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MINISTEES OF EELIGION. 167
fore, take place according to certain regulations,
but the transgression of these rules, it was believed,
might offend the Divinity, and thus produce an
effect contrary to what was desired. But it was not
always convenient for the common people to become
thoroughly acquainted with these rules; the
more exact knowledge of them became a concern of
certain individuals better initiated in the religion,
who were to guide the rest of the people, or rather,
on their behalf to perform the sacred offices belongr
ing to divine worship. Thus was established a class
of servants of the Gods, or priests, who were thought
to be nearer the Gods than other people, and in a
manner to be mediators between the two.
But the influence of the priests varied according
as the religion under which they ministered was
more or less mysterious ioAts character.
In many of the heathen religions of antiquity
there were but a few maxims generally known,
while the greater part of them were most carefully
veiled in mystery by the priests, who formed a
peculiar order, distinctly separated from the rest of
the people. In those religions the priests them-
selves figured as supernatural, mysterious beings,
who were believed to hold the fate of other people
in their hands ; and the more this was the case, so
much the greater was their influence over the rude,
uncultivated masses. This kind of arrangement
shows conclusively ,that the mythological doctrines
were originally foreign to the people. It denotes in
spiritual affairs what noble rank, or a strict feudal
system indicates in temporal, namely, the subjuga-
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