APPENDIX B 



NOTE ON SOME CONCEPTIONS OF PRIMITIVE 

 RELIGION, AND THEIR POSSIBLE RELATION 

 WITH TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE 



AT an early stage men apparently began to feel after 

 something that could only be satisfied by assuming a 

 dual nature in Godhead. It is difficult to trace this in 

 detail, or even to be certain of the facts, for the essen- 

 tials of early theology are not defined, and are besides 

 overlaid with the dramatic necessities of myth, and with 

 magic; while everything is confused, in the primitive 

 pantheon, by a manifold repetition of persons who over- 

 lap each other. Even this fact is perhaps instructive. 

 The need of divine sympathy and providence in every 

 happening of life is reflected in numberless minor deities 

 created to satisfy men's minds. Even to-day we see the 

 same thing, prominent as when Erasmus wrote his 

 Naufragium, in the appeal of the uneducated Roman 

 Catholic to the most suitable Saint for help in some 

 emergency. 



In the polytheistic stage each God is looked upon as 

 One; yet there is a great spirit who is also One. Pure 

 unity leaves something unsatisfied, even in the primitive 

 mind. Hence the persistence of a pantheon full of com- 

 plex relationships, long after the idea of one great 

 Causal God has dawned. We find this everywhere, in 

 Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia, North America, India, 

 Mexico, as well as Rome. Pure Unity does not, appar- 

 ently, suffice. Again an attempt is made to satisfy the 

 craving of the soul, itself not recognised, by postulating 

 duality in the chief God of the moment ; though this is 

 done with but an elementary understanding of its 

 meaning. 



For two obvious reasons the means by which this is 



