The Realms of Mystery 269 



and therefore he could only project into the unseen 

 and mysterious the knowledge he had of the visible 

 and real. But when his situation improved, and life 

 became less painful and perilous and his prospects 

 and hopes more cheering, they were mirrored in his 

 religious conceptions. Song is the expression of 

 gladness, and with joy came the singer. A man, 

 like a bird, sings when he is happy. Here also 

 came in the conditions and the possibilities of art. 

 Upon the black background of primitive supersti- 

 tion the poet-artist could cast the colors of victory, 

 confidence, hope, and good-will. Mystery was en- 

 lightened by the emergence of heroes, who warred 

 upon the monsters, and therefore became objects of 

 man's gratitude and worship. It was a chief object 

 of his thought to win their friendship. He built 

 shrines and piled altars with votive offerings. Paul, 

 with the genuine sympathy which comes of a large 

 and generous nature, spoke of this as "seeking 

 after God, if haply they might find him." The 

 prophets of this search were poets. The true poet 

 is always a prophet, and the true prophet a poet. 

 These prophet-poets, in every country, infused a 

 spirit of joy and hope into the gloomy superstitions 

 in which they were born. The early Greeks sang 

 of an age of gold, the age of their ancestors, to 

 which their descendants might hope to return. So 

 it was with the early Egyptians. They extolled the 

 long reign of the god Ra, and said that no good 

 thing had been seen on the earth since he departed. 



