Judaism and Christianity; a sketch of the progress of thought from Old Testament to New Testament

Front matter

LI

I

CORNELL

Table Of Contents

INTfiODUCTION.

Fagb

On the Genekal Laws of the Advance from National to

Chapter I

V 1. Prophetic writings. Decline of prophecy, 53. Malaehi

ritualistic, 53. Zechariah and Joel predict the revival of nationality, 54.

2. Rewriting of history from the ritualistic point of view :

Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, 55.

3. Chronicles ; its embellishments. The romances : Jonah,

Esther, Judith, Tobit. 55-58.

4. Wisdom-books ; their practical character. Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes ; its philosophical scepticism. Wisdom of Solomon ; its Platonic and Stoic elements. Wisdom of tlie Son of Sirach ; its Jewish tone, 58-60.

5. Liturgical literature. The book of Psalms. Enig-

matical character of the Song of Songs. 61, 62.

6. Apocalypses ; their origin and form. Daniel. Enoch.

Sibylline Oracles. Barucli. Assumption of Moses. Psalter of Solomon. Book of Jubilees. Second Esdras. 62-67.

7. Historical and theological works. Maccabees. Jo-

sephus. Philo. 67, 68. § 2. The Casoks 68-76

1. Origin of the canonical idea. 68, 69.

2. Beginning of canonization. The Tora or Law, its his-

torical development. 69-71.

3. The second or prophetic canon. 71-73.

4. The third or non-prophetic canon, the grounds of choice

of its content. Palestinian and Alexandrian canons. Uncanonized books. 73-76.

Chapter II. The Doctrine Op God . 77-140

Tlie monotheistic idea firmly established in fifth century b. c, but not theoretically complete. Elements of the theistio conception. 77, 78.

C CONTENTS.

1. Governmental side: supremacy of God, — his providential

care for men, and for inanimate and brute nature ; bis special relation to Israel ; his justice, how defined by theological theories in 0, T. and N. T. 78-83.

2. Love as a divine attribute, — historical growth of the con-

ception ; Greek influence. 83-86.

3. Spiritual relation of God to the individual man; conception

of God as pure spirit. 86-89.

4. Hypostatic differences in the divine nature. 89-121.

Hypostatizing tendency in O, T. : angel of the presence ; angel of the name ; angel of Yahwe. 90, 91.

Hypostatical development of spirit, 92-96 ; of wisdom, 96-103 ; of word : Philo, N. T., 103-121.

5. Relation of God's self-mauifestation to natural law; N. T.

6. Authority of the Scriptures : inspiration ; attitude of N. T.

writers toward O. T. ; Jewish critical methods ; use of 0. T. in N. T. ; quotations. 127-140.

CHAPTEE III.

1. Survivals from early animistic beliefs: teraphim ; demons;

magic; Azazel. 141-144.

2. Spirits, — their origin; their subordination to God. 144-

3. Angels, — their origin; historical development ; Persian in-

fluence ; position in N. T. 146-154.

4. Evil spirits : Satan; his appearance in 0. T. and apocryphal

hooks ; his role as tempter. Eallen angels. Leviathan, Behemoth, Rahab. The Satan of N. T. Origin of the figure of Satan ; later Persian influence. Historical development of evil spirits; demoniacal possession. 154-172.

Chapter IV. Man

1. Constitution of man : body and soul. O. T. use of terms

body, soul, spirit, heart, reins. N. T. use of body, flesh, heart, spirit, mind. Not a trichotomy. 173-182.

2. Nature and origin of sin. 183-220.

O. T. conception of sin ; general development of the idea. Two elements of consciousness of sin. Historical development-: period of Judges and David ; of pre-exiliau

173-290

CONTENTS. ^^

Page propl.ets; of Jeremiah; of the Levitical law ; of the Book of Psalms. Consciousness ot righteousness. Gradual deepeniuK of the sense of sin. 183-193.

T view of origin ot sin. Its reticence. Narrative in Gen. iii..-lts date; its design; assumes human inchnation to sin. The serpent in the ^^Y^^%^' - \J^~ beast; probably mythical in origin; identified with batan, not in 0. T., but in Wisdom of Solomon. The narrative in Genesis not an allegory. Its representation ot death.

193-205. , , _, ., „„£.

Conception of sin in apocryphal books and Philo. M5,

N T representation of sin; its practical interest produces reticence as to questions of origin of sm and of consequences of Adam's transgression; Pauls treatment of. this last point ; role assigned to the woman. 206-Mi. ; N T. view of corruption of human nature : Synoptic Gospels, James, Pastoral Epistles, Paul, Ephes.ans and Colossians,Pourth Gospel. No gnostic asceticism. 211-220.

Prophetic view of expiation. Sin atoned for by the sinner's suffering. Vicarious human suffering : origin ot tlie idea ; its treatment by the exilian Isaiah. 220-225.

Pormulation of idea of ceremonial atonement m the Law; its restricted character. 225-227-

Appeal to the mercy of God. Human mediation for sin. Negative attitude ot prophets toward sacrificial ritual.

Teaching of the extra-canonical books. ^61. Point of view of Jesus that of the pre-exilian prophets spiritualized. The early disciples. Paul's conception of the sacrificial nature of the Messiah s death. 231-23d. 4, T conception of righteousness. 233-246. ■ ■ T. conception of moral goodness : prophetic standard ; Deuteronomy; the "new heart;" two tendencies ; idea of inward purity in the Psalms Twofold view of the source of righteousness : man's will and God's help. 233-237

Nomism Introduction of the complete Law. internal and external causes of the Jewish nomistio organization. Strength and weakness of nomism: precision ot religious life ; pride ; externalism ; casuistry ; depression of spirituality. General moral influence of the nomistic system in Judaism and in Christiani y._ 237-246. 5. Succeeding development of the idea ot righteousness. 246-

Synagogues; their origin and influence. 246-248. _ Partils Tendencies formulated i<i the Greek penod.

Contents

Tlie Pharisees, — tlieir origin; representatives of broader nationalism ; acceptance of new doctrines ; possible Greek influence. The Sadduoees ; their origin, beliefs, and Influence. The Essenes, — their peculiarities ; tlieir effect on the general Jewish life ; traces of the party in the N. T. The Zealots. 248-258.

Tlie Sanhedrin. The legal schools ; greatness of their influence. Snyings of Simon and Antigonus ; Stoic influence. Rivalry between Pharisees and Sadducees represents in one aspect the struggle between progressive nomism and conservative nationalism, in another aspect I lie conflict between Jewish and foreign ideas. Hellenism, though it could not crush the Jewish religion, impressed itself on Jewish thought. Illustrations from the teachnig of the lawyers, especially Hillel and Shammai. Religious breadth of Hillcl. 258-266.

N. T. conception of righteousness. 266-290.

Chapter VI

The conception of the kingdom of God a characteristic of Jewish thought; its four stadia. The Jewisli national liope ; its origin in Jewish power of persistence and of religious organization. The idea of a national covenant with God ; its growth and its consequences. The history of the national hope is the history of the national tliought. 303- 308.

1. The pre-prophetic, non-ethical period ; its preparatory char-

2. The pre-exilian and exilian prophetic period. Hope of

political and moral-religious prosperity in Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahuni, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the exilian Isaiah, Mic. vii., Dent, xxviii.-xxx., 1 Kings viii. 309-312.

3. The post-exilian proplietic period. Ritual tinge in Haggai,

Zechariah, Malachi. Cosmopolitan spirit of Isa. ii. 2-4, xix. 18-2.5. 312-314.

4. Legal period. Joel, the second Zechariah. The king as

national deliverer, in Ezekiel, Jer. xxxiii., 3 Sam. vii., xiv CONTENTS.

Pagh

Zech. vi., Mio. v. 2-6, Isa. xi. 1-9, ix. 6, 7, Zech. ix. 9. This proplietio national hope traceable in the later literature down to the beginning of our era. 314-319.

5. Greek and Roman period. Desire for deliverance intensi-

fied by national suifering. Apocalyptic works : the national future in the early Maccabean period (Daniel, Sibylline , Oracles, Enoch) ; in the lioman period (Psalier of Solomon, Sibylline Oracles, Enoch-Parables) ; in later literature (Assumption of Moses, Jubilees, Philo). Moral progress visible in non-apoealyptio writings. Summing up of Messianic material in pre-Christian literature. Condition of membership in the new community. Other points of popular belief mentioned in N. T. Deep Messianic feeling in Palestine at beginning of first century of our era. 319-331.

6. Profounder view of the political-religious situation at be-

ginning of first century, — weakening of desire for political sovereignty ; recognition of necessity for moral reform. Appearance of John the Baptist., — his prophetic character ; nature of liis reform. Desire for reform felt throughout the Graeco-Roman world. Peculiarity and advantage of the Jewish reform-movement of this period. 331-339.

Work of Jesus. He begins apparently as disciple of Jobn. Moral-spiritual character of his movement, — it was tlie summing-up of 0. T. and N. T. His teaching stands apart from the current political and ecclesiastical Messianic ideas of the time : stress laid by him on moral-spiritual side of the kingdom of God ; the public entry into Jernsalem ; he was looked on as politically unimportant by Roman and Jewish authorities; doubtful whether he intended his teaching to be limited to the Jews ; conflicting nature of the testimony ; he attempted no separate organization of his disciples. 339-350.

His conception of the outcome of his movement. Eirst, did he regard himself as the promised Messiah? The incident at Cfcsarca Philippi. liow he looked on his own death. Conception of his mission suggested by the title " Son of Man." 350-355.

His idea of the destiny of the world. Representation in the Synoptics that he would come in person to hold a final judgment. Eacts going to show that he held such a view. Facts opposed to such a supposition. His moral power independent of his opinions on this ponit. Tlie esohatological discourses in the Synoptics. 355-363.

Chrislian conception of the kingdom of God in the first century : James, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians. Gradual

CONTENTS. xv

Page disappearance of the old Israelitisli conception. Attempts to detine the time of the second coming of Christ. Destruction of Jerusalem looked on as turning-point. Overthrow of the Roman empire regarded as necessary. Representatioa in the N. T. Apocalypse; iu 3 Thessalonians. 362-366.

Outward organization of the Church; change in the principle of membership introduced by Paul. Paul's creative dogmatic work. Dogma inevitable ; its unspiritual influence. Christianity the fusion of two great masses of human thought ; how far it achieved unity in the world. 366-371.

CHAPTER Til.

Value and interest of eschatological ideas. 373;

1. Pinal form of earthly kingdom of God iu N. T. Apocalypse.

Its sources: Ezekiel, Isaiah, Enoch. Origin of the conception of two judgments. Whether Persian influence is recognizable. The details belong to the thought of the times ; the Jgwiah idea adopted by Chris tiaaity,„buJi.^radi^ll^Linndiiifid. Its moral influence. The Church's conception of the reign of Christ. 373-377.

2. The docti-iue of immortality. 0. T. idea of the future life.

Decline of necromancy ; indifference of the shades. 0. T. passages supposed to teach immortality. 0. T. idea of the other life belongs to the old-Semitic conception ; this perliaps explicable from the character of the Semitic mind. Whether the rise of the Jewish belief in immortality can be referred -ttrlrhe growtlf of^prnfuaLJeeling ; first distinct statement of the "belief is found in Wisdom of Solomon ; contrast between this book and Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiasticus ; probable Alexandrian Jewish-Greek origin of the doctrine. 377-388.

3. The doctrine of resurrection. Examination of O. T. pas-

sages supposed to teach it. Egyptian and Hindu ideas. Persian doctrine; probably adopted in modified form by the Jews ; they held at first to a partial, afterward to a general resurrection. How far the belief in a general resurrection prevailed in the Church of the first century. 388- 395.

4. The doctrine of a final judgment. Idea of divine retribution

universal. Its progress along three lines: (1) ethical; (2) from individualism to nationalism ; (3) from conception of earthly to that of extra-earihly judgment: the Jewish

XVI CONTENTS.

idea of an earthly judgment of all nations by Yahwe modified by tiie introduction of two articles of faith, the expectation of a personal Messiah and tlie belief in immortality. Assignment of office of j udge to Messiah in Enoch- Parables and N. T. ; origin of this idealization, whether Christian. Immortahty in oouneotion with judgment in Enoch-Parables and N. T. ; double sense of the expressions "this age" and "the age to come." Christianity, in accepting the doctrine of judgment from Judaism, substituted the Church for the nation. 395-404. 5. Reconstruction of the doctrine of the future life. E,epresentation in 0. T. and Enoch. Origin of Jewish conception of rewards and punishments after death. Representation of future punishment in N. T. Duration of punishment in N. T. Tlie future abode of the righteous : the earth and the new Jerusalem ; the Eden garden of Genesis ; [laradise ; heaven. Condition of men between deatli and judgment, in Enoch and N. T. ; annihilation; future probation. Idea of moral probation in the Bible modified by that of final judgment. 404-413.

Christian idea of the kingdom of God drawn from diverse parts of the Western world. The triumph of the Church was the essence of Christian eschatology. Strenuous etiiical basis of tlie Jewish-Cliristian couceptiou of the kingdom of God. 413-414.

Chapter VIII

RELATION OF JESUS TO CHRISTIANITY .... 415-435 Outline of the preceding sketch of the transformation of Judaism into Christianity. What is the relation of Jesus to this movement ? 415, 416.

1. He announced the germinal principles of Cliristianity. The

spiritual basis of his teaching. Significance of his silence : he added nothing to the existing idea of immortality; whether he represented himself as a sacrifice for sin ; whether lie taught the dogma of imputed righteousness ; whether he regarded himself as superhuman. " 416-423.

2. The result of his teaching. Did it alone create the Church,

or was it modified by bis followers ? And if it was so modified, wliat was his relation to the new ideas ? The creed of the infant Church was belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Whether there is sign of dogmatic reconstruction in the earliest Christian records. Concurrence of favorable conditions at the birth of Christianity. The enrlv Church the creation of Jesus. 423-427.

CONTENTS. xvii

Page Paul; liis dogmatic system the result of his conception of Jesus. How tlie Church came to interpret the death of Clirist as sacrificial. Tlie exaltation of Jesus ; distinguished from deification. The conception of Christ's righteousness as legally justifying. 427-431. The logos-doctrine, in Hebrews, Ephesians, Colossians, Pourlh Gospel. 431-433.

The variety of the portraitures of Jesus an indication of Ms power ; he is always the centre of life and belief ; the Church his creation directly or indirectly ; his place in the succeeding liistory of the Clrarch. 433-435.

Index op Citations . . 437

Introduction

ON THE GENEEAL LAWS OF THE ADVANCE FROM NATIONAL TO UNIVERSAL RELIGIONS.

THE rise of Christianity out of Judaism is a fact which, though of enormous significance, is yet in conformity with a well-defined law of human progress. The recognition of this law is so important for the proper understanding of these two religions that it will be not out of place to attempt a brief sketch of its working before entering on our main subject. We may begin by pointing out the social basis of religion, and then go on to examine the conditions which determine its advance from lower to higher stages.

§ 1. Social Chaeactee of Eeligion.

1. Eeligion must be treated as a product of human thought. Tor supposing a supernatural intervention for the communication of truth, it must, in order to be successful, conform to human conditions, and have a real genesis in man's mind. And as human thought is developed only in and through society, religion (like language and ethics) may be regarded as a branch of sodology, subject to all the laws that control general human progress.

2. A religious consciousness may be spoken of as we may speak of a moral, a literary, or a scientific consciousness ; these expressions imply not separate faculties of the mind, but merely the ordinary mental activity applied to particular classes of objects. The content of what we call the religious consciousness is twofold, — the idea of God ; and the conviction that man needs and may obtain the help of God. Each of these elements is the product of reflection. The belief in God rests on the recognition of a non-human, super-human power in the phenomena of outward nature and human life. The desire to secure God's help springs from man's feeling that he is in the midst of an environment which is beyond his control, at the mercy of elements and beasts, disease and circumstances. How he construes these two facts, what comes out of them for his weal or woe, — this is a part of his social history. His thought, which keeps pace, or rather is identical, with his social organization, occupies itself with all the problems of life; and none of these is more important for him than the question of his relation to the mysterious, invisible power which he believes to stand behind all phenomena. Eeligion must grow as society grows.

§ 2. The Geowth of Society.

1. The general law of natural growth is modified by other laws of arrest, retrogression, and decay. Plants and animals have their laws of increase against which they seem to be powerless. The human body, as a whole and in all its parts, reaches, after a time, a point beyond which it cannot advance, and the human soul appears to have equally definite boundaries marked out for it. Nature seems to have stamped on all living things this tendency toward a condition of equilibrium in which the supply of force is just equal to the waste, the powers of the organism just suffice to make head against external retarding and destructive influences. Does this law hold of communities as well as of individuals ? Certainly there are a number of cases in which it seems to show itself, — savage tribes, for example, which appear

THE GROWTH OF SOCIETY. 3

not to have made any social advance from time immemorial ; and of the greater communities, China is often cited as an example of stagnation. But it need hardly be said that great caution is necessary in such affirmations. It is very doubtful whether the term " arrest of growth " can be used of China in any proper sense ; and as for the savage tribes of the world, we are in a state of dense ignorance of their history. Social stagnation is perfectly conceivable : a community like the Fuegans, for instance, may reach a point of content where there is not sufficient inducement to make inroads upon the natural environment ; but whether this is actually the case we do not know. We may leave the question undecided whether there is any community which has reached the state of social equilibrium.

2. The same thing must be said of the natural law of retrogression or decay as applied to the inward life of societies. We may admit its possibility, but whether it is to be recognized in any particular case is matter of special examination. Certainly many historical examples are improperly cited to prove its existence. The great empires of the Old World — Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Eome, and in later times the Califate and the Byzantine Empire — perished, not through internal moral-intellectual decay, but by outward pressure. They fell apart through insufficient political organization, and succumbed to the violence of stronger powers. In our own times the case of Spain is instructive. She has fallen back from the relative position she occupied in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth' centuries ; she has made less advance than her neighbors ; but she has really grown in all the elements of the best national life. Christianity did not undergo a decay or retrogression in the Middle Age; its ethical-religious principles passed over from civilized Greeks and Eomans to groups of barbarian tribes which, at first incapable of grasping them, nevertheless entered on a career of steady growth. Seeming decay is sometimes only a form of growth. An organism rids itself of some part in order to substitute for it a higher form. A growing society is constantly changing its institutions ; the institutions decay, the society lives. Medieval chivalry and monarchy, though no doubt admirable in their day, have given way to something better. The transition from the old to the new may be attended with evil : steam takes the place of human labor, and thousands of people suffer till society has accommodated itself to the new arrangement ; the rule of the few is succeeded by that of the many, which brings with it a host of inconveniences and corruptions till the community has been trained to use its powers aright. In all these cases we have to await the result before deciding whether the new scheme means growth or decay.

3. Other things being equal, the larger the community, the more assured is its continuity and duration of growth. This results from the fact that the larger social life calls into being a greater moral- intellectual force ; and it is this which furnishes the best safeguard against disintegrating influences. In a large community the elements of life are more numerous, their interactions more frequent, each is developed with more completeness, and is more thoroughly and beneflcially affected by the others ; just as the more thoroughly developed a man's nature, the broader his sympathies, the completer the activity of each of his powers, the less likely he is to succumb to hostile agencies, physical, intellectual, or moral. The individual and the nation may perish by violence, but of the two the nation is less exposed to decay. It renews its life by a succession of individuals, and if these retain and increase the moral-intellectual power which comes from high social organization, and if there intervene no physical attack from without or within, then we can hardly put a limit to the duration of national life. In a modern nation

THE GROWTH OF SOCIETY. 5

like England, we may be slow to predict dissolution from internal decay ; her resources of physical food may disappear, or her national existence may be crushed by wars, but so far as her higher life is concerned, we may reasonably expect that it will grow stronger rather than weaker.

4. Eehgion, as an element of social life, will be subject to all these laws of social development. It will grow or decline with the community in which it exists. The possibility of religious stagnation, retrogression, and decay must be allowed. Whether these have ever actually occurred, must be decided by the examination of the facts in any alleged case. Here, also, seeming decay may be a form of growth. Judaism did not suffer by the destruction of the temple, though it lost its apparatus of sacrifice. The Christianity of to-day is not inferior in vigor and purity to that of the fourth century, though it has discarded many opinions and practices of that period. Eeligion must be distinguished from any particular organized form of religion. In the bosom of a natio.nal church there may arise an impulse which shall ultimately change its outward and inward constitution ; and the new form may represent a truer and more beneficent religion than the old. Ideas which seem to many persons fundamental may vanish, and their adherents may believe that an era of impiety has begun ; yet out of the ruins of a shattered faith may spring another faith filled with a higher spirit.

The larger the community, the more persistent and vigorous the religion is likely to be. The recognition of religion as a necessary element of life will not become feebler with the intellectual and ethical growth, but the form of the conception of it will be modified. The stress will be laid on the rational spiritual side. So long as the community exists, danger to religion can come only from its failure to respond to man's deepest needs and highest desires. But there is no reason why it should fail to do this ; the natural supposition is that religion will advance with the intellectual life of the community, and come into possession of all its elements of strength. The free individual life, with its diversities and complexities, will preserve religious thought from onesidedness ; and the higher social organization which always attends unfettered individuality will guard it against unfruitful shapelessness and license. A small religious sect is in danger of sinking into a useless narrowness from the lack of broad intellectual excitement, and of perishing by the gradual loss of individuals. Such a sect, by withdrawing itself from the community, in so far diminishes the mass of productive thought, and is obstructive and retardative. This is an altogether different thing from the position of a minority, like the Israelitish proplietic circle or that of Luther and his friends, which really represents and expounds the deeper-lying thought of the community, and thus paves the way to a higher and truer unity of thought. It is in this way that all religious revolutions have been accomplished. The realness and the success of such movements depend on the fidelity with which the profounder thinkers interpret the instincts of the ma.ss. The firmer the organization of the community, the freer the intercourse among its parts, the truer will be its feeling, and the more certain the expression of it. A sect is injurious as representing not simply individuality, but individuality cut off from real intellectual communication with the mass of the community.

II

"We come now to inquire into the general conditions under which religious progress, so far as we can trace it in the world, has been made. These conditions may be divided into those which control the formation of nations, and those

FORMATION OF COMMUNITIES. 7

which determine progress within the nation ; and these last are either inward, springing naturally out of the community itself, or outward, coming from foreign communities. Only the more general laws can be touched on here, but the principles on whicli they rest will apply as well to the smaller religious bodies as to those great movements which have issued in the formation of national and universal religions.

§ 1. FOEMATION OF COMMUNITIES.

1. A few words on this head will suffice. A large social life, as has already been pointed out, is an essential condition of the development of a great religion. It is only out of a national organization that those large experiences spring without which religious systems are narrow and unfruitful. A religion in the better sense of the term is the organized product of a national thought concerning man's relation to the divine. The more mixed the nation, provided it has reached true social-political unity, the broader and more genial the religion is likely to be, and the greater its power of commending itself to other communities. In general, the religion is coextensive with the nation, or rather with the people; if the latter is extinguished, the former perishes. It is a misfortune, for example, for the comparative history of the Semitic religions that the Assyrian and Babylonian empires were destroyed by violence in so early a stage of their career ; for with them perished their religion, and we have no means of deciding, among other things, the question whether it would have advanced sensibly toward practical monotheism. Similarly, the religions of the Hittites, the Lydians, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, have perished with the nations to which they belonged ; while in Japan, China, and India the maintenance of the national life has preserved very ancient forms of religion.

The continuance of a national-political organization is not always necessary to the maintenance of its system of religion. The essential thing is social organization, — a real unity of thought in a large mass of individuals; if this 'exists, political independence may be destroyed, the people may be driven from their land and become wanderers in the world, and yet preserve their religion substantially intact. Whether this can be effected will depend on the vigor of character of the people, on the moral-intellectual elevation of the religion as compared with that of other religious systems with which the banished people are brought into contact, and on the isolation in which they live. The most striking case in point is that of the Jews. Driven from their own land, and living in the midst of alien communities in Asia, Africa, Europe, and America, they have held to the religion of their fathers with a very remarkable pertinacity, but only in so. far as they have been socially isolated. In the Middle Age, as inheritors of a religion which represented centuries of thought and culture, they were decidedly superior to their Moslem and Christian neighbors, and above the temptation of being influenced by them ; and, further, they were hated and persecuted, and forced into social isolation. But so soon as they came into relation with other communities and felt the influence of a thought higher than their own, they yielded and modified their religion accordingly. Another though less striking example is that of the Parsees, who have preserved the Mazdean faith through twelve centuries of bondage and persecution. Their position, however, differs from that of the Jews. A foreign faith was forced on Persia ; Islam expelled Zoroastrianism, and the Persians are Mohammedans. The small body which remained faithful to the old national religion was compelled to leave its native land, and in India the Parsees, isolated by their beliefs and practices, have main-

FORMATION or COMMUNITIES. 9

tained their religion intact, but have at the same time held, themselves aloof from outside thought, and as a consequence have sunk into almost complete stagnation. Neither medieval Judaism nor Parseeism has had any real inward development out of its own resources. Neither has impressed itself sensibly on other communities ; both have held substantially (except under impulses from without) to the old traditional faiths which they have worked up more or less mechanically.

A community without national political organization is thus exposed to the double danger of extinction and assimilation. Its members perish and are with difficulty replaced; or under the influence of alien thought its religion is gradually, often insensibly, transformed till it ceases to have anything but the name in common with its old self. And so, while admitting a certain vitality in some politically unorganized communities, we may recognize in history the general rule that fruitful religions have arisen in societies characterized by a true national life. And it is always possible that from such a national religion an idea may spring so simple and broad that it shall commend itself to other communities, and clothe itself with an organization which ignores and transcends national lines.