The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23

trineno or gystems, whether by way Of special
demur or Of the obtrusion Of q new cult
or doctrine.
In a chapter on Primitive Free Thought
attention 10 directed to the enormous him
drance offered TO critical thinking In the
primary stages Of culture by the mere force
OF habit. According tn Tylor, a leading
a~nthropologist, the savage by no means
Roes through life with the intention OF
gathering more knowledge and framing
better laws than his fathers. On the con-
trary, his tendency is 20 consider his an
cestors as having handed down to him the
perfection Of wisdom, In which IL would be
tmpiety to make the least alteration. Hence
among the lower races there is obstinate
resistance to the most desirable reforms,
and progress can only force its way with
a slowness and difficulty which We Of this
century can hardly imagine In the long
stage Of lower savagery, then, the only
approach to free thinking that would seri-
ously affect general belief would presunn-
ably be exhibited by the very credulity
which gave foothold to religious beliefs
10 begin with. That IL to say, without any
thing in the nature Of general criticism Of
stories or doctrines, one Of them might to
some extent Aede another. In virtue
Of the relative gift Of persuasion or personal
weight OF the p~ropounders. Up TO q certain
point, persons with a turn for myth or
ritual making would compete, n might
even call In question zach others honesty,
as we'll as each others inspiration.
II is true that since the rise OF scientific
hierology there has been q disposition
among students TO take for granted the good
faith Of early religion makers and to dismiss
entirely that assumption OF fraud which was
80 long made by Christian writer's concern
ing the greater part Of every non-Christian
system. Mr.. Robertson, for his part, how
ever, while conoeding that some Of the early
deists and others have probably exag-
Rerated the amount OF deliberate deceit
involved in the formation Of religious
systems, l. inclined, nevertheless, to be-
ueve that -priestcraft' is q demonstrable
factor in the process. Archaeological
evidence suggests that while religion
clearly begins In primordial fear and fancy,
wilful fraud must to some extent have
entered into all religious systems alike,
even in the period OF primeval credulity,
we're it only because the credulity was so
great.
We are reminded that Thirlwall, ono OF
the most judicial and sympathetic Of the
Christian scholars who have written the
history Of Greece, treats as unquestionable
the view that alike in pagan and Christian
cults -priestcraft" has been fertile in
profitable devices, in the invention OF leg
ends, the fabrication OF relics and other
modes OF imposture," and that Tiele, the
leading hierologist OF the last generation,
p~ronounceE decisively as to an element OF
Intentional deceit in the Koran making Of
Mohammed-a Judgment which, IL upheld,
can hardly, in our authors opinion, fail
70 be extended 20 some portions OF all other
sacred books. However a may be,
we nave positive evidence that wilful fraud
enters at times into the doctrines OF con-
temporary savages, and II we can point to
deliberate imposture alike N the charm
mongering OF contemporary negroes and
in the sacred bookmaking OF the higher
historical 'systema, II seems reasonable
TO surmise that conscious deceit, as dis
tinguished from childlike fabrication. would
chronicaliy enter into the t~alemaking OF
primitive men, an into their simpler rela-
lions to each other But, given the ten
dency to deceit among primitive folk,
distrlst and detection in a certain number
OF cases would presumably follow, con-
stituting a measure OF simple scepticism.
By force partly Of this and partly OF
sheer instability OF thought early belief
would be apt to subsist for ages, as that Of
contemporary African tribes does now, in
a state Of Aux. On that view systems which
are supposed TO represent in the fullest
degree the prmeval spontaneity OF
religion may have been In part priestly
----zg-.1 A.aa,ak hahika ~ fraa-
dom, accompanied by a certain amount Of
scepticism We seem, at least, to have the
evidence Of the Rig Veda itself, that in the
remote period when II was being collected
there we're deniers OF the existence Of It's
gods. Taking the phenomena all along the
line Of social evolution, our author finds
himself led TO the generalization that the
r~ationalistic tendency, early or late, like
the religious tendency, IL a variation which
proepers at different times in different de-
Rreee, relatively TO the favorableness OF the
environment.
Il certainly Is no mere surmise that in
diyidual savaRes and semi-savages In our
own time vary at times toward disbelief
in the supernaturalism Of their fellows.
To say nothing Of the rational scepticism
exhibited by the Zulu converts Of Bishop
Colenso, which wa the means OF open
ing his eyes to the incredibiity Of Penta-
touch, or OF the rationalsm Of the African
chief who debated with Sir Samuel Baker
the possibility Of a future state, we have
the express missionary record tina the
forcible suppression OF idolatry and taboo,
and the priesthood, by King Rhonho In
the island Of Hawaii in 1918. was accom-
plished not only -before the arrival Of any
missionaries" but on purely common
sense grounds and with no thought oa
f~urtherinR q INSTANTLY. though the King