Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 6.djvu/70

 54 HENEY EUTGERS MARSHALL : tion of evidence which enables us to sift away much that is extraneous, and which places in relief the important relatively stable elements which appear in all the varied religious expressions. 16. It seems to me that a strong argument in favour of the instinctive nature of religious expression lies in its uni- versality in man in one degree or another. It is indeed true that some observers tell as that there are certain savages and some small proportion of the de- graded of our own race who show no tendencies to religious expression, and who can formulate no religious thought : but so far as this is true, it is probably due to a lack of the conditions which usually stimulate to such expression : and we surely should not be led by this fact, if it be a fact, to pronounce in general against the existence of a true 93- ligious instinct in man by which we may account for his religious expressions and sentiments. As well might we deny the existence of the maternal instinct because we find human mothers who seem to be lacking entirely in maternal feeling : as well deny the existence of patriotic instincts, or of benevolent instincts, because a small proportion of men are cowards, or utterly selfish and cruel. It is very true that the masses of the people are influenced to religious expression from their early childhood by habits enjoined upon them by those who guide their young lives ; or by imitation of the actions of those whom they fear or admire. It is indeed barely possible, theoretically, that if a child were brought up without any religious influence what- ever, it might show none of the characteristic religious expressions ; although satisfactory experiment in this direc- tion could scarcely be made, for the simple reason that religious expression direct or indirect is so widespread in all that we see and hear in life that it would be all but impos- sible to make an experiment of the kind mentioned which would be conclusive. But suppose for the moment that the experiment were successfully made, we should certainly not prove thereby that religious activities are not instinctive : as well might one attempt to prove that the little alligator has no instinct leading it to snap at its enemy by experimentally eliminating from its environment the stimuli which bring the instinct into evidence. As a matter of fact the mark of the existence of an instinct within us is not the appearance in all men of certain activities, but rather the aptitude for the production of cer- tain co-ordinated actions, of certain trends of action, if the