Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/112

 98 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

" If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all his commandments ... all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee. . . . Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store . . . and the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground . . But ... if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his stat- utes . . . cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body . . . The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with a sword, and with blast- ing, and with mildew ; and they shall pursue thee till thou perish." 1

That a belief that sees in every event of life some immixture of the gods, and interprets every stroke of good or ill fortune in reference to past behavior, gives a tremendous leverage in the control of men, the history of priestcraft shows beyond a doubt. But such an interpretation of life can hardly last among the masses without the plausible explanations of quick-witted priests. A little reflection on life shows an apportionment of good and evil that can be reconciled with no conceivable standards of moral deserts. David sees the "prosperity of the wicked" and confesses that " their eyes stand out with fatness ; they have more than heart could wish." 2 Says Professor Huxley : " If there is a generalization from the facts of human life which has the assent of thoughtful men in every age and country, it is that the violator of ethical rules constantly escapes the punishment

1 1 Deuteronomy, chap. 28 :

"... Everie countrey chalengeth a several! sainct for their patrone, assignying further to each sainct a peculiar cure and office, with also sundry ways of worshiping : as this sainct helpeth for the toothache, that socoureth in childbyrth ; she restoreth stolene goods ; another aydeth shipmen in tempests ; another taketh charge of hus- bandmen's hoggs ; and so of the rest ; far long were it to rehearse all." Erasmus, quoted by Adams in Law of Civilization and Decay, p. 156.

a Psalm 73.