Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/786

 770 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

good personal and social life. The humble beginnings of a social ethos can be conceived as the outcome of a folk-evo- lution. But its later and higher stages require the inventive genius. As the origin of a form of pot or hoe is likely to be more anonymous than that of the printing press or the sew- ing machine, so the origin of a taboo on clan property is likely to be more anonymous than that of the Golden Rule. We can account for the clan ethos by selection, but we need inven- tion to explain the rise of a national or race ethos. If this is so, we ought to be able to trace back the leading ethical possessions of the higher races to the influence of the few or the one. Let us see if this can be done.

It is usual to explain the ethical monotheism of Israel by a Semitic genius for religion. But, as a matter of fact, the religions of other Semitic stocks, such as Phcenicia, Moab, or Edom, never came to anything. They were not even as respectable as the religion of the primitive Celts or Germans. What gave the faith of Israel its wonderful career was its conception of an ethical god. But at first the national god of Israel was not distinct from the gods of the neighboring nations. He had made Israel his chosen people because Israel covenanted to give him worship. He was interested, not in the morals of his people, but in their loyalty to him. When evils and disasters suggested that Jehovah was estranged, his people thought to win him back by greater zeal in acts of external worship.

Later, however, we find Jehovah comes to be unlike Moloch, Melkarth, or Chemosh, the deities of the other Semitic peoples. It was discovered that he loved mercy and not sacrifice, obedi- ence and not the fat of lambs. In him was no variableness. His will was steadily directed toward a moral aim and could not be turned aside by flattery or offerings. His dealings with his people aimed to lead them on "to higher things than their natural character inclined toward. To know Jehovah and to serve him aright involved a moral effort — a frequent sacrifice of natural inclination."'

» W. Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel, p. 67.