Lecture by Dr. Adler.

Dr. Felix Adler gave the first of the Semitic lectures in Fogg last night on "The Rise of Monotheism among the Hebrews." He said in part:

The idea of God which the Hebrews held was as literal a discovery as that of gravitation by Newton or of America by Columbus. This monotheistic idea seems to us now most natural, but nearly three thousand years ago its discovery by the Hebrews was most remarkable and its influences most important.

Each religion has its keynote; that of Confucianism was order, of Zoroastrianism conflict, of Hinduism reality, and of Hebraism, holiness. Every religion is the idealism of the thought of the nation that brought it forth. Therefore to understand the religion of a nation one must study that nation's characteristics. The Hebrews were originally a nomadic tribe and as such possessed a nomadic cult, which had much in common with the later monotheistic idea. Like all nations, the Hebrews had two sides to their national character. The world y ambition and soldiery qualities of the Maccabees and the like go side by side with and are constantly striving against the unworld-liness and angelic virtues of Hoses, Amos and the other inspired prophets. The three chief characteristics of the Hebrew nation were an extreme sensitiveness in matters of religion, a tenacity of self-preservation, and a practical tendency which found expression in the belief that works were more important than the faith, as the works implied the faith.