A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus and its Connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus and its Connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients by Richard Payne Knight, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Richard Payne Knight ISBN: 9781465578488
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Richard Payne Knight
ISBN: 9781465578488
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English

MEN, considered collectively, are at all times the same animals, employing the same organs, and endowed with the same faculties: their passions, prejudices, and conceptions, will of course be formed upon the same internal principles, although directed to various ends, and modified in various ways, by the variety of external circumstances operating upon them. Education and science may correct, restrain, and extend; but neither can annihilate or create: they may turn and embellish the currents; but can neither stop nor enlarge the springs, which, continuing to flow with a perpetual and equal tide, return to their ancient channels, when the causes that perverted them are withdrawn. The first principles of the human mind will be more directly brought into action, in proportion to the earnestness and affection with which it contemplates its object; and passion and prejudice will acquire dominion over it, in proportion as its first principles are more directly brought into action. On all common subjects, this dominion of passion and prejudice is restrained by the evidence of sense and perception; but, when the mind is led to the contemplation of things beyond its comprehension, all such restraints vanish: reason has then nothing to oppose to the phantoms of imagination, which acquire terrors from their obscurity, and dictate uncontrolled, because unknown. Such is the case in all religious subjects, which, being beyond the reach of sense or reason, are always embraced or rejected with violence and heat. Men think they know, because they are sure they feel; and are firmly convinced, because strongly agitated. Hence proceed that haste and violence with which devout persons of all religions condemn the rites and doctrines of others, and the furious zeal and bigotry with which they maintain their own; while perhaps, if both were equally well understood, both would be found to have the same meaning, and only to differ in the modes of conveying it.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

MEN, considered collectively, are at all times the same animals, employing the same organs, and endowed with the same faculties: their passions, prejudices, and conceptions, will of course be formed upon the same internal principles, although directed to various ends, and modified in various ways, by the variety of external circumstances operating upon them. Education and science may correct, restrain, and extend; but neither can annihilate or create: they may turn and embellish the currents; but can neither stop nor enlarge the springs, which, continuing to flow with a perpetual and equal tide, return to their ancient channels, when the causes that perverted them are withdrawn. The first principles of the human mind will be more directly brought into action, in proportion to the earnestness and affection with which it contemplates its object; and passion and prejudice will acquire dominion over it, in proportion as its first principles are more directly brought into action. On all common subjects, this dominion of passion and prejudice is restrained by the evidence of sense and perception; but, when the mind is led to the contemplation of things beyond its comprehension, all such restraints vanish: reason has then nothing to oppose to the phantoms of imagination, which acquire terrors from their obscurity, and dictate uncontrolled, because unknown. Such is the case in all religious subjects, which, being beyond the reach of sense or reason, are always embraced or rejected with violence and heat. Men think they know, because they are sure they feel; and are firmly convinced, because strongly agitated. Hence proceed that haste and violence with which devout persons of all religions condemn the rites and doctrines of others, and the furious zeal and bigotry with which they maintain their own; while perhaps, if both were equally well understood, both would be found to have the same meaning, and only to differ in the modes of conveying it.

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book Callias: A Tale of the Fall of Athens by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Canons by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Babylonian Talmud: Part VIII by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Practical Exercises in Elementary Meteorology by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book The Stone Chamber by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Arsene Lupin in Prison by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Down-Adown-Derry: A Book of Fairy Poems by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Israël en Égypte: Étude Sur Un Oratorio De G.F. Hændel by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book The Danes Sketched by Themselves (Complete): A Series of Popular Stories by The Best Danish Authors by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Cardello by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book The Love Affairs of Great Musicians (Complete) by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book John and Betty's History Visit by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book This Man's Wife by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book Le Dernier Chevalier by Richard Payne Knight
Cover of the book He Who Gets Slapped: A Play in Four Acts by Richard Payne Knight
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy