THE MILITARY FUNCTIONS OF PRIESTS. 781 



the signal for onset, they alone had power to visit with legal punish 

 ment, to bind or to beat.&quot; 



In yet other cases the functions discharged are more exclu 

 sively of the kind called religious. The Samoans took a 

 priest &quot;to battle to pray for his people and curse the 

 enemy.&quot; In New Caledonia, &quot; the priests go to battle, but 

 sit in the distance, fasting and praying for victory.&quot; Among 

 the Comanches the supplicatory function was performed 

 before going to war. &quot;The priesthood,&quot; says Schoolcraft, 

 &quot; appear to exercise no influence in their general govern 

 ment, but, on war being declared, they exert their in 

 fluence with the Deity.&quot; And in this conception of their 

 office it seems that Christian priests agree with the priests of 

 the Comanches ; as witness the following prayer directed to 

 be used by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the commence 

 ment of the late war in Egypt. 



&quot; O Almighty God, whose power no creature is able to resist, keep, 

 we beseech Thee, our soldiers and sailors who have now gone forth to 

 war, that they, being armed with Thy defence, may be preserved ever 

 more from all perils, to glorify Thee, who art the only giver of all 

 victory, through the merits of Thy only Son, Jesus Chriat our Lord. 

 Amen.&quot; 



A noteworthy difference, however, being that whereas the 

 priest among pagans in general, seeks some sign of divine 

 approval as a first step, the Christian priest assumes that he 

 has this approval ; even though the case be that of attacking 

 a people who are trying to throw off an intolerable tyranny. 



Besides being direct or indirect aiders in battle, priests 

 are in other cases relied on for military management, or 

 appealed to for guidance. In Africa among the Eggarahs, a 

 priest &quot; officiates as minister of war.&quot; Of the ancient 

 Mexicans we read &quot;The high-priests were the oracles 

 whom the kings consulted in all the most important affairs 

 of the state, and no war was ever undertaken without their 

 approbation.&quot; Prescott speaks of the Peruvian priests as 

 giving advice in matters of war ; and Torquemada says that 

 in Guatemala the priests had decisive authority on war 



