god, and a great king, a just judge,
a liberal friend--all his doings were wonderful. He had chosen Israel
for his people, and by a series of mighty acts had guided and
preserved them, and made them great. His people stood in a peculiar
position in the world; with such a god they must rise higher still,
there could be no limit to what he could do for them.

Religion not Centralised.--We must not, however, suppose that the
rise of Jehovah to a great position, and the institution of his
worship at the court, made any great or sudden change in the
religious arrangements of the people at large. While the worship of
the monarch went on at Gibeon or at Jerusalem, the great shrines at
Bethel, at Dan, and at Beersheba were still frequented, and the
sacred places throughout the land remained in honour. Stories indeed
were told to show that they had been founded by the patriarchs for
the worship of their god, so that there need be no scruple in
frequenting them. The worship of Baal and that of Jehovah went on at
these places side by side, and neither could fail to be influenced by
the other. Sacrifice was guided by more than one principle: on the
one hand it was a common meal with the deity; and as Jehovah was
thought to have his dwelling in Heaven, his part of the banquet was
burned, so that it might ascend to him in the column of smoke. The
sacrifice of agriculturists, however, naturally turns to the idea of
presenting to the god, with joy and thankfulness, a part of the
gifts, or the first or best part of the gifts, which, as lord of the
soil, he has bestowed. The idea of propitiation or atonement does not
enter into the ordinary sacrifices at this time. Jehovah in his
sterner moods may demand more awful offerings. As we see from the
story of Abraham offering up Isaac, it was thought that Jehovah might
demand human sacrifice, and instances of such sacrifice actually
occur in the records. Jephthah dedicates his daughter; after a war
the best of the booty is offered to Jehovah, and Samuel hews Agag in
pieces before him. But such occurrences lie quite apart from ordinary
worship, which is of a joyful character and is accompanied by
merry-making of various kinds. No fixed ritual prevailed throughout
the country; the attempt to introduce uniformity came much later.
Every one knew how to sacrifice, as the stories of Manoah and of
Gideon show; it was by no means necessary that a priest should be
present. The functions of the priest