CHAPTER I. 



THE RELIGIOUS 



583. THERE can be no true conception of a structure 

 without a true conception of its function. To understand 

 how an organization originated and developed, it is requisite 

 to understand the need subserved at the outset and after 

 wards. Bightly to trace the evolution of Ecclesiastical Insti 

 tutions, therefore, we must know whence came the ideas 

 and sentiments implied by them. Are these innate or are 

 they derived ? 



Not only by theologians at large but also by some who 

 have treated religion rationalistically, it is held that man is 

 by constitution a religious being. Prof. Max Miiller s specu 

 lations are pervaded by this assumption ; and in such books 

 as that by Mr. E. W. Mackay on The Progress of the Intellect, 

 it is contended that man is by nature a monotheist. But this 

 doctrine, once almost universally accepted, has been rudely 

 shaken by the facts whicli psychologists and anthropologists 

 have brought to light. 



There is clear proof that minds which have from infancy 

 been cut off by bodily defects from intercourse with the 

 minds of adults, are devoid of religious ideas. The deaf 

 Dr. Kitto, in his book called The Lost Senses (p. 200), quotes 

 the testimony of an American lady who was deaf and dumb, 

 but at a mature age was instructed, and who said &quot; the idea 

 that the world must have had a Creator never occurred to 

 her, nor to any other of several intelligent pupils, of similar 



