Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/154

 156 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jiuu.a. initiating in the glorious declaration that " to be just and do well,'' are better than sacrifice or strict observance of the law." The boldness and spirituality of similar ideas once attained could not be arrested in their course ; translated at first by a dim perception of the narrow concept of a national God, it ere long saw, albeit imperfectly, one whose arms were long enough to enfold all the nations of the earth ; it was the presentiment of the radical change that was to do away with the old world, substituting for the special worships of the Gentiles the all-embracing religion of Christ. 1 This is not the place to study the progress or to note the stages of ideas once set in motion ; all we wish to say is that they had their birth with the people whose history we have essayed to summarize. The Jewish mind was formed and acquired its serious and meditative turn in the school of adversity. Under their great kings, David and Solomon, they had tasted the sweets that power brings with it ; to these days of brilliant prosperity had followed the dismemberment and the loss of their dominion, together with civil and foreign wars, the inroads of Aramœan, Assyrian, and Chaldaean hordes, and finally, the destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem. Each fresh disaster that fell upon the ambitious aspirations of the Israelites caused them anxiously to inquire why the Lord had so afflicted His people. To this question the pro- phets answered, that it was because of their infidelities, and of their not having served Jehovah in singleness and purity of heart. To the more noble, this resulted in what we should call a fresh " revival," when every nerve was strained after a good and perfect life. But nothing seemed to avail ; the outer gloom thickened ; their straits and woes unutterable were multiplied ; the noble sanctuary fell, and they themselves were dispersed to the four winds of heaven. It was then that the vanities and glories of this world gave way to the expectation of the future reserved for Israel ; called to the honour of bringing all the people of the earth " to go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and to walk in the light of the Lord. 2 1 This question has been treated by M. Kuenen in his Religion Nationale et Universelle, Islam, Israélitisme, Judaïsme, Christianisme, et Budhisme, cinq Lectures faites à Oxford sous la patronage de la fondation Hibbert, 1882; traduit du Hol- landais par Maurice Vernes, 1 vol. in-8°. Leroux, 1884. The second, third, and fourth Lectures are severally entitled : La Religion Nationale des Israélites, Prêtres et Prophètes de Iahvê ; V Universalis me des Prophètes ; L' Etablissement du Judaisme ; fudaisme et Christianisme. 2 Isa. ii. 2, 3, 4.