order is very great; and that his merit is immeasurable who either permits a son, a daughter, or a slave, to enter it, or enters it himself (W. u. T., p. 107).
Priesthoods may either be hereditary or selected. The Brahmins in India, and the Levites in Judæa, are remarkable types of hereditary, the Buddhist and the Christian clergy of selected, sacerdotal orders. Curious modifications of the hereditary principle were found among the American Indians. Thus, "among the Nez Percés of Oregon," the priestly office "was transmitted in one family from father to son and daughter, but, always with the proviso that the children at the proper age reported dreams of a satisfactory character." The Shawnees "confined it to one totem:" but just as the Hebrew prophets need not be Levites, "the greatest of their prophets . . . was not a member of this clan." The Cherokees "had one family set apart for the priestly office," and when they "abused their birthright" and were all massacred, another family took their places. With another tribe, the Choctaws, the office of high-priest remained in one family, passing from father to son; "and the very influential piaches of the Carib tribes very generally transmitted their rank and position to their children." A more important case of hereditary priesthood is that of the Incas of Peru, who monopolized the highest offices both in Church and State. "In ancient Anahuac" there existed a double system of inheritance and selection, The priests of Huitzilopochtli, "and perhaps a few other gods," were hereditary; and the high-priest of that god, towards whom the whole order was required to observe implicit obedience, was the "hereditary pontifix maximus." But the rest were dedicated to ecclesiastical life from early childhood, and were carefully educated for the profession (M. N. W., p. 281-291).
Christianity entirely abandoned the hereditary principle prevalent among its spiritual ancestors, the Jews, and selected for its ministers of religion those who felt, or professed to feel, an internal vocation for this career. Doubtless this is the most effectual plan for securing a powerful priesthood. Those who belong to it have their heart far more thoroughly in their work than can possibly be the case when it falls to them by right of birth. Just the most priestly-minded of the community become
