142 LESSONS FKOM NATURE. [CHAP. VI. 



often much more superficial and the agreements much more 

 profound than is very often, if not generally, supposed. The 

 extreme want of flexibility of so many minds is the cause 

 of this difficulty of perceiving how often the same essential 

 idea underlies external modes of representation which are very 

 different. The personifications of stars, rivers, clouds, &c., 

 when viewed under a certain aspect, are to some tribes not only 

 the natural expression of their religious conceptions, but pro 

 bably even the nearest approach to truth now possible to them 

 apart from revelation. As to their conceptions Mr. Tylor 

 remarks : * &quot; They rest upon a broad philosophy of nature, 

 early and crude indeed, but thoughtful, consistent, and 

 quite really and seriously meant.&quot; As to the crudity of 

 these modes of expressing a belief in the general action of 

 superhuman causation, it may be remarked that after all the 

 error was trifling compared with that of modern Materialists 

 i.e., the modern crude conception that because the pheno 

 mena of nature are not produced by a human personality, 

 they are produced by none I Mr. Tylor himself says,f as to 

 the real resemblance between apparently very different reli 

 gious developments, &quot;Baime, the creator, whose voice the 

 rude Australians hear in the rolling thunder, will sit enthroned 

 by the side of Olympian Zeus himself; 



We have heard much as to the notion entertained by some 

 barbarians J that a distinction of ranks extends into the next 

 world, and that the future state depends upon the social con 

 dition of the departed. But similar notions may exist 

 amongst civilised people, as was evidenced by the often - 

 quoted French lady of the ancien regime, who exclaimed, on 

 learning the death of a profligate noble, &quot; God will think 

 twice before he damns a man of the marquis s quality.&quot; In 

 deed it may be said that a belief in the continuance after 

 death of the conditions of this life is at the present time 

 spreading widely amongst many thousands who accept the 



* Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 258. t Ibid. vol. i. p. 248. 



\ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 78. 



