RFXIGION IN THE iAVK OF NATIONS. 73 



fiiiiiily, and its |hm.|)](' was called •* llic liuiiiC of Jacolj." 

 It i)ivsL'rvcd ill ils pultlic archives the genealogy of its 

 fathers, and, as 1 might say, a complete history of its 

 blood. It knew liow, from the heart of its first ancestor, 

 by the veins of the twelve patriarchs as by so many 

 sacred channels, the blood which God had blessed liad 

 ilowed downward to itself. The twelve tribes remained 

 distinct, almost independent, and yet united; and in 

 each of them each family maintained the sovereignty of 

 its own home. Every fifty years, at the solemn jubilee, 

 tlie homestead, that might have been sold under some 

 pinch of necessity, reverted to its former owners. The 

 old home seemed to leap for joy as it welcomed tliem 

 l)ack; and on the spot where the grandsirc luid been 

 wont to dwell, he joyfully greeted his descendants. 



And to the domestic spirit, what people has better 

 united the religious spirit ? It was God's own peojile. 

 Its city was a temple, the holy hill of Zion. Its histor}^ 

 its poetr}^, its laws were all contained in the insjiired 

 book. Its sages sj^oke to it in the name of the Lord ; 

 in his name its kings held empire and its warriors 

 fought its holy wars. 



Xow, this obscure people, that had to choose between 

 the oblivion of the world and its contempt, this petty 

 State, whose breadth was not more than twenty leagues, 

 is that one of all tlie world whicli has rendered the 

 greatest service to mankind. To it humanity awes 

 everything, from that idea — not Shemitic, but Hebrew — 

 which gives its nobleness and strength to modern 

 thought, the idea of the one, personal, and living God, 

 down to that mysterious blood of Calvary, which alone 

 has power to fecundate the divine idea that out of it 

 should come forth the virtues whicli have converted 

 and civilized our fathers, and founded Christian society. 



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