the rival
of religion, though more and more driven to take a secondary place. It
has collected physical facts which have served as a basis for the study
of physical science and have indirectly furthered the cause of religion
by leading men to recognize natural law and also by necessitating a
distinction between theistic and other superhuman results.[1588] In the
absence of distinct religious systems it has been a bond of social
union, and to that extent has been a civilizing influence. On the other
hand, it has fostered belief in a false science of sequences and thus
helped to introduce confusion into thought and the conduct of life. The
aim of religion has been, and is, to banish magic from the world.[1589]

DIVINATION

+905+. Divination is the science that seeks to discover the will of the
supernatural Powers by means of the observation of phenomena. Men desire
to learn the causes of present and past misfortunes and the story of the
future, that they may know at any moment what is the best course to
pursue. The underlying supposition is that these things are indicated by
the appearances and movements of the various objects of the world. It is
in these phenomena that the purposes of superhuman forces become visible
to man; the gods, it is held, cannot but so reveal themselves (for they
produce all phenomena), and man's task is to discover the laws of
phenomenal revelation. The question of the motive in this revelation is
not distinctly raised, but it is taken for granted that the Powers are
willing to help man by guiding his uncertain footsteps; their attitude
is so far friendly--they belong in feeling to the human community.[1590]

Divination has in common with magic the assumption of the unity of the
world and its control by law, and the search for divine activity in the
facts of life. But the two differ essentially in their aims. Divination
seeks to learn the divine will in order to be guided; magic studies
divine action in order to imitate it and accomplish divine results.
Divination is an inquirer, and its virtue is obedience; magic is an
investigator, and its virtue is achievement. Both are self-seeking, but
divination is the more reverent and allies itself more easily with
religion. But both tend to become corrupt and decadent, and their roles
are determined from time to time by the conditions of the communities in
which they are found.[1591]

+906+. The organization of divination resembles that of magic i