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But if the process by which we are supposed to arrive at the idea

of good be really imaginary, may not the idea itself be also a

mere abstraction? We remark, first, that in all ages, and

especially in primitive philosophy, words such as being, essence,

unity, good, have exerted an extraordinary influence over the

minds of men. The meagreness or negativeness of their content has

been in an inverse ratio to their power. They have become the

forms under which all things were comprehended. There was a need

or instinct in the human soul which they satisfied; they were not

ideas, but gods, and to this new mythology the men of a later

generation began to attach the powers and associations of the

elder deities.