752 ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



very close, and where the union of civil and religious func 

 tions in the king remained a real union, &quot;a chief priest, 

 surrounded by a numerous priesthood, governed each city/ 

 The Japanese, too, yield an instance. Along with the belief 

 that Japan was &quot; the land of spiritual beings or kingdom 

 of spirits,&quot; and along with the assumption by the Mikado of 

 power to promote deceased persons to higher ranks in their 

 second lives ( 347j, there went the trait that the Mikado s 

 court had six grades of ecclesiastical ranks, and in this chief 

 centre of rule, sacred and secular functions were originally 

 fused : &quot; among the ancient Japanese, government and 

 religion were the same/ Similarly in China, where the 

 heavenly and the earthly are, as Hue points out, so little 

 separated in conception, and where there is one authority 

 common to the two, the functions of the established religion 

 are discharged by men who are, at the same time, adminis 

 trators of civil affairs. Not only is the emperor supreme 

 priest, but the four prime ministers &quot; are lords spiritual 

 and temporal.&quot; If, as Tiele says, &quot; the Chinese are remark 

 able for the complete absence of a priestly caste,&quot; it is 

 because, along with their universal and active ancestor- 

 worship, they have preserved that inclusion of the duties of 

 priest in the duties of ruler, which ancestor-worship in its 

 simple form shows us. 



618. Likeness between the ecclesiastical and political 

 organizations where they have diverged, is largely due to 

 their community of origin in the sentiment of reverence. 

 Ready obedience to a terrestrial ruler is naturally accom 

 panied by ready obedience to a supposed celestial ruler ; and 

 the nature which favours growth of an administration enforc 

 ing the one, favours growth of an administration enforcing 

 the other. 



This connexion was well illustrated by the ancient Ameri 

 can societies. In Mexico, along with an &quot; odious despotism &quot; 

 and extreme submissiveness of the people, making possible 



