340 THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 



VT1T 



nomads of Northern Asia, of the Asm tie Aryans 

 and of the Anrii-ni (I recks and Romans, and it 

 holds good among the Dravidians of the Dekhan 

 and the negro tribes of Africa. No tribe of 

 savages which has yet been discovered, lias been 

 conclusively proved to have so poor a theological 

 equipment as to be devoid of a belief in ghosts, 

 :md in the utility of some form of witchcraft, in 

 influencing those ghosts. And tin-re is no nation, 

 modern or ancient, which, even at this moment, 

 has wholly given up the belief; and in which it 

 has not, at one time or other, played n great part 

 in practical life. 



This 8ciotJiei#ni, 1 as it might be called, is found, 

 in several degrees of complexity, in rough corre- 

 spondence with the stages of social organisation, 

 and, like these, separated by no sudden breaks. 



In its simplest condition, snch as may be met 

 with among the Australian savages, theology is a 

 more belief in the existence, powers, and disposi- 

 tion (usually malignant) of ghostlike entities who 

 may be propitiated or scared away; but no cult 

 can properly be said to exist, And, in this stage, 

 theology is wholly independent of ethics. The 

 moral code, such as is implied by public opinion. 

 derives no sanction from the theological dogmas, 



h:ts tin- authority of f'ndworth, In/i'IJi-rliifi 

 , vol. ii. ]>. s."iP. Bdomancy (owo/iarrc/a), which, in ti 



..f divinsition l>y ghosts, IIIMV !" found in IJ.-iilcy' 

 ])'>! imKtrn ilTM), also rani fob 68 rv jirn-c.lrnt lor my roin;iio>. 



