Apparently it was the Hellenic conception of human nature which was
unsound, for the world could not live by it. Absolutely to call it
unsound, however, is to fall into the common error of its Hebraizing
enemies; but it was unsound at that particular moment of man's
development, it was premature. The indispensable basis of conduct and
self-control, the platform upon which alone the perfection aimed at by
Greece can come into bloom, was not to be reached by our race so easily;
centuries of probation and discipline were needed to bring us to it.
Therefore the bright promise of Hellenism faded, and Hebraism ruled the
world. Then was seen that astonishing spectacle, so well marked by the
often-quoted words of the prophet Zechariah, when men of all languages
and nations took hold of the skirt of him that was a Jew, saying:--"_We
will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you_."[451] And the
Hebraism which thus received and ruled a world all gone out of the way
and altogether become unprofitable, was, and could not but be, the
later, the more spiritual, the more attractive development of Hebraism.
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