Instances of this discrepancy might be largely multiplied. Any one who
cares to pursue the subject can trace the building upon the powerful
personal Jehovah of a religion of human sacrifices, anathemas, and
priestly despotism; while around the moral ruler and judge of the
same name, whose personality is more and more dispersed in pantheistic
ascriptions, there grows the common law, and then the more moral law
of equity, and the corresponding sentiments which gradually evolve
the idea of a parental deity.
It is obvious that the more this second idea of the deity prevails,
the more he is regarded as 'merciful,' 'long-suffering,' 'a God
of truth and without iniquity, just and right,' 'delighting not in
sacrifice but mercifulness,' 'good to all,' and whose 'tender mercies
are over all his works,' and having 'no pleasure in the death of him
that dieth;' the less will it be possible to see in the very same
being the 'man of war,' 'god of battles,' the 'jealous,' 'angry,'
'fire-breathing' one, who 'visits the sins of the fathers upon the
children,' who laughs at the calamities of men and mocks when their
fear cometh. It is a structural necessity of the human mind that
these two shall be gradually detached the one from the other. From
one of the Jehovahs represented in parallel columns came the 'Father'
whom Christ adored: from the other came the Devil he abhorred.
CHAPTER VI.
THE CONSUMING FIRE.
The Shekinah--Jewish idols--Attributes of the fiery and
cruel Elohim compared with those of the Devil--The powers of
evil combined under a head--Continuity--The consuming fire
spiritualised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account