History and Antiquities, Vol. 1 of 4

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Excerpt from History and Antiquities, Vol. 1 of 4: Of the Cathedral Churches of Great Britain The impressive effect of our cathedral churches is universally admitted, their variety, grandeur, and beauty, have long been subjects of admiration. No other country can boast of an equal number of religious edifices so exquisitely ornamented, so diversified in their structure, yet, at the same time, so harmonious and magnificent in their general appearance. All persons who behold them instantly feel anxious to know something of their historical antiquity. With their history is involved that of religion, which affords a practical illustration of the nature and operations of the human mind. In the origin and progress of religious edifices we discover the influence of devotional feelings, the condition and extent of these buildings evince the expansion of human intellect, the state of the arts, the march of civilization, and the meliorating circumstances of social man. Unhappily, the political annalist is too often obliged to exhibit only views of tyranny and ambition, fraud, rapine, and carnage. The ecclesiastical historian, although not entirely exempt from similar horrors, has always the advantage of being engaged with objects superior to those of mere sense, he is led to the consideration of subjects almost entirely intellectual, to that which concerns the higher, the divine-like faculties of man. Hence the decided superiority of the ecclesiastical over the political historian, the religionist over the warrior. The destruction of an Amalekite by a javelin, or the death of a European by the sword, arc acts too analogous to "present a quarry to the busy mind, " but the erection of an altar or temple in Judea, or a church in Britain, furnishes inexhaustible sources of rational inquiry. The history of the origin, condition, and vicissitudes of such works certainly offers one of the most innocent if not most meritorious of mental enjoyments. Neither the books on the wars of the Israelites, nor the recorded wisdom of Solomon exhibit such clear and definite views of the skill and talents of the Hebrews, as the building of the temple at Jerusalem. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.