e
still extant creed of the Otaheitans, every family has its guardian
spirit, who is supposed to be one of their departed relatives; and that
they sacrifice to these as minor gods--a practice still pursued by the
Chinese and even by the Russians. It is perfectly congruous with the
Grecian myths concerning the wars of the Gods with the Titans and their
final usurpation; and it similarly agrees with the fact that among the
Teutonic gods proper was one Freir who came among them by adoption, "but
was born among the _Vanes_, a somewhat mysterious _other_ dynasty of
gods, who had been conquered and superseded by the stronger and more
warlike Odin dynasty." It harmonises, too, with the belief that there
are different gods to different territories and nations, as there were
different chiefs; that these gods contend for supremacy as chiefs do;
and it gives meaning to the boast of neighbouring tribes--"Our god is
greater than your god." It is confirmed by the notion universally
current in early times, that the gods come from this other abode, in
which they commonly live, and appear among men--speak to them, help
them, punish them. And remembering this, it becomes manifest that the
prayers put up by primitive peoples to their gods for aid in battle, are
meant literally--that their gods are expected to come back from the
other kingdom they are reigning over, and once more fight the old
enemies they had before warred against so implacably; and it needs but
to name the Iliad, to remind every one how thoroughly they believed the
expectation fulfilled.

All government, then, being originally that of the strong man who has
become a fetish by some manifestation of superiority, there arises, at
his death--his supposed departure on a long projected expedition, in
which he is accompanied by his slaves and concubines sacrificed at his
tomb--their arises, then, the incipient division of religious from
political control, of civil rule from spiritual. His son becomes deputed
chief during his absence; his authority is cited as that by which his
son acts; his vengeance is invoked on all who disobey his son; and his
commands, as previously known or as asserted by his son, become the germ
of a moral code; a fact we shall the more clearly perceive if we
remember, that early moral codes inculcate mainly the virtues of the
warrior, and the duty of exterminating some neighbouring tribe whose
existence is an offence to the deity.

From this point onwa