1G8 GHOSTS BECOME GODS. 



within it a soul which never dies : and so with every- 

 thing that lives and moves, from the blade of grass 

 which shivers in the wind, to the star which slowly 

 moves across the sky. But as men become more and 

 more capable of general ideas, of classing facts into 

 systems, and of arranging phenomena into groups, 

 they believe in a god of the forests, a god of the 

 waters, and a god of the sky, instead of ascribing a 

 separate god to every tree, to every river, and to every 

 star. Nature is placed under the dominion of a Federa- 

 tion of Deities. In some cases the ancestor gods are 

 identified with these ; in others, their worship is kept 

 distinct. The trees and the animals which were once 

 worshipped for themselves from love or fear, are now 

 supposed to be objects of affection to the gods, and 

 are held sacred for their sake. 



These gods are looked upon as kings. Their char- 

 acters are human, and are reflected from the minds of 

 those who have created them. Whatever the arith- 

 metical arrangement of the gods may be — single or 

 triune, dual or plural — they are in all countries and in 

 all times made by man in his own image. In the 

 plural period, some of the gods are good, and some are 

 bad ; just as there are good and evil kings. The 

 wicked gods can be softened by flattery and presents : 

 the good ones can be made fierce by neglect. The 

 wicked gods obtain the largest offerings and the longest 

 prayers, just as in despotic countries, the wicked kings 

 obtain the most liberal presents — which are merely 

 taxes in disguise. 



The savage has been led by indigestion and by 

 dreams to believe in the existence of the soul after 

 death, or, using simpler language, to belie v r e in ghosts. 

 At first these souls or ghosts have no fixed abode : 



