ich blight or ruin as being also the
manifestation of a living power, but of an evil one. Thanks to the
good god alternate, in this case, with efforts to counteract or to
appease the bad one; if the two appear to be nearly balanced, then
neither is supreme, and both overawe the mind and receive worship.
But in general we may remark that the greater nature-worship is of an
elevating tendency. It brings man into relations with powers which
are truly great, and places him even physically in the position of
looking up, not down. Where the nature-power is a harsh one, a
scorching sun, a tempestuous sea, the self-command and self-sacrifice
called out by the worship of them may be, if not carried to extremes,
a bracing discipline; but with some exceptions the nature-gods are
good, and have to do with light and with kindness.

2. The Minor Nature-worship.--The worship of the great powers of
nature has a universal character; it can be carried on anywhere;
wandering tribes carry it with them; heaven and the sun and the winds
can be addressed in every land. The minor nature-worship differs from
it in this respect: an animal is only worshipped in the country where
it occurs, and the worship of the tree, the well, the stone, is
altogether local. With this local nature-worship the world was, in
early times, thickly overspread; and manifold survivals of it are
still to be found even in lands where the primitive religion has been
longest superseded. This is the religion of local observance and
local legend, which clings to the face of a country in spite of
public changes of creed, and, when the old religion has departed, is
found to have secured a shelter for itself in the new one.

In this minor nature-worship which spreads its network over all the
early world, the character of primitive society is clearly
represented; the small communities have their small local
worships--each clan, almost each kraal, has its shrine, its god, and
limits itself to its own sacred things. Religion is a bond connecting
together the members of small groups of men, but separating them from
the members of other groups. The following are some of the more
important developments of this.

(_a_) The Worship of Animals.--Primitive man had to hold his own
against the animals by force of strength and cunning; and he was well
acquainted with them. He respected them for the qualities in which
they excelled him, the hare for his swiftness, the beaver for his
skil