But,  while  all  this  is  true,  it  nevertheless  leaves  out
of  account  one  thing,  namely,  that  the  principle,  which
leads  to  the  systematic  view  of  the  connexion  of
nature,  is  already  present,  and  that  it  is  its  presence
that  stimulates  the  mind  to  those  inquiries,  to
which  the  first  mythological  view  of  the  world  is
a  kind  of  answer.  For,  confused  and  arbitrary  as
that  view  seems  to  us  now,  it  is  the  first  effort  of
the  intelligence  to  bear  up  against  the  multiplicity
of  impressions  which  are  streaming  in  upon  it  by
every  sense,  and  to  connect  them  together  in  a
rational  way.  A  mythology,  however  chaotic  it  may
be,  is  thus  an  attempt  to  find  the  unity  of  the
mind  in  the  world ;  the  only  attempt  which  is  pos-
sible to  the  undeveloped  consciousness  of  those  who
are  still  intellectually  children.     From  such  a  mytho-


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  RELIGION.
logical  explanation  of  the  world  to  the  scientific
conception  of  an  order  of  necessity,  binding  all
things  together,  there  is  a  continuous  advance,
which  can  only  be  explained  by  saying  that  it  is  due
to  the  restless  and  persevering  effort  of  thought
to  find  a  more  and  more  adequate  answer  to  the
questions,  which  it  is  forced  by  its  own  nature  to  ask.
