en with this qualification, sacrifices are not satisfactorily
distinguished from offerings, for a food-offering is an offering, and
discharges the function of a sacrifice, provided that it is offered.
That it should actually be consumed is neither universally nor
necessarily required. That it is often consumed in the service is a
fact which brings us to a new and different feature of the sacrificial
rite. Let us then consider it.

Thus far, looking at the rite on its outward side, from the point of
view of the spectator, we have seen that the worshippers, carrying
with them something material, draw near to the place where the god
manifests himself. From this series of actions and gestures, we have
inferred the belief of the worshippers to be that they are drawing
near to their god both physically and spiritually. We have inferred
that the material oblation is intended by the worshippers as the
outward and visible sign of their wish to commend themselves to the
god. We have now to notice what has been implied throughout, that the
worshippers do not draw near to the god without a reason, or seek to
commend themselves to him without a purpose. And if we consult the
facts once more, we shall find that the occasions, on which the god is
thus approached, are generally occasions of distress, experienced or
apprehended. The feelings with which the community draws near are
compounded of the fear, occasioned by the distress or danger, and the
hope and confidence that it will be removed or averted by the step
which they are taking. Part of their idea of the god is that he can
and will remove the present, or avert the coming, calamity; otherwise
they would not seek to approach him. But part also of their idea is
that they have done something to provoke him, otherwise calamity would
not have come upon them. Thus, when the worshippers seek to come into
the presence of their god, they are seeking him with the feeling that
he is estranged from them, and they approach him with something in
their hands to symbolise their desire to please him, and to restore
the relation which ordinarily subsists between a god and his
worshippers. Having deposited the offering they bring, and having
proffered the petition they came to make, they retire satisfied that
all now is well. The rite is now in all its essential features
complete. But though complete, as an organism in the early stages of
its history may be complete, it has, like the organism, the