The Collection of Antiquities
THE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES BY HONORE DE BALZAC Translated By Ellen Marriage DEDICATION To Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, Member of the Aulic Council, Author of the History of the Ottoman Empire. Dear Baron,--You have taken so warm an interest in my long, vast "History of French Manners in the Nineteenth Century," you have given me so much encouragement to persevere with my work, that you
1. Secret associations are of very ancient origin. They existed among
the ancient Egyptians, Hindoos, Grecians, Romans, and probably among
nearly all the pagan nations of antiquity. This fact, however is
neither proof of their utility nor of their harmlessness. Slavery,
despotism, cruelty, drunken falsehood, and all sorts of sins and
crimes have been practiced from time immemorial, but are none the less
to be reprobated on that account.
2. The facts that these associations had no existence among the
Israelites, who, alone of all the ancient nations, enjoyed the light of
Divine revelation, and that they originated and flourished among the
heathen, who were vain in their imaginations; whose foolish heart was
darkened, and whom God gave up to uncleanness through the lusts of
their own hearts (Rom. i: 21-24), is a presumptive proof that their
nature and tendency are evil. We do not claim that all the
institutions among God's ancient people were right and good; nor that
every institution among the heathen was sinful and injurious; still,
that which was so popular among those whom the Bible declares to have
been filled with all unrighteousness; that which was so pleasing to
men whom God had given over to a reprobate mind and to vile affections
(Rom. i: 26-28); that which made a part of the worship which the
ignorant heathen offered up to their unclean gods, and which was
unknown among God's chosen people, is certainly a thing to be viewed
with suspicion. A thing of so bad origin and so bad accompaniments we
should be very slow to approve. The fact that many good men see no
THE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES BY HONORE DE BALZAC Translated By Ellen Marriage DEDICATION To Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, Member of the Aulic Council, Author of the History of the Ottoman Empire. Dear Baron,--You have taken so warm an interest in my long, vast "History of French Manners in the Nineteenth Century," you have given me so much encouragement to persevere with my work, that you