SHEMITIC CIVILIZATION. 141 



the firm trammels of the Shemitic spirit. 

 This is so true that Jews and Mahometans 

 have nothing but aversion for this religion, 

 the sister of their own; but which, in the 

 hands of another race, has clothed itself with 

 exquisite poetry, the enchanting adornment 

 of romantic legends. Beings, gentle, sensi- 

 tive, and imaginative, such as the author of 

 The Imitation of Christ, such as the mystics of 

 the middle ages, such as the saints in general, 

 have professed a religion proceeding in truth 

 from the Shemitic mind, but transformed in 

 all its parts, by the genius of modern na- 

 tions, especially by the Celtic and Germanic 

 races. That depth of sentiment, that tender 

 melancholy, found in the religion of a 

 Francis of Assisi, of a Fra Angelico, were 

 every way opposed to Shemitic genius, 

 essentially hard and dry. 



As for the future, gentlemen, I foresee, 

 more and more, the triumph of Indo-Euro- 

 pean genius. From the sixteenth century, 

 one great fact, till then doubtful, continues 

 to manifest itself with striking energy ; it 



