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Hence we find so much that has symbolical meaning impressing itself through striking signs, and further leaving its mark in public customs and institutions.

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4. As the explanation of these signs (Symbols) will form a main section of this work, it will be advantageous to consider more closely at this place their general nature and essential meaning. The sign has reference only to the thought existing in man, and therefore, strictly speaking, also to the words which he utters or might utter. It is nothing in itself, however elaborate it may be; but its meaning, its origin, and the need for it, exist only in the soul of man, which seeks to find expression in it. Now as human thought finds its most perfect expression in speech, the first question concerns the relation of the sign to speech, especially as it subsisted in the earliest days of humanity. We shall see that the sign can precede human speech, and in the earliest times for the most part actually did For thoughts which powerfully stir men and struggle to come forth out of their minds into the world, are already there before any words, and they may so take possession of the entire man, that all he does and is, may express them most completely and forcibly before the words come which shall make them plain. In prayer, e.g., it may be customary with one nation to stretch forth the hands towards heaven, with another to fold them; but this physical revelation, this sign of what moves the human soul, precedes and does not wait upon the words. Nor do words always satisfy. In this very case they seem too weak and too imperfect to express the whole soul of man that seeks to find an outlet. Its contents are of course infinite, and all words are but attempts to exhaust it. Or the words may be too thin, too inefficient, and too fleeting, to be able to give lasting satisfaction; and this would be especially felt as long as they could not be easily and permanently fixed in writing, comprehensible and accessible to all. Now, as all these causes cooperated most powerfully in just the earliest periods of humanity, such significant or symbolical actions of necessity arose then, in vast numbers, and took the most rigid forms, as an undesigned accompaniment and supplement of human speech, and served also for a long time as a needful witness, in the place of the art of writing, and the written documents which had not yet come into existence. The forms they assumed in each nation differed almost as much as their speech, with which their course ran parallel. But still, like human speech, they have but one common source, and like languages assumed these varied forms in accordance with the origin and history of

the nation. But from the very beginning they had an important significance and a place which nothing else could fill. They entwined themselves inseparably with the whole life of the nation, and won a permanency comparable only with that of human speech itself.

The most frequent occasion for them arose in all the intercourse and relations between man and God, where their significance is greatest and their employment even indispensable. Here all human words, however beautiful and perfect, remain for ever too weak and incomplete.

But they were also indispensable in human intercourse, especially as long as writing was little used. What, e.g. would be the good of one man binding another by an oath so long as this consisted of mere words? Words rustle past like the wind, and only when the one has indicated to the other by the most unmistakable signs the punishment which will fall on perjury, is there much hope that they will make a deeper impression and remain inviolate. But in truth both the impression and the emphasis of these symbolical actions rest ultimately on this-viz. that man considered, and acted on the belief, that they were executed not only before the witness of men where this was possible, but above all before the eyes of God himself.

Thus signs of this sort originated abundantly in primitive times, and kept their place even through the great changes of later days, though often they were for the most part retained only in current phrases. In this case it is often difficult to recognise their exact original significance: nevertheless it must be everywhere sought after as long as suitable means for the investigation exist. Even the sanctity and the frequent use of certain numbers, such as, amongst the Israelites, 5 or 10, or in a different way, 3, and more than all the rest, 7, are connected with the magic power of many such signs.

5. It is, moreover, a matter of course that the later documents, even when springing from the life of the ancient nation, are only to be used with the greatest caution, in dealing with these genuine Mosaic institutions and customs. There is nothing on which the Jewish schools employed themselves so zealously as the explanation and application of the laws of the Pentateuch; and this was the case both among the Hellenists, and in the new Jerusalem, and again with a fresh outburst of zeal after its destruction. In the numerous writings of Philo, we possess the most copious testimonies to the Hellenistic method of interpretation; in those of Josephus, tolerably fre

quent examples of the style at Jerusalem; and in the Mishnah and Talmud, the whole length and breadth of the exposition of the post-Christian schools. But how little do all these later sources help us to understand correctly the true sense of the old laws! How much that is totally foreign do they mix up with it! As has been shown elsewhere,' the life of the ancient nation experienced too severe a disturbance and break from the first destruction of Jerusalem, and it was gradually rebuilt on a new and too much altered foundation, for it to retain easily a trustworthy understanding of the old laws. Of the far severer consequences of the second destruction enough has also been said elsewhere.2 Neither after the first, nor still less after the second destruction, did a science arise which is satisfactory for purposes of pure historical investigation. And the Talmud aids us least of all, for the historical sense in general, and in particular the true feeling for the essence and spirit of antiquity, are here already in the uttermost confusion and darkness. Long before the Christian era many of the more cultivated heathens had already been inquiring from curiosity about the customs and usages of this nation, and had sought to investigate more narrowly what seemed to them to be remarkable, and these endeavours continued to increase down to the second

century after Christ.3 But neither these, nor the Jews or Samaritans, who ought to have been their teachers, succeeded in attaining more correct views.

But many fragments of ancient customs and usages, of which we now, it may be, find no trace in the older works, may have been retained through all these later times, the frequency of their occurrence being proportionate to the antiquity of these times; and so far all the various later documents are useful for our purpose, whenever we can be sure of finding in them such scattered morsels. Still, for the whole picture and for all its main features, we must rely on the oldest sources alone, whether they are to be found in the Pentateuch or elsewhere.

Hist. v. or iv. of the German ed.

2 Hist. vii. of the German ed.

This appears most clearly from such

authors as Tacitus or Plutarch; especially the latter's Conviv. disput. iv. 4, 4-6, 2.

FIRST SECTION.

THE ONE SIDE; OR, HUMAN EFFORT AND ACTION

TOWARDS GOD.

The above remarks-from page 7 onwards-on the earliest kind of dread (religio), find at once a special application in connection with the side of Antiquity which we must first consider. For undeniably correct as was the representation of the true God which Jahveism brought into the world, yet Israel at first, along with the whole ancient world, suffered the most painful dread of the wrath and of the chastisements of God. Indeed, this painful dread, common to all genuine Antiquity, was augmented in the community of Israel; partly because the general conception of God was there apprehended far more deeply and seriously, so that the anger and punishments of this true God naturally produced far truer and more lasting feelings there than among the heathen; but also because in the days succeeding those of Joshua the nation soon found itself again in such sore distress of all sorts, that its deep dread in the presence of the true God became more painful, and the fear grew keener of losing him and his guidance. Even 12 in the Book of Origins, which was written during a period of great happiness and most joyous national life, this key-note of the life of the community in its early days is heard right through. This or that must be done that no great wrath, no punishment, come upon Israel,' is the frequent utterance, even when to us the occasion seems trifling, of its stern legislative voice, and in the most instructive and vivid narratives it describes emphatically how often and how heavily such an allannihilating punishment of Jahveh had come upon the community. So difficult was it to enlighten this old gloomy fear of men, and make it yield to the glorified belief in pure love, of which the immortal germ was, of course, already supplied in the fundamental capacities and truths of the community of Israel.

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This great dread, peculiar to Antiquity, of everything

1 Lev. x. 6; Num. i. 53, xviii. 5; Ex. xii. 13, xxx. 12; Num. viii. 19.

2 Num. xvi. 4, 5; xvii. 11 seq. [xvi.

46 seq.], xxv. 4 seq.; xxxi. 16. Comp. 2 Kings iii. 27, and many similar narratives not contained in the Book of Origins.

divine,' exercised an important influence on the formation of the Old Testament customs and institutions concerning human action towards God; and it explains why it is precisely on this side that the antiquities of Israel bear the greatest resemblance to those of heathen nations. But here again the early community did not disown the fundamental truths of Jahveism, so that in this way the points of these heathen customs and institutions were already blunted. And while the general spirit of the past still widely prevailed, there grew up imperceptibly here, a new spirit, opposed to all previously existing means of influencing God, and forming the commencement of an imperishable institution.

If now we pass in review all the sacred endeavours and acts of men which had the special aim of pressing in upon the Deity, and winning his favour, or drawing forth from him advice and revelation, we see that they are either complete with words alone, in some one or other of their infinitely 13 various forms; or else that they pass over into something stronger, the surrender of one's own property, and so become a sacrifice, to use the word in its widest signification. There are further the purifications, bodily and otherwise, which are preparations for sacred words or deeds.

Moreover, they are readily connected with certain vessels, places, times, or persons, which seem specially adapted to excite, to strengthen, or to satisfy them.

These times, places, and persons can in themselves be very numerous, and similarly these endeavours may be infinitely various, whether it be as words, or as sacrifices, that they have found expression and become prevalent usages. But particular ones amongst them may acquire a peculiar sanctity, above that of many others, and become Sacraments. Whether there existed such in Jahveism, and how all the different usages in it were developed, must now be discussed in detail. As the whole province in consequence of its religious character is sacred, we can draw a short and clear distinction between the utterances by means of sacred words, and those by means of sacred gifts, or sacrifice. For all other significant gestures or actions which find a place here are seen, when closely considered, to be only an accompaniment of the words or the sacrifice, or else a preparation for them.

But it is only in human society and in a community which has a settled religion, that all these endeavours and actions

This was retained longest among the Romans of all the nations of Antiquity known to us.

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