DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6094#0178
SICILY AND MALTA. i55
petually coming down in person, and
working miracles, as the heathen gods did
of old. The walls of the temples are co-
vered with the vows of pilgrims, as they
were formerly. The holy water, which
was held in such detestation by the first
christians, is again revered, and sprinkled
about with the same devotion as in the
time of paganism. The same incense is
burnt, by priests arrayed in the same man-
ner, with the same grimaces and genu-
ssections, before the same images, and in
the same temples too. In short, so nearly
do the rites coincide, that were the pagan
high-priest to come back, and re-asTume his
functions, he would only have to learn
a few new names: to get the Mass, the
Paters, and the Aves by heart; which
would be much easier to him, as they are
in a language he understands, but which
his modern successors are often ignorant
of. Some things, to be sure, would puzzle
him; and he would swear that all the
mysteries
petually coming down in person, and
working miracles, as the heathen gods did
of old. The walls of the temples are co-
vered with the vows of pilgrims, as they
were formerly. The holy water, which
was held in such detestation by the first
christians, is again revered, and sprinkled
about with the same devotion as in the
time of paganism. The same incense is
burnt, by priests arrayed in the same man-
ner, with the same grimaces and genu-
ssections, before the same images, and in
the same temples too. In short, so nearly
do the rites coincide, that were the pagan
high-priest to come back, and re-asTume his
functions, he would only have to learn
a few new names: to get the Mass, the
Paters, and the Aves by heart; which
would be much easier to him, as they are
in a language he understands, but which
his modern successors are often ignorant
of. Some things, to be sure, would puzzle
him; and he would swear that all the
mysteries