Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/49

Rh and moon were depicted on the banners which were borne before him on State occasions. The same practice had been adopted in Japan as early as 700, and there is a relic of it at the present day in the Japanese national flag, which is a red sun on a white ground. The ancient kings of Egypt called themselves earthly suns. Our own poet Waller, addressing James II., says:—

Let us not pass by these metaphors with a disdainful smile, as mere unsubstantial poetic fancies. They are more or less rude attempts to give expression to the very important truth that the benefits which a nation derives from the rule of a wise and good sovereign are comparable to the blessings of the sun's warmth and light. As Browning, in 'Saul,' has well said:—

It may be objected that it is contrary to the general law of human development to make the higher metaphorical conception precede the lower physical one. It is no doubt true that the physical idea of fatherhood must come before the metaphorical use of this relationship. But it does not follow that when once the metaphor is arrived at, it may not relapse into its original physical acceptation. The forces which produce religious progress act by waves, with