s is
observed above, the Roman people owed the introduction of some important
religious cults. But for ordinary procedures priests and other
officiators everywhere were disposed to give favorable responses,
especially to the questions of prominent men; and military and other
political enterprises were usually in such form that they could not
conveniently be modified in accordance with unfavorable omens--the omen
had to be favorable. There were exceptions, but this was the general
rule. The science of divination, however, did good service in fostering
the observation of natural phenomena, and especially in the development
of astronomy and anatomy. In connection with these observations it
called into being bodies of men--corporations that in process of time
became centers of general culture.

+942+. On the ethical side it may be doubted whether divination has been
an advantage to society. It has produced much deceit, unconscious and
conscious. Whether diviners believed or did not believe in their
science, the result was bad. If they did not believe, they fostered a
system of deceit. Whether there was real belief or not, the practice of
divination encouraged false methods and turned men's minds away from
immediate appeals to the deity, and in general from a spiritual
conception of religion. On the other hand, it helped to maintain the
external apparatus of religion, which for ancient life was an important
thing. Like all great institutions its effects have been partly good,
partly bad. It belongs to a lower stage of human thought and tends to
disappear gradually before enlightenment.

CHAPTER IX

THE HIGHER THEISTIC DEVELOPMENT

+943+. The preceding survey of early religious customs and institutions
discloses a recognizable unity in diversity. Everywhere we find the same
classes of sacred objects and the same methods of approaching them.
Whether the supernatural Powers are conceived of as animals or as plants
or as what we call inanimate things, or, in more advanced thought, as
ghosts or spirits or gods, they are held to be factors in human life,
are regarded with awe, are dreaded and avoided, or are welcomed as
helpers, and in any case are propitiated by gifts and other marks of
respect. The potency inherent in things is the object of observation,
its laws are studied, and it is used for purposes of life. The
diversities in the form of ceremonies, in the conception of the
characters of the Powers, and in the