716 ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



been forbidden, there long survived the usage which had 

 resulted from it. Ivuenen remarks that though, up to David s 

 time, &quot;the competence of every Israelite to offer sacrifice was 

 not doubted/ yet &quot;it was the kings and the heads of the 

 tribes and families especially who made use of this privilege.&quot; 

 In the t course of evolution under all its forms, differentia 

 tions tend ever to become more definite and fixed ; and the 

 differentiation above indicated is no exception. Eventually 

 the usage so hardens, that the performance of sacrificial rites 

 to ancestors is restricted to particular descendants. Speaking 

 of the ancient Aryans, Sir Henry Maine says &quot;not only 

 must the ancestor worshipped be a male ancestor, but the 

 worshipper must be the male child or other male descendant. * 



598. Hence certain sequences which we must note before 

 we can rightly understand the institutions which eventually 

 become established. In ancient Egypt &quot; it was most impor 

 tant that a man should have a son established in liis seat 

 after him who should perform the due rites [of sacrifice to 

 his ka, or double] and see that they were performed by 

 others.&quot; Still more strongly was the need felt by the ancient 

 Aryans. Says Duncker, &quot;according to the law [of the 

 Brahmans] every man ought to marry ; he must have a son 

 who may one day pour for him the libations for the dead.&quot; 

 And we further read concerning them : 



&quot;But the chief reason [for allowing polygamy] was that a son must 

 necessarily be born to the father to olfer libations for the dead to him. 

 If the legitimate wife was barren, 01 brought forth daughters only, 

 the defect must be remedied by a second wife. Even now, Hindoo 

 wives, in a similar case, are urgent with their husbands to associate a 

 second wife with them, in order that they may not die without male 

 issue. How strongly the necessity was felt in ancient times is shown 

 by an indication of the Eigveda, where the childless widow summons 

 her brother-in-law to her bed, and by the narrative in the Epos of the 

 widows of the king who died without a son, for whom children are 

 raised up by a relation, and these children pass for the issue of the 

 dead king (p. 85, 101). The law shows that such a custom did exist, 

 and is not a poetic invention. It permits a son to be begotten by the 

 brother of the husband, or the nearest of kin after him ; in any case 



