inherited from the first progenitors of a race, or which of them have been incorporated by such a gradual process as shown in the case of the black Brahmans. In settling any pedigree which aims at logical precision, the third parent of each link, the surrounding circumstances, must be taken into consideration.

Mr. Wallace sums up the complex nature of evolution, and the kindred process of survivals, as follows:-" If we take the organic productions of a small island, or of any very limited tract of country such as a moderate sized country parish, we have, in their relations and affinities-in the fact that they are there and others are not there, a problem which involves all the migrations of these species and their ancestral forms-all the vicissitudes of climate and all the changes of sea and land which have affected those migrations-the whole series of actions and reactions which have determined the preservation of some forms and the extinction of others-in fact the whole history of the earth, inorganic and organic, throughout a large portion of geological time."

The interlacing complications involved in the evolution of physical organisms, have their exact counterparts in the evolution of human ideas; and

1 "Island Life," 6, 7.

the tropical sun, there are Brahmans as black as Pariahs. The Sanskrit name for caste is "varna," colour: this shows that when caste was instituted, a distinction of colour was regarded as sufficient to indicate a distinction of race: but now colour is no longer a criterion, although other features of difference are quite sufficient to attest the distinction of races.1 It is not to be supposed for a moment that the blackness of these Brahmans was inherited from any human ancestor, it is not at all probable, nor is it necessary to so conclude: it is a matter of constant observation, that the complexion of Europeans, whose blood certainly remains unmixed with that of the native Indians, after two or three generations of residence in India, will show unmistakeable signs of darkening, and at such a rate, as to make it highly probable that a hundred generations of progress in the same direction, would find the skin completely black. Now the dark complexion, discernible in these black Brahmans, has been gradually but surely imposed upon their race by the climate and the physical circumstances in which they have been developed, and has become as much incorporated in their nature as any other characteristic passed on from father to son so that it is impossible to lay down which of the attributes of body or mind are really

1 Max Müller's "Chips," ii. 322, 323.

inherited from the first progenitors of a race, or which of them have been incorporated by such a gradual process as shown in the case of the black Brahmans. In settling any pedigree which aims at logical precision, the third parent of each link, the surrounding circumstances, must be taken into consideration.

Mr. Wallace sums up the complex nature of evolution, and the kindred process of survivals, as follows:-"If we take the organic productions of a small island, or of any very limited tract of country such as a moderate sized country parish, we have, in their relations and affinities-in the fact that they are there and others are not there, a problem which involves all the migrations of these species and their ancestral forms-all the vicissitudes of climate and all the changes of sea and land which have affected those migrations-the whole series of actions and reactions which have determined the preservation of some forms and the extinction of others-in fact the whole history of the earth, inorganic and organic, throughout a large portion of geological time.'

The interlacing complications involved in the evolution of physical organisms, have their exact counterparts in the evolution of human ideas; and

1 66
"Island Life," 6, 7.

The jinns and demons of Semitic creeds received the sanction of the Hebrew and the Christian sacred canons, and were fully recognized by the Rabbinic teaching, which had so vast an influence on the Christian and Mohammedan faith; and these jinns and demons have become firmly established as the Angels"—" the Messengers”—of the Arch-fiend.

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The Titans and Rephaim, the fallen powers of heaven, furnished hierarchs for hell itself and even gave to it a monarch.

The fear engendered by superstition and ignorance: the belief in enchantment, magic, witchcraft, charms and spells: the practical fetishism which gives a spirit to every substance animate or inanimate, with power to flit from body to body,-the secret of demoniacal possession,-lie at the root of all these theories and systems, and have created and handed down all these co-operative and opposing spirits, without which the Devil himself would indeed be but a shadowy entity.

V.

THE

DEVIL'S DIVINE ANCESTORS.

The Law of Evolution-Influence of Surrounding Circumstances— Evolution of Religious Ideals-Animism-Isolated SpiritsSubordination of Spirits-Subjugation of Conquered GodsDegradation of Overpowered Gods-The Golden Age-The Serpent Earth Worship-Earth and Heaven combinedDegradation of the Earth Gods-Chaldean Generation of the Gods-Hebrew Religion-Fetishism-Slaughtering Gods-The Serpent and Magic - Solar Deities-Rectification of Standards of Morality-Surviving Religions-Survivals in Christianity-Theological Criticism-Some Degraded Deities, Bel, Zeus, Bôg, Loki, Set, Lucifer-Devas and Asuras.

THE fundamental religion of the great Turanian race, which in primeval times overspread the whole habitable world, was a system of animism, varying amongst different tribes and peoples, but exhibiting throughout a belief in all-pervading spiritual existences, which were related either to material bodies, or to physical phenomena, past or present. The mode in which this belief may have originated has been discussed in the preceding chapter it is now proposed to examine how some of these spiritual beings first became elevated into deities, and how in course of time they were degraded, and became demons or devils.