These address themselves to scholars alone, or
chiefly to a cultivated few, and address themselves to them eloquently
and gloriously. The hymns of the Jews have so interpenetrated the very
heart of humanity, so identified themselves with the best longings, the
noblest aspirations, the purest hopes, and the deepest sorrows of man,
that still, after more than twenty centuries, that wonderful hymnology
breathes up day after day, week after week, from millions of households
and hearts. They outbreathe its fervid aspirations toward a purer and
diviner life. They give expression to its profound wailings over
degradation and fall. They give utterance on all the inscrutable
mysteries of existence; and ever and anon as the clouds and darkness
break away from the Infinite Love,--they burst forth into the exultant
cry, "God reigneth, let the earth be glad. . . . Give thanks at
remembrance of His _holiness_."
But important as is this factor of Judaism, there is another generally
considered which has perhaps exercised a still more profound and
cumulative influence on the civilisation especially of the West.
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