APPENDIX.
I. THE EVOLUTION OF HEBREW RELIGION.
"Dans l'opinion du peuple pour qui ces liyres ont ete ecrits
le point capital et essentiel n'est certes pas la narration
historiquc, mais bien la legislation et l'idification
religieuse."
In 1795, Frederick Augustus Wolf published a modest octavo volume entitled "Prolegomena to Homer," from whose appearance is dated the beginning of a new era of historic criticism. The composition of the poems of Homer formed its subject. For wellnigh twenty years the author had collected evidence, weighed arguments, and patiently tested his results by constant revision. His own wishes were engaged on the side of the unity of the great Grecian epic. But the results of his researches continued to point in the opposite direction, and at last his earnest devotion to truth compelled him to adopt a theory the soundness of whose construction seemed to be no longer questionable. He was thus worthy to become the "founder of the science of philology in its present significance." ** The influence of Wolfs discovery was not confined to the study of classic literature only.
* "In the estimation of the people for whom these books were
written, the capital, essential point surely was, not the
historic narrative, but rather legislation and religious
edification." (Noldeke, 'Histoire Litte'raire de l'Ancien
Testament,' p. 19.)
** Bonitz, "Ueber den Ursprung der Homerischen Gedichte."
It quickly radiated through every department of history. "In every singing age," he said, "a single saeculum is almost like a single man. It is all one mind, one soul."* This conception involved a new social law, and radically altered the current opinions concerning the relation of individual effort to the larger forces that affect the development of nations. The creative energy of remarkable minds was not, indeed, lessened in importance, but spontaneity, in this connection, acquired a new meaning; and for the Deus ex machina of the olden time was substituted the cumulative force of centuries of progressive advancement, culminating, it is true, at last in the triumphant synthesis of genius. The commotion which the Wolfian theory has stirred up in the literary world is largely due to the wide range of ideas which it affected. Yet it was itself but a part of that general movement which, toward the close of the last century, became conspicuous in its effects on every field of human inquiry. Everywhere the shackles of authority were thrown off, and, in place of blindly accepting the testimony of the past, men turned to investigate for themselves. A new principle of research was everywhere acknowledged, a new method was created, and science, natural and historical, entered upon that astonishing career of discovery whose rich promise for the future we have but begun to anticipate.**
* In a letter given in Kttrte's "Leben und Studien F. A
Wolf s." i., p. 307.
** Scientific pursuits are distinguished from others, not by
the material, but by the method of knowledge. The mere
collection of data, however multiplied in detail, however
abstruse the subjects to which they may refer, does not of
itself deserve the name of science. The term properly
applies only when phenomena are placed in causal relation,
and the laws which govern their development are traced.
Measured by this standard, every attempt to explain the
growth of human thought and institutions, and to elucidate
the laws which have acted in the process of their evolution,
has a just claim to be classed under the head of scientific
inquiry.
To the impetus given by Wolf, and to the new-born spirit of science which he carried into the sphere of philology, we owe among other valuable results the beginnings of a more critical inquiry into the records of the ancient Hebrew religion. Indeed, the author of the "Prolegomena" himself clearly foresaw the influence which his book was destined to exert on Hebrew studies. In a letter, from which we have already quoted above, he says: "The demonstration that the Pentateuch is made up of unequal portions, that these are the products of different centuries, and that they were put together shortly after the time of Solomon, may, ere long, be confidently expected. I should myself be willing to undertake such an argument without fear, for nowhere do we find any ancient witness to guarantee the authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses himself."*