THE STRUGGLE FOR REALITIES. 373 



ings have given rise to institutions. An institution im- 

 plies a division of labour; so in every age and in every 

 race men have been chosen and set apart 

 Fear and worship ^^ representatives of these hidden forces 



of the unseen , , ^ j * ^.u • ■4.- .-■ t 



and devoted to their propitiation. In 

 powers. ^ *^ 



every nation there are men who are com- 

 missioned to speak in the name of each god that is wor- 

 shipped or each demon that the people dread. 



The existence of each cult of priests is bound up in 

 the perpetuation of the mysteries and traditions they 

 visibly represent. It is the nature of men to magnify 

 their own calling. These traditions are associated with 

 other traditions of other powers, with other conventional 

 explanations of uncomprehended phenomena. While 

 human theories of the earth, the stars, and the clouds, 

 of earthquakes, storms, comets, and disease, have no 

 direct relation to the feeling of worship, yet of necessity 

 they become entangled with it. The uncomprehended, 

 the unfamiliar, and the supernatural are one and the 

 same thing in the mind of man. History shows that the 

 human mind can not separate one set of traditional 

 prejudices from another. 



We come to attach sacredness to the ideas acquired 



in our youth, whether derived from our own experience 



or from the teachings of our fathers. 



, ., ,, , To those courses of action approved by 



our childhood. . ■' 



US as right we attach a mystic sanction 



as our best reason for following them. And not only to 

 the acts of virtue approved by the ethical wisdom of all 

 ages, but to the most unimportant rites and ceremonies 

 we attribute the same divine sanction. New ideas, with- 

 out the sanction of tradition, whatever the nature of 

 their source, must struggle for acceptance. To the sci- 

 entific notions of our childhood we cling with special 

 persistence, because they are associated with our con- 

 26 



