... among no people of the pre-Christian era do we find so great a number of intellectually prominent men who, by their words and by their whole personality, have devoted themselves to the religious guidance of their nation, as among the people of the early Bible... our Germanists would do well to notice... the science of religions is able to make the comparison ; and to the people of Israel it will award this certificate : You have excelled them all by the sublimity of your religion...

Sermon 1