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The most general term for the belief in the various orders of gods thus becomes the belief in invisible, super-material beings, like, and yet superior to man. It is for this reason that Professor Tylor's definition of religion as "the belief in spiritual beings so long as we do not use the term "spiritual" in its modern sense" seems to me the moat satisfactory definition yet offered.
In this world of change is there any other change to be compared with that in matter, from the dead to the living? a change so great that most minds feel compelled to go outside of matter and invoke some super-material force or agent to account for it.
It is the one point on which all religions agree, and for this reason may be regarded as their essential feature. This taken for granted, our next point of enquiry is, What was there in the conditions of primitive life that would give rise to a belief in this super-material, or in modern language, spiritual existence?
Whether we call matter "the living garment of God," as Goethe did, or a reservoir of creative energy, as Tyndall and his school did, and as Professor Moore still does, we are paying homage to a power that is super-material.
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