UNIVERSAL RELIGION.

of Divi-potes Powerful Gods original: "Divi-potes" (1). Also, Varro, who was very learned in Roman antiquities, and from whom we have these details on the great Gods or Cabiri, attributes the principal Gods of his nation to Nature and its different parts (2). These include Jupiter, Juno, Saturn, Vulcan, Vesta, and all the divinities of the first order.

There was an ancient temple of the sun and the moon in Byzantium, or Constantinople (3). One could see several statues there with their faces looking north. In the middle, in a circular space, rose the statue of the sun. It was represented on a chariot of brilliant whiteness. Near him was the moon, mounted on a chariot drawn by two horses, wearing a crown like those given to Nymphs. It is also known that the founder of the new Byzantium, otherwise called Constantinople, worshipped Apollo, the Sun God (4). This was the true God of his sect, already known as the sect of Christ, or of the Sun God, the principle of light that enlightens every man coming into the world, to use the expression of the evangelist John. The Danube was regarded as a God. Alexander the Great felt he should sacrifice to it to obtain a safe crossing (5). As a result of the same opinion on the divinity of water, this conqueror, upon arriving in Asia, sacrificed to the Ocean, the Hydaspe, and the Acesines which flows into the Hydaspe. Finally, he sacrificed to the Indus, on whose banks he held gymnastic festivals and offered victims (6). Thus, in the past, Aeneas in Italy paid homage to the divinity of the Tiber (7). The Emperor Julian, having become a philosopher, chose the sun for his God. He addressed a superb discourse to it which we still possess,

in which he represents this star as the father of Nature (8), the universal divinity, and the principle of intelligent and sensible beings.

Let us now look at the great nations spread throughout the north of Europe. They had not altered the form of their worship through close communication with the peoples of the south, who were generally more civilized and instructed. We will see that Sabism star worship and the worship of Nature appear even more openly there. The nomadic nations who wandered the vast plains of northern Europe and Asia, known under the general name of Scythians, had the earth as their principal divinity. They and their herds drew their survival from her (9). They gave her Jupiter, or the sky, as a wife, who pours the rains that fertilize her into her womb. For the Orientals in northern Asia gave the name Jupiter to the sky, as Herodotus tells us in the section on the religion of the Persians, of which we will soon speak (10). Justin, in a speech he puts in the mouths of the Scythians (11), has them attribute the organization of the Universe to fire. To them, fire is the demiurgic world-shaping principle, like the "artistic fire" which was a divinity of the Stoics. This was also one of the dogmas of Zoroaster (12), and likely the origin of the worship paid to this element in Persia. It was honored here below as an image and emanation of the primordial fire which composes the substance of the Ether and all the stars. This was especially true of the sun, father of Nature, the great divinity of the Persians, and generally that of the Universe. In all the lower part of northern Europe, and in its western part, the peoples known under the general name of Celtic nations,

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UNIVERSAL RELIGION.

paid religious worship to fire, water, air, earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the vault of heaven, trees, springs, and so on. This was well observed by Peloutier in his history of the Celts (1). The Hungarians professed a religion quite similar to that of the Persians (2). They had neither temples nor images. They worshipped fire as a God and sacrificed horses to it. The Huns worshipped heaven and earth (3). Their leader took the title of Tanjou Son of Heaven. The Franks, passing into Italy under the leadership of King Theudibert, sacrificed the women and children of the Goths. They threw the bodies into the river Po, to which they made this offering as the first fruits of war (4). One sees that these barbarians, though they had adopted the new form of solar worship, or Christianity, had still kept the superstitions of the ancient worship. The Illyrians, the Thessalians, and the people of Iceland worshipped water and rivers, offering them victims. Thus, in Homer, we see the Trojans in Asia sacrificing bulls to the Scamander and throwing live horses into its waves. Agathias tells us that the Germans worshipped trees, sacred woods, hills, and rivers, and sacrificed horses to them (5). Procopius teaches us that the inhabitants of the island of Thule, and all Scandinavians, placed their divinities in the firmament, the earth, the sea, the springs, and running waters (6). The conqueror of the Gauls, Julius Caesar, speaking of the religion of the peoples who inhabited ancient Germany, assures us that the Germans worshipped only the visible cause

and its principal agents: the sun, the moon, and fire or Vulcan (7). They recognized as Gods only those they saw and whose happy influence they experienced. This religious system is exactly the one Eusebius attributes to the Phoenicians and Egyptians. We claim it is the central point to which all religions lead in the final analysis. This worship of Nature by the ancient Germans continued into modern times, since a bishop was forced to proscribe it in Germany (8). "Your fathers," he told them, "left you this superstition as an inheritance, which makes you honor the elements, the moon, the sun, and the stars. You observe the new moon and eclipses, as if you could restore its brilliance with your cries, and as if the elements could come to your aid."

Canute, King of England, made the same prohibition in his states and banished idolatry, explaining what he meant by idolatry. "I intend," he said (9), "to proscribe the worship paid to the sun, the moon, fire, running water, springs, forests, stones, and idols." It is therefore true that this superstition still existed in his states, since he was forced to make a law against it. We know, through Solinus (10), that formerly in Great Britain the sacred fire was maintained in the temple of Minerva. In the county of Kildare, virgins were tasked with maintaining it (11). There are capitularies royal decrees of Charlemagne that proscribe the ancient custom of placing lit candles near trees and springs, which were worshipped superstitiously (12). At

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