214 ASSAYS SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL. 



ing, till a perfect separation is effected. But 

 ecclesiasticism always stands for " the principle of 

 social continuity," a social bond of a very con- 

 servative character a fact which is easily ex- 

 plained when we remember that the very raison 

 d'etre of religion is the propitiation of an ancestral 

 ghost. 



On the military and civil functions of priests, 

 and the differentiation of the sacerdotal from the 

 military function, Mr. Spencer has a good deal 

 to say. And he cannot be accused of modifying 

 his statements for fear of giving offence to the 

 clergy. On the subject of war he finds it con- 

 venient to ignore the early centuries of Chris- 

 tianity and the unvarying teaching of the Christian 

 Church, in order to emphasize the military func- 

 tions of some mediaeval prelates. His Church 

 history is, however, not his strong point, but he 

 has wonderful powers of seeing resemblances where 

 the ordinary man sees only difference. Who but 

 Mr. Spencer could have detected a survival of the 

 original union of the military and sacerdotal 

 functions in a prayer written by the present 

 Archbishop of Canterbury for the Egyptian war ; 

 or found a proof of clerical cruelty in the fact 

 that a little boy was beaten to death at the 

 "clerically governed" King's College? 



The .chapters on " Church and State " and 

 " Nonconformity " are so sketchy as to be of little 



