Ramsay ’ s Spiritual Entourage in France
But this tradition is confused . Firstly , since hieroglyphs are not conjugated , phrases referring to the future were interpreted as reflecting the past , so that today we take news of the Messiah for the ancient exploits of some mythical hero . There is also much confusion around names . The pagans were not polytheists but polyonomists : they worshipped the trinity ( Father , Son , Holy Ghost ; Jupiter , Mars , Minerva ) under different names . 44 Moreover , the science of hieroglyphics has been lost and the Greeks , through Homer , introduced all kinds of unsubstantiated legends .
Universal Brotherhood
Nevertheless , there is a point of
convergence between Christians and pagans , be they from antiquity or in modern times , for example the native Americans ( who Ramsay had read about in the Mœurs des sauvages américains comparées aux mœurs des premiers temps by the Jesuit Joseph-François Lafitau ) 45 : across the ages , some more elevated individuals knew how to access the real rays of divine and truth :
We must not however think , that the Pagans alone were guilty of these degradations , alterations and false explications of the sacred symbols and ancient traditions . As men are much the same in all nations , ages and religions , and that human nature is an inexhaustible source of ignorance , self-love and cupidity , the members of the visible church both Jewish and Christian fell into far greater tho ’ very different abuses , and misinterpretations of ancient tradition , than the Pagans . [ ... ] They have interpreted all the glorious promises about the reign of the Messiah to the external splendour of the Christian hierarchy ; changed true , saving , supernatural faith into a speculative belief of the divine mysteries which the devils believe and tremble ; supernatural hope into a spiritual concupiscence , and pure love into a refined self-idolatry ; and , in fine , they have substituted the Judaical practice and observation of the external means , in place of true prayer , inward mortification and perfect self-denial . 46
Thus , the only practices necessary for salvation are true prayer , inward mortification , and perfect self-denial . Here we find elements of the mysticism of Pure Love propounded by Fénelon and Mme Guyon .
44 Ramsay , The Philosophical Principles , Part 2 , p . 87 .
45 Joseph-François Lafitau , Mœurs des sauvages amériquains comparées aux mœurs des premiers temps ( Paris : Saugrain l ’ aîné , 1724 ). Available on the Gallica website . Translated into English as Customs of the American Indians Compared with the Customs of Primitive Times , 2 vols ., ed . and trans . William Fenton and Elizabeth Moore ( Toronto : Champlain Society , 1974 and 1979 ). On the relationship between Father Lafitau and the Chinese Figurists , including Fathers Bouvet and Prémare , see Pinot , La Chine et la formation de l ’ esprit philosophique , pp . 354-358 .
46 Ramsay , The Philosophical Principles , Part 2 , pp . 20-21 .
13