Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/751

Rh generations which stood nearest the revelation were least affected by it.

Religion consists of creed and ritual. What is the origin and nature of these facts? The religious creed is the embodiment of man's view of the supernatural constitution of the universe. It defines the origin and nature of the powers which stand outside of human life, and the manner in which they brought into being the whole system of things; it describes the character of the relations between them and men, resulting from the attributes of the deities. From these premises the ritual law prescribes the processes by which the favor of the supernatural powers is to be secured.

The main article of the creed, the theology or doctrine of the deity, is the result of reflection. Man demands a ground for the external world, which he naturally at first thinks of as animated by spirits like his own. To these spirits he ascribes passions such as he is conscious of in his own nature. Every object becomes for him a living creature; he refers every phenomenon to an invisible spiritual nature. In process of time he separates the agent from the object or phenomenon, and regards it as an independent power, endowed with such qualities as are suggested by the particular conditions of the case. A deity thus arises, who is gradually invested with a history. Myths which embody natural phenomena or ritual processes, legends which spring from vague recollections of historical occurrences, symbolical stories expressing ethical and other thought gather around his person, and gradually build up for him a distinct individuality. The qualities ascribed to him are modified generation after generation and age after age in accordance with the social development of the community. Starting from his undefined, primitive character, the deity becomes a warrior or a sage, malevolent or beneficent according to the conditions which determine his growth. His ethical nature at any given time will reflect the moral ideas of the community at that time. Man's consciousness of the two opposing elements of good and evil in nature will lead him to apportion beneficial and hurtful attributes and acts among the gods. Those of them who are good will be credited with the best qualities that men can think of, and the bad will tend to become as bad as can be. The latter may then retain their independence and autonomy (as in the Persian religion), or they may be degraded to a subordinate position and retain their power and existence only through the sufferance of the supreme Deity (as among the Hebrews).

This process of constructing the deity supposes a parallel process of self-analysis by man. He finds himself forced by all the conditions of life to inquire into his own nature and needs, and thus gradually builds up an anthropology. This belongs in itself to the domain, not of religion, but of science. But it is the