directions to "borrow" jewels which were not to be returned (Ex. xi., 2). "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" is not of much weight when we find God bearing false witness against his (1 Kings xxii., 20—22). And who could think it wrong to covet his neighbors' goods, when Israel at God's command coveted and stole all the possessions of the Canaanites? On these vital points of conduct the Bible speaks with a divided voice, banning and blessing, forbidding and commanding.
Taking the Bible as a whole, we find it decisive and clear when marking out offences against God; doubtful and confused when dealing with real sin and crime. In both the Old and New Testaments faith is the supreme virtue; unbelief the unpardonable sin. The discharge of moral duties by the believer is confined to his fellow believers; thus the Jew was told: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother … unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury" (Deut. xxiii., 19, 20); to the Christian was set the example of Christ: "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me" (John xvii., 9).
No help can we find here in any scientific inquiry; no light comes to us from this much-vaunted lamp. Interesting historically the Bible is; but as a guide in moral science it is worse than useless.
II.
Putting the Bible on one side in our investigation, we next seek for the reason, or reasons, for the presence of sin and crime in our midst. The difficulty of the existence of evil in a world created by a good God is as old as philosophy; it has led to dualism in many forms, Persian, Egyptian, Christian, but it has never been satisfactorily answered by any religion. Only since Science has spoken has light been thrown on the reason for the existence, and therefore on the nature, of sin.
During the long ages of the past of our earth all living things have struggled thereon for existence. Omitting, as irrelevant to the present enquiry, the struggle for existence in the vegetable kingdom, we can easily recognise, as we study the animal world, the qualities which give advan-
