and groves of the forest. They supposed such dark and solemn places were the favourite resort of powerful spirits, from whom oracular communications could be obtained by the performance of appropriate rites. Military standards were kept in the hallowed recesses of these sacred caverns. When the Druids delivered them to warriors going to battle, they pronounced terrible imprecations on the heads of their enemies, devoting them all as victims to Tuisco, god of war. The consecrated groves were approached with religious awe. Men would have been terrified with fears of vengeance from offended deities, if they had cut down one of the trees, even by mistake. They hung them with garlands and trophies, and the remains of victims that had been offered. On altars among the trees were placed oblations of fruit, grain, and flowers; and through thickly interwoven boughs rose the smoke of burnt-offerings; of men and animals sacrificed to propitiate the gods. Celtic nations adopted some of the Roman deities, after they became a portion of that empire; but they worshipped them according to their ancient fashion, in caverns, or groves, or on huge altars of stone reared in the open plain. Many vestiges of these old Druidical monuments remain in France and England. On the island of Anglesea are the ruins of a temple, that enclosed twenty-two acres; and a single one of the stones, when broken in pieces, made twenty cart-loads. The famous ruins at Stonehenge, in England, are supposed to have been an ancient Temple of the Sun. The masses of stone are so immense, that the neighbouring peasantry to this day believe they must have been brought together by agency of the devil. In some places, rocks of prodigious size are poised on small ones, in such a manner that they can be easily put in motion, though the strength of a giant could not destroy their balance. There were but few temples erected for this worship, and some of them are said to have resembled those of Hindostan. Another proof of the Asiatic origin of these tribes is found in the fact that the ancient language of Germany, called Teutonic, bears a very strong resemblance to Sanscrit. In the century preceding the Christian era, Roman emperors abolished human sacrifices among these people, and deprived the Druids of power, on account of their dangerous political influence. JEWS. JEHOVAH! shapeless Power above all powers, WORDSWORTH. THE history of the Jews commences with Abraham, their most celebrated patriarch, the tenth generation from Noah. It is supposed he was born in Chaldea, about two thousand years before Christ. He was doubtless educated in the planetary worship of the Chaldeans, and accustomed to adore the images by which they represented the Spirits of sun and stars. Joshua, addressing the tribes of Israel, long after Abraham's day, says: "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood [the river Euphrates] in old time; even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods." The Greek historian, Suidas, asserts that Terah was a statuary, and made images of the gods for sale. Among the traditions of Jewish Rabbis, it is recorded that Terah, having occasion to take a journey, left his business in the care of Abraham. A man, who came in, apparently to purchase, asked Abraham how old he was. He replied: "I am fifty." "Yet you worship an image made but yesterday!" rejoined the stranger. These bold words made a deep impression upon Abraham. Some time after, a woman brought flour as an offering to the gods; but Abraham, instead of presenting the oblation, placed a hatchet in the hands of the largest |