11)09] on Influence of Saperditioa on Growth of Instituilons. -468 



they have had to fear the spirit of their victim on the one side, and 

 the lash of the law on the other : they are in a strait between the 

 devil and the deep sea, between the ghost and the gallows. And 

 when with the progress of thought the shadow of the ghost passes 

 away, the grim shadow of the gallows remains to protect society with- 

 out the aid of superstitious terrors. It is thus that custom often 

 outhves t]ie motive which originated -it. If only an institution is 

 good in practice, it will stand firm after its old theoretical basis has 

 been shattered : a new and more solid, because a truer, foundation 

 will be discovered for it to rest upon. More and more, as time goes 

 on, morality shifts its ground from the sands of superstition to the 

 rock of reason, from the imaginary to the real, from the supernatural 

 to tbe natural. In the present case, the State has not ceased to pro- 

 tect the lives of the peaceful citizens because tbe faith in ghosts is 

 shaken. It has found a better reason than old wives' fables for 

 guarding with the flaming sword of Justice the approach to the Tree 

 of Life. 



To sum up this Ijrief review of the influence which superstition 

 has exercised on the growtli of institutions, I think I have proved, or 

 at least made probable, that — 



I. Among certain races and at certain times superstition has 

 strengthened the respect for government, especially monarchical 

 government, and has thereby contributed to the establishment and 

 maintenance of civil order. 



II. Superstition has strengthened the respect for private property, 

 and has thereby contributed to the security of its enjoyment. 



III. Superstition has strengthened the respect for marriage, and 

 has thereby contributed to a stricter observance of the rules of sexual 

 morality, both among the married and the unmarried. 



lY. Superstition has strengthened the respect for human life, and 

 has thereby contributed to the security of its enjoyment. 



But government, private property, marriage, and respect for 

 human life are the pillars on which rests the whole fabric of civil 

 society. Shake them, and you shake society to its foundations. 

 Therefore, if government, private property, marriage, and respect for 

 human life are all good and essential to the very existence of civil 

 society, it follows that superstition, by strengthening every one of them, 

 has rendered a great service to humanity. It has supplied multitudes 

 with a motive — a wrong motive, it is true — for right action ; and surely 

 it is better for the world that men should do right from wrong 

 motives, than that they should do wrong with the best intentions. 

 What concerns society is conduct, not opinion : if only our actions 

 are just and good, it matters not a straw to others whether our opinions 

 be mistaken. The danger of false opinion, and it is a most serious 

 one, is that it commonly leads to wrong action ; hence it is unques- 

 tionably a great evil, and every effort should l)e made to correct it. 

 But of the two evils, wrong action is, in itself, infinitely worse than 



