Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/752

732 basis of religion. Without the knowledge of man the knowledge of God would be useless for religious purposes; the two go hand in hand. The former springs from and is applied to all the relations of human life. The part of it which comes to be distinctively religious is the consciousness of dependence on God, with all the convictions and feelings which therewith connect themselves. This consciousness has a history similar to that of man's theological creed. It is at first simple and fleshly, relating to man's animal passions and needs; it is purified by time, growing till it attains a well-developed ethical-spiritual shape. From being a creature who needs only food and raiment, man comes to be a highly endowed soul with aspirations after moral perfectness, and at each step the deity must be able to satisfy his needs.

The history of the genesis of things is in itself no more religious than anthropology. How the world, and man, and the gods came into existence are essentially scientific questions; they assume a religious aspect from the fact that they are interwoven with man's really religious conceptions. The first attitude of the human mind on these points is one of indifference; men accept known facts without question. A period of reflection follows; interest is felt in the problem of origins. The construction of the world is assigned, of course, to the supernatural powers; the process of creation is thought of as similar to human methods of work: the world is said to have issued from an egg, or to have been formed from the limbs of a giant, or to have been fashioned in some way familiar to man. The genesis of man is explained in a similar manner. He is born of divine or half-divine parents, or fashioned out of stone or clay. The gods themselves are supposed to have issued from earlier gods, who are held to have come into existence in some far-off time out of primitive material, commonly water. The whole process is one of reflection—it is man's effort to embody in living form the forces which he conceives to have been at work in the creation of the universe. It is his first attempt at scientific analysis and construction.

This theological exposition of the world is a necessity of human thought; man can no more ignore it than he can cease to breathe. It is equally necessary that he should define his own relation to the unseen powers around him. They are believed to determine, in large measure, his weal or woe: they send rain and storm, pestilence and famine, sunshine and food; they smite with disease, or maintain in health; they give victory over enemies, and decide the success or failure of all undertakings. In order to secure their favor and aid, he must know what it is in his conduct that pleases or displeases them, and by what processes their anger may be averted and their good-will obtained. At first, the supposed requirements of human conduct are altogether ceremonial;