Book Description

Excerpt from The Origins of Religion and Language, Considered in Five Essays The name given to this book on the title-page was suggested by a friend, and it was adopted by the publisher in its first announcement, under the impression that I had proposed or approved it. I felt, however, and still feel, that such a title may seem to promise too much; but after full consideration I have retained it, on the ground that it expresses, clearly and concisely, the. principles which have guided me throughout the work. In the three Essays on the oldest forms of religion of which we have contemporary or trustworthy records, my object has been to prove that they were derived from a common source, and that all that is true, ennobling, and spiritual in them is due to that origin. In the Essay on the Rig Veda, I have first called attention to the certain fact that, at the period when the hymns were produced, two systems co-existed; the one resting upon a moral and spiritual basis; the other wholly naturalistic, personifying and adoring physical forces and agencies. In the second place, I have insisted upon the no less certain, though too often unnoticed fact that, of these two systems, the former was by far the more ancient, and that it represents the fundamental principles which were recognised by the ancestors of the Aryan race. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.