Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Irish Gods.
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learned Professor Rhys asserts, that— " most of the myths
of the modern Celts are to be found manipulated, so as
to form the opening chapters of what has been usually
regarded as the early history of the British Isles." So
we know of other lands, that their chronicles may be a
disguised form of faith, clad in the mysticism fostered by
all priests.
As ancient mythologies, apparently so idle and meaningless,
are now perceived to embody truths, scientific and
religious, so the seemingly foolish traditions of nations,
descriptive of their early history, are recognized to convey
ideas more or less astronomical and theological.
Nature Worship has been regarded as the foundation
of all religions. Aristotle left this remarkable sa}-ing,
" When we try to reach the Infinite and the Divine by
means of mere abstract terms, are we even now better tlian
children trying to place a ladder against the sky ? " Early
man could not avoid anthropomorphizing the Deity. The
god could show himself. He could walk, talk, come
down, go up. Earlier still, man saw the reflection of
the godhead in the sun, the storm, or the productive
forces.
Boscawen writes— " The religion of Assyria was in
constitution
essentially a Nature worship ; its Pantheon was
composed of deifications of Nature powers. In this opinion
I know I differ considerably from other Assyriologists,
Mr. Sayce, M. Lenormant and others being of opinion
that the system was one of solar worship." An author
speaks of "one great surge of voluptuous Nature worship
that swept into Europe."
According to Pliny—" The world and sky, in whose
embrace all things are enclosed, must be deemed a god,
eternal, immense, never begotten, and never to perish.