796 ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



in his ability to obtain blessings, gives him immense ad 

 vantages. Even where each man could offer sacrifices, yet 

 the professional priests profited by their supposed special 

 knowledge. Instance the case of Borne, where their power 

 was thus enhanced. 



&quot; Every suppliant and inquirer addressed himself directly to the 

 divinity the community of course by the king as its mouthpiece, just 

 as the curia hy the curio, and the equites by their colonels. . . . But 

 . . . the god had his own way of speaking. . . . One who did rightly 

 understand it knew not only how to ascertain, but also how to manage, 

 the will of the god, and even in case of need to overreach or to con 

 strain him. It was natural, therefore, that the worshipper of the god 

 should regularly consult such men of skill and listen to their advice.&quot; 



Of course where propitiation of a deity could be made only 

 by sacerdotal agency where, as among the Chibchas, &quot; no 

 sacrifice or offering, public or private, could be made but by 

 the hands of the priest&quot; the ecclesiastical organization 

 gained great strength. 



To the influence possessed by priests as intercessors, 

 may be added some allied influences similarly rooted in 

 the accepted superstitions. One is the assumed power t&amp;lt;? 

 grant or refuse forgiveness of sins. Then there is the 

 supposed need for a passport to the other world ; as shown 

 us by usages in ancient Mexico, in Japan, and in Eussia. 

 Once more there is the dreaded excommunication, which, 

 under the Christian system, as under the system of the 

 druids, was visited especially on those who disregarded 

 ecclesiastical authority. 



To powers which priests acquire from their supposed 

 relations with the gods, must be added powers of other 

 kinds. In early societies they form the cultured class. 

 Even the medicine-man of the savage is usually one who has 

 some information not possessed by those around; and the 

 developed priesthoods of established nations, as of the 

 Egyptians and the Chaldeans, show us how knowledge of 

 surrounding phenomena, accumulated and transmitted, en 

 abling them to predict astronomical occurrences and do 



