Abram Herbert Lewis - Spiritual Sabbathism

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SPIRITUAL SABBATHISM
It dates back to the taboo. A thing tabooed is at
once blessed and cursed, it is sacro-sanct. Amid such
things the savage lived. Every act of his life was
governed by them. Religion, such as it was, was
the very essence of his conduct.
that we do were forbidden him.
Half of the things
If by accident he
ate of the chieftain's food, which is sacro-sanct, and
then learned whose food it was, he died of fear.
If the medicine man cursed him, the same result
followed. We can catch glimpses of this terrible
energy in the case of peoples suddenly civilized.
A few years ago the person of the Mikado was
sacro-sanct,
and any dish that he touched must be
broken after he used it, must be broken because
a taboo dish is dangerous. Before the Japanese
have lost this sense of the Mikado's sacredness, before
they have ceased to
the life
feel that he may demand
of any subject, before he has ceased to symbolize
all that is dear to his subjects—a great war
comes. The Japanese have meantime suddenly
learned chemistry, engineering, modern military
practice. Young Japan goes forth to die for the
Emperor, and ends by routing a
forces.
Christian nation's
But for what will Japan fight when the Mikado
shall no longer have the sacred right to
command men's lives? The Japanese have