New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-16

reflected on phantasIns ana eNoiN't S"'''
God thus conceived whether he be- calico A''A"
o. Jehovah or Brahma. as in the grea- DOOM
licions, or Daramuluu. as among inc NuS.'
ians. or Tamo as among the Guarah's' OF -''P'
as among the Blac>feet Indians. has this one
inalienable trait Of having been Immqrtll 'ro"
the beginning. The ghost theory is not re-
quircd, and i supcrluous, even conlrai''''!
The carly thinkers who developed the idea OF
God to this point did not need to know tha'
men though. Of course. they lid know 1t III
practice. The ghost theory therefore u!
the evidence Z anthropol1gy Itself is not needed
for the evolution OF the high gods Of saVag's.
1t is only needed for the evolution of ghost pro-
pitiation and genuine dead ancestor worship
The hsh gods described were not idcaized NOR
tai ancestors. They were naturally. from the
beginning. from before the coming in Of death
immortal Fathers in Heaven Between them
and apothcosized mortal ancestors there is 4
great gult fixed--thr river Of death"
This prmcval god VAS not spirit, because
primeva man mad no s;ch IDEAS rs are Included
now in the word spirit. Such god must have
been just existence. the perfection of life with
out a flaw. that death could find without a
form that death could touch. PrImeva man
thought Of this god mostly in necations the
No. OF III" UtlttNti~ III i'l '''i'i''' -'-'N'
thrlcss they had a positive measur" for some
divine attributes. Death conquered all things
but not Cod death came unseen upon all me-
but it could not Outwit God. God was. there
fore all wise and all powerful. one cannot say
that savagcs. old or new. have reasoned mus
hut il is plain that they could have reasoned III
this way without ever dreaming Tia; they mad
seen their dead grandfathcrs. without ever sixty
ing "A corpse in a crystal or feeling a table move
on the shoulders Of a tip-tappng outcast from
spiritland. or course it is Impossible To follow
Mr.. Lang into the details which he gathers from
The unprcmeditatcd records of travellers. from
the admissions Of anthropologists in their eager
chase after ghosts and fctches. But nobody
who has studied III" SUBJECT vii! deny that the
breaking point of every theory in comparative
religions is just there where tho attempt is made
10 pass from animism or feti"hism or polythe-
ism OF sun worship to the stern mon"thcism Of
Jewry or Islam. The PythaGorans had curl
Gus notion that whenever ghosts held conven-
ton the earth was treated to seismic disturb
ance But even spirits strong enough TO shake
the earth are not strong enough to carry a god
over the waters II death without killing him.
When the whole fnc-spun speculation i" re-
duecd m this way u it's lowest form in the
plainest words, the animist theory seems. as
Mr. Lang says TO break down completely. "
Nevertheless. God Is there. with the lowest say
age as with the man Of culture and these high
gods Of low savdgcs pr serve from dlmmeSt ages
of the meancst culture the sketch Of a god
which our highest religious thought can but fill
up To its IDEAL. Come from what germ he may,
Jehovah or Allah does not come from a ghost
Mr. Lang was not tho first to see this insupera-
hle obstacle that confronts the sprituasm OF
every age and the scienc" that appeals To it.
There have been those who. seeing clearly how
religion everywhere transcribed all theories Of
it's origin havr conceived it as the invention OF
4 mailman. The thought one" put in words
could never again be subdu"d, but spread like a
fire started nobody knows when or where. No
such theory seems to be necessary when all that
is accessory is taken away and the worship Of
one dcathlcss all-perVading life. without sacrl-
flee with good works that lengthen the lives OF
mortals is alone contemplated. Mr. Lang in
rejecting the ghost theory admits that he has
not freed man from folly If religion is not a
ghost story. it may be as to its origin in the
brain Of man story Of some other kind equally
illogical But H. adds If the ghost theory
of the high gods is wrong. a. il is conspicuously
supcrnuous. that does make some difference.
II proves that a widely preached scientific con
cusion may be as spectral as Bothybus. ON
other more important points. therefore. We may
differ from the newest scientific opinion without
too much difidcnt apprchensivcncss.
II must not escape observation that this
theory Of Mr. Lang if substantated. makes the
science Of comparative religion as at present
understood not merely useless. but impossible
Monothcsm is placed on a basis wholly different
from that Of poythesm in all its forms. If Mi
Lang is right the true object Of search here