the resemblances must be assumed to
exist; and even for the purposes of the science of religion there is
nothing to compel us to postulate a period in which either the
differences or the resemblances were non-existent. But though there is
nothing to compel us to assume that the lowest form in which religion
is found was necessarily the earliest to exist, it is convenient for us
to start from the lowest forms. For the practical purposes of the
missionary it is desirable where possible to discover any points of
resemblance or traits of connection between the lower form with which
his hearers are familiar and the higher form to which he proposes to
lead them. It is therefore proper for him and reasonable in itself to
look upon the long history of religion as man's search for God, and to
regard it as the function of the missionary to keep others in that
search . . . 1-33

IMMORTALITY

The belief in immortality is more prominent, though less intimately
bound up with religion, amongst uncivilised than it is amongst
civilised peoples. In early times the fancy luxuriates, unchecked, on
this as on other matters. It is late in the history of religion that
the immortality of the soul is found to be postulated alike by morality
and religion. The belief that the soul exists after death doubtless
manifested itself first in the {xi} fact that men dream of those who
have died. But, were there no desire to believe, it may be doubted
whether the belief would survive, or even originate. The belief
originates in desire, in longing for one loved and lost; and dreams are
not the cause of that desire, though they are one region in which it
manifests itself, or rather one mode of its manifestation. The desire
is for continued communion; and its gratification is found in a
spiritual communion. Such communion also is believed to unite
worshippers both with one another and with their God. Where death is
regarded as a disruption of communion between the living and the
departed, death is regarded as unnatural, as a violation of the
original design of things, which calls for explanation; and the
explanation is provided in myths which account for it by showing that
the origin of death was due to accident or mistake. At first, it is
felt that the mistake cannot be one without remedy: the deceased is
invited "to come to us again." If he does not return in his old body,
then he is believed to reappear in some new-born child. Or the
do