ve been able to develop from a
germ within itself anything whatever of real advantage to
civilization."[292-2]

Far be it from me to excuse the enormities thus committed under the garb
of religion, or to ignore their disastrous consequences on human
progress. Yet this question is a fair one--If the natural religious
belief has in it no germ of anything better, whence comes the manifest
and undeniable improvement occasionally witnessed--as, for example,
among the Toltecs, the Peruvians, and the Mayas? The reply is, by the
influence of great men, who cultivated within themselves a purer faith,
lived it in their lives, preached it successfully to their fellows, and,
at their death, still survived in the memory of their nation,
unforgotten models of noble qualities.[293-1] Where, in America, is any
record of such men? We are pointed, in answer, to Quetzalcoatl,
Viracocha, Zamna, and their congeners. But these august figures I have
shown to be wholly mythical, creations of the religious fancy, parts and
parcels of the earliest religion itself. The entire theory falls to
nothing, therefore, and we discover a positive side to natural
religions--one that conceals a germ of endless progress, which
vindicates their lofty origin, and proves that He "is not far from every
one of us."

I have already analyzed these figures under their physical aspect. Let
it be observed in what antithesis they stand to most other mythological
creations. Let it be remembered that they primarily correspond to the
stable, the regular, the cosmical phenomena, that they are always
conceived under human form, not as giants, fairies, or strange beasts;
that they were said at one time to have been visible leaders of their
nations, that they did not suffer death, and that, though absent, they
are ever present, favoring those who remain mindful of their precepts. I
touched but incidentally on their moral aspects. This was likewise in
contrast to the majority of inferior deities. The worship of the latter
was a tribute extorted by fear. The Indian deposits tobacco on the rocks
of a rapid, that the spirit of the swift waters may not swallow his
canoe; in a storm he throws overboard a dog to appease the siren of the
angry waves. He used to tear the hearts from his captives to gain the
favor of the god of war. He provides himself with talismans to bind
hostile deities. He fees[TN-17] the conjurer to exorcise the demon of
disease. He loves none of them, he respe