MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
Puates VIII. 1-30. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Tue belief in a Supreme Power is inherent in every human being; and so 
thoroughly interwoven with our nature is this sentiment, that it is impossible 
for any one at any period of life wholly to divest himself of it, and hence the 
desire to worship this power. Everything in the external world as well as 
in the internal world of his thoughts impresses him with the great truth, that 
there is a God who has created all things, and who rules over all. He is 
forced to this conclusion when looking around for an answer to the questions 
concerning himself and the material world with which he is surrounded. 
For what other reply could be given to the questions, “ What has called this 
world into existence? Why does it exist, and what is its ultimate destiny ? 
Nay, why do I exist, and what will become of me after death?” And when 
his attention is drawn to the phenomena of nature and the extraordinary 
events in the life of individuals, as well as to the history of whole nations, 
is he not compelled to acknowledge the superior hand that shapes our 
destinies, ‘“‘rough hew them as we may ?” 
Hence it will be difficult to find among the nations of antiquity or modern 
times, one wholly destitute of the consciousness that a higher power exists, 
or without a desire to worship that power in some way or other. Even the 
Atheist, of whatever school, only deceives himself when he fondly imagines 
that his reasoning power will always enable him to combat successfully 
every rising inclination to a religious faith. 
But though all nations have acknowledged the existence of this supreme 
power, they often differ widely in their representations of it, in their modes 
of worshipping it, and in their habits and thoughts, as far as they are the 
results of their religious creed. The cause of this difference will be found in 
the different degrees of civilization, variety of soil, climate, and even occu- 
pation, whether commercial or agricultural, peculiar to the country inhabited 
by each. For in proportion as a nation is barbarous and uncultivated, so 
will also its religion be rude and imperfect ; and the lower its position in the 
seale of civilization the more incomplete will be the character which it 
ascribes to its gods; for ‘‘ As the people’s gods so are the people.” Hence 
the many dissimilarities which we meet with by the side of similarities, 
when comparing the different systems of religion practised by the nations 
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