If the name is to be extended to all beliefs which we have
not attempted to verify, it must include the largest part of those we
possess. We vote at elections as we are told to vote by the newspaper
which we happen to read, and our opinions upon a particular policy are
based upon no surer foundation than those of the Papist on the
authenticity of the lives of the Saints.
Superstition is a matter of RELATIVE evidence. A thousand years ago it
was not so easy as it is now to obtain rigid demonstration in any
department except mathematics. Much that was necessarily the basis of
action was as incapable of proof as the story of St. George and the
Dragon, and consequently it is hardly fair to say that the dark ages
were more superstitious than our own. Nor does every belief, even in
supernatural objects, deserve the name of superstition. Suppose that
the light which struck down St. Paul on his journey to Damascus was due
to his own imagination, the belief that it came from Jesus enthroned in
the heavens was a sign of strength and not of weakness.
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