C11UF.CH AND STATE. 797 



other astonishing things, greatly exalts them in the tiyes of 

 the uninitiated. With the further influence thus gained 

 must be joined that gained by acquaintance with the art of 

 writing. Beyond the wonder excited among the common 

 people by the ability to convey ideas in hieroglyphics, 

 ideographs, etc., there is the immense aid to co-operation 

 throughout the ecclesiastical hierarchy which an exclu 

 sive means of communicating intelligence gives; and the 

 history of mediaeval Europe shows how power to read and 

 write, possessed by priests but rarely by others, made 

 their assistance indispensable in various civil transactions 

 ard secured great advantages to the Church. Nor must we 

 forget the kindred enhancements of influence arising from 

 the positions of prelates as the teachers of civil rulers. In 

 mediaeval Europe, bishops &quot; were the usual preceptors of the 

 princes ; &quot; and in Mandalay at the present time, the highest 

 church dignitary, who stands next to the king in authority, 

 &quot;is generally made patriarch from having been the King s 

 instructor during youth.&quot; 



Lastly may be named the power resulting from accumu 

 lation of property. Beginning with payments to exercisers 

 and diviners among savages, progressing to fees in kind to 

 sacrificing priests, and growing by-and-by into gifts made 

 to temples and bribes to their officials, wealth everywhere 

 tends to flow to the ecclesiastical organization. Speaking of 

 ancient Mexico, Zurita says that &quot;besides many towns, a 

 great number of excellent estates were set apart for the 

 maintenance of public worship.&quot; Among the Peruvians the 

 share of the annual produce reserved for religious services 

 was &quot;from a third to a fourth.&quot; In ancient Egypt &quot;the 

 priests lived in abundance and luxury. The portion of the 

 soil allotted to them, the largest in the threefold division, 

 was [at one period] subject to no taxes.&quot; So again in Koine. 



&quot; The public service of the gods became not only more tedious, but 



above all more arid more costly The custom of instituting 



endowments, and generally of undertaking permanent pecuniary 



