"Religion, as has been already shown, is the synthesis of thought and sentiment. It is the representation of a philosophic idea. It always reposes on some hypothesis. At first it is full of vigour, constantly on the alert to win converts. Then the hypothesis is acquiesced in, it is received as final, its significance evaporates. The priests of ancient times were also philosophers, but not being able always to preserve their intellectual superiority, their doctrines became void of meaning, hieroglyphs of which they had lost the key; and then speculation ate its way out of religion, and left it an empty shell of ritual observance, void of vital principle. Philosophy alone is not religion, nor is sentiment alone religion; but religion is that which, based on an intelligent principle, teaches that principle as dogma, exhibits it in worship, and applies it in discipline. Dogma worship and discipline are the constituents, so to speak, the mind spirit, and body of religion."--"_Origin and Development of Religious Belief._" By S. Baring Gould, M.A. Rivingtons, 1869. Part i., p. 119. Here it is said that "religion is the representative of a philosophic idea. It always reposes on some hypothesis." This philosophic idea may be that there must necessarily be a Creator. But also it may not be, for "the existence of God is not assumed" (_vide_ preface). If it is not, then, according to this definition, religion may be the representative of any philosophic idea (_i.e._ any idea of any philosopher), even that which may be diametrically opposed to the existence and goodness of God.[118] But if, on the other hand, the existence of God is this primary philosophic idea, then all other philosophic ideas must succumb to it. It is a point which you must settle at starting in your definition of religion. [118] Devil-worship is based upon the hypothesis that the evil spirit exists, and is the influence from which man has most to dread. Prudence suggests that it is wise to propitiate evil when it is powerful; and if "the existence of God is not assumed," or the conception of God not yet developed, it is hard to see how the conclusion can be impugned; and (_vide_ next page) Mr Baring Gould endorses Grimm's opinion that man's first "idea of God is the idea of a _devil_."