Forlong - Rivers of Life

Introductory Chapter.
require another colour, for with the rise of the Rig Veda sprang up, though crude and
dimly, the noblest and purest worship of man—Theism, or the worship of one God,
our spiritual Father, without parts, passions, or competitors. It is, therefore, necessary
to bring in here an eighth colour, which I do by a band of red. For reasons to be
hereafter given, I do not show here Fetish and Animal worship, as these more or less
prevail throughout all the streams of Faith, and are not distinct streams, with temples
and sacred books of their own; but of this I shall have more to say hereafter, especially
when speaking of Skandinavian Faiths.
I must now say something as to the rise of these streams of Faith. As facts are
at present known to the learned, we might put them any distance back into the blanks
of Chaos or Kronos, for the figures seen in my Chart as years before 2800 B.C., or even
much later, might, in regard to Faiths, be put down as doubtful blanks, and blanks in
general history also, which it would seem we can never fill up, at all events until
geology, at present a comparative science, resolves itself into an exact one. A
remarkable work, entitled Pre-Historic Nations, by J. D. Baldwin, A.M., London,
1869, amasses an enormous amount of evidence to show the vast antiquity of civilisation
generally, and to demonstrate the existence of a cultivated race in Hindoostan
long before the conquest of that peninsula by the Aryan race. He adduces, says
Inman (and in this I fully agree with the learned Doctor), good reasons for believing
that the Linga and Yoni worship in India, the veneration of the people for Siva, and
the use of Cavern Excavation for religious purposes, preceded both Brahmanism and
Boodhism, and was the form of worship found among the Dasyoos and other aborigines
of India. This is now well established, and I will confirm it further when speaking of
these races. This author clearly demonstrates that a very ancient civilisation existed
at a period which the majority of authors describe as one of utter barbarism, in fact
that, go where you will, you will find the remains of a once powerful people.
But, beyond this Aryan flight, history and facts are almost silent, and are dim
even here; yet the world did not commence then, nor are scientific men, especially
philologists, resting here; they are busy now tracing back the Aryans to their earlier
homes in upper Asia and Europe, and in searching out the early tongues and faiths of
the aborigines of all lands. For the present, however, we must rest content with the
dim ages and dark shadowy forms of men and races which existed before those days;
and in my Chart I then show all the six streams of colour strongly tending easterly to
form the great Hindoo body of faiths, and westerly to Asia Minor and Egypt. Let us
leave science and philosophy still to strive alone here, and avoid trying to cramp their
cautious, critical, and ever wisely sceptical spirit, concerning ancient as well as modern
priests, their tales, and theologies. Where God has not yet granted us light let us
wait, though not sit idle; nor yet let us concoct our own crude stories of a genesis
“of the heavens and earth,” because we have no light or revelation; for there are many
more earths than ours, and He is the one unknown and all-creating Almighty power.
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