ted as taking the first
step, and as undertaking that, if the gods grant an abundant harvest,
the people will, through their high priest, the Emperor, make a
thank-offering, in the shape of first-fruits, to the gods of the
Harvest. This is, of course, no more an historical account of the way
in which the gods of the Harvest actually came to be worshipped, than
is the account which the fourth Shinto ritual gives of the way the
gods of the Winds came to be worshipped. In both cases the worship
existed, and sacrifices had been made, as a matter of custom, long
before any need was felt to explain the origin of the custom. As soon
as the need was felt, the explanation was forthcoming: if the
community had made these sacrifices, for as long back as the memory of
man could run, and if the gods had granted good harvests in
consequence, it must have been in consequence of an agreement entered
into by both parties; and therefore a covenant had been established
between them, on some past occasion, which soon became historical.

This history of the origin and meaning of sacrifice has an obvious
affinity with the gift-theory of sacrifice. Both in the gift-theory and
the covenant-theory, the terms of the transaction are that so much
blessing shall be forthcoming for so much service, or so much sacrifice
for so much blessing. The point of view is commercial; the obligation
is legal; if the terms are strictly kept on the one part, then they
are strictly binding on the other. The covenant-theory, like the
gift-theory, is eventually discovered by spiritual experience, if
pushed far enough, to be a false interpretation of the relations
existing between god and man. Being an interpretation, it is an outcome
of reflection--of reflection upon the fact that, in the time of
trouble, man turns to his gods, and that, in returning to them, he
escapes from his trouble. On that fact all systems of worship are
based, from that fact all systems of worship start. If, as is the case,
they start in different directions and diverge from one another, it is
because men, in the process of reflecting upon that fact, come to put
different interpretations upon it. And so far as they eventually come
to feel that any interpretation is a misinterpretation, they do so
because they find that it is not, as they had been taught to believe, a
correct interpretation but a misinterpretation of the fact: there is
found in the experience of returning to God, something wit