If  man   is  a  '  mean    thing,'   unless   he  can  '  exalt
himself  above  himself,'  still  more  truly  we  may  say


THE  EARLIEST  FORM  OF  RELIGION.       223

that  he  is  a  mean  thing,  if  he  cannot  exalt  himself
above  the  finite  objects  he  sees  and   handles.      The
development  of  man's  higher  life  is  dependent  upon
two  things :    in   the  first   place,  on  the  separation  of
the   secular   and   the   religious   consciousness,  and,  in
the  second   place,  on   their  reunion.     For  it  is  only
by  that  separation  that  either  consciousness  can  take
a  definite    form,    and    it    is    only    by    their    reunion
that    the    religious    can    be    made    the    means    of
elevating    the    secular    consciousness.       But,  for    the
savage,  the  divine  takes  and  must  take  the  form  of
finite  objectivity,  because   that   is   the  only  form   in
which  reality  can  as  yet  be  presented  to  him;   and
the  farther  we  go  back  in  development,  the  less  do
we  find   the   object  or   objects   selected    for    worship
distinguished  in  any  way  from   other  objects,  or  at
least  distinguished  in  any  way  that  really  lifts  them
above  the    rest.     If   the    being    or    thing,    to    which
mysterious  reverence  is  paid,  stands  out  in  separation
from   other   things   and  beings,  it  seems   to   be  only
as    having    a    somewhat    greater    or    at    least    less
measurable    power,    but    not    as    possessing    any    ex-
cellence  which   is   essentially   different   in  kind.     It,
or  he,  (for  at  this  stage  it    is  difficult  to   draw   the
line    between    the   two  pronouns)    does  not  seem  to
be   regarded    as  in   any  way    nobler    or    purer    than
his    worshippers,    or    as    setting    up    any    ideal    for
them    to     follow;    but    only     as     having    somewhat


224  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  RELIGION.
