attainment of the mighty goal. In the same sense the united
efforts of the various classes and societies or States for the common
advance of culture, prosperity, national welfare and international
commerce, as well as of science and art, tend unceasingly toward that full
realization of the idea of humanity which constitutes the brotherhood of
man.

9. Not yet has any religious body, however great and remarkable its
accomplishments may have been, nor any of the religious, scientific, or
national organizations, much as they have achieved, performed the sublime
task which the prophets of Israel foretold as the goal of history. Each
one has drawn to itself only a portion of mankind, and promised it success
or redemption and bliss, while the rest have been excluded and denied both
temporal and eternal happiness. Each one has singled out one side of human
nature in order to link to it the entire absolute truth, but at the same
time has underestimated or cast aside all other sides of human life, and
thereby blocked the road to complete truth, which can never be presented
in final form, nor ever be the exclusive possession of one portion of
humanity. Judaism, which is neither a religious nor a national system
_solely_, but aims to be a _covenant with God_ uniting all peoples, lays
claim to no exclusive truth, and makes its appeal to no single group of
mankind. The Messianic hope, which aims to unite all races and classes of
men into a bond of brotherhood, has become an impelling force in the
history of the world, and both Christianity and Islam, in so far as they
owe their existence to this hope and to the adoption of Jewish teachings,
constitute parts of the history of Judaism. Between these world-religions
with their wide domains of civilization stands the little Jewish people as
a cosmopolitan element. It points to an ideal future, with a humanity
truly united in God, when, through ceaseless progress in the pursuit of
ever more perfect ideals, truth, justice, and peace will triumph,--to the
realization of the kingdom of God.

PART III. ISRAEL AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Chapter XLVIII. The Election of Israel

1. The central point of Jewish theology and the key to an understanding of
the nature of Judaism is the doctrine, "God chose Israel as His people."
The election of Israel as the chosen people of God, or, what amounts to
the same, as the nation whose special task and historic mission it is to
be the bearer