New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-09-13

merings of q philosophy Of history are 10 DE
found in the Hebre.' prophets, and this is true
whether they prophesied after the fact or be-
fore
The Hebrews convinced themselves that their
one God was not merely better than other gods,
but that he was the only God. But In the mis-
cries which they md suffered there was
not much proof Of divine affection. but rather or
divine jealousy and vengeance on world per-
sistent in wrong doing They redoubed their at
tention to ceremony, and their labor, vain in
one aspect. was useful enough in perpetuating
and expanding the thought Of the divine power
and righteousness and unity. However. this
great Deity. according to prevalent notions, was
still respecter Of persons. He was the God
Of Israel and only in a secondary sense the God
Of the obscure Israelite. 1t required the Exile
to show that he could De worshipped without
sacrifices to settle the list Of sacred books. and
to make the village meeting house-that Is the
synagogue-as much of an institution as the tenn
pie in which the ancient historic ritual was still
observed in its completeness. Experience proved
that in the local servic without the orgies OF
slaughter and sacrifice there was no danger or a
relapse into paganism. But this diffusion OF
Judaism raised new question. In the past 1t
had been enough to know that Israel would i've
forever as race. Now the hope began 10 ne
cherished that the individual 1sraelite would
rise from the grave to share the final triumph OF
his nation. The growth OF this doctrine Out
of the absolute silence OF the earlier books or
the Hebrews has been for ages one OF the most
interesting of all problems In anthropological
religion. A library has been written upon IL,
and though Mr.. Crozier has put the discussion or
il in an attractive form II is hard TO see where
he has advanced 1t beyond the stage In which
It was left say, by Warburton. 1t Is now wei
known that the Semitic race as a whole had a
legend of immortality long before the hebrew
branch emerged as a separate people. that this
legend showed no trace Of Egyptian influence;
ard so the opinion Of Warburton that the doc
trine was Intentionally ignored by the earliest
Hebrew writer's is practically demonstrated But
there is no other example of such reticence In all
history
Wavering between an ideal OF prosperity On
earth and Of Immortality, the Jews worked out
another unioue conception that of a king who
was to raise Israel to supreme power and whose
reign was to be enjoyed by the dead as we'll as
the living ApoCayptic visions, especially that
which went under the name Of Enoch. influenced
the minds OF the people greatly 1t Is from n
population inspired by such ideas that the man
arose who 10 give life and personality and
motion to the distractions Of Greek thought.
| Christianity mere terminating seed. the
shoots Of which had hardly risen above the soil
when Philo with his doctrine OF the world as
an emanation from the Deity did away with
| ell theories Of merely thinkable sensible
| matter like Aristotles Aether. II this has re-
appeared in modern philosophy, IT Is for a new
reason as a medium and not cause OF motion.
But according to Phio, who was thinking not
only In the abstract way Of the Greeks. but in
the concrete way OF the Jews, the Supreme In
tellgence was in touch with the universe Mt
every point and needed no medium The theory
as perfected by Pho and his successors was
that the world was the emanation Of al omni-
present activity. an intelligent vital principle
or world soul diffused through the universe: that
this vorld-soul again was the emanation In turn
Of the pure reason which united in Itself the entire
system Of Platonc ideas, and this reason again.
or Logos as It was called, the emanatiOn Of the
Eternal One the Good. the Primitive Unity,
which was neither Reason nor WOrld-Soul. but
included them both This w1s with these
thinkers not a religious conception. but purely
PHILOSOPHICAL method OF accounting for a uni
verse where motion and intelligence were as ap-
parent as matter itself. Now. add to this the
ancient notion that matter is evil, that only trc
forms impressed upon II are OF divine origin. and
il follows that release from matters is the bliss
Of all dispersed inellg ,noe. In the modification
OF the flesh in asceticism. lies the only hope OF
return FOR the soul to its divine original.
But Philo and his successors remained in the
domain OF speculative theory 1t required new
experience Of life to make their doctrines vital.
With this thought the author turns to Chris
tianitv. which according to him. began in total
Inconsistencies Of It's own destiny. Its Founder
did not begin with the assertion OF his own d.
vinity but arrived at this gradually az the re-
suit Of thought and experience. The vision at
the baptism in Jordan and the temptations in the
wilderness were wholly subjective experiences.
but all the miracles were historical realities
that il convincing to those who witnessed them
and on their testimony. to others. The doctrine
Of the Messiah the theory Of the kingdom Of
heaven and Of the divine nature Of Christ, so far
as they were worked out In His time. were the
rational unfolding Of His one central thought,
that God was loving Father Of humanity. not
a Jealous ceremonious Master But He died in
doubt as TO His mission and His followers were
convinced only by His temperance. The ira
dItion subsequently emil oded in the Gospels
grew up in the presence OF belief that the
world was about TO be destroyed When this
belief was abandoned Christians were already
divided in their views as to the meaning Of the
life and personality Of Jesus. 1t was open to
the World Spirit 70 utilize a strict Cntarianism
in the intellectual development Of humanity
But all tendencies Of this sort gradually led IN
each 10 n vanishing point, except where
these collected finally in Islam outside OF Chris
! tIanity. Finally all the vital clements in the
teaching OF Philo and his successors taken
up into Christianity by the Fourth Gospel Every
! possible experiment was tried In the way Of in
depreciation by the Gnostics and the herctical
thinkers. but in every csse the Christian world
came back 10 n Trinitariansm that was vaguely
! defined at first, but more and more clearly In
| the succession Of writers from Paul and Apollos
| 10 Augustine and Athanasius The reason was