FEROZEPORE. FETISHISM

[s. 249] : See Firozpuh. It is through more and more complex and elaborate systems toward Christianity, which is the goal of the religions of the world. It is in one sense flattering to the Christian faith, but, in another, it is utterly subversive of some of its most fundamental doctrines. It were better in approaching this subject to leave theories aside for a time, and to deal with simple facts. What is fetishism as it is found still surviving among savage tribes in our time? the objects of worship to which What are we apply the name of Fetish? It would take a volume to name and describe to which is ascribed a sort of magic influence, by the people of all lands, is very great. In North China and in various other countries certain uncanny animals, like the weasel, the fox, or the serpent, are supposed to be attended by baleful influence. ” Wherever found, fetishism gives opportunity This again to the witch-doctor or the diviner. opens the door to the most terrible cruelty, through the “smelling out,” and the appeal to trial by ordeal inevitably leading to sacrifice of human life and legalized butcheries, as in Dahomey or other “ju-ju” centers of West Africa. In its mildest form the appeal to the witch doctor may still be seen among the KafRrs and Zulus in South Africa. If one of the family, as the father, is taken sick, a deputation is sent wiLh a cow or other present to the inyanga, or medical priest, to inquire what is the matter Fetishism Pljl Islands and what is to be done. The priest accepts the present and retires with the deputation to some nook near by, asks them to smite the earth with their rods, and so arouse the spirits, that he may hear what they have to say. After a long series of these performances the priest always comes out with a me age from the divinities to the deputation that the sick man has neglected his religious duties; that it is a long time since he has slaughtered an animal in honor and for the benefit of his ancestral shades; that the best cow must now be offered, so the anger of the gods will be appeased, and the sick man get well. The me engers carry the word back, the sick man accepts it, prayers are offered, sins are confe ed, the best cow is slaughtered, the blood and gall are sprinkled upon persons, houses, and premises, the beef is put away in a hut by itself for the night, and in the morning the people profe to believe that the divinities have been there, have tasted the meat, and are satisfied. The neighbors gather, the beef is roasted and consumed, and the hope is expre ed that the sick man may recover soon. If so, all is well, and the doctor is extolled for his ability and skill in finding out the cause and cure of the sickne ; if not, the doctor is denounced as a great humbug; he has got their cow, but they have got no good. And now they go with another cow to another inyanga and go through the same proce , until finally the man does cither recover or die. How have these ideas gained currency among men? If when found among civilized peoples popular superstitious notions are empirical, if they are the result of slow growth and an imaginary experience, as they certainly are, we may a ume that fetishism among savage tribes has had a similar development. Men have chosen their fetishes as they have come to place their confidence in certain remedies for bodily ailments. A certain medicine may have been selected by mere fancy at first, but if in repeated instances good results were supposed to follow, it. gained currency. And so with the fetish. Indeed, many remedies are mere fetishes, and are given to drive away diseases which are supposed to be caused by evil spirits. Pharmacy and superstition go hand in hand among savage races, and are rarely separated. In both cases there is supposed to be a connection between the objects chosen and the mysterious power of unseen spirits. So far from fetishism representing always the first stage of religious development, and that only, it proceeds side by side with higher forms of religion and intermingles with them. Many of its objects supposed to represent supernatural power have sprung up long after the higher faith was entertained. Fetishism abounds in China, India, Burma, and Ceylon, in spite of the teachings of Confucius and Gautama. It has really more practical influence with the people than all the so called book religions of the East. A distinguished civilian of Ceylon has declared that nine-tenths of the inhabitants of that country are really not Buddhists at all, but are the devotees of various superstitious fancies. The staple of the popular religion is devil-worship, or the fear of evil spirits. And the whole paraphernalia and ritual by which their evil influences are off belong to the category of fetishism. The warded absurd and wide-spread superstition known in China as Fung Shui is practical fe- 232 a supposed mysterious and super something, which inheres in certain objects, resides in certain localities, or hovers over the abodes of the living or the dead. It is tishism; it is natural a system of geomancy, and is especially related to the graves of the departed. It is estimated that in South America there are 7,000,000 of people who still adhere more or le openly to the fetishisms of their forefathers. In almost all nations, that which is unusual a river i uing from a cave, a tree growing in a peculiar shape, a rock which the waters have worn into grotesque forms, certain deformities of the human body is supposed to be attended by weird and preternatural influence. And the functions of witch-doctors, jugglers, medicine men, etc., are supposed to be directed to the proper management of these occult forces. The choice of lucky days or fortunate sites for buildings is supposed to belong to their province. Of the same cla were the haruspices of the Romans, who inspected the entrails of animals or observed the flights of birds in order to direct aright the movements of armies or plan succe ful expeditions. The theory of Comte that fetishism was the awestruck recognition of divine influence in all natural objects was incorrect; else why should particular objects be chosen, why one stone or tree or stream more than another? That which makes a fetish is the differential, which distinguishes it from other objects and concentrates in it the divine and available power; this constitutes its value. It has been uniformly observed that one fetish differs from another in the degree of inherent efficacy. It may differ also from another in the different kind of utility — which attends one accomplishing one good Where the system becomes elaborate, each desirable object of attainment may have its fetish, by whose potency it is to be gained. One of these preternatural objects may avert a given disease, another secure victory over an enemy, another it, result, and another, another. insure the birth of a son. A little reflection will convince us that fetishism is one of the most wide-spread and permanent of all faiths, and that it coexists with every other. If we penetrate the lower strata of society we existing in the most civilized the colored population of our Southern States it prevails to a surprising extent. In spite of the white man’s influence, and that of the Church and school, the “hoodoo” finds awe-stricken you sands to tremble before it. Fetishism is mixed up with the cure of diseases and the selection of times and seasons for entering upon any particular enterprise. Itis at the foundation of the succe of nostrums and quackeries, and manifold expedients supSosed to be induced by the experience of others, [ankind everywhere find the forces of nature at their command, and the fact that these are little understood and always more or le involved in mystery, does not prevent constant experiment. In a sense and in a degree all are yet children groping their way amid occult forces, and those who are most enlightened by science and most exalted in religious privilege may well sympathize with benighted tribes who are left to their gropings merely. Considering their condition, it is not strange that in the silence of nature they are startled by the rustling leaf or by any exceptional phenomenon that shall find countries. it still Among arrests attention, and are only too ready with the help of fancy to clothe it with divine influIt is not strange that when they hear the ence. voice of the thunder, or the roar of the distant waterfall, or the soughing of the waves in some dark, mysterious cave of the rocky shore, they To them there is no true are awe-struck. enlightenment; there is nothing articulate or intelligible in the voices of nature which they hear, and they have learned no wisdom. Having no divine revelation, recognizing no Father above, and only bowed down with vague and mysterious fear, they are ready to accept any resource. And when some designing rain doctor or juggler, witne ing their bewilderment and affliction, proffers his aid to relieve from drought or pestdence or famine, they must trust him; tho he has failed a hundred times they have no option. The totem on the scaffold, the amulets about their necks, are equally dumb and have often failed; but they have no other resource. Generation after generation they grope on amid failures; and such is the imperative nece ity that man shall put his trust in something beyond the range of his own powers, fetishism has for ages proved that, altho barren as Sahara, yet it still exists and must exist till the knowledge of God, the Father of all, and Jesus Christ, the only Savior, shall be made known. Fetishism is something too serious to be regarded with ridicule. It is the most pathetic illustration of human ignorance and destitution. To one who knows that man is made in God’s own image and destined to worship and enjoy Him forever, no spectacle can be more melancholy than to see him embracing with bootle and abortive faith a sensele amulet, a bleached bone, or a carved stick. As an appeal to mi ionary zeal, the fetishism of the world is pathetic and eloquent. It proclaims in strongest terms the desolation of a soul that was made to be a temple of the Holy Ghost, but is in fact worse than empty. As to the manner in which the mi ionary should approach those who are under the thrall of fetishism we may quote from the remarks of Rev. Dr. George Robson, of the United Free Church of Scotland, at the Ecumenical Conference of 1900: The more one learns of these fetish rehgions, the more the conviction deepened that they are not wholly inven. Behind all the deviltry and underneath customs and practises in themselves utterly to be reprobated, there are to be found relics of truth, survivals of purposes and aspirations that, however misdirected, were originally pure. To some, it may seem as if the proper attitude of Christianity (over again.st these degraded religions) is one of simple an tag on i.sm. But this is not the manner of Christian science. true apologetic is here nece ary for exhibiting the glory of Christianity as the final religion for all mankind; and to accomplish tliis in all directions is the function of the mi ionary enterprise. I venture to think that this department of mi ionary apologetic has been comparatively neglected, and that it is most desirable that it should receive immediate and systematic attention. is tions of wickedne . cruelty. and...,... … A Literature: Brintcn (D. G.). Religions of Primitive PeopleSf New York, 1897; Lyall (A.), Natural Religion in 18S5, London, 1891; Schultze (F.) Fetishism, New York,, India. FEZ A city in Morocco, situated at an altitude: of 1,300 feet, 36 miles east by north of Mequinez. It is one of the three residences of the Sultan and a very holy city, founded in 793. The tomb of its founder is a sanctuary for criminals of all kinds. Station of the It has a fine mosque. North Africa Mi ion (1888), with (1902) a mi ionary and his wife, 3 mi ionary women, 1 theological training cla and a dispensary. It is also is Fetlshlam S33 Fiji Islnndii a station of the Gospel Mi ion Union (1894), with a mi ionary and his wife. 251