h which the
misinterpretation is irreconcilable; and, when the misinterpretation is
dispersed, like a vapour, the vision of God, the idea of God, shines
forth the more brightly. One such misinterpretation is the reflection
that the favour of the gods can be bought by gifts. Another is the
reflection that the gods sell their favours, on the terms of a covenant
agreed upon between them and man. Another is that that which is offered
is sacred, and that that which is sacred is divine--that the god is
himself the offering which is made to him.

In all systems of worship man not only turns to his gods but does so
in the conviction that he is returning, or trying to return, to
them--trying to return to them, because they have been estranged, and
access to them is therefore difficult. Accordingly, he draws near to
them, bearing in his hands something intended to express his desire to
return to them. The material, external symbol of his desire--the
oblation, offering or sacrifice which he brings with him because it
expresses his desire--is that on which at first his attention centres.
And because his attention centres on it, the rite of sacrifice, the
outward ceremony, develops in ways already described. The object of
the rite is to procure access to the god; and the greater the extent
to which attention is concentrated on the right way of performing the
external acts and the outward ceremony, the less attention is bestowed
upon the inward purpose which accompanies the outward actions, and for
the sake of which those external actions are performed. As the object
of the rite is to procure access, it seems to follow that the proper
performance of the rite will ensure the access desired. The reason why
access is sought, at all, is the belief--arising on occasions when
calamity visits the community--that the god has been estranged, and
the faith that he may yet become reconciled to his worshippers. The
reason why his wrath descends, in the shape of calamities, upon the
community, is that the community, in the person of one of its members,
has offended the god, by breaking the custom of the community in some
way. For this reason--in this belief and faith--access is sought, by
means of the sacrificial rite; and the purpose of the rite is assumed
to be realised by the performance of the ceremonies, in which the
outward rite consists. The meaning and the value of the outward
ceremonies consists in the desire for reconciliation which exp