re; thus, in the early Christian times the tetragrammaton
YHWH (Yahweh) had absolute power against demons.

+900+. Similar efficacy attached to sacred compositions, prayers,[1576]
and the like. The Mazdean petition, Honover (Ahuna-Vairya), was so
employed, and in Christian circles even the Lord's Prayer. Charms or
incantations often took rhythmical form--verses, couplets, or quatrains
were widely used. All such methods were the product of ages of
experience.[1577] They were handed down from generation to generation,
often in families or classes of magicians, were modified or enlarged
from time to time, and thus came at last to form a literature.

+901+. In the great civilized religions magical practice gradually
assumed a tone somewhat different from that of the earliest times. It
continued to be coercive toward evil Powers, but in regard to the good
Powers it assumed rather to discover their modes of action. It was not
anti-religious; it remained alongside of the official religious systems
in friendly relations. It relied on the assistance of the good gods and
not on that of the demons. There was good magic and bad magic, white
magic and black magic, as these came to be called. A procedure of white
magic can thus, from the point of view of religion, hardly be
distinguished from prayer to a deity. The difference between the two
appears to be that the magic produces abnormal or violent effects, which
experience taught could not reasonably be expected from the deity. It is
the old crude science brought (as the lesser divine Powers were brought)
into a relation of subordination to the chief god of the community.

+902+. Elaborate magical systems are found in some of the ancient
national religions. In India the Atharva-Veda, though it contains a mass
of crude old material, is nevertheless recognized as one of the sacred
books, standing by the side of the Rig-Veda, though of less authority
and significance than that. The Atharvan was originally a priest of
fire, but in this work he becomes simply a magician; the immense number
of magical procedures in the book provided for all emergencies of
life.[1578] The Babylonian magical formulas also go back to an early
time, but they were preserved by the priests and recognized as a
legitimate element in the religious practice.[1579] The old Egyptian
stories introduce a number of magical proceedings, and the formulas have
been preserved in treatises.[1580] Of the earliest periods of