Note 180.1 — The Evolution of Religion

We may regard these utterances of the hunter not indeed as spells, for his attitude is most reverent and loving, but as potent statement effecting the purpose of prayer. Nor need we see Christian influence in the striking phrase last quoted, though of course this is possible; such endearing address is common both in the lower and higher liturgies: the Egyptian appealed to Isis in similar terms180.1—“Oh my father, my brother, my mother Isis,” the Babylonian addressed Bel as father and mother,180.2 and a Vedic hymn contains the phrase, “Thou, oh Agni, art our father, we are thy kinsmen.”180.3 Such appeals, suggested by the affection between kinsmen and the idea of the kinship of man with God, belong to the alphabet of pure prayer.