conception, which men universally form of God is always imperfect,
sometimes self-contradictory and impossible"; "the primitive
simplicity and beauty" of the "idea" are lost. And thus it is, he
tells us, that, owing to this awkward "conceptions" the vast majority
of the human race have been, and are, and for ages will be, sunk in
the grossest Fetichism,--Polytheism,--and every form of absurd and
misshapen Monotheism;--the horrors of all which he proceeds faithfully,
but not too faithfully, to describe, and sometimes, when he is in the
mood, to soften and extenuate; in order that he may find that the
"grim Calmuck," and even the savage, "whose hands are smeared over
with the blood of human sacrifices," are yet in possession of the
"absolute Idea" and the "absolute religion."

And what must we infer from Mr. Newman? The unanimity anticipated
would, doubtless, be obtained, only that, unfortunately, there are
various principles of man's nature which traverse the legitimate action
and impede the due development of the "spiritual faculty"; and so
man is apt to wander into a variety of those "degraded types" of
religious development, which the dark panorama of this world's
religions has ever presented to us, and presents still. "Awe,"
"wonder," "admiration," "sense of order," "sense of design," may
all mislead the unhappy "spiritual faculty" into quagmires; and, in
point of fact, have wheedled and corrupted it ten thousand times
more frequently than it has hallowed them. This all history, past and
present, shows.

It is certainly unfortunate, and as mysterious, that those unlucky
"conceptions" of God should have the best of it,--or rather, that the
"idea" of God should have the worst of it; nor less so that Awe,
Reverence, and so forth, should thus put the "spiritual faculty" so
hopelessly hors de combat.

Nevertheless, two questions naturally suggest themselves. Since the
destructive "conceptions" have almost everywhere impaired the "Idea,"
and the "degraded types" seduced the "spiritual faculty,"--1st. What
proof have we that man has an original and universal fountain of
spiritual illumination in himself? and 2dly. If he have, but under
such circumstances, is its utility so unquestionable that no space is
left for the offices of an external revelation?

First. What is the evidence of the uniform existence in man of any
such definite faculty?

When we say that any principle or faculty is common to the whole
species, d