. Even thus the son, in the pride and
power of manhood goes back to the old homestead, and looking into his
father's face confesses--All that I am you have made me.

II.

_The heroic age:_ B.C. 1300-1100.

After Moses there follows a period of at least two hundred years, of which
we have very imperfect accounts, and those plainly traditional and
commingled with legend. The Hebrew tribes appear to have gradually
gravitated upon Canaan; slowly settling into agricultural pursuits, and
winning from its previous occupants the land they coveted, inch by inch,
in bloody strife. They camped upon their hard-won fields for several
generations, maintaining their claims at the point of the sword, with
varying success; now mastering their foes, and again almost crushed by
them. The inter-relations of the several tribes during this period would
seem to have been of a very loose character. Each appears to have acted
for itself, except at critical moments, when common danger drew them
together in concerted action under leaders of commanding ability.
Tradition has preserved charming tales of some of these redoubtable
champions of the Hebrews, of whom we would gladly know much more. This was
the heroic age of Israel. Rude, rough times of constant alarm brought
forth little that was memorable save feats of courage. We have few
glimpses into the state of religion in this simple society, and upon what
is brought out into light the hues of later ages are reflected. Quite
clearly we may discern that the religion of the people in those days was
by no means that which we know as Mosaism. How could such a sublime
conception as that of Moses have ripened in a people at this stage of
their development? Like all founders of religion, he was far in advance of
his age. If a few higher natures, here and there, recognized and
appreciated the significance of the Ten Words of Jehovah, the mass of the
people could not have done so. And movement is determined toward the mass
in ethics as in physics. All that Moses could have hoped to do was to body
his seminal truth in an institution, that should keep it alive in the
nation until the proper conditions were found for its quickening and
growth. This he achieved in binding the tribes to the worship of Jehovah,
whose law was owned in the moral standards of the people. To this loyalty
to Jehovah, as _the_ God of Israel, Moses did securely bind the tribes.
They never wholly forswore Jehovah, and thus