trified prayers, so to speak, of which there remained only
the supposition that they could gain their ends, though bits of prayers,
taken merely as words, are sometimes supposed to have such potency.
Charms and prayers are found side by side in early stages of religion;
the former tend to decrease, the latter to increase. Charms are allied
to amulets, exorcism, and to magic in general.[1835]

+1021+. Certain processes and words are supposed to have power to summon
the dead and to gain from them a knowledge of the future. This is a case
of coercion by magical means. Nonmagical coercion belongs to a
relatively late period in religious history and may be passed over at
this point. It is not in itself incompatible with religion; a god is
subject to caprice and ill humor, and may have to be controlled, and we
know that coercion of the gods has been practiced by many peoples, with
the full sanction of the religious authorities.[1836] But coercive
procedures do not accord with the general line of social development.
The natural tendency is to make friends with the gods, and coercive
methods have died out with the growth of society.

+1022+. The methods of establishing friendly relations with the
supernatural Powers are the same as those which are employed to approach
human rulers, namely, by gifts and by messengers or intermediaries.

_Gifts._ The custom of offering gifts to the dead is universal.[1837]
Among low tribes and in highly civilized peoples (the Egyptians and
others) things are placed by the grave which it is supposed the spirits
of the dead will need. Food and drink are supplied, and animals and
human beings are slain and left to serve as ministers to the ghosts in
the other world. Possibly these provisions for the dead are sometimes
suggested by sentiments of affection, but more commonly the object in
making the provision appears to be to secure the favor of the deceased:
ghosts were powerful for good or for evil--they were numerous, always
hovering round the living, and the main point was to gain their good
will. For a similar reason such gifts were made to spirits and to gods.
It was a common custom to leave useful articles by sacred trees and
stones, or to cast them into rivers or into the sea. The food and drink
provided was always that in ordinary use among the worshipers: grain,
salt, oil, wine, to which were often added cooking and other utensils.
It was common also to offer the flesh of animals, as, for e