Chapter I: THE WORD TO THE GODS.—1. The Word to the gods is Prayer. It is a

very prominent and nigh universal element in primitive religions. The injunction “Pray always” is nowhere else so nearly carried out. Captain Clark, an officer of our army with the widest experience of Indian life, writes: “It seems a startling assertion, but it is, I think, true, that there are no people who pray more than Indians. Both superstition and custom keep always in their minds the necessity for placating the anger of the invisible and omnipotent power, and for supplicating the active exercise of his faculties in their behalf.”[121]

In fact, Prayer may be said to be the life of the faith of savage tribes, and it is so recognised by themselves. According to the legends of the Maoris of New Zealand, when they first migrated to that island from Hawaii, they did not bring with them their ancestral gods, but took care to carry along the potent prayers which the gods cannot but hear and grant.[122]

Some writers have claimed that certain tribes have been found without any notion of an appeal to unseen agencies, and have quoted as instances the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego, and the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands. But closer examination proves that the priests of the Yahgans call upon a mysterious being, Aiapakal,[123] and other invisible existences, and the Mincopies are acknowledged to have prayers at the present time.

The earliest hymns and prayers do not, as a rule, contain definite requests, but are general appeals to the god to be present, to partake of the feast which is spread, or to join the dance and to continue his good offices toward those who call upon him. Such are the hymns of the Rig Veda, and those of ancient Mexico, which I have collected and published.[124] They are like the _evocatio deorum_ of the Romans.

The three forms of “the Word to the gods,” or Prayer, are those of thanksgiving, by praise or laudation; of petition for assistance or protection; and of penitence or contrition for neglect of duty. All these are common in the most primitive faiths. In all of them you will find the deity appealed to as great, mighty, a lord, a king, terror-inspiring, loving his followers, and by hundreds of such epithets of amplification and flattery. He is addressed endearingly as father or grandfather; not at all implying a physical relationship, as some modern writers have erroneously stated; but with reference to the loving care he is supposed to extend to his worshippers.

As we might expect, most of the petitions in primitive prayers are for material benefits. The burden of most of them is well expressed by one in the Rig Veda: “O God, prosper us in getting and in keeping!” They ask for increase of goods, abundant food, success in war, and fine weather.

Yet among the rudest there are signs of an appreciation of something higher. A prayer of the Khonds, a Dravidian tribe of Northern India, reads: “O Lord, we know not what is good for us. Thou knowest what it is. For it we pray.”

It is strange to find among the Navahoes, a rude hunting tribe of our western territories, an intense longing for the beautiful. One of their prayers runs: “O Lord on high, whose youth is immortal, ruler above, I have made you the offering, preserve my body and members, preserve it in beauty, make all things beautiful, let all be completed in beauty.”[125]

At other times the prayer is for moral control, as in this of a Sioux Indian: “O my grandfather, the Earth, I ask that thou givest me a long life and strength of body. When I go to war, let me capture many horses and kill many enemies. But in peace, let not anger enter my heart.”[126]

Penitential prayers are uttered when one has broken the ceremonial law or _tabu_; and in general, when misfortune and defeat seem to indicate that the gods are irritated at some insult offered them, though the worshipper may not be clear what it is.

“O merciful Lord,” says an Aztec prayer, “let this chastisement with which thou hast visited us give us freedom from evil and follies.”[127]

In many prayers we find formulas preserved which are no longer understood; and very frequently the power of the prayer is believed to be increased by repeating it a number of times. The prayer choruses of nearly all savage tribes offer endless examples of this. The notion of increased force by repetition, a notion founded on the augmented suggestive power of the Word through its iteration, to which I have already referred, is so common that it was especially noted and condemned by Jesus as of no spiritual value.

This form of prayer, indeed, degenerated into a mere magical formula, as we see was the case with the apostolic benediction of the Christian church during the middle ages, which became a charm in use by necromancers and sorcerers.

In its sublimest essence, however, prayer has been recognised as something far beyond any form of suppliancy. It is, as an orthodox authority says, “the habitual state of a being who constantly lives in relation to God, and cultivates a constant exchange with Him.”[128] So understood, it is even more than inspiration; it is a communion of spiritual life, a dwelling in God. This is the precise mental condition of many of the mystics and devotees of primitive religions. They are with the god, the god with and in them.