THE CIVIL FUNCTIONS OF PRIESTS. 737 



in the sculptures as the chief sacrificer to the gods. The 

 likj connexion existed in ancient Egypt, in ancient Mexico, 

 in ancient Peru ; and in Japan, until recently, it continued 

 to exist under a nominal form if not under a real form. 



Obviously this is the normal connexion in those societies 

 which have preserved that primitive structure in which, along 

 with a general ancestor-worship there has arisen a special 

 worship of the founder of the conquering tribe, whose 

 descendant is at once head propitiator of him, and inheritor 

 of his civil headship along with his military headship. 



634. This union, most conspicuous where the divine 

 nature or divine descent of the king is an article of faith, 

 continues also where he is believed to have divine sanction 

 only. For habitually in such cases he is either nominal 

 head or real head of the ecclesiastical organization ; and 

 while ordinarily occupied with civil functions, assumes on 

 great occasions sacerdotal functions. 



Where the religion is indigenous, this maintenance of the 

 connexion is naturally to be expected; but we have proof 

 that even where the religion is an invading one, which 

 suppresses the indigenous one, there is apt to be a re- 

 establishment of the connexion. This is shown by the growth 

 of the ecclesiastical organization throughout Europe. At first 

 diffused and local, it advanced towards a centralized union 

 of religious with civil authority. According to Beclollierre, 

 during the fourth and fifth centuries in France, senators, 

 governors of provinces, great proprietors, imperial officers, 

 were elected bishops; and Guizot writes that in the fifth 

 century, &quot; the bishops and the priests became the principal 

 municipal magistrates.&quot; In the codes of Theoclosius and 

 Justinian are numerous regulations which remit municipal 

 affairs to the clergy and the bishops. The jurisdiction of 

 a bishop in Germany, beginning with his own clergy only, 

 came to be by usage &quot;extended to laymen, in cases whore 

 the duties of religion, the rights or discipline of the church, 

 109 



