70 i ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



and propitiation of, supernatural beings of more powerful 

 kinds ; known at first by the same generic name as ordinary 

 ghosts, and differentiating by small steps. And the worships 

 of the supposed supernatural beings, up even to the highest, 

 are the same in nature, and differ only in their degrees of 

 elaboration. What do these correspondences imply ? Do 

 they not imply that in common with other phenomena dis 

 played by human beings as socially aggregated, religions havo 

 a natural genesis ? 



Are we to make an exception of the religion current 

 among ourselves ? If we say that its likenesses to the rest 

 hide a transcendant unlikeness, several implications must be 

 recognized. One is that the Cause to which we can put no 

 limits in Space or Time, and of which our entire Solar 

 System is a relatively infinitesimal product, took the disguise 

 of a man for the purpose of covenanting with a shepherd- 

 chief in Syria. Another is that this Energy, unceasingly 

 manifested everywhere, throughout past, present, and future, 

 ascribed to himself under this human form, not only the 

 limited knowledge and limited powers which various 

 passages show Jahveh to have had, but also moral attributes 

 which we should now think discreditable to a human 

 being. And a third is that we must suppose an intention 

 even more repugnant to our moral sense. For if these 

 numerous parallelisms between the Christian religion and 

 other religions, do not prove likeness of origin and 

 development, then the implication is that a complete simu 

 lation of the natural by the supernatural has been deli 

 berately devised to deceive those who examine critically 

 what they are taught. Appearances have been arranged for 

 the purpose of misleading sincere inquirers, that they may 

 be eternally damned for seeking the truth. 



On those who accept this last alternative, no reasonings 

 will have any effect. Here we finally part company with 

 tli em by accepting the first ; and, accepting it, shall find that 

 Ecclesiastical Institutions are at once rendered intelligible in 

 their rise and progress. 



