48 EEV. CHANCELLOR LIAS, M.A., ON 



least whether the original Hebrew religion was Egyptian or 

 Semitic in its genius. That some of its traditions come from 

 Babylonian sources seems clear. But it seems equally clear 

 that the Israelite religion was not originally of the Baby- 

 lonian type, presented to ns by modern investigation. It 

 has indeed been suggested that, from Moses to the later 

 kings, the Israelite people were engaged in the task of 

 evolving a religion from fetichism, through polytheism, into 

 an ethic monotheism. But even if this were the accepted 

 conclusion, we are still Avithout evidence as to the steps of 

 the process. It is not yet settled at what period fetichism. 

 was abandoned for polytheism, and when and how polytheism 

 refined itself into the religion which the Hebrew records tell 

 us prevailed from Moses to Malachi. And even if it did tell 

 us all this, it would be met by Professor Caldecott, who, 

 working on other lines of scientific research, tells us that 

 " after generations during which belief in the supernatural has 

 been regarded as derivative from animism, nature worship,, 

 and the like, the direction is reversed and these are behig 

 regarded as derivative from it."* 



I must therefore, until criticism has produced some more 

 certain positive results, be content with what the Hebrew 

 Scriptures themselves tell us. It can hardly be wholly 

 unscientific to accept the statement of a nation in regard tO' 

 its beliefs, contained in documents handed down with an 

 unusually jealous and scrupulous care. And as long as th& 

 course of Hebrew religious history, as ascertained by criticism,, 

 remains so undefined, no other course is open to me. 



We are told that the original Hebrew idea of God was- 

 expressed by the words El and Elohim, and it has generally 

 been admitted that the root idea in that word was Power,, 

 or, to use a word preferred in recent scientific researches. 

 Force. It would seem, then, that the early object of worship 

 among the Hebrews was the Being which produced, con- 

 trolled, and kept in being the phenomena they saw around 

 them. Whether this was a revelation or not we cannot 

 tell ; Hebrew history gives lis no information on the point. 

 The fact that a monotheistic king is introduced to us in the 

 history of Abraham as the priest of the Most High God (El 

 'Eljonf) rather points to the opposite view. Monotheistic 



* Philosophy of Religion, p. 86. 



t Gen. xiv. There is no etymological connection between El and 

 'Eljon. The lattei' signifies height ; it seems to imply the existence of 

 deities inferior to the Highest One. If I speak of Melchizedek as a 



