THE MORAL INFLUENCES OF PRIESTHOODS. 809 



among the Chibchas, Piedrahita writes, &quot; they regard as the 

 most acceptable sacrifice that which they offer up out of 

 the robbery to certain idols of gold, clay, and wood, whom 

 they worship.&quot; And at the present time in India, we have 

 freebooters like the Domras, among whom &quot; a successful 

 theft is always celebrated by a sacrifice &quot; to their chief 

 god Ganrlak. Nor is it only by encouraging disregard for 

 life and property, that various cults, and by implication their 

 priests, have aided in demoralizing men .rather than in 

 moralizing them. On finding that &quot; among the Friendly 

 Islanders the chief priest was considered too holy to be 

 married, but he had the right to take as many concubines 

 as he pleased&quot; that among the Caribs, &quot;the bride was 

 obliged to pass the first night with the priest, as a form 

 essentially necessary to constitute the legality of the 

 marriage&quot; that among some Brazilian tribes, &quot; the Paje 

 [priest], like the feudal lord of former times in some parts of 

 E n gland, enjoys the jus primce noctis ; &quot; or again on being 

 reminded of the extent to which prostitution in temples 

 was a religious observance among Eastern peoples ; we are 

 shown in yet another way that there is no necessary con 

 nexion between priestly guidance and right action: using 

 the word right in the sense at present given to it. 



But now carrying with us the implied qualifications, let us 

 ask in what ways Ecclesiastical Institutions have affected 

 men s natures. We shall find that they have been instru 

 mental in producing, or furthering, cor tain all -important 

 modifications. 



647. When describing the action of &quot; An Ecclesiastical 

 System as a Social Bond,&quot; it was pointed out that a common 

 worship tends to unify the various groups which carry 

 it on ; and that, by implication, the priests of such worship 

 usually act as pacificators. While often instigating wars 

 with societies of other blood, worshipping other gods, they, 

 on the average of cases, check hostilities between groups 



