2i6 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



objects, and sees objects in Nature moving, as the clouds, 

 trees waving their leaves, the sun and moon crossing the 

 heavens, etc., he begins to imagine the existence of some 

 beings doing these things. Some bodiless beings which 

 he calls spirits. 



The other source of spirits is believed to be ancestral ; 

 and possibly this was a more primitive one than the pre- 

 ceding.^ 



Early man, like modern savages, whether as the result 

 of dreams or otherwise, somehow conceived men to live on 

 after death, and to become more powerful when freed 

 from the body ; and as savage men are far oftener more 

 cruel than beneficent, so there arose the idea of the 

 necessity of appeasing them by offerings of roast meat 

 and choice vegetables, incense and drink, whereby they 

 were pleased and appeased. An instructive instance of 

 this is seen on the occasion of the exit from the ark. I 

 will quote a short passage from one of the Babylonian 

 Deluge stories which the reader can compare with that 

 in Genesis. 



" The ark reached Nizir and rested on the mountain 

 unable to pass. Day after day for six days the ark rested 

 on the mountain of Nizir. On the seventh I sent forth a 

 dove which flew hither and thither, and finding no resting 

 place, returned. I sent forth a swallow which also found 

 no resting place and returned. And I sent forth a raven 

 which wandered to and fro, devouring and floating on the 

 waters, and did not return. Then I sent the animals 



I Prof. Sayce in his last work, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and 

 Babylonia, shows how fundamental this idea was in the religion of the 

 latter (p. 280 et seq.) 



Col. J. Gamier endeavours to show that even celestial deities were 

 human beings, subsequently located in the heavenly bodies. — The Wor- 

 ship of the Dead, 



