The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-16

posed TO be borrowed by one Semitic matt.
from another turn out 70 Ice lndera,Jon,
developments from a common notbo'
] goddess Of the primitive time.
The seventh chapter Of thi, book I. ia
voted 10 an account Of the long .'r,v,i.
In which the Hebrew prophet, wc-a r,n,
tagonists. a struggle to evol " a new moral
and ~monotheistic conception Of Yabwo
and to distinguish il from the q, les q,
the neiRhboring Semitic peoples Tho ont.
come of tho long struggle was 70 differ.
entiate Yahwe. not only from the Rnal,
and clan-cults OF the various Israeltish
tribes. but from his own original nature.
Many pages relating 10 this sunj-cT are
summed up by the author himself In ths
following sentences: THE Vshpa WHOSE
ancestry we have been tracing vs., A,
! Paul would cav, the Yahwe according "a
the flesh; In the age OF the Prophets. Ii,
Yahwe according to the Spirit appeared
In the world. Yahwe AZ the close Of Tia
prophetic period-Yahwe the one God
of the world-was, as conceived by his
followers. a very different being from
Yahwe as worshipped by the Kenitss and
by Moses. The latter was, as wo have
seen, a god Of fertility, pleased with such
rites as similar gods OF fertility among
Semites Of a like degree Of civilization
were supposed to sanction. He " IA less
gross han Baal only because a ncnsdlo
environment imposed greater s~inrllrlty
OF life upon his followers. Yahwe. a. nm
ceived by the faithful In Israel at the lad Of
the EAile, was the God Of the world just
and righteous himself, and satisfied with
nothing less than justice and righteous
| ness In his followers. The conception Of
him then held needed but the broadening
and deepening which was 10 oome In part
through the contact OF his followers With q
larger world In the succeeding centuries,
and. In part, through the teaching Of Jesus
Christ, to become the ultimate conception
Of God for the ages-metaphysically per-
feet. morally perfect, r~ellgiously parfect.'
Mr.. Barton submits that the results 10
which his Investigations have led should
be reassuring to the lover OF tie Old Tesla
ment. Nothing, he thinks. could show
more conclusively that the moral standards
Of the ~Israelite prophets and their con-
ception Of God are utterly unscoounted
for by their environment. The tendency,
shared by the ancestors OF the Hebrews,
in common with ether Semites. 70 o,uy
the functions whereby physical Life lie pro-
duced. could give no promise. when Judged
10y the fruits II produced In other places.
of the rich and pure ethical ard religious
harvests which II bore In Israel. tn
primitive conception Of physical father
hood became after Hosea the conception OF
a moral father. with all the high qualities
Of an unselfsh parent, raised to an infinite
power. The early conception Of a deity
who gloried In the processes Of reproduce
ton, however savage.y they might be In
dulged in, was replaced by the conception
OF Yahwe as a tender and afectionate
husband, who grieved over the Mcontinent
pollution of Israel, the bride OF his choice
a husband whose love was the embodi-
ment OF all purity. whose rule demanded
perfect ethical relations between his cons,
and especially between his sons and daugh-
ters. II critical study makes II impossible
for US to trace the birth OF these conceptions
back to Abraham or Moses. or TO account
for them by the superstition that they de-
scended from heaven amids the thunders
of Sinai, it nevertheless emphasizes their
real inspiration, for It demonstrated on tho
one hand that they first took their shape
on earth In human minds. As all spiritual
conc ptions must, and on the other that
there wa nothing In their physical and social
cHNlIOtlIltnl NllCu dNtAbuNtiy 'SI
them-that after all. the inspiring touch
Of these prophetic hearts by the divine
Spirit is their only real explaLation.'
. In the fral chapter the opinion 10 er-
pressed that Remains original hypothesis
Of a primitive Semitic tendency TO mono
thei.m can no lon ger he maintained. In
! his later work Renan modified his claim.
and merely asserted that each Semitic
IL ~ e. IAN ooL at tho aana fima
/ not denying the reality of the gods Of other
! tribes. In our authors opinion this po-
I sition was well taken. but the road from
henotheism, with which Renan credits
Semitic peoples, TO veritable monothc'sm
lay through a long development in which
tribes we're welded into nations, ar the
tribal deitiee were formed into polytheist'o
partheons. Summing up the religious
influence Of the emit on the rest n
the world, Mr.. Barton says: If II the
religious sphere the semites have any
where proved themselves worthy teachers
Of the human race. II has not been because
thew had at the first a clearer conception
of monotheism than others had but he
cause the circumstances Of their desert
and oasis environment led them In their
religion TO emphas ze those functions OF lie
which are most closely connected With tho
growth Of moral and religious feeling IN
the individual and In the race No douot
il will be distasteful 20 many 10 be told
that the beginnings Of Semitic religion.
as they were conceived by Srmites them
selves, 20 back TO sexual citations MI.
Barton reminds US that In primitive times
such things were thought Of and treated
much more ~innocently than they are now.
. Moreover, the semitic actually hit upon
a feature Of human hfe which. as scientific
invest cation ia now showing, Is even at
the present lay intimately connected with
religious feeling. and has had more real
influence In developing moral. aluuistlo
and humanitarian feeling In the past than
any other. As Fske and Drunnond
have pointed out, the prolonsation Of ne
period Of hrlplessness in infancy and The
+ consequent development Of maternal love,
ont of which feelings Of oDligatiCn ""i
conscience have grown, are now seen 10
! lie AZ the root OF the moral and religious
progress Of the race. II is the esser'ai
purport of the book before us 10 den n
stra,e that "the primitive Semite's IN.