the intention of making it an account of verifiable historical circumstances which exemplified the general ideas with adequate perfection.
Thus rational criticism was admitted in principle. The appeal was from the tribal custom to the direct individual intuition, ethical, metaphysical, or logical: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings,” are words which Hosea ascribes to Jehovah; and he thereby employs the principles of individual criticism of tribal custom, and bases it upon direct ethical intuition.
In this way the religions evolved towards more individualistic forms, shedding their exclusively communal aspect. The individual became the religious unit in the place of the community; the tribal dance lost its importance compared to the individual prayer; and, for the few, the individual prayer merged into justification through individual insight.
So to-day it is not France which goes to
