History of the People of Israel: Till the Time of King David

Justice, truth and goodness are willed by a higher power. The progress of reason was fatal only to the false gods. The true God of the universe, the one God, He whom men adore when they do a good deed, or when they seek the truth, or when they advise their fellow men aright, is established for all eternity. It is the certain knowledge of having served, after the author's own fashion, despite all manners of defects, this good cause which inspires him with absolute confidence that this book will be of service to religious progress. As in the case of the "Life of Jesus," Renan demands for the present volume, dealing as it does with very obscure times, a little of that indulgence which it is usual to grant to seers, and of which seers stand in need. Supposing he is wrong on certain points, he is certain he has rightly understood as a whole the unique work which the Spirit of God, that is to say the soul of the world, has realized through Israel.