The Mystagogue, or the Origin of Ancient Mysteries and Hieroglyphs

Cause of Idolatry original: "Abgötterey"

Deity glorified through the original image. What was more natural, then, than that the veneration of this image had to reach the greatest strength in man, who is inclined toward the senses. Too weak to imagine an Infinite Being, the power of imagination succumbed to sensuality and allowed itself to be guided by the latter wherever it wished. What has just been said also applies to the Moon, which flattered the upward-looking eye of the worshipping Morgenländer Easterner or Oriental infinitely more than the stronger and too flaming light of the Sun. It was believed that the Moon had the greatest influence on the fertility of the earth, on the production, preservation, and growth of humans, animals, trees, and plants. Its light was thought to carry a fertilizing moisture with it, which was necessary for the production of all things. The Egyptians believed that it caused the fertile flooding of the Nile and had the power to awaken the winds.

§. 4.

Second kind of idolatry.

The clear air that prevails in the Eastern lands always showed the firmament in its starry garment, and seemed to invite the lower inhabitants of these lands to observe it. The power of imagination, which is characteristic of the inhabitants of these lands, presented the stars to them either as dwellings of the Great World Spirit original: "Weltgeist", or as dwellings of higher beings, which according to their philosophy were supposed to be direct emanations from this Great World Spirit. Finally, however, they were given a divine nature themselves. From the point in time when people began to consider the celestial bodies as an object of human veneration, many thousands of deities gradually arose.