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of religion also, must have preceded this one. Even the heavenly
bodies, it appears to many scholars, must have been worshipped by men
who regarded them not with aesthetic admiration and intellectual
satisfaction only, but in the light of more pressing and practical
interests.

We take Edward von Hartmann as the representative of those who, like
Mr. Max Mueller, trace the origin of religion to the worship of the
heavenly powers, but who carry back that worship to the earliest
stage. Writers who disagree with his philosophy take grave exception
to his treatment of religion, for he regards religion, as he
considers consciousness itself, not as an original and inseparable
element of human nature, but as a thing acquired by man on his way
upwards; and he finds the original motive of religion to have lain in
egoistic eudaemonism, in the selfish desire of happiness, which at
that stage of man's life determined all his actions. The account,
however, given by Von Hartmann of the beginning of religion in the
adoration of the powers of nature is of singular freshness and power,
and we can deduct from it, after stating it, the peculiarities
arising out of his philosophical system.

The first religion that existed in the world had for its objects the
heavenly powers. The objects worshipped are known, indeed, before
religion begins; the illusions of early thought have settled on the
heavenly powers before they are worshipped; on the outward object the
mind has conferred the character of a living and acting being, which
it is henceforth to wear. This transformation, poetic fancy, not mere
logic and not merely utilitarian considerations, has brought about.
But religion only begins when man sets himself to worship these
beings, and to this he is driven by his material needs. Religion
begins in a being as yet without religion and without morality. The
need for food is the motive that brings about the change, for that
pure egoist early man has seen that the powers of nature are able to
help or hinder him in his search for a living; the sun can set his
plants growing or can burn them up, and the thunderstorm can revive
them. His happiness depends on these powers, and he seeks to set up
relations with them. He seeks to gain as an ally the heavenly power
who is so able to further or to thwart his aims; he makes known to it
his wishes by calling upon it, and he offers presents to it. He
worships the heavenly powers, and religion has be