CHAPTER XVI* 



ETiLIGIOUS RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 



656. As, before describing the origin and development 

 of Ecclesiastical Institutions, it was needful to describe tho 

 origin and development of Keligion ; so the probable future 

 of Ecclesiastical Institutions could not be forecast without 

 indicating the probable future of Religion. Unavoidably 

 therefore, the close of the last chapter has partially forestalled 

 the contents of this. Here, after briefly recapitulating the 

 leading traits of religious evolution, I propose to give reasons 

 for the conclusions just indicated respecting the ultimate 

 form of religion. 



Unlike the ordinary consciousness, the religious conscious 

 ness is concerned with that which lies beyond the sphere of 

 sense. A brute thinks only of things which can be touched, 

 seen, heard, tasted, etc. ; and the like is true of the young 

 child, the untaught deaf-mute, and the lowest savage. But 

 the developing man has thoughts about existences which ho 

 regards as usually intangible, inaudible, invisible ; and yet 

 which he regards as operative upon him. What suggests this 

 notion of agencies transcending perception ? How do these 

 ideas concerning the supernatural evolve out of ideas concern 

 ing the natural? The transition cannot be sudden; and an 



* With the exception of its introductory paragraph and an added sentence 

 in its last paragraph, this Chapter stands as it did when first published in 

 The Nineteenth Century for January 1884 : a few verbal improvements being 

 the only other changes. 



