Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/708

 692 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

local community ; the deacon, the poor officer, having disposal of the common funds ; the " episcopus " was " overseer ; " the apostles were teachers. Later the communion became a symbol instead of a common meal ; the bread and wine became the very body of Christ, made so by the word and touch of the priest ; excommunication became deprivation of Christ's forgiveness for guilt, and later, with the church's wealth and political power, it even deprived the subject of property and subsistence. With the introduction of relics and sacred places where temples and con- vents were built, those who were put in charge exercised power over the superstitions of the people. Believers, desiring forgive- ness for their souls, contributed gifts, and the introduction of wills opened the way for bequests, until one-third of the land of Europe was in the hands of the church. Tithes, immunity from taxation, the seizure of judicial and legislative functions in the absence of a constituted monarchy or state, the celibacy of the clergy, made the church the wealthiest corporation of the time. Its material equipment now was twofold in character. First, religious, such as the eucharist, relics, and sacred places, whose value depended on the faith of believers ; second, indus- trial, such as lands and vested incomes, whose value depended upon the bodily wants of mankind. In both cases scarcity was a necessary decisive condition of value ; but in the first case the demand, existing in the mind alone, was liable to vanish with changes of belief ; while in the second the demand, existing in the bodily wants of the masses, was certain to increase with the growth of population. In either case, while demand and scarcity played together, these material products were the valued objects of private appropriation and the basis of organization. We are now to notice briefly the steps that led to monopoly and cen- tralization.

Originally each local community of worshipers elected its presbyter, episcopus, deacons, and other leaders. But induction into office required the sacred apostolic succession, and laying on of hands. Here was the germ of the power that ultimately crowded out local election and substituted centralized appoint- ment. Centralization then centered about the see of Rome