standards. Rites frequently
performed by men in mass have a deep and moving
influence. They have at once all the pressure and prestige of
custom, confirmed by the mystery and awe that attends any
expression of man's relationship to the divine. The church,
moreover, by the mere fact of being an institution, having a
hierarchy, an ordered procedure, a definite assignment and
division of ecclesiastical labor, becomes thereby an incomparable
preserver and transmitter of traditional values.

Churches, ecclesiastical organizations in general, may be
said to arise because of the necessity felt by men for
intermediaries between themselves and the divine. We have
already seen of what vast practical moment in savage life was
communication with the gods. Upon the success of such
addresses to deity, depended not only the salvation of the soul,
but the actual welfare of the body--shelter, harvest, and
victory. The gods among many tribes were held to be
meticulous about the forms and ceremonies which men addressed
to them. In consequence it became important to have,
as it were, experts in the supernatural, men who knew how to
win the favor of these watchful powers. The priests were
originally identical with medicine men and magicians. They
knew the workings of the providential forces. In their hands
lay, at least indirectly, the welfare of the tribe. Their
principal duties were to administer and give advice as to the worship
of the gods. Often it was necessary for them to point out to
the lay members of the tribe which gods to worship on special
occasions. The priests being accredited with a superior
knowledge of the ways of the gods, they were required to
influence the wind and rain, to cause good growth, to ensure
success in hunting and fishing, to cure illness, to foretell the
future, to work harm upon enemies.[1]

[Footnote 1: For a detailed discussion see Hastings: _Encyclopoedia
of Religion and Ethics_, vol. II, pp. 278-335.]

There is more than one criterion by which men may be set
apart as priests. Sometimes they are those who in a mystic
state of ecstasy are supposed to be inspired by the gods.
During their trance such men are questioned as to the will of
the divine. Sometimes they become renowned through their
reputed performance of an occasional miracle. Again, as
magical and religious ceremonies become more complicated,
there is a deliberate training of an expert class to perform
these essential acts. And, whatev