words) causes it to be reverenced much more highly. True religious awe cannot exist side by side with explanation, so the world will always be divided into two camps, rationalistic and emotional. We find the same practice of a secret ecclesiastical language in Persia, where the Zend was entirely developed and used for sacred purposes, and was evolved by the Magi just as Hebrew was evolved by the Masoretes when compiling a universal religion for the political requirements of their masters, the Romans. It was the Romans, the conquerors of the world, who attempted to impose the Hebrew and bastard Hebrew (Jesus cult) Bibles (Old and New Testaments) on humanity, so as to consolidate their rule under a Pontiff at Rome. They succeeded with the barbarians of Europe, but failed with the (then) more highly civilised Easterns.

The symbolic method maintains the secrecy and mystery so necessary to religion, and we see that the English translators prefer to use a meaningless combination of letters, a child's gibberish, like "Emerods," or words which, while associated with the facts, convey no meaning to the uninitiated, and thus give the holy text a double value in the eyes of the ignorant. The Rev. Sir George Cox, in

his Life of Colenso, regretted that the translators had used the English words "God and "Lord" for the crude Hebrew gods, instead of leaving the original names unaltered. Sir George seemed to think that it would have lessened the ignorant superstitious awe of the names, but I very much doubt whether it would not actually have strengthened it. I can remember my cheeks tingling with awe and excitement when I first heard Jehovah hath triumphed, his people are free," sung by a fine choir. Yet where could we find a more ridiculous picture or conception of a God than the whole medicineman tale of the plagues of flies and lice, etc., and heaping up of waters at the bidding of the rod of God, which, of course, had been found in a far land (Midian), and had once been a serpent? And the joy that their infinite omnipotent god managed to "triumph" is so puerile when examined, but both " Jehovah and "triumphed are fine sonorous words, and they went pompously to a self-assured tune, and so produced the desired mystic godof-battles sort of exaltation.

CHAPTER X

RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF HEBREWS

Let us now take a closer look at the religious ideas and condition of this people who lived in the land of the phallus and worshipped the Rod of God.

They resembled other "heathen " nations in that they had oracles in their temple (1st Kings viii., 6); in fact, they finally made their Ark and Jové the centre of the Oracle in the New Temple,-much of the Hebrew writing may have been delivered from the oracular chambers as was common in Greek and other religions, and they had witches who called up the spirits of the dead, and they seem to have prosecuted these witches ("Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," Exodus xxii., 18), for Saul swore to her that if she would do what he wanted no punishment should happen to her (1st Samuel xxviii., 10). Then they had official divining tools, Urim and Thummim,

and Saul, before going to the witch, tried to get his fortune told "by dreams by Urim and by prophets." They worshipped all sorts of gods Ashteroth, who is the Babylonian Istar, Roman Venus, and Greek Astarte, and worshipping her under the Greek name was considered wicked idolatry, while visiting her in the flesh in the Succoth Benoth as attractive young temple prostitutes in the huts or "tents of Venus" at the great festival of the Feast of Tabernacles was considered quite right. It was purely a matter of names, as in all religion. So we see that Jové was not angry at their practices, but only jealous when their practices were carried on in honour of other Ale-im. This festival was a pure Bacchanalia, and they not only visited the tents of Venus, but they made merry with wine, as did their god, "like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine" (Psalm lxxviii., 65), cheered with wine (Jud. ix., 13). They worshipped gods requiring human sacrifices such as Molech, and even Solomon erected temples to Ashtoreth (Venus), Milcom, Molech of Ammon, and Chemosh of Moab. Now all the condemnation of other gods was simply done by the priests to keep the people under the tribal god. They had been so often in

captivity and saw other nations prospering while they were always under bondage, that they doubtless had little faith in the power of their lové to protect them, and they enjoyed sex worship much better than the service of the severe Iové. But there was no idea of Monotheism in the modern meaning of the word. They changed from an Ale-im worshipping tribe to a worship of their own. tribe's Iové of the Ale-im, but their Iové was a purely local Ba Al caring only for his own little corner of Palestine. The writer of Deuteronomy, in chapter 12, says,

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ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods or Alé-im upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree, and ye shall overthrow their altars and "break their pillars and burn their groves with fire, and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods and destroy the names

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of them out of that place. Ye shall not do

'so unto the Iové of your Alé-im." They were commanded to do all this to the Bas or Iovés of other Alé-im, but not to the Iové of their own Alé-im. So Iové knew that there were other bands of Alé-im with leaders like himself. There is the whole creed