The Primeval World of Hebrew Tradition
By . Roberts Brothers : Boston. 1870.
IT is superfluous to praise Dr. Hedge, and we have not the space to enter upon a detailed criticism of his new book, which does not, in point either of sentiment, of thought, or of style, fall behind any of its predecessors. The great merit of Dr. Hedge, as a religious writer, is that he so well reflects the best mental culture of the time. He is very careful never to break absolutely with the chain of sacred tradition ; on the contrary, he treats the traditional faiths of the world with tender and scrupulous reverence. But he interprets them by so much larger a light of reason than is usually brought to bear upon them, that the reader can hardly escape feeling his intellect greatly stimulated, if not altogether satisfied. We suppose, in fact, that it is Dr. Hedge’s characteristic aim as a writer, to quicken the mind of his readers in the direction of all sane inquiry, rather than to offer them a fixed solution of our current intellectual problems. This accounts for what we may call the tentative air of his books, or the habitually sceptical attitude he maintains towards the dogmatism of faith and the dogmatism of science, both alike.
His present work is composed of twelve chapters, not obviously erudite, and yet instinct with learned culture, in which he deals gracefully and reverently with many of the most striking and urgent problems suggested by the Hebrew cosmology, such as “ Creation,” “ Man an Image of God,” “ Man in Paradise,’“ The Deluge,” etc. And whosoever, in the absence of ability or opportunity to pursue investigations like these for himself, should yet desire to know what fruits they bring to cultivated and devout thought, may safely be commended to Dr. Hedge’s beautiful and dispassionate essays.