evation of nearly every one of them. It might be expected that his
later writings would not abound in such hearty tributes to devout
religious life as we find so glowingly expressed in his earlier
productions. The atmosphere of Weimar favored a perverted growth. The
personal acquaintance of the men who surrounded him increased his
literary power but did not make his religion more fervent and powerful.
His training had been in the old purifying furnace of Pietism. His
father had been a rare specimen of that class of devout householders,
who, back in the days of Spener and Francke, were the real glory of the
German people. Young Herder was accustomed to family worship every day,
when the hard duties of temporal life were forgotten by those engaged in
singing, in the leisurely reading of the Scriptures, and in prayer. One
of the first books that had fallen under his notice was Arndt's "_True
Christianity_." It was this work that inspired him with that respect for
religion which never left him in subsequent life.

Herder's creed was the improvement of man. He expressed it in one word,
_humanity_. But by this term he meant more than most men conceive in
whole volumes. With him, it was that development and elevation of the
race for which every true man should labor. We do not come into this
life with a perfect humanity; but we have the germ of it, and therefore
we should contribute to its growth with unceasing energy. We are born
with a divine element within us, and it is for the maturity of this
personal gift that all great and good men, such as lawgivers,
discoverers, philosophers, poets, artists and every truly noble friend
of his race, have striven, in the education of children, by the various
institutions designed to foster their individual taste. To beautify
humanity is the great problem of humanity. It must be done; man must be
elevated by one long and unwearied effort, or he will relax into
barbarism. Christianity presents us, in the purest way, with the purest
humanity.

Herder was greatly interested in the poetic features of the Bible. His
work on _Hebrew Poesy_ is full of his warm attachment to the inspired
pictures of early oriental life and history. Whatever divested the
Scriptures of this eastern glow received his outright indignation. He
censured Michaelis for having criticised all the heart out of the
time-honored and God-given record. He compared the critical labors of
the Rationalists to squeezing a lemon;