The spiritual life

Man's Quest for God. 221

thought added dignity and grandeur to their

ideaofGod,and theirpost-Babylonianwritings

showanoblerviewof the divineBeing. The

Godof theprophets,asofthelater Isaiahand

of Micah, isagrandiose and inspiring concep-

tion,aPowerthatmakesforrighteousness. This

remodelled thought about God was softened

intotheideal of a perfect man of superhuman

greatness,theFatherandLoverof men, inthe

later rabbinical teachings and in the Jewish-

Christian scriptures. The limitations were re-

movedwhiletheidealhumanitywasleft,power

remained without cruelty and justice without

severity. But inChristiantheologysuchaswe

find in Tertullian, and less nakedly in other

Fathers of the Church, the savagery of the

earlier Hebrews reappears, and the gracious

lineaments of "the Father" vanish under the

fiercemask of Jahveh,again thevengeful God

whelminghisfoes underfire-floods. Nonethe

lessthe nobler conception remained as anen-

couragementandinspiration,graduallybecoming

focussed in the person of the Son,the Divine

Man, supreme m tenderness and compassion.

From the troublous times of the fourth, fifth,

and sixthcenturies, enough emerged to satisfy

theheartbutnotenoughtocontenttheintellect;

the conception of God was left vague, hazy,