Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

i68 Old Irish Religions.
he observed to have none—" because," said he, '' they do
not beheve that the gods partake of our human nature."
Before the day when teraphim idols were known in the
family tent of Jacob, men were accustomed to symbolize
by images the attributes of the Deity ;
and it is no great
reflection upon the Irish character that Erin should once
have bowed to idols.
We are told by the Wisdom of Solomon, 14th chap.,
that "graven images were worshipped by the commandment
of Kings." Froude reminds us that, now, " in
place of the old material idolatry, we erect a new idolatry
of words and phrases." It might be added, that many of
the political, religious, and social sentiments of the day
are bowed to as fetishes, in defiance alike of reason and
common sense. There are more forms of idolatry than
the old Irish worship of Black Crom. In kneeling to that
image, the man had doubtless in his mind and heart the
real God whom it
but symbolized.
SERPENT FAITH.
No country in Europe is so associated with the Serpent
as Ireland, and none has so many myths and legends connected
with the same. As that creature has furnished so
many religious stories in the East, and as the ancient faiths
of Asia and Egypt abound in references to it, we may
reasonably look for some remote similarity in the ideas of
worship between Orientals and the sons of Erin.
That one of the ancient military symbols of Ireland
should be a serpent, need not occasion surprise in us.
The Druidical serpent of Ireland is perceived in the Tara
brooch, popularized to the present day. Irish crosses, so
to speak, were alive with serpents.