212 JESS AYS SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL. 



go " to mean " he was not able to hold him fast " ! 

 Will our readers believe that the only other proof 

 that Jahveh is not conceived as omnipotent (omit- 

 ting the cancelled passage) is I Sam. iv. 3-10, in 

 which the Israelites are defeated by the Philistines, 

 and the Ark is taken ! And this is all that we 

 have to set off against the Old Testament revela- 

 tion of "the Judge of all the earth." Mr. Spencer 

 simply adopts the wildest of Kuenen's fancies, 

 without the ingenuity which Kuenen shows in their 

 defence. 



We need not carry our examination further. 

 The statement that God was neither omniscient 

 nor moral we have heard before, and the answer 

 is obvious. Mr. Spencer has nothing new to say 

 about it Nor have we. 



With such a view of religion, and such a theory 

 of Old Testament theology, we cannot hope for 

 much, though there are interesting points we 

 might notice here and there in Mr. Spencer's 

 account of ecclesiastical institutions and the 

 specialization of functions. His categories, how- 

 ever, are all biological, and seldom fit, except 

 metaphorically, the facts of morals and religion. 

 It is no wonder that " a satisfactory distinction 

 between priests and medicine men is difficult to 

 find," if both are concerned only with ghosts. 

 The account of the customs of savage tribes is 

 varied enough, and readable, if not instructive. 



