cepted, and of his struggle to incor-
porate these ideas into laws, customs,
institutions, and character. At the
heart of every race one finds certain
ideas, not always clearly seen nor often
definitely formulated save by a few
persons, but unconsciously held with
deathless tenacity and illustrated by a
vast range of action and achievement;
at the heart of every great civilisation
one finds a few dominant and vital
conceptions which give a certain co-
herence and unity to a vast movement
of life. Now, the books of life, as
has already been said, hold their place
in universal literature because they
reveal and illustrate, in symbol and
personality, these fundamental ideas
with supreme power and felicity.
The large body of literature in prose
and verse which is put between the
covers of the Old Testament not only

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v?