ecognized as
exerting over the individual a compelling power, and of
insistently arousing his veneration. The psychological origins
of this phenomenon have already been noted. Men fear,
need, feel themselves dependent on the gods. But further
than this many religious thinkers hold that man cannot even
be aware of the divine power without wishing to adjust himself
harmoniously to it. And they hold, as did Immanuel
Kant, that man is born with an awareness of the divine.

The attributes of divinity have been differently assigned at
different times in the history of religion. In general two
qualities have been regarded as characteristic: power and
goodness. In primitive belief, the first received the predominant
emphasis; the higher religions have emphasized the
second. For savage man, as we have seen, the divine personages
were conceived in effect as human beings with superhuman
powers. They were feared and flattered, needed and
praised. Adjustment to them was a practical, imperative
necessity. They combined infinite capacity with human and
finite caprice. The attention they received from humans was
distinctly utilitarian in character. These forces of wind and
sun and rain might be brutal or benignant. Primitive man
established, therefore, a system of magic, sacrifice, and prayer,
whereby he might minimize the precariousness of existence,
and keep the gods on his side.

In the more spiritualistic monotheistic religions, while the
power of God has been insistently reiterated, there has been
an increasing emphasis upon the divine goodness. The
Psalmist is continually referring to both:

Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:
for his mercy endureth forever.
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
. . . . .
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men!
For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in
sunder.

Wrath and terror gradually give place to mercy and benevolence
as the primary attributes of the divine. The power of
God, in Christianity, for example, is still regarded as unlimited,
but it is completely expended in the loving salvation of mankind.
Where the divinity has ceased to be a willful power and
has become instead the God of mercy and loving kindness, it is
no longer necessary to placate him by material sacrifice, to
win his favor by trivial earthly