at any time receive
from it. It is an abyss whose depths he has never sounded, but which he
is forced practically to recognize, since he is at the mercy of forces
which emanate from it.

The method of primitive religion is the inevitable sequel. In behalf of
the interests which represent him man must here, as ever, make the best
terms he can with the powers which beset him. He has no concern with
these powers except the desire to propitiate them. He has no knowledge
of their working excepting as respects their bearing upon his interests.
Obeying a law of human nature which is as valid now as then, he seeks for
remedies whose proof is the cure which they effect. Let the association
between a certain action on his own part and a favorable turn in the tide
of fortune once be established, and the subsequent course of events will
seem to confirm it. Coincidences are remembered and exceptions
forgotten. Furthermore, his belief in the effectual working of the
established plan is always justified by the difficulty of proving any
other alternative plan to be better.

But, in order to understand superstition, it is not necessary to
reconstruct the earliest period in the history of society, nor even to
study contemporary savage life, for the superstitious intelligence and
the superstitious method survive {236} in every stage of development.
They appear, for example, in mediaeval Christianity; in Clovis's appeal
to Christ on the battle-field: "Clotilda says that Thou art the Son of
the living God, and that Thou dost give victory to those who put their
trust in Thee. I have besought my gods, but they give me no aid. I see
well that their strength is naught. I beseech Thee, and I will believe
in Thee, only save me from the hands of mine enemies." The same period
is represented by the petition attributed to St. Eloi, "Give, Lord, since
we have given! _Da, Domine, quia dedimus!_" [9] In modern life the
motive of superstition pervades almost all worship, appearing in sundry
expectations of special favor to be gained by service or importunity.

The application of critical enlightenment to this type of religion has
already been made with general consent. It is recognized that morally
superstition represents the merely prudential level of life. It bespeaks
a state of panic or a narrow regard for isolated needs and desires.
Furthermore, it tends to emphasize these considerations and at the same
time degrade the object of w