THE PRIMITIVE IDEA OP GOD. 281 



either the ritualisms and idolatries or the material- 

 istic scepticisms of more civilized times, when men, 

 " professing themselves to be wise, become fools." 



These primitive beliefs thus serve to confirm our 

 faith in the inspired and historical records of human- 

 ity, in opposition to the crude theories which have 

 been put forth in the misused name of science. In a 

 practical point of view, the fact that all religions con- 

 tain traces of primitive truth akin to that which was 

 the original creed of the race, should encourage mis- 

 sionary effort even amongst the most degraded peoples, 

 should warn us against despising either the simple 

 theology of Genesis or the equally simple beliefs of 

 untutored men, guided only by the light of nature; 

 and should deter us from giving way to these aesthetic 

 and merely outward corruptions of spiritual truth, 

 which are equally absurd in their most antique and 

 most modern forms, and are less excusable in the 

 latter. " The past times of this ignorance God has 

 overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to 

 repent." 



