. . . There was a period during which the ancestors of the
Semitic family had not yet been divided, whether in language or in
religion. That period transcends the recollection of every one of the
Semitic races, in the same way as neither Hindoos, Greeks, nor Romans
have any recollection of the time when they spoke a common language, and
worshipped their Father in heaven by a name that was as yet neither
Sanscrit, nor Greek, nor Latin. But I do not hesitate to call this
Prehistoric Period historical in the best sense of the word. It was a
real period, because, unless it was real, all the realities of the
Semitic languages and the Semitic religions, such as we find them after
their separation, would be unintelligible. Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic
point to a common source as much as Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin; and
unless we can bring ourselves to doubt that the Hindoos, the Greeks, the
Romans, and the Teutons derived the worship of their principal deity
from their common Aryan sanctuary, we shall not be able to deny that
there was likewise a primitive religion of the whole Semitic race, and
that El, the Strong One in heaven, was invoked by the ancestors of all
the Semitic races before there were Babylonians in Babylon, Phoenicians
in Sidon and Tyrus--before there were Jews in Mesopotamia or Jerusalem.
Pages:
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603