290 THE RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



space of 1,900 years, rests on the venerable basis of 

 the Old Testament. The Bible, which the two com- 

 pose, has had a greater influence and a wider 

 circulation than any other book in the world. Even 

 to-day the Bible — in spite of its curious mingling of 

 the best and the worst elements — is in a certain 

 sense the " book of books." Yet, when we make an 

 impartial and unprejudiced study of this notable 

 historical source, we find it very different in several 

 important respects from the popular impression. 

 Here again modern criticism and history have come 

 to certain conclusions which destroy the prevalent 

 tradition in its very foundations. 



The monotheism which Moses endeavoured to 

 establish in the worship of Jehovah, and which the 

 prophets — the philosophers of the Hebrew race — 

 afterwards developed with great success, had at first 

 to sustain a long and severe struggle with the dominant 

 polytheism which was in possession. Jehovah, or 

 Yahveh, was originally derived from the heaven-god, 

 which, under the title of Moloch, or Baal, was one of 

 the most popular of the Oriental deities (the Sethos or 

 Typhon of the Egyptians, and the Saturn or Cronos 

 of the Greeks). There were, however, other gods in 

 great favour with the Jewish people, and so the 

 struggle with " idolatry " continued. Still, Jehovah 

 was, in principle, the only God, explicitly claiming, in 

 the first precept of the decalogue: "I am the Lord 

 thy God ; thou shalt have no other gods beside me." 



Christian monotheism shared the fate of its mother, 

 Mosaism ; it was generally only monotheistic in 

 theory, while it degenerated practically into every 

 kind of polytheism. In point of fact, monotheism 

 was logically abandoned in the very dogma of the 



