113 
All the elements of nature partook of a certain divinity, 
according to the Magian and the Druidical religion, since all 
were united to Deity. The universe is “ imperishable 
and unwearied ; it subsists for ever : from eternity did it 
exist, and to eternity does it last, controlled by One akin to 
it, the mightiest and the highest.-” 
Hence the care to preserve the elements pure became a part 
of their religion. I must confess that for myself I so far share 
their prejudices that I should prefer the breezy air of the 
Wiltshire downs to the atmosphere of Westminster Abbey. 
The very corrupting body of the sinner, according to the 
true doctrines of fire worship, pollutes all creation ! The 
death of the sinner Haman could not take place in the light of 
the king^s presence. Among the true fire worshippers the 
body was delivered to be torn by dogs and by the fowls of 
heaven, lest it should corrupt the pure air of heaven. 
The soul, as a principle of life, was supposed to partake of 
the nature of the central fire. Nothing is more certainly 
recorded in reference to the teaching of the Druids than the 
practical effect which this had in producing a contempt of 
death in their scholars. 
On these points, however, I may not dwell, for the time 
would fail me to tell of all the justice and magnanimity 
ascribed to these kingly priests, who, like Divitiacus, the 
friend of Caesar, could combine both offices in one, and need 
not deliver over to the secular arm the offenders, for it was 
their pleasure to take this into their own hands, and to 
practise vivisection on a most extensive scale. It was con- 
sidered good for the prospects of the coming harvest when an 
unusual number of human sacrifices took place. No doubt they 
assured the vulgar that the well-propitiated sun-god would 
then drive away the mists and unveil his smiling face. 
It is certain that, like the old Accadians, they considered 
that nothing but the life of man could atone for man,* and in 
putting a man to death they only (as the Buddhists say) 
* The sacrifice of the firstborn in honour of the sun-god was one of the 
most notorious rites of ancient Semitic worship. The first month of the 
year and the first sign of the Zodiac referred to this sacrifice, called The 
Sacrifice of Bel. It is to Accad, and not to Phoenicia, that we must look for 
the origin of human sacrifice in Western Asia. This inference is verified by 
two Cuneiform texts in which mention is made of human sacrifice. W e 
have clear indications in these of the sacrifice of children, such as took place 
in Carthage, in Phoenicia, and in Palestine, — also in the British Isles. — See 
Trans. Bib. Arch., iv., p. 25. 
