286 THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 
Last of all and perhaps most characteristic of the 
Hebrew people is the great lesson that this Eternal 
God, who created the universe and cares for his 
people, demands righteousness of his people. To the 
nations round about religion was not a matter of 
righteousness. For them religion had nothing to do 
with morality. Thieves might have gods favorable 
to them quite as well as righteous men. The worship 
of Diana of the Ephesians or of Astarte in the groves 
of the Asia Minor coast could be so unspeakably licen- 
tious and vile as not to admit of description to-day. 
Yet this was all religion. To the Hebrew came the 
inspired, exalted conception of a God who demanded 
righteousness of his people. Beside this wonderful 
revelation to the human mind details of serpents, and 
of apples, of names of men and of women, of gardens 
and of swords are absolutely but the transitory cloth- 
ing. This brought them to the minds of the times. 
The value of the form is evidenced by the fact that it 
brought the conception. But we must not lose the 
glory of the conception in an over regard for the 
clothing in which the idea came. 
Does this mean that Genesis has served its purpose 
and is to-day to be conceived of as a beautiful relic of 
the past, to be reverently enshrined but not seriously 
accepted? Far from it. The glory of the Genesis 
story lies in its wonderful power to grow. It strength- 
