The Star in the West

The Old Bottle W . CHAT is religion ? In its primitive form , meta tarsals ; in its ultimate , . ancestors would walk through the lightning and thunder of the uncivilized day , with a string of charmed knuckle - bones slung round their throats ; whilst we in our turn walk through the drizzle and fog of the present decivilized night , with a rosary of ideals twined round our minds : one worshipped a bogey , the other a bogus . O! sancta simplicitas : homo indeed is sapiens ! Have we progressed ? Not one whit . Worship is at all times and everywhere one and the same , an insult to the offerer and the receiver alike ; sacrifice , the egotism of usurers ; prayer , the misdirected energy of idiots ; ceremony but an excuse for vice ; and dogma but a legitimized imposition . Such is religion ! Why , then , has man ever sought this Moloch of his nights , shedding o'er it his own blood , and drench ing it with that of others , if it prove but an incubus of sorrow and despair ? Firstly , because most men are fools ; secondly , because those who are not are knaves . I take no heed of trickery played By cunning mad Elijah's skill , When the great test of strength was made On Carmel's melancholy hill , And on the altar stone the liar Cried “ Water ," and poured forth Greek fire !' 1 Ahab , vol . ii, p . 123 .