EVOLUTION THE MASTER-KEY 



of a dead man an ancestor or a great chief ; and, 

 after the belief in the continued life of the dead 

 had come to be accepted, men came to people the 

 thunder and the river with the spirits of the de- 

 parted. This is the view held by the founder of 

 the doctrine of universal evolution; but, whether 

 it be right or wrong, the teaching of evolution is 

 that religion is a natural product of the experience 

 and characters of the human mind a doctrine 

 which strongly suggests that religion will be a 

 factor in human life to the last. 



Herbert Spencer's distinctive contribution to 

 the theory of religious evolution is his suggestion 

 that the belief in the continued life of the dead 

 arose in the experience of dreams. 1 Primitive 

 man accepts as true the experiences of his dreams. 

 (In this connection it is amusing to note the recent 

 suggestion of Mr. Schiller, of Oxford, in the Hibbert 

 Journal, that we need accept waking rather than 

 dreaming experience as true merely because "it is 

 more convenient for our purposes." But why is 

 it more convenient ?) Now primitive man met his 

 dead chief in dreams. He therefore concluded 

 that the departed hero still lived and still retained 

 his ancient power. Thus it became desirable to 

 please and honor him. This, very briefly, is the 

 dream-theory of the origin of religions. And, in 



1 An excellent example of the misrepresentation which Spen- 

 cer's opponents permit themselves is to be found in the saying 

 that, according to him, religion is no more than the "product 

 of a nightmare." 



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