The sun., 1883-09-30

ing with n tool he knows not how to handle tho
picture OF q city which he has not seen. It's
naive delineatlon Of the city Of God, big toy OF
gold and pearls. remains. for all that. an ele-
ment OF our dreams. Paul spake better. doubt
less. when he summed up the final object OF the
universe In these words: That God may be
altogether in u.s. But for q long timo yet
mankind will have need of God who shall
dwell with 1t as friend with friend take pity
upon its trials. take its struggles into account.
and wipe the tears from every eye."
W.
This volume ends with an account OF the
military operations by which the son OF Nespa-
sian stamped out the revolt OF Judea by over
throwing the theocratica form Of government,
running the holy city OF Jerusalem. and laying
waste the traditional sanctuaries OF Israeli IL
had taxed the power of the Roman empire to
break the stubborn spirit of the Jews but to
all outward seeming the work had at last been
done efIcctually.
Certainly the victory was complete. cap
tain of our own race. of our blood. man like
ourselves lthe Flavian family had sprung from
Cisalpinc Gau at the head Of lcgions on
whose roll. could We but read It, we should
meet with the names OF not few OF our an
cestors. had succeeded in shatterng the fort
ress Of Semiticism. and in inflcting on thcoc-
racy. that most formidable foe Of civilization.
the greatest shipwreck which 1t has ever On
perienccd. His triumph was the triumph Of
the Roman law. or rather of the rationalistc
law n wholly philosophical creation that pre-
supposed no revelation. over the Jewish Thora.
which was the fruit of revelation. This law.
whose roots were partly Creek but In
whose evolution the practical genius of the
Latns had so fine a share. was the excellent
gift bestowed by Rome upon the vanQuished
In exchange for their Independence. Every
one OF Rome's victories was a step in reasons
progress; Rome brought into the world IL prin-
ciple better on several accounts than that pro-
pounded by the Jews-I mean the principle of
the secular State. reposing on purely civil
conception Of society. Every patriotic effort
merits respect; but the Hebrew zealots were
not merely patriots. they were fanatics. the
executioners Of an intolerable tyranny. What
they strove for was the maintenance of n law
Of blood which would permit the stonng
Of an unorthodoX thinker. What they
repellcd was tho common law. lgic
and liberal that does not trouble it.
self about the beliefs OF individuals. Liberty
OF conscience was to spring at last from the
Roman law. whereas it would never have
sprung from Judaism. Out of Judaism could
come only the synagogue or the church. the
censorship OF conduct. a compulsory code of
century wherein mankind would have lost all
its virlity. had not the barbarians braced it up.
Better for humanity. in truth. the reign Of the
warrior. than the temporal reign of the priest:
for the warrior does not cramp the intellect:
under his sway one may think freely whereas
the priest exacts Of his subjects all imposs-
bility. that is to say. belief in certain things
and the pledge to accept them as etcrnally true.
Rome's triumph. then. was legitimate from
some points of view. Jerusalem had become
an impossibility; left to themselves. the Jews
would have demolished it. But a great gap In
history was to make sterile the victory of Titus.
Our western races Notwithstanding their gcn-
eral superiority have always evinced deporu-
bic DarrennesS in matters Of religion. To draw
from the Roman or tho Gaulish religion some
thing analogous to the Christian Church would
have been an impossible undertaking. Now.
every advantage gained over u religion is fruit
less. ii you do not replace it with another
satisfying at least as well as that did the wants
OF the heart Jerusalem will avenge her
shipwreck she will vanquish Romo by
Christianity. and Persia by Islam; she will de-
stroy the antique conception of a fatherland
sho will become for the loftiest souls the city of
the heart. The most perilous tendency of her
Thora. which was ut ono and the same time Il
moral and civil law. giving precedence to So
clal questions over questions military and po-
iltical. Will dominate in the Christian Church.
Throughout the middle ages the individual,
censured and watched by the community. will
shudder at the threat of accommodation;
and this will be righteous rccoil after
the moral indifference of pagan socie-
ties, protest against the inadequacy Of the
Roman institutions to improve the individual.
Assuredly. it is n detestable principle that ac-
cords the right of coercng their members to
iS nf
errors to believe that there is but one reli-
glon. and that this has monopoly of good
ness. seeing that for every man the good re-
liglon Is that which makes him gentle and
Just. humble and kind but the question how
we are to govern mankind is difficult; the
ideal is very high and the earth is very low;
unless we will frequent only the desert with
the philosopher. what We meet at leach
step is folly. stupidity, and passion. The
ancient sages could contrive to clothe them
selves with some authority only by impos-
lures which through lack of material force.
gave them but an imaginary power Where
would civilization now be had not men believed
for ages that the Brahmam shot lightning from
his eye. had not the barbarans been convinced
that terrible reprisals could be wreaked by st
Martin of Tours2 Man needs moral school
ing, for which the training administered by
the family and by the State does not suffice
How is Judaism. deprived Of its holy city
and its temple. destined to be transformed /?
How will Talmudism grow out of the situation
which events have created for the Israeite 2
That is what we shall see in our llfth book In
one sense Judaism, after bringing forth Chris
tianlty. had DO longer any reason to exist
From that moment the spirit Of life had gone
out OF Jerusalem. Israel had given everything
TO the child OF her pains, and had exhausted
herself in the parturition The ElOhiia that
men fancied they could hear murmur in
the sanctuary, Let US 90 forth Lot US
go forth! spake wisely. 1t is the law OF great
creations that the Creator Shall virtually expire
in transmitting its existence to another; after
the complete incubation OF life in the being
who is to continue it. the parent is nothing but
barren branch, q sapless thing. 1t is rare,
however for this doom pronounced by nature |
to be forthwith executed. The plant that
hath borne its flower consents not on that
IA