Guesses at Truths

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Excerpt from Guesses at Truths: Ethical, Social, Political and Literary A history of religious beliefs would be a history of the progress of the human mind. In its earliest form religion exists as a blind awe of the forces of Nature and as a propitiation of some threatening and powerful unseen influence. Its first aim is self-protection, and its way to self-protection is sought in sacrifice. From Devil-worship, with its panic-stricken immolation of human victims, to Nature-worship, with its recognition of a something benevolent and beautiful to be adored, as well as something horrible to be flattered and appeased, is a great stride. The instinct is no longer one of terror only. Gratitude and affection have their word to say. Sacrifice continues, but its form is modified, and to follow the main trend of belief is to approach more and more nearly to an ideal of trust in the good intention of the unknown Powers. A certain element of cruelty, of savagery, of unreason, survives unto this day, but for many thousands of years the mind of man has striven to emancipate itself from its original cowardice, and with the birth of Monotheism it became essential to associate the idea of the Creator and Ruler with attributes of mercy and justice. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.