216 RELIGIOUS FEELING 



There is unquestionably in all ranks of civilised men, and 

 in both sexes, a self-worship, the result of morbid or over- 

 weening self-esteem or self-conceit, and such persons, puffed 

 up by a sense of their own importance, may be described as 

 their own gods ; but these divinities are to be sought in the 

 ranks of Bumbledom, in public boards of all kinds, in Govern- 

 ment offices, and not specially at least among men of science, 

 who do not, however, pretend to be exempt from the frailties 

 of their common humanity. 



The idea of deity is not necessary to religion. No such 

 conception as to the government of the universe or regulation 

 of human affairs is contained in Buddhism, ' the most wide- 

 spread religious system in the world.' 'The very idea of a 

 God as creating, or in any way ruling, the world is utterly 

 absent in the Buddhist system. God is not so much denied : 

 He is simply not known. Contrary to the opinion once confi- 

 dently and generally held that a nation of atheists never existed, 

 it is no longer to be disputed that the numerous Buddhist 

 nations are essentially atheist ; for they know no beings with 

 greater supernatural power than any man is supposed capable 

 of attaining to by virtue, austerity, and science. And a 

 remarkable indication of this startling fact is to be seen in the 

 circumstance that some at least of the Buddhist nations 

 the Chinese, Mongols, and Tibetians have no word in their 

 languages to express the notion of God.' l 



The modern German philosophy of Schopenhauer in many 

 respects resembles Buddhism. It may, in fact, be regarded 

 as a modified Western Buddhism, in which there is ' no re- 

 ligion .... except that of simple philanthropy and self- 

 denial.' 



It appears, then, that in 



1. Certain of the lower races of man ; 



2. Certain stages of development among higher races ; 



3. Certain states of mental or moral defect, perversion, or 



disorder 



the religious sense either cannot be said to exist, or it 

 occurs only in a primitive, germinal condition. It is innate 



1 Article 'Buddhism ' in ' Chambers's Encyclopedia.' 



