MEDITATIONS AND CRITICISMS 191 



spot or blemish, and the body of the priest who of- 

 fered it was to be without blemish. Can there be 

 any doubt but that a man's religious nature, his 

 sense of sacred and invisible things, was quickened 

 by such a ceremony ? Before the victim was 

 slaughtered wine was thrown upon its head, that it 

 might nod in token of consent. This, too, was a 

 false idea, since any strange liquid thrown upon the 

 head of a sheep or heifer, and allowed to run down 

 upon the nose and into the mouth, will cause the 

 animal to toss its head, as if in affirmation ; but this 

 only served to clinch the belief of the sacrificer in 

 the immediate presence of the God. 



If one could only believe that the stars were so 

 many eyes of supernatural beings looking down upon 

 him, and beholding his every act, would he not be 

 more careful about doing a mean thing beneath 

 them ? Yet such an idea would not be good as- 

 tronomy. History is full of false or foolish ideas 

 that have been productive of great good. In our 

 day we should look upon an enthusiasm like that 

 which gave rise to the Crusades as very absurd ; the 

 notion that was the parent of this great movement 

 was undoubtedly a mistaken one, and yet it is con- 

 sidered that the Crusades were a good thing for 

 Europe. Such a mighty impulse of generosity and 

 devotion to an idea could not be otherwise than 

 good. " He maketh the wrath of man to praise 

 him," and the folly of man, too. Whatever creates 

 a noble impulse or quickens our sense of the imma- 

 nence of spiritual and invisible things is justified 



