THE CONTROVERSIALIST 1 73 



Theology,"] theology is regarded as a natural product 

 of the operations of the human mind, under the con- 

 ditions of its existence, just as any other branch of 

 science, or the arts of architecture, or music, or paint- 

 ing, are such products. Like them, theology has a 

 history. Like them also, it is to be met with in 

 certain simple and rudimentary forms; and these can 

 be connected by a multitude of gradations, which 

 exist, or have existed, among people of various ages 

 and races, with the most highly developed theologies 

 of past and present times. 



We are all likely to be more familiar with the theo- 

 logical history of the Israelites than with that of any 

 other nation. We may therefore fitly make it the 

 first object of our studies ; and it will be convenient 

 to commence with that period which lies between the 

 invasion of Canaan and the early days of the mon- 

 archy, and answers to the eleventh and twelfth cen- 

 turies b. c, or thereabouts. The evidence on which 

 any conclusion as to the nature of Israelitic theology 

 in those days must be based is wholly contained in 

 the Hebrew Scriptures — an agglomeration of docu- 

 ments which certainly belong to very different ages, 

 but of the exact dates and authorship of any one of 

 which (except perhaps a few of the prophetical wri- 

 tings) there is no evidence, either internal or external, 

 so far as I can discover, of such a nature as to justify 

 more than a confession of ignorance, or, at most, an 

 approximate conclusion. In these we have the strati- 

 fied deposits (often confused", and even with their 

 natural order inverted) left by the stream of the intel- 

 lectual and moral life of Israel during many centuries. 

 And, embedded in these strata, there are numerous 

 remains of forms of thought which once lived, and 

 which, though often unfortunately mere fragments, 

 are of priceless value to the anthropologist. Our task 

 is to rescue these from their relatively unimportant 



