holding a pen.) The true object of Sabbath, the prevention of mental stiffening and moral hardening, the re-creation of moral life by change of mental attitude, is too often lost sight of; and many people know nothing, and care to know nothing, of all the marvellous science of periodicity by which the exceptional vitality of Judaism has been created, except the one obscure and doubtful statement, that, on one particular Saturday, long ago, creative activity suspended its beneficent operations!
And this is a fair sample of the manner in which what once were religious truths degenerate into dogmas full of superstition; the degeneration being in all cases due to neglect of the study of antiquity. On this point our author insists strongly. So far from the reverent study of antiquity being a cause of superstition and a hindrance to progress, it is the great preservative from the superstitions which grow up by the degeneration of useful customs.
The refrain of the book is like the announcement of a new day, a summons to awake to a richer and fuller life. It is a mistake to suppose that Sabbath has any necessary connection with inaction; the very words Sabbath and Jubilee (the author insists) originally meant, not inaction, but renewal. This message he leaves as a legacy to posterity, who, he trusts, will be able to understand him. Cast thy seed upon the waters, and after many days it shall be found!
Boulanger describes non-idolatrous religion by a series of delicate negative touches, which, so to speak, chip away, one by one, the elements of idolatry; leaving pure religion to reveal itself.
