550 OLD TESTAMENT 



prophets, three of whom, Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, make the pro- 

 vince of international relations one of cardinal importance, while 

 Habakkuk devotes to it the whole of his prophecy. 



What is the Old Testament sanction for the practice and authority 

 of these primary and essential virtues? It is strictly sociological. It 

 is based, on the one hand, upon the solidarity of the community by 

 blood-brotherhood, and, on the other, upon the relation of each mem- 

 ber of the community, and of the whole body as one family, to the 

 common God. The new world long ago lost these old-world principles. 

 But they are based upon the original constitution of society, and until 

 they are reinstated society will not be renewed and reformed. And 

 singularly enough, sociological science is beginning to realize the 

 former of the two principles. It is reaching by slow deductions the 

 prophetic conception, when it declares that the individual can 

 realize himself only in society; that the state is an organism for the 

 promotion of this self-realization, fostering in its members the senti- 

 ment of patriotism ; and that the alliance or federation of the nations 

 is a necessary further medium for the development of this same self- 

 realization of the individual, who never can complete or fulfill himself 

 until he makes himself one with his own community and with the 

 larger community of mankind. 



The other sentiment that of the union of the members of the 

 community with the common God lies outside the sphere of modern 

 sociology. Why? Because the new- wo rid view has divorced religion 

 wholly from social life, that is to say, from practical morals, by 

 making it solely a matter of the relation of the indiAddual soul to God, 

 instead of its relation to both God and man. The result has been 

 infinitely disastrous. The churches are supposed to look after our 

 religion, but no one dreams of looking after our morals. To the 

 simple philosophy of the Old Testament this dualism of religion and 

 morals, the dividing up of a man into separable elements, and of 

 his life into unrelated functions, was a conception unknown and in- 

 conceivable. But Greek analytic speculation, and medieval phrase- 

 mongering, and the habit, so dear to the Occidental mind, of giving 

 concrete reality to our abstractions, have wrought havoc with our 

 common sense and indefinitely postponed the redemption of society. 

 We have banished God from our homes and haunts to his cold and 

 distant heavens, and in the long absence of the Father his earthly 

 household is left desolate. We often hear the admonition, " Back to 

 Jesus!" With equal urgency we may well raisa the cry, Back to 

 Jesus and the Prophets ! 





