with the domestic, political, and industrial life of the Hebrews. I have avoided notes, debates, and citation of authorities, in the interest of brevity and clearness. Acknowledgment of obligations to various authorities will be made in the bibliography which accompanies this work. The book, however, is a fresh study at first hand of the Bible in the light of the principles of sociology. So far as I know, the term "biblical sociology" was first used in my announcements. It has since been adopted by two or three other writers. ST. PAUL SAMUEL G. SMITH CHAPTER I SOME ASPECTS OF THE RELIGIOUS THE beauty of the lily is not challenged because it grows out of the muck. The roots of all the social values in the world are planted in darkness and ignorance. Men have only grown wise by the rejection of their mistakes. The true interpretation of history is not found by emphasis of the ignorance and the weakness of early men, but rather in remembering that we are forevermore their debtors because out of their lowly experiences have grown the beautiful forms of goodness and of truth. The study of the world's experience breeds hope for the future because of faith in the past. One of the greatest influences in modern life flows from the Hebrew life and literature. The present need is to frankly acknowledge our obligation rather than to discover wherein the Hebrew was weak or at fault. To discover what our debt is to the Hebrew RELIGION IN THE MAKING VINNOJIVO people it is necessary to investigate their history and to learn, what ideas and institutions they have given worthy of becoming part of the permanent inheritance of the world. Every age has some religious problems and some ages have many religious problems. These problems arise because new individuals are born to refresh the life of the race. These individuals must be taught the faith of their fathers, but there will be some of them who wish to make changes. The pressure of strong men is the great force in society that makes for social changes. It has been agreed, on the whole, that these social changes are to be called progress. There is decay and death, no doubt, in the social order. Peoples and civilizations perish because they are unfit for the struggle of existence. But the whole history of the world taken together indicates to us more clearly than it did to Hegel the definite if not steady progress in human institutions. Some ages are characterized by great religious unrest and others by great intellectual disturbance. Intellectual disturbances born of new knowledge bring always a time of debate. The children of the new day fling out their challenges to the various forms of the social inheritance. In these times the creeds are put upon the rack, but not the creeds of religion any more than the creeds of science or of |