RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE MAY BE LOST. 185 



Avas probably the condition of Primeval Man, 

 because he " feels it difficult to believe that 

 any people which once possessed a religion 

 would ever entirely lose it." Surely, if there 

 is one fact more certain than another in 

 respect to the nature of Man, it is that he 

 is capable of losing religious knowledge, of 

 ceasing to believe in religious truth, and of 

 falling away from religious duty. If by 

 " religion " is meant the existence merely 

 of some impressions of powers invisible and 

 " supernatural " — even this, we know, can not 

 only be lost, but be scornfully disavowed by 

 men who are highly civilized. Nor does Sir 

 J. Lubbock's comment upon this subject gain 

 by the further explanation which he gives. 

 He says that " Religion appeals so strongly 



