194 PRIMEVAL MAN 



also most justly calls it, does terrible work 

 indeed. It is the mother and the nurse 

 of all the horrible inventions of Idolatry. 

 Through its operation have arisen, from time 

 to time, all the diabolical rites which have 

 degraded, and do still degrade, so many 

 tribes of men far below the level of the 

 brutes. But irrational as the superstitions 

 of heathen nations may appear to be, and 

 even inconceivable in a Being who is capable 

 of reason, it should never be forgotten that 

 this is true only of the last developments of 

 Idolatry, and is by no means true of its 

 first beginnings. On the contrary, these are 

 among the most natural of all spiritual 

 temptations, and perhaps the most difficult 

 to resist. The first of the Commandments 



