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Untitled Article
that these documents do not appeal * to have been drawn , like those of the Egyptians for instance , from the obscure interpretation of hieroglyphicai characters ,, but to have grown oat of their genealogical registers , interwoven with historical legends an < J songs . The superstitious scrupulousness with which these writings were preserved by the nation as a sacred deposit , is a guarantee for their substantial integrity ; and when , finally , iu this state , they were delivered into the hands of Christian nations .
they were subjected to a freer spirit of criticism and interpretation than was compatible with the bigoted devotion of the Jew . Viewing the subject impartially , and making due allowance for the strength of Oriental phraseology , we may consider these sacred books as fully entitled to historical credit . The extremity of prejudice by which both those who defended , and those who attacked , these writings , were actuated , at the time when Herder wrote this part of his work in 1787 , is strikingly indicated iu the
following passage : —* I am not then ashamed to adopt substantially the history of the Hebrews , as they themselves relate it ; but could wish at the same time , that the writings of their assailants , ( as of Manetho the Egyptian , ) instead of being simply rejected , should be judiciously made use of * . ' With the origin and diffusion of Christianity , the Jewish Scri p * - tures obtained a wider circulation in the world ; and it is curious
to trace their various influence ia generally promoting—though sometimes , in their perversion , retarding—the progress of civilization . In laying the foundations of all religion and philosophy ia the sublime doctrine of one God , the Creator of heaven and earth * and in setting forth the perfections , and hymning the praises of
that great Being , with a grandeur and elevation—with a fervour and devotedness , to which no human composition has ever even approached , their influence on the mind and character of man has been pre-eminently beneficial and exalting ; and if they are compared , in this respect , with the Schuking of the Chinese , with the Sadder and Zend-Avesta of the Persians , or even with the more recent Koran of Mahomet , their superiority over all the
sacred books of the ancient nations will be at once acknowledged . Nor ought we , in the same view , to leave out of consideration the stimulating effect on the popular mind , of their representations of the creation and age of the world , and of the origin of evil , of the pure morality of their didactic books , and of the varied and instructive interest of their historical narratives . Whether the Jewish chronology be true or false , it expands the mind of the people , and serves them as a general measure of the course of events in the world ; and when we further take into account the learning and sagacity that have been exercised on these writings , the skill in languages , criticism , and dialectic *
* Book XIL , cb . iii ., P , 7 $ .
Untitled Article
The Philosophy of the History of Mankind . 171
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1832, page 171, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1808/page/27/
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