A GUIDE FOR THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF JEWISH YOUTH. 

Proposed to Teachers by

ISAAC REGGIO, Rabbi and Professor, Member of the Oriental and Leipsic, Halle, etc. , etc. , etc. 

Translated from the Italian by M. H. Picciotto. 

London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. , Stationers'--Hall Court. MDCCCLV. 

London: Printed by J. Wertheimer and Co. 

SYNOPSIS. 

Notice by the Translator. 

Author's Preface. 

CHAPTER I. 

GOD. 

 1. His existence. Cosmological argument. 

 2. First Cause, necessary, eternal. 

 3. Omnipotent, free, provident, omniscient, infallible. 

 4. All-wise, good, pure, immutable. 

 5. God. 

 6. Psychological argument. 

 7. Moral argument. 

CHAPTER II. 

MAN. 

 8. His faculties. 

 9. His destination. 

 10. Intellect. 

 11. Reason. 

 12. Free will. 

 13. Immortal soul. 

 14. Double tendency. 

 15. Contrast. 

 16. Choice. 

 17. Conscience. 

 18. Feeling. 

CHAPTER III. 

NATURAL RELIGION. 

 19. Idea of religion. 

 20. Necessity for man. 

 21. Faith. 

CHAPTER IV. 

INSUFFICIENCY OF NATURAL RELIGION. 

 22. Obstacles. 

 23. Tardy development of reason. 

 24. Ascendancy of sensuality. 

 25. Want of opportunity. 

 26. Social life. 

 27. Internal anarchy. 

 28. Limitation of human understanding. 

 29. Uncertainty of human knowledge. 

 30. Experience. 

 31. Necessity of a revelation. 

CHAPTER V. 

REVEALED RELIGION. 

 32. Its actuality. 

 33. Its truth. 

 34. Its fundamental principle. 

 35. Relation between God and man. 

 36. Divine plan. 

 37. Essence of revelation. 

 38. Lofty aspiration of man. 

 39. Prophecy. 

 40. Prediction of the future. 

CHAPTER VI. 

OBJECTION AND ANSWER. 

 41. Rationalism antagonistic to faith. 

 42. Self-love in the physical world. 

 43. Self-love in man. 

 44. Heroism of man. 

 45. Proceeding from love. 

 46. Is the cause of faith. 

 47. Is not the offspring of imagination

 48. Depends on the subjection of the sensual appetites. 

 49. Furnishes evidence to faith. 

CHAPTER VII. 

PRELIMINARY DISPOSITIONS OF REVELATION. 

 50. Contingency in revelation. 

 51. Its removal. 

 52. Choice of a portion of mankind. 

 53. Beginning from an individual. 

 54. Election of that individual. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PATRIARCHAL EPOCH. 

 55. Abraham. 

 56. His virtues. 

 57. Aim of his vocation. 

 58. Covenant established with him. 

 59. Circumcision. 

 60. Abraham's progeny. 

 61. Providential measures. 

CHAPTER IX. 

SINAITIC REVELATION. 

 62. Egyptian bondage. Moses. 

 63. Preamble of the revelation. 

 64. Modality of the revelation

 65. Decalogue. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

 66. First Commandment, 67. Second, 68. Third, 69. Fourth, 70. Fifth, 71. Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth, 72. Ninth. 

 73. Tenth. 

CHAPTER XI. 

SUCCESSIVE REVELATIONS. 

 74. Their character. 

 76. Their twofold direction. 

 75. Their sanction. 

CHAPTER XII. 

REVEALED NOTIONS RESPECTING GOD. 

 77. Knowledge of God. 

 78. Opportunity of such a knowledge. 

 79. Immediate relation between God and man. 

 80. Love of God. 

 81. Fear of God. 

 82. Other duties towards God. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

DUTIES TOWARDS FELLOW-MEN. 

 83. Justice. 

 84. Negative duties. 

 85. Positive duties. 

 86. Other duties. 

 87. Charity and benevolence. 

 88. Duties toward the animate and inanimate nature. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

DUTIES TOWARDS ONE'S-SELF. 

 89. Fundamental rule. 

 91. Sanctification. 

 90. Duties towards the body. 

 92. Other special obligations. 

CHAPTER XV. 

JUDAISM. 

 93. Religious idea. 

 94. Its vicissitudes among the Jews. 

 95. Mosaism. 

 96. Prophetism. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

 97. Action, creed, hopes. 

NOTICE. 

THE name of Isaac Reggio of Goritz, is now a celebrity in the Hebrewliterary world. A man of vast mind, a profound scholar, a philosopher, and an elegant writer, his numerous works on Theology, Hermeneutics, Philology, History, and Literature, written in Hebrew, in Italian, andin German, have tended much to revive the taste for Hebrew literature, and to reconcile modern education to the study of Jewish antiquities. 

The present little book is one of his latest productions in the Italianlanguage. In a style at once concise and perspicuous, and with a form ofreasoning suited to the scientific requirements of the times, heintroduces the student to an enlarged view of Religion, ascends with himto the heavenly source from which it emanated, and leads him, throughthe paths of virtue and love, to the comprehension and admiration of theobjects contemplated by it. In short, he teaches--if I am permitted theexpression--_the philosophy of religion_. 

I humbly, but firmly believe that, in the hands of able Jewish teachers, this work will considerably assist them to infuse into religiousinstruction a little more spirituality, and to impart a morecomprehensive view of religion, than the routine of former days deemednecessary, and that, by so doing, they will be better able to enlargeand satisfy the minds, improve the hearts, and generally advance themoral education of youth. 

Notwithstanding the well-intentioned and beneficial efforts of manyfriends of education among the British Jews, and the praiseworthyexertions of some excellent teachers, the education of the mass is, wemust confess, still in a condition, in which the attainment of thoseobjects has not ceased to be a desideratum. We may or may not be on alevel with our neighbours, but we have very urgent and special calls ofour own for self-improvement, we have a particular mission to fulfil, with its concomitant duties. Such self-improvement and such duties aredemanded by the spirit--not of _the age_, as is too commonly said andbelieved--but of an age which began thirty-two centuries ago, at therevelation on Mount Sinai--the spirit of Judaism, of well-understoodJudaism. Our age, with all its boasted and undeniable progress, isstill, morally, far below the type designed by Providence for humanityin the Sinaitic dispensation, far behind the spirit which dictated andpervades the pages of the sacred volume, and which, when thoroughlyunderstood and generally acted upon, must bring about the supreme reignof justice, charity, and universal love, and--as far as attainable--theultimate perfection of mankind. 

It has appeared to me that these truths find a plain and logicalexposition in this little work, and that its contents may not proveuninteresting even to the general reader. I also believe that a morecorrect apprehension of the true spirit and principles of Judaism by ourChristian brethren, than is commonly arrived at, will have the twofoldeffect, of gradually leading to a larger measure of justice being dealtto the Jew, and inducing the latter to a higher degree of self-respect. For these several reasons, I have volunteered to translate it for theuse of the English public, while other versions are being prepared inGermany and France. I trust that those to whose lot has fallen thehonourable but arduous task of educating and informing young minds, andto whom it is more particularly addressed, will give it their earnestconsideration, for the sake of whatever good they may cull from it, as amaterial in aid, while they are laying the foundations of virtue in thehearts of the rising generation. 

That the results may correspond to the intentions is the sincere wish ofTHE TRANSLATOR. 

AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

TO INSTRUCTORS. 

IN the exercise of the sacred mission entrusted to you byProvidence--that of educating our youth to piety and religion--it musthave frequently occurred to you, to wish that such an instruction couldbe imparted, not in the shape of dogmas demanding to be admitted withoutinvestigation, but as doctrines addressed to the intellect by properdemonstrations, and finding their way to the heart by stimulating itsnoblest feelings. The little book that I present to you is intended tosatisfy, at least in part, that wish. You will not find in it a completetreatise on Jewish Theology, or a systematic catechism, but only theessential elements, which may serve to the future elaboration of both. You will find deposited in it the rough materials, which some ablerhands will perhaps one day employ in constructing an edifice, in whichour youth may find a safe refuge from the storms of doubt, unbelief, andirreligion. I have purposed to avoid all exuberant ornaments of style, all pompous parade of erudition, and contented myself with a plaindiction, and a strict laconism. I have not quoted authors who precededme in the same field; I have not called up for investigation what ofvaluable or defective could be found in them; in short, I have notinstituted comparisons, scientific disquisitions, or criticalexaminations of the opinions of others. A series of aphorisms, simple, plain, unadorned, of easy understanding, drawn from no other source thanthe Divine Word, presented with the greatest possible perspicuity andprecision, progressing in a regular chain of consequential propositions, and containing in few words the most important points of the Israelitishcreed--that is the form in which I have thought more proper to presentto those, who are already versed in the Bible and in Hebrew literature, a skeleton of the vast religious science, in which they may perceive ata glance the principal characteristic of Judaism, its variousramifications, subsidiary parts, and special tendencies; they may theneasily discover and account for the multifarious phases, in which itmanifested itself in the various epochs of the universal history ofmankind. To supply the deficiencies, to adorn those naked propositions, to provide them with evidence deduced from the sacred text, to enlargethem with appropriate applications, to illustrate them with examples, infine, to reduce the whole into such a catechistic form as will suit asound system of instruction--such is the task which remains entrusted toyour intelligence, and to your zeal. By employing the profferedmaterials with that discretion which is peculiar to your ministry, withthat method which the tender minds of your pupils require, and with thelove inspired by the sublimity and importance of the subject, yours willbe the merit of having propagated the seeds of truth that will bringforth charity and universal edification; to me suffices the happiness ofhaving, in some degree, contributed to so noble a work. 

A GUIDE FOR THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF JEWISH YOUTH. 

CHAPTER I. 

I. WHOEVER directs his mind to the contemplation of the objects thatsurround him, the aggregate of which is called the universe, will soonperceive, that the parts of which it is composed undergo continuallyvarious modifications and successive changes, every one of themexercising some influence on the others, and receiving from them somealteration. This state of mutual dependence, in which the parts of theuniverse stand in relation to each other, leads us necessarily toconclude, that none of them has within itself the reason or cause of itsexistence, but that all of them together depend upon a cause which isout of themselves, and through which they began to exist; the universe, then, has had a cause, an Author. 

II. This Author of the universe, if he had not in himself the reason ofhis existence, must also have it in others, and these again in others. Consequently, we must either suppose an endless progression of causesand effects, which is repugnant to reason, or arrive at last at a Beingexisting by and of himself, --that is to say, one who owes not hisexistence to others, and has caused all other things to exist;--and inthat case, the reason of his existence must be part of his _own_ essenceand nature, and, consequently, inseparable from him and indestructible. The Author of the universe is then a Being necessary and eternal; and asto Him all things owe their existence, it follows that through Him theybegan to exist, and He created them from nought. 

III. He, who could create all from nought, has a power without limits, and nothing is to Him impossible; He, who has given existence to allthings, has also ordained the laws to which they are subject; He, whohas ordained at His will the laws of nature, has also the power ofchanging or suspending them at His will; and lastly, He, who caused allthings to exist, can alone keep them in existence, governing anddirecting them with ceaseless providence; and such continual actionimplies, of necessity, that He should know everything, that nothingshould be hidden from Him, and that in Him error should be impossible. The Author of the universe is then omnipotent, free, all-provident, omniscient, and infallible. 

IV. Again, whoever attentively contemplates the universe cannot helpdiscovering, with admiration, in every part of it a stupendous art, aconstant order, a systematic correspondence of means to ends, whichdemonstrate that all has been arranged on a predetermined plan and for afixed purpose, to which all the particular dispositions developed in thecourse of the natural phenomena are exquisitely adapted. This order andthis harmony--which manifest themselves, also, in all the progressivecourses of nature--indicate a self-developing excellence, and a tendencyto an ever-increasing perfectibility, such as can only emanate from acause infinitely intelligent and good; and as such qualities cannot beattributed to a being corporeal, because limited and subject to changes, it follows that the Author of the universe is all-wise and good, pureand immutable. 

V. Now, this Being, necessary and eternal, whom the contemplation of theuniverse alone reveals to us as the Author of everything, as omnipotent, free, all-provident, omniscient, infallible, pure, immutable, all-wise, and good, is He whom we call GOD. 

VI. But our conviction of the existence of God need not be derivedexclusively from the wonders of the universe; for every man can find inhimself the evident proof of the existence of that supreme cause. Infact, man feels within himself that he thinks; and if he were even todoubt it, he could not deny that at least he doubts; and the doubtitself is already a thought. Admitting that he possesses the faculty ofthinking, he must admit that there is within himself a substance, abeing, a something which thinks. But this being, who is conscious of hisown thoughts, is also conscious that he exists not by himself, that hehas not existed from all eternity, that he is subject to changes, thateven the simple ideas, which compose his thoughts, are not produced byhimself, but acquired through his senses from external objects; and, inshort, that he depends upon various causes placed without himself, andundergoes vicissitudes, which it is not in his power to remove. Therefore man has not within himself the reason of his own existence, but he must trace it to another, who is the Author of it. Now, thisAuthor cannot have received His own existence from another, if He is tobe considered the primary cause; otherwise we should fall into asuccession of causes and effects to infinity. Then, the true Author ofour existence is one who exists by Himself, and as such He is eternal, omnipotent, all-wise, etc. , etc. ; He is God. 

VII. Another source, affording the proof of the existence of God, manfinds in himself when his intellectual faculties have attained a certaindegree of culture and maturity. He then knows himself to be a moralbeing; that is to say, a being who, placed between good and evil, can, of his own free will, adhere to the former and reject the latter, if hefollows the dictates of his reason. Then the moral sense awakens in hismind the idea of a supreme blessing, of a progressive and infalliblemoral perfection, of a future final accord between virtue and felicity, and their necessary co-existence. Now, he cannot expect this supremeblessing from anything that surrounds him in nature, because he does notfind in the latter the desired union of happiness with virtue, enjoymentwith merit. He must, therefore, seek it in a Supreme Cause existing outof nature--in a Cause which should contain in itself the type of themoral law, embrace the whole extent of that law with infiniteintelligence, and act up to its dictates with a powerful will. ThisSupreme Cause is God. 

CHAPTER II. 

VIII. MAN has many advantages and privileges over all other creatures. Not only can he, like other animals, perceive through his senses all thesurrounding objects, but he can compare with one another the perceptionsreceived, associate them together, separate them, and form new ideas. Hecan know for what purposes things exist, investigate their causes andeffects, discern between good and evil, between just and unjust; healone can communicate his thoughts to others; he alone can speak. 

IX. Everything produced by an intelligent Author must be intended forsome purpose--must have a _destination_. Man, the noblest creature onearth, must also have a destination. We shall arrive at a clearknowledge of that destination, when we shall have considered the powersand capabilities possessed by him; for the means with which nature hasendowed him, for the development of his activity, evidently point outthe goal which that activity is designed to attain. 

X. Now, the capabilities that we discover in man are thefollowing:--Besides a body constructed with wonderful skill, but weak, corruptible, mortal, man has within himself a vivifying principle, whichsubstantiates in him the knowledge of things with the aid of the senses, renews in him perceptions once received, unites them, separates them, and forms out of them new ideas. This thinking principle is certainlydifferent from the body, of which no part is apt to think, and is whatwe call the _soul_; the act itself of thinking proceeds from a facultyof the soul which we call _intellect_. 

XI. But the soul can also judge, conclude from causes to effects, distinguish between good and evil, between just and unjust, conceive anidea of things never perceived through the senses; it can recognise thesupreme Author of the universe, it can adore God. This faculty of thesoul is called _reason_; intellect and reason are the principal orsuperior faculties of the human soul. 

XII. Reason points out good as a thing desirable, and evil as a thing tobe avoided; yet man feels within himself a desire or impulse towards allthat is pleasurable to the senses, although reason may represent it tohim as an evil. And, on the other hand, he is conscious of his perfectfreedom of choosing good, however disagreeable to the senses, and ofabhorring evil, however tempting it may appear; he has, then, thefaculty of directing his action to one or other of these two courses;his soul is endowed with _free-will_. 

XIII. A being endowed with intellect, reason, and free-will cannot becomposed of parts, because the operations proceeding from such facultiespresuppose a comparison of various relations with each other, and adeduction of consequences from their principles; and these operationsrequire such a unity and simplicity in their subject as are absolutelyincompatible with the nature of matter, composed, as it is, of parts. The human soul is therefore a simple being, a _spirit_, and, as such, indestructible, _immortal_. 

XIV. Man, then, unites in himself two natures, belongs to two classes ofbeings very different from one another, is a citizen of two worlds. Inhis body he is linked to the material world, undergoes all thevicissitudes of matter, is subject to the incentives of the senses, andis impelled to gratify the wants and cravings of physical enjoyment. Asregards his soul, he enters into the sphere of intelligences, he feelshimself attracted by the ideas of the beautiful, of the true, of thejust; he participates in the condition of the spiritual beings, aspiresto the immense, to the infinite; and is susceptible of anever-increasing perfectibility, finding within himself the power ofabhorring moral evil, viz. , vice, and of cleaving to moral good, viz. , virtue. 

XV. Man has, therefore, within himself a germ of discord between the twoprinciples of which he is constituted, a contrast between the exigenciesof the body and those of the soul--between the appetites of the sensesand the dictates of reason; and as this latter alone is competent toform a judgment on what he ought or ought not to do, it follows thatreason alone should be consulted and obeyed in determining upon everyaction. 

XVI. Now, by freely and spontaneously resolving to conform all theactions of his life to the dictates of reason, which commands him to bewise in his self-government, upright with others, and pious towards thesupreme Author, man will have worthily corresponded to the end for whichhe was created--he will have fulfilled his _destination_; for it isclearly the destination of man to make the best possible use of thesublime faculties with which his soul is endowed; and the best possibleuse he does make when he subordinates his inferior to his superiortendencies, the cravings of the body to those of the soul; in a word, when he obeys the dictates of reason. 

XVII. When man obeys the dictates of reason, an internal voice in hisheart tells him that he has done right; he feels satisfied with himself, and is penetrated with a sense of true joy. When, on the contrary, heconsciously infringes the laws of reason, he is not only deprived ofthat internal approbation, but an inextinguishable voice risesreproachful within his heart; he is no longer satisfied with himself, but feels uneasiness and perturbation. That internal voice, which judgesman's actions, and generates happiness or sorrow, is what is called_Conscience_. 

XVIII. But the human soul, when it concentrates itself within, has alsothe faculty of feeling the sense of its own individuality, andperceiving that the state in which it is is its own. By virtue of thissense, which we may call feeling, the soul is led always to desire itsown welfare, its own happiness; thence springs love or hatred, inclination or aversion towards an object, as this object seems apt tooccasion pleasure or pain. But man, sooner or later, discovers that atrue and permanent pleasure cannot be obtained through any of thephysical enjoyments on earth, which he may not always be able toprocure, or, when procured, leave after them weariness and disgust. He, consequently, cannot place in them his true happiness; and his internalsense tells him that there are other enjoyments of a purely spiritualnature, which alone can satisfy the highest aspirations of his soul. Theexercise of his moral duties--which, through his freedom of action, liesalways within his power, and by which alone he can tranquillise hisconscience and fully delight in self-contentment--is that which offersto his soul true and permanent enjoyment; that alone is worth desiring. 

CHAPTER III. 

XIX. ON man governing himself morally well in life, it becomes manifestto him, on the one hand, that his conduct, being conformable to the endfor which he was created, must also be agreeable to the will of theCreator. On the other hand, that same internal sense, which prompts himto satisfy the demands of his own conscience, leads him, also, toelevate his mind towards God; and he feels at the bottom of his heartthat he would be wanting in the principal element of his happiness if hereferred not his every thought to the Author of his existence. Thistwofold direction of the mind towards God is called _Religion_, a wordderived from the Latin _religare_, for, as a moral being endowed withintelligence and freedom, man feels always a certain tendency todisengage himself from the physical order of terrestrial things, and to_link_ himself again to the Supreme Cause from whom he emanated. 

XX. All the peoples of antiquity exhibited, in their successivedevelopments, the aptitude of the human soul to entertain religionwithin itself, nay, the necessity in which it finds itself to connectthe exercise of moral duties or virtue with the Supreme Source of allmorality. In fact, God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, willsnothing but what is good; and in no better mode could man ever manifesthis gratitude to the Author of his existence, than by doing that whichis agreeable to His will. Hence it is, that whoever is true to hisdestination, is said to be true to God; and he who is virtuous isreligious. There is, then, in the human soul a natural disposition toreligiousness or piety; and the history of all ages testifies that nopeople ever existed, who, however rude and uncultivated, has not hadsome presentiment of the relations which bind the rational creature toits Creator. Man is born to religion. [1]

[Note 1: These truths are now readily admitted by all well-thinkingmen. It was very easy, and very amusing, for the philosophy of theeighteenth century, to ridicule the ignorance and superstition of theancients, and to denounce the modern peoples which followed in the samedirection, though by different tracks. But the true philosophy of thepresent age, which has penetrated deeper into the recesses of the humanheart, has arrived at the double conclusion, that a superior power hasimplanted therein certain elements which it is not in human power toremove; and that what is inherent in human nature cannot he combated, but must be wisely directed. Hence, modern civilisation deals lees thanpreceding ages in abstractions; and in its Intellectual development, accepts religion as a starting point in the laborious but open walk, which leads to human happiness, --The TRANSLATOR. ]

XXI. This need for man to be religious constitutes the basis of _faith_. As man is said to _know_ that which is proved to him by experience, orby the testimony of the senses, so he is said to _believe_ that whichis to him a real want, although it cannot be demonstrated to him eitherby experience or by the evidence of the senses. _Knowledge_ is basedupon _objective_, and _belief_ upon _subjective_ proofs. 

The existence of God, the providence with which He governs the world, the immortality of the soul, the excellence of virtue, the justexpectation of a final triumph of good, and of an improvement and futureperfection of the human condition, are truths which have theirfoundations in man himself, that is, in the _nature_ of his soul; theyoriginate in him, even without the concurrence of reflection, almostfrom an innate feeling of the heart, which impels him to admit them;they are founded on subjective proofs, and man _believes_ them asnecessities of his own nature. These religious truths are thereforecalled _natural_, and their disciples are said to profess a _naturalreligion_. 

CHAPTER IV. 

XXII. YET, notwithstanding the possibility for man to attain happinessby only following the voice of reason, experience has shown, in the mostunmistakable manner, that natural religion is insufficient alone toguide mankind in the right path, to preserve him from error, and toregulate his life with constant conformity to his destination, under allcircumstances and in all conjunctures. Such insufficiency is caused byvarious obstacles, presented by the self-same nature of man, and theobjects that surround him, and which prevent reason from exercising anabsolute dominion over the heart, and naturally weaken its influence onhuman actions. 

XXIII. First among these obstacles, is the circumstance, that theintellectual faculties do not exhibit so much vigour in early youth asthe animal or appetitive faculties. Long before the force of reason hasdeveloped itself in the mind, the sensual tendencies have already growngiants in the heart, impelling man to desire ardently all that has thesemblance of pleasure, however fugitive and deceitful. The will, whichis in its full vigour even in a child, has already carried into effectmost of these desires, and has thus produced such a habit of graspingimpulsively, and without reflection, at everything that presents itselfin the aspect of an enjoyment, that reason often arrives too late todestroy the ascendancy gained by the lust of the heart, and to claim itsdominion over all man's actions. 

XXIV. Besides, reason is sometimes in danger of losing its supremacy, even after having asserted it. Instinct, which, in brutes, holds theplace of free-will, confines their physical cravings within certainlimits, and we never see an animal wallow in intemperance; but man, justbecause enjoying absolute freedom of will, may extend his desires beyondevery limit, and so much strain and invigorate them as to succumb undertheir influence. Therefore reason, whether from its tardy development, or from the unlimited ascendancy of sensuality, holds the reins of itspower always with uncertainty, and is not ever certain of being obeyed. 

XXV. Another obstacle is to be traced in the want of opportunity andtime, or, in other words, in the little time that man can spare todevote to reflection, in the presence of the multifarious cravings ofhis body. These cravings, increased, no doubt, by luxury and aninclination, to superfluities, demand daily and hourly to be satisfied. He is, then, obliged to work unceasingly to earn or procure the means ofsatisfying his own physical wants, as well as, not unfrequently, thoseof a whole family. Aliment, clothing, habitation, comfort, recreation, and other innumerable cares, real or artificial, require so much labourand exertion, that little or no time remains for the great majority ofmankind to devote to the assiduous reflections and researches necessaryto determine what duties reason imposes upon them to fulfil, and whatactions to perform. 

XXVI. A third obstacle to the development of the moral force in man isthe very social life which, by his own nature, he is called to enter. The safety of the social fabric demands that the property of eachindividual be distinct and acknowledged, and establishes a diversity ofranks, offices, honours, and positions, which ill agree with humancupidity. Hence a conflict of desires, a collision of ambitions, acontest of interests, which at all times generate among men discords, machinations, frauds, usurpations, treachery, violence, and rapine. Addthe consequences of the pride and ambition, which each more or lessentertains, to reach or surpass some others in power, wealth, or fame, whence many causes of disappointments and heartburnings, of hatreds andjealousies, of persecutions and calumnies, of acts of vengeance andinjustice of every form, and it will be easily conceived how little, under the influence of _so_ many evil passions occasioned by sociallife, could populations, in the course of time, be disposed to submitwillingly to the severe and exclusive regimen of reason. 

XXVII. Independently of these external impediments, there exists a kindof internal anarchy in man, arising from the want of a force exercisingthe functions of an arbitrator between the mind and the heart, andinclining the latter to shape its decisions on the motives of theformer. The truths, which he is frequently able to discover, satisfy hisintellect without affecting his will, minister food to the mind, butoperate not on the heart; in short, they establish a theory, but commandnot practice. Hence it often happens that man sees right, approves it, and yet adheres to wrong. Even after having gathered an abundant harvestfrom long studies and profound meditations, he still feels the need of aguide to direct his steps--of a means, available at all times, andcompetent to enable him to subordinate the appetitive to theintellectual faculties, and to cause the will to follow the judgments ofthe mind rather than those of the heart. 

XXVIII. The inadequacy of natural religion alone becomes still moremanifest, when we consider the weakness and limited extent of the humanunderstanding. To meditate assiduously on an abstract object, which doesnot fall under the perception of the senses, is given only to a fewindividuals endowed with uncommon penetration. But by far the greaterpart of men, disinclined to submit to long and arduous researches, concerning what they ought or ought not to believe and to do, preferliving thoughtlessly; and when they even try to enter upon spiritualmeditations, they soon feel discouraged, and, often distrusting theirown powers, throw up the difficult task half way, to resume the courseof a reckless mode of life. 

XXIX. But even the few privileged beings, who believe themselves equalto the task, and plunge earnestly into spiritual researches, mustconfess to the insufficiency of the intellectual powers, and admit, thatbeside some few principles which they have succeeded in establishing, many doubts remain to be cleared, many questions to be solved, manyobjections to be overcome; and they must ultimately conclude, thatreason by itself is unable to answer on all that interests man to admitor to deny, to seek or to avoid, to believe and to do, to hope and tofear. There is not, in this wide range of spiritual subjects, aproposition held by one as true, which has not been discarded by anotheras an error; and there is not a paradox or an absurdity that has notfound some supporters, who maintained it as a truth. Doubt and error, inabstract and metaphysical questions, are natural and inherent inmankind, so long as reason is their only luminary in the research. 

XXX. The experience of all ages teaches us that the obstacles abovestated have always exercised their influence upon the development of themoral sense among men, by retarding, and sometimes even renderingimpossible to them, a clear and sound conception of their destination, and a firm resolve to conform to it. 

All the nations of antiquity, which, left to themselves, never receivedfrom without any spiritual and religious instruction, could never risefrom the slough of sensuality and superstition; they sank deep inidolatry, and ultimately adopted creeds and practices abominable andrepugnant alike to the excellence of reason and the dignity of man. Onthe other hand, all the nations that totally or partly succeeded inextricating themselves from a state of brutality and barbarism, mustacknowledge that not to the development of their intelligence alone theyowe their regeneration, but to certain sublime doctrines--originated incauses quite extrinsical from human nature--which, having found theirway to them through a concourse of favourable and apparently fortuitouscircumstances, were more or less readily admitted, as notions gainedfrom without, and by degrees ingrafted, under various modifications, ontheir own primitive ideas. 

XXXI. It being, then, almost impossible, or, at least, extremelydifficult, for man to arrive, through the sole action of the facultiesinherent in his nature, at his intended goal, to shape his courseaccordingly, and thus to lay the foundations of his future happiness, itwas necessary that an intelligence far superior to his own should cometo his assistance, communicate to him some fundamental truths concerninghis present and future life, enlighten his intellect, guide his reason, invigorate his will in the paths of truth, justice, and righteousness, and thus facilitate to him the attainment of his sublime destination. Itwas necessary that God himself should instruct him in what was mostimportant to know, manifest His will to him, and explicitly point out tohim the way he was to follow, the obstructions he was to avoid, and thegoal he had to reach. Man, then, was in need of a _revelation_. 

CHAPTER V. 

XXXII. THIS revelation was actually vouchsafed. It pleased the supremeBeing, through His infinite mercy, to manifest His will, and make knownsome great and precious truths, which men would have vainly attempted todiscover with the unaided operation of their reason; He chose toundertake, to a certain extent, the education of mankind. From thebeginning of the world God revealed Himself to the first man; and Hecontinued afterwards for many ages, as His eternal wisdom deemed proper, to communicate to such individuals as were the worthiest among mortalsthe instructions which were afterwards to work the salvation of allmankind. Those instructions, which contain truths by far more comfortingand sublime than any results which man could have arrived at through hisown faculties alone, constitute the substance of Revelation; and he whoacknowledges their divine origin, and conforms to them the actions ofhis life, is called a professor of the _revealed religion_. 

XXXIII. That God has really revealed Himself to some individuals of thehuman species is an historical fact, the truth of which is proved, likeall truths of a similar order, by testimony and documents. Butindependently of the existing evidence, the possibility of such an actcan be easily conceived by the human understanding, when we considerthat everything is feasible to the omnipotence of the Creator; andnothing is more consentaneous to His infinite goodness and wisdom, thanthe blessed purpose of granting to human frailty an assistancecalculated to lead the noblest of creatures to the attainment of theexalted end for which he was created. To conceive, also, the precisemodes and forms in which such a revelation is effected or conveyed, itwas given only to those elect who were themselves the recipients, andwho are called Prophets. But we can arrive at the knowledge of theprincipal characteristics which constitute prophecy, after we shall haveplaced in a clear light the essence and the final object of revelation. 

XXXIV. All the revealed doctrines may be reduced to one fundamentalprinciple, from which they originate, and on which rests the wholeedifice of revelation. This principle may be expressed asfollows:--Besides the general relation of dependence existingindistinctly between all creatures and their Creator, there is arelation more intimate and special between God and man--a relation of aspiritual and sentimental nature, arising from the circumstance of thelatter being created in the image of God, by virtue of which man is notsubject exclusively to the blind government of the physical laws ofnature, but, almost independent of them, he walks under the immediateinfluence of his celestial Father; this independence, however, cannot beaccomplished before he has succeeded in subduing his sensual appetites, and has bent them to follow the divine direction. Thus acting, he willnot remain a passive spectator of the vicissitudes which accelerate orretard the fulfilment of that which the Divine wisdom purposed as thefinal aim of the creation, but, through the immortal spirit transfusedin him, he will feel impelled to take some active part in the great workof the ultimate universal perfection, and to associate his own will tothe will of the Creator. 

XXXV. The relation between God and man is a tie of love. God beinggoodness itself, this finds a more extensive field for its manifestationin the rational creature than in any other. On the other hand, man, possessed of a spiritual soul, is superior to matter, and is capable, more than the other terrestrial beings, of receiving within himself anabundance of the Divine benevolence, which _diffuses itself throughoutthe universe in exact proportion to the various aptitudes of therecipients_. It is precisely in consequence of the understanding withwhich man is endowed, and of his aptitude to nourish love for thesupreme Being, that he has been elected, from among all terrestrialcreatures, to enter into a more intimate relation with God, and toco-operate, in as much as lies in his power, to the accomplishment ofthe divine plan. 

XXXVI. The plan of the Creator is immeasurably profound, and thereforeinscrutable. Nevertheless, in so far as it is permitted to the humanmind to penetrate it, and as it has pleased the Divine mercy to revealit, we know with certainty that it is all directed to diffuse happinessand beatitude over all creatures, in proportion to their respectivecapabilities of participating in them, and to guide all beings towardsthat end, which, in the scheme of the universe, was pre-ordained by theInfinite Wisdom as _the best_. Now, the inanimate portion of thecreation progresses unconsciously in the way ordained by Providence, obeys physical immutable laws, and is, therefore, only a means to a moreexalted end. But the moral being, who has self-consciousness, resolveson action after deliberating upon what he thinks best, and carries outhis resolve with free will; he is, then, himself the aim of his life. Therefore, to lead this being towards his own destination, it was propernot to subject him to restraint under laws of necessity, otherwise thefreedom of his will would have been destroyed; it was only necessary toenlighten him, to place before him some fundamental truths, capable ofdispelling all doubts from his mind, and detaching him from errors andsuperstitions, and thus to offer him means and inducements sufficient todirect his attention and will towards the end designed by the Divinewisdom. 

XXXVII. It is these truths, offered as means and inducements, thatconstitute the essence of revelation. Through revelation, man was madeacquainted that God created the universe out of nought, that He governsit with His wisdom, and can work every change which He deems suitable;that He created man in the Divine image, that is, with an immortal soul, capable of receiving within itself the Divine idea, of conceiving itssublimity, and carrying it into effect. Through revelation, man learntthat God is One, omnipotent, holy, of infinite forbearance and mercy, and an inexhaustible source of pure love; that He created as a stock ofall the human family a single individual (to proclaim thereby theprinciple of universal brotherhood and mutual love between all themembers of that family); that He desires to be loved, worshipped, andserved by it, with purity of heart, with elevation of spirit, and withunflinching constancy. Through revelation, we are taught to use wiselythe earthly gifts, and to turn their material enjoyment into a subjectfor edification and the glorification of God; to exercise right, justice, rectitude, charity, piety, and humility; we are also taughtthat God judges the human actions, punishes those who contravene Hiswill, and is disposed to pardon the sins of those who feel a truerepentance. And, lastly, through revelation, an invitation is tenderedto man to elevate his mind to the Creator, to imitate Him, to approachHim through self-sanctification; and a perspective is opened before hismind's eye of an interminable future of beatitude beyond the grave, asthe ultimate goal of his longings, and a just reward to his virtuousconduct. 

XXXVIII. When an individual, after long and serious meditations, andthrough a concourse of favourable circumstances, acquires acomprehension of this divine plan, and conceives it in its fullestextent and excellence, he will feel an irresistible attraction towardssuch a contemplation, and an ineffable admiration will seize all hismind; an internal intense desire will spring up in his heart to see itcarried out, nay, to contribute himself to its accomplishment, since thefirst tendency is already engrafted on his very nature. In proportion asthis desire extends its roots in the heart of that individual, so willhe make it his exclusive pre-occupation, voluntarily sacrifice to itevery worldly consideration, and so will he feel impelled to devotehimself to promote, promulgate, and bring to universal knowledge thosetruths which, as stated, form the essence of revelation; his soul willbecome the receptacle of the Divine idea, his tongue and all his bodythe organs of its fulfilment; his whole life will be an expression ofthe idea which pervades him; he will feel within himself an irresistiblecall to constitute himself, of his own authority, and without any regardto worldly powers, a preceptor to mankind, an adviser and censor of all, a supporter of right and virtue, a herald of truth, and a defender ofthe cause of God; he will defy every obstacle with unbending spirit, will employ all his powers, physical and moral, to the attainment of hisaim; and sometimes he will end by becoming a martyr to his holy project. In short, his will becomes identical with the will of God. 

XXXIX. Such a man is a prophet. His mind elevated to the highest degreeof intelligence, his heart bent constantly to love what is good, he hasalmost assumed a second nature, and he lives upon earth a purelyspiritual life. Of all that surrounds him, nothing is of any value inhis eyes but that which may contribute to the accomplishment of theDivine design; in all passing events he sees but as many dispositions ofProvidence calculated to direct men to the path in which they are calledto walk; the very thoughts which cross his mind, and the wishes whichform themselves in his heart, he regards them not as the productions ofhis own soul, but as emanations from the Spirit of God which dwells inhim, and pervades all his being. Such a mode of viewing things is, afterall, not a mere effect of his imagination, but a true reflex of theinfluence that actuates this man, an influence springing from the factalready stated, that his will has identified itself with the will ofGod. Hence the prophet is called a man inspired by God, for it is theDivine Spirit that pervades, agitates, and directs him; it is the DivineSpirit that found in him an instrument for its operation, an organ forits manifestation, a medium to carry out its high designs, arepresentative of God on earth, who shall recall men to their Divineorigin, and lead them on to their ultimate destination. 

XL. From the foregoing exposition of the characters of prophecy it willappear obvious, that those are greatly mistaken, who think that theexclusive or even the principal ministry of the prophet consists inforeseeing and foretelling future events. The prophet may occasionallyfind it necessary to his ends to predict some events, which he does byvirtue of the Divine spirit infused in him; but this is for him only anaccessory means to the chief object, which is to propagate and promoteamong men divine knowledge and religious life. With an all-wiseprovision, God disposed that, as a rule, the future shall remain hiddenfrom mortals, that they may exert themselves to render it propitious bytheir good actions; and if He sometimes permitted, as an exception, thatit should be revealed to them through the dispensers of His word, it wasnot to gratify an idle curiosity, but to excite men to worthily conformtheir works to coming events. 

CHAPTER VI. 

XLI. THE preliminary notions hitherto set forth are to be regarded asplaced in the vestibule leading to the temple of Revelation. Now, beforewe cross the threshold, it may be well to meet at once an objectionwhich will possibly be offered by modern incredulity. It is fashionablysaid, that rational man can admit nothing as true except that which isproved to him by logical demonstrations; and as for the acceptance of arevealed religion faith is a necessary element, and this must exclude(as commonly pretended) every kind of proof, therefore all reasoning isout of the question, and the very basis of that which is sought to beinculcated as a truth, renders it inadmissible. Such an objection, however erroneous in reality, has too grave an appearance, and itsconsequences would be too lamentable, to permit us to disregard it. Itbecomes, therefore, indispensable, before entering the sanctuary ofRevelation, to remove the obstruction of such an error, even at the costof a digression from our path, in order to consider the matter in itsorigin. 

XLII. One of the primary laws of existence in the physical world isself-love; that is, an instinct in every creature to procure its owngood, even at the expense of others, so that the preservation of one isattended with the destruction of some others. All nature is in aperpetual struggle within itself, and every component part receives theelements of its own life and increment from the destruction of others. This we see repeatedly happen under our own eyes, as well in plants asin animals, and so evidently, that we need not here record instances toconfirm it. It is through this contrast of individual interests, throughthis perpetual alternation of production and growth with decrease anddestruction, that Providence ordained the preservation of the world inits totality, while the individuals perish and the species remain. 

XLIII. Man also, considered only in his physical nature, is subject tothe universal law of self-love; and until he has arrived at a correctappreciation of his moral nature and duties, he will allow himself to beimpelled by that law to possess himself of all that he thinks suitableto his own advantage, regardless of the detriment of others, and even oftheir very existence; and so will, on the other hand, every one else, being in the same condition, act towards him. But the effects ofunrestrained self-love are by far more mischievous in man than in theirrational animals, for the intelligence with which he is endowedaffords him more means and artifices to accomplish his selfish views, solong as he is governed by these and not by nobler impulses. Hence ithappens also, that so long as a man lies under the fascination ofself-love, society, of which he is called to become a member, places himin a condition, from which he looks upon his fellow-men as the naturalenemies of his individual happiness; and he feels a propensity to throwobstacles, either by malice or violence, in the way of others, toprevent their attaining that which is denied to him. 

XLIV. But we find, also, in man another principle diametrically opposedto self-love, which, proceeding from the noblest prerogatives of hissoul, distinguishes him from the irrational creatures, and invites himto a career totally opposite to theirs. This principle, commonly calledvirtue, we shall express by the more comprehensive name of _heroism_. Asby self-love man is inclined to sacrifice the welfare of others to hisown, so by heroism he is led to sacrifice himself to the welfare ofothers. When we see a mother struggling to death, and with admirableself-devotion, against overpowering waves, or ferocious beasts, ordevouring flames, to save her child from certain destruction, it wouldbe stolidity and folly for us to bring into comparison with this act, the cares bestowed by a brute in feeding her young, since as soon as thelatter has carried into effect the order of nature, she forsakes them, and, when grown, does not even recognise them; whereas the love of amother endures beyond the grave. When a husband, bound with theindissoluble tie of affection to the woman of his heart, voluntarilysacrifices to her everything dearest in the world, and finds in heraffection ample recompense for his direst privations, who would dare toattribute this to the physical sexual tendency common even to thebrutes? a tendency, which, besides manifesting itself only at detachedperiods of time, disappears altogether in old age, whereas conjugal loveruns beyond the confines of time. The same may be said of a friend, whowould give his own life to save that of his beloved, of a generouswarrior who risks everything for his country's sake, and of a host ofothers, who magnanimously devote themselves to the relief of sufferinghumanity; in short, of every one who feels himself moved by a superiorforce to cross over the boundaries of selfishness and sensuality, and tobecome a hero. 

XLV. In all these phenomena, a principle directly adverse to that ofphysical nature manifests itself. While in the latter, self-love is anecessary supreme law, in the spiritual life of man we see prevailing, as a foundation to morality, a voluntary sacrifice of self, offered onthe altar of love. No pain or regret ever accompanies such an offering;on the contrary, a sensible man undertakes it with cheerfulness, as amanifestation of his exalted nature, and derives from its performance apurer joy than all other earthly enjoyments could afford him. But thislove, which limits and conquers self-love, this love which so welltestifies to the excellence of man, whence does it proceed? Assuredlynot from physical nature; this is, on the contrary, based upon a lawwhich would destroy love. It must emanate, then, from a source, itself aprototype of moral perfection, a perpetual spring of the purest love;and this source is God. Through the effects and impressions of thiscelestial love, man feels the need of approaching his Creator, offinding in Him the provident Ruler of the human destinies, and ofexpecting from His kindness the future triumph of good, and an ultimateperfection of all things. God, providence, and the immortality of thesoul, become then for him incontestable truths: and at such a knowledgehe does not arrive by way of laborious instruction and logicaldemonstrations; but it springs up, as it were, in his inward feeling, which prompts him to regulate his life according to that sublime modelof moral perfection; therefore, although reason furnishes not to himlogical proofs of these truths, yet he finds the presentiment of themwithin his heart, he feels them, he accepts them with a force moresentimental than intellectual, he embraces them with enthusiasm, and canno longer detach himself from them; in short he _believes_ them. 

XLVI. Thus, with the same confidence with which man admits as true, whatis demonstrated to his reason by solid arguments, --and he is then saidto be _convinced_, --does he likewise give his assent to the nobleinspirations of his heart, not yet depraved by abject inclinations, --andhe is then said to be _persuaded_. Thus there are two kinds of truths, equally ascertained, and therefore equally admissible; the oneproceeding from intellect and called rational truth, the other formed inthe heart, and called moral truth. The source of the latter might alsoproperly be called _good sense_, which in fact acts, in manycircumstances of life, in lieu of pure reason. A man endowed with goodsense, and who has not yet become a slave to sensual appetites, will notdoubt for a moment, even without having ever been acquainted with theproofs, that lying, calumniating, blaspheming, false swearing, robbing, murdering, betraying friendship, country or honour, are culpable andabominable actions. Other truths based on good sense are also thefollowing: the faith we have in friendship, in the rectitude of thosewho administer justice, in the fidelity of a beloved object, in thetenderness of parents, in the excellence of virtue, and above all, inthe wisdom, goodness, and providence of God; all these things we admitwithin our souls, not in consequence of a cold calculation of theintellect, but through an irresistible impulse of the heart, and inconsequence of a sort of presentiment springing from the consciousnessof our own noble spirituality, which develops itself and gains force, inproportion as we elevate ourselves above the material propensities towhich we are subject as citizens of this earth. 

XLVII. Those who, throwing themselves on a severe rationalism, willrecognise nothing as true but what is demonstrated to them likemathematical theorems, will look upon the sentiments above referred toas delusions of the fancy, because they see them founded but uponfeeling; but they who think so are manifestly in error. If faith in God, in His providence, and in the immortality of the human soul, were a mereproduct of the imagination, it would last only so long as the semblance, which had given it aliment, exists; and when man is awakened to thesense of realities and facts calculated to destroy the delusion, hewould be seen to withdraw from the meshes of his error, and his reasontriumphant would confess the former aberration of the mind; yet ithappens not so. In the moment we are struck by some grave calamity, whenwe see fond hopes, long cherished, vanish in an instant, or when we areon the point of losing what is dearest to us, why is faith in God and inHis providence not then weakened in the religious man? Why, on thecontrary, does he cling to it more and more? The reason is, because sucha faith is not a cold theorem, against which some doubt may eventuallyarise, but a truth rooted in the love inherent in our nature; andconsequently it acquires vigour with the growth of love, and its powercannot be extinguished but when we cease to love. So, also, the otherimpulses to heroism and to exalted moral action, by which we are inducedto great sacrifices, or led to believe ourselves capable ofaccomplishing them, are produced in us by faith in an eternal Source ofpure love, by that faith which carries with itself the surety of afuture life and a future kingdom founded upon love. Therefore, inproportion as man succeeds in subduing his own passions, or as thesegrow faint by age or other causes, so his love grows more vigorous; andas earthly objects gradually disappear, so faith rises and shews itselfall-pervading and invincible. 

XLVIII. As a condition indispensable to the entertainment of faith, wehave already insisted on the necessity of previously freeing the heartfrom the sway of the sensual appetites; and it is not without a gravereason, for therein precisely consists the secret of the solution of thegreat question agitated in all ages between the so-called rationalistsand the supernaturalists. Intellect and reason are rays from the Divinewisdom, bestowed upon man to assist him to discern between true andfalse, between good and evil; but such a function is not exercised bythose faculties with an absolute power over the human will; they, on thecontrary, are subservient to such desires and passions as have acquireda preponderance in the heart; they are similar to those ministers of aprince who, in offering him advice, only aim at facilitating theattainment of their master's wishes; or to the known effects of a glassapplied to a jaundiced eye. So long as man remains faithful to his moralduties, and desires nothing but what is good and honest, his intellectand reason always offer him valid arguments to confirm him in hispurpose, and to augment his love of virtue; and then, also, the noblestdogmas of faith, God, providence, and immortality find easy access tohis mind, and are Harboured with joy. But if depraved propensities havecorrupted his heart, so that his aspirations are in a wrong and basedirection, then these same faculties become ministers to the predominantpassion, and suggest to man sophisms, fallacies, and specioussubtleties, whereby to disown that which he heretofore respected, toupset the edifice of his faith, to lull his conscience and quietremorse, to excuse his weaknesses and break through every restraint, andthus to warrant every kind of fault and vice. Hence it is that theknowledge and discernment of what is true or untrue, in the moral world, depends, in a considerable degree, upon the practice of good or evil;hence it is, that the judgments of the mind are modified by theinclinations of the heart, and that virtue opens the way to faith, andvice is the author of infidelity. 

XLIX. From what we have hitherto briefly stated, it will appearsufficiently obvious that the dogmas of revealed religion, though basedrather on the ground of faith than on that of philosophy and strictcriticism, are yet, for an upright man, susceptible of a degree ofevidence equal to that of any other demonstrable truth, inasmuch as theyhave their foundation in human nature itself, and can be rejected but byhim who rebels against the noblest impulses of the heart, to givehimself up to the sway of passions or inordinate appetites. 

One of the features, which most enhances the value of religion, isprecisely this, that it is the product, not of transcendental devices ofthe mind, but of faith in God, itself springing from love, and thatconsequently, it is not originated by the intellect, but infused by aDivine grace. Thus we see every day, in our own experience, that theloftiest thoughts of virtue and heroism are not suggested to us by along and laborious chain of syllogisms, but break upon us unexpectedlyas inspirations of the heart; truly--considering the divine spiritdwelling within us, and which we have but to harbour carefully--theybreak upon us like inspirations of heaven. 

Having, as we hope, satisfactorily disposed of the objection usually putforward by the so-called rationalists, we shall now proceed to relatethe modes by which Divine revelation historically came into actuality. 

CHAPTER VII. 

L. THE benefits which the Eternal Wisdom had determined to confer uponmankind through revelation, depended, however, on a condition withoutwhich, they could never have been realized. It was necessary that men, on their part, should be inclined to receive the bidding addressed tothem, that they should direct their attention to the truths to begradually promulgated to them for their own advantage; in short, thatthey should feel disposed to correspond to the Divine intentions. It wasno part of the plan of the Divine wisdom that men should be in any wayconstrained, for that would have been depriving them of the preciousgift of free will, and destroying their essence. But this very liberty, of action granted to man, rendered the realization of the Divine thoughtdoubtful; and it might have happened that a generation, sinking itselfinto complete corruption, would have lost every trace of the truthsalready revealed; and thence a necessity would have arisen for one ormore repetitions of the communication, with equal uncertainty ofpermanent success. 

LI. To avoid such a danger, it pleased the Divine Mercy to found uponearth a permanent institution of an exceptional, wonderful, almostpreternatural character, through which the preservation of the principaldoctrines, that form the substance of revealed religion, could beinsured to mankind. As seeds of rare and precious plants are preservedwith care, that the species may not perish, so the Ruler of Providencedesigned to establish among us a repository wherein to keep the germs ofall that which concerns man's spiritual life; and He so ordained thatthey should be there jealously guarded, and with particular diligencecultivated, in order to bring about their slow and gradual, but surepropagation among all the individuals of the human family. Thisprovision is a most luminous proof of the unbounded love and mercy ofthe Divine Artificer towards the rational creature, to whom a powerfulassistance is thus offered to attain his noble destination, without inthe least impairing his liberty of action. 

LII. Such a provision consists in God having chosen a small portion ofmankind to be a medium for, and co-operator in, the grand work, andhaving entrusted to it the special important mission of perpetuallypreserving within its pale, the principal dogmas of revealed religion;of keeping always alive on earth the remembrance of that relation whichwas established from the beginning of creation between the Creator andthe human family; and, in short, of contributing with all its might tothe practical realization of the Divine idea. The chosen few hadconsequently to propose to themselves, as the goal of their career, thedefence of the sacred deposit entrusted to them from all attacks thatmight be directed by malice, ignorance or superstition; they had topromote the propagation of the notions of monotheism; of the divineorigin of man, and of the duties incumbent upon him to practice justice, charity, rectitude, and piety; they had to protest incessantly againstpolytheism, and against all and every idolatrous and superstitiouscreed, as adverse and injurious to the development of the principles ofrevealed religion; they had to confirm these theories by makingthemselves the exemplars of a religious life, and by bearing witness tothem, when necessary, by their own martyrdom; they had thus to becomethe effectual instruments to the gradual diffusion throughout the worldof those elements of truth, of virtue and happiness, calculated to bringforth the ultimate and universal perfection of mankind. 

LIII. In order that the individuals charged with such a grand missionshould be competent effectually to fulfil it, it was necessary that theyshould themselves have been always free from the pernicious influence ofthe errors and corruption, which had already spread almost throughoutthe world; it was necessary that their minds should have remainedunpolluted by the notions of the extravagant and degrading idolatries, which were in practice among almost all the ancient nations; and thattheir hearts should have remained untouched by the contagion ofuniversal depravity. The soil to which any seed, however good, is to becommitted, would never respond to the expectations of the husbandman, ifit were not cleared from weeds and thistles. Those individuals had, therefore, to be drawn aside from the general society of men; and fromtheir infancy educated and prepared, so as to receive within theirvirgin souls the seeds that were afterwards to produce in them, andthrough them, the spiritual regeneration of all mankind. But hereanother difficulty presented itself; who would have undertaken thecharge of watching over those individuals from their infancy, andkeeping them in such an isolation, as to make them inaccessible to thegeneral depravity? It was, then, necessary to begin by a singleindividual, whose descendants should receive from that stock theeducation capable of fitting them for their future mission. 

LIV. The providential measure once decreed, of selecting an individualas guardian of the revealed truths, and making him the father of aposterity, whose duty was to preserve them and to make them fructify, itremained only to determine the selection of the person. And here it isobvious that not a capricious hazard, not an indulgent predilection, butonly a strict justice and wise impartiality could determine theimportant choice. Whoever would have aspired to such a glory--andeverybody could have aspired to it--by no other means could he haveattained it than his own merits. Such a man must have, of his own accordand spontaneously, withdrawn himself from the general current ofdepravity; opposed, by his own impulse, the absurd ravings of hiscontemporaries; displayed a lively attachment to virtue, and a steadyabhorrence of evil; cultivated, above all, justice, charity, andrighteousness, in his every action; that man must have thrown off thesubjection of the senses, and all cupidity of earthly things, and, almost assuming a second nature, have soared towards the eternal Sourceof truth, the Creator of the universe, offering as a sacrifice to Himhis own dearest personal interests, and, if required, his life itself. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LV. SUCH a man did appear on the stage of the world. It was thepatriarch Abraham. The rarest qualities of mind and heart concurredadmirably to render him fit for the high mission. By the superiority ofhis intelligence, he arrived at the rejection of the captivating, butabsurd, idolatrous opinions of his contemporaries, and at therecognition of a unique supreme Cause of all things, omnipotent, all-wise and holy, that governs all with impartial justice and infinitemercy. The nobility of his sentiments led him to labour and exerthimself in the diffusion of these holy notions wherever he foundhimself; and he was most sedulous in drawing the attention of men tothat which most concerned their spiritual life. An unparalleledcordiality towards not only his own friends, but all who approached him;a self-abnegation, carried to the point of refusing the best deservedremuneration; a humility ready to waive any right of his own in order tosupport that of others; a hospitality full, generous, unasked; acontinual exercise of charity and justice, which had become in him asecond nature; in fine, a submission of all himself and his dearest tothe will of God, --such was the character of that celebrated luminary ofantiquity, of that man truly divine, of that exemplar of sublime virtue. 

LVI. Although so many pre-eminent merits indisputably assigned to himthe distinction we have pointed out, yet the Divine wisdom decided tosubject his constancy to various trials, with the view of makingmanifest to the world the excellence of that virtuous character, and thejustice which dictated the choice. In the continual antagonism betweenthe material and spiritual interests involved in the events of hisagitated life, he had opportunities to display the noblest firmness incausing the latter to prevail. Involuntary peregrinations, conflictswith foreign potentates, domestic discords, dangers, hazards, hopesdeferred, and promises well nigh forgotten, became to him so manyoccasions for the exercise of the highest virtues: and last, the holyresignation with which he prepared to immolate his beloved son, thinkingthereby to respond to a Divine bidding, raised his glory to anunapproachable summit. If the other deeds of his edifying piety causedhim to be appointed a herald of the true religion, this last heroic actbrought down upon him the greatest blessing, in the shape of a promise, that even to his remotest posterity would be extended the mission ofjealously preserving the revealed truths, and effectually cooperating intheir propagation, so that through that posterity would be _blessed allthe families of the earth. _

LVII. Abraham's vocation marks a luminous and highly interesting epochin the history of humanity. It was the commencement of the execution ofthat plan of education of mankind, which, conceived since the beginningin the Increate Mind, came by means extraordinary, yet consistent withthe natural course of earthly events, to diffuse itself gradually and toacquire a progressive force among the various ramifications of the humanfamily. In that vocation we perceive the first threads of a wonderfultissue of events, as well in the physical as in the moral world, whichwent on preparing a slow but always progressive development of the humanintelligence, and will go on to produce ultimately the full finalaccomplishment of the same primitive plan, so grandly conceived. Infact, in the very act of electing this patriarch, God revealed theultimate object of the election by saying, that He chose him, in orderthat he might transmit to his latest posterity the obligation--which wasto become characteristic of it--of exercising and promoting CHARITY andJUSTICE, the two chief columns on which rests the edifice of humanperfectibility, two conditions indispensable to the fulfilment of theDivine idea, and therefore called _ways of the Eternal_. 

LVIII. Abraham and his race having been called upon to perpetuate theidea of the relation existing between God and man, it was obviouslynecessary that such a relation should be fixed and established in a moreprecise mode in the individuals of that race than it was in any others;in other words, it was necessary to show clearly that the idea, whichwas to be promoted among others, was firmly seated, under permanent andconcrete forms, in those who were called upon to propagate it. Thispermanency of the relation exhibited itself, then, to Abraham and hisposterity under the form of a _covenant_ between God and that family, whereby the contracting parties, as it were, promised and undertook tomaintain certain conditions, upon which depended the subsistence of thatrelation. The mutual conditions established were, in substance, nothingelse than the universal relations subsisting between God and everyrational being, but expressed, with respect to Abraham's, family, inmore special and characteristic terms, viz. , under a form in which Godpromised Abraham that He would be particularly _his God_, his Protector, Guardian, and Benefactor; and the Abrahamites, on their part, boundthemselves to recognise _Him alone_ as the Deity, to whom adoration andloyal obedience were due. Thus the covenant, which had been formerlyestablished in general terms with Noah, as the representative of allmankind, was afterwards confirmed in more specific terms to theAbrahamites, as those who were appointed to keep and to promote amongmankind the fulfilment of the conditions of the said relation. 

Considering the Abrahamitic covenant in this point of view, allobjections of unreasonable exclusiveness and unjust predilection, whichhave been sometimes urged, must disappear. The God of Abraham is the Godof the universe; and the descendants of Abraham propose to themselvesnothing more than the attainment of that same happiness to which everymortal can aspire. 

LIX. In order that the idea of the contracted covenant might remainfirmly impressed on all Abraham's progeny, it was necessary toinstitute some external mark, which should continually recall it to themind; for an idea being but an abstraction, it could not be very longretained in men's minds, without some symbol or visible sign capable ofkeeping its remembrance alive. It was also necessary that the adhesionof that progeny to the covenant should not begin to take effect inindividuals in the adult age only, and as a result of one's ownspontaneous reflexions, as had been the case with the first stock ofthat family, but that it should present itself as an accomplished fact, and, therefore, irrevocable and obligatory; so that every futureoffspring should bear from his birth an external indelible mark, characterising him as a follower of that principle, and qualifying himto enter into the pale of that association. By such means thepreservation of the covenant was insured, and a beginning was made inthe system of those external, symbolical, and commemorative acts, whichwere to be thereafter prescribed to all that race, when sufficientlyincreased to form an entire people distinct from others. This externalmark, instituted before the birth of the elect progeny of the patriarch, is the _circumcision_. 

LX. Before Abraham's descendants attained that degree of maturity whichwould fit them to receive a revealed legislation, they had to passthrough various stages of progressive material increment andintellectual development, and also to undergo several sad vicissitudesproduced by the inevitable relations of contact with other nations. Throughout all this period, which we may call preparatory, the DivineWisdom was pleased to take that race by the hand, guiding its firststeps, and watching in an extraordinary manner over its destinies, so asgradually to prepare it for the high mission for which it was designed. We, therefore, perceive, during that epoch, a continual intervention ofthe Divinity in regulating the particular concerns of the patriarchs andtheir successors, and an incessant care to draw their attention to thefuture destiny of their grandchildren, and to their duty of preparingworthily for it. Such a care manifested itself, particularly, in variousprovidential measures, the objects of which evidently were to removefrom them everything that might exercise over them a sinister influence;to enlighten them on the importance of their election, and to make themacquainted beforehand with the severe trials in store for them forseveral centuries, before they could deservedly reap the intendedbenefits. 

LXI. To this category of providential measures belongs the state ofisolation and of precarious subsistence, in which, by the Divine will, the first fathers had to live, in respect to their neighbours, in thatsame land which was yet promised to them as a perpetual inheritance;whereby they were brought to learn from the beginning that the greatwork, which their children were called upon to accomplish, was notabsolutely dependent on the possession of a land under their ownsovereignty, but rather on the religious doctrines to which they were toremain faithfully attached. To it belongs, also, the severance orremoval of the elder branch of the first two families, which was toomuch inclined to material interests, to teach thereby that physicalsuperiority is not at all requisite to the preservation of a covenantbased entirely on spirituality. And, lastly, to the same category ofmeasures belongs the decreed long servitude of the Abrahamites in astrange land, in which, not only the door to social enjoyments would beshut against them, but a barbarous tyranny would also deprive them ofthe free exercise of acts which are an imprescriptible right of allmortals. Through the instrumentality of such an oppression, the profoundcounsels of the Eternal Wisdom designed so to regulate the firsteducation of that growing people, that, refined in the crucible ofadversity, it should early learn to renounce the subjection of thesenses, and turn its heart and soul to God, from whom alone it couldhope salvation. It was only by depriving that people of all humansupport, and of all extraneous influences on its culture, that it couldacquire a character, firm, independent, tenacious in the principlesadopted, adverse to foreign notions, faithful to its vocation, and thatits mind could be deeply impressed with the sentiment of a constantadoration of the Supreme Being, as its only Deliverer, Legislator, Father, and Sovereign. 

CHAPTER IX. 

LXII. THE descendants of the patriarchs, grown into a numerous people, were, then, obliged to undergo the severe trial of a long servitude inEgypt, from which they could expect no rescue otherwise than by arecourse to the God of their fathers. If the privations of earthlyenjoyments tended to strengthen their spirits and courage againstadversity, and to direct their desires towards gratifications of a moreelevated nature; if the repulsive conduct of their oppressors (bycharacter hostile to all strangers, and by system constituted indifferent castes, each of which jealous of its own privileges) favouredin a great measure their isolation, and kept them from a perniciouscontact and association, it was the prayer which they offered up fromthe bottom of their hearts to the Supreme Ruler of their destinies, whose covenant with their progenitors they remembered; it was thatprayer that hastened the termination of so severe a discipline, and drewnear the epoch of their glorification. A fit instrument only was wanted, through which the deliverance should be effected, an organ tocommunicate to the people the Divine laws, a medium for the new solemncovenant which was to be proclaimed between God and Israel. This electfrom among all mortals--whose noble character, resplendent with allhuman virtues, was heightened by the true grandeur of an unexampledhumility--was the holy legislator Moses, the divine man, the faithfulexpounder of the will of God, the first link of the glorious chainconnecting the human family with its Maker. He was appointed to delivermiraculously the Israelitish mass from the yoke of Egypt, and to lead itto the skirts of a mountain, where the grand act of the revelation wasto be accomplished. 

LXIII. Before imparting that revelation, the Divine wisdom vouchsafed todeclare to the people at large, in brief but clear words, the ultimateobject intended to be attained by such an institution, and the principalcondition conducive to its realisation. Therefore it was, that God beganhis communications by saying to Israel, through Moses, "_I have broughtyou unto me_" a concise and sublime sentence, which comprehends initself the whole system of revealed religion, for the recognition of theintimate relation which brings the rational creature near to itsCreator, is the true goal of man's destination. He added that, tofacilitate the attainment of that object, He had adopted the means ofelecting a small portion of mankind to be His missionaries ("_although_"said He, "_all the earth is mine_"); that He wished, therefore, to formof them _a sacerdotal kingdom_, that is, a class of persons, who, aspriests of God, should watch over, conserve, and promote spiritualinterests upon the earth; and that in consequence of the gravity of sucha task, He required of them that they should become a _holy people_, that is, a people peculiarly devoted to self-sanctification--whichsubstantially consists in imitating, in as far as human nature permits, the Divine perfections, or virtues. 

LXIV. The awfully solemn act which succeeded this preliminarymanifestation is the most portentous event to be found in the annals ofthe world. Two millions of persons, ranged around the skirts of amountain, witness a majestic supernatural vision; and amid thunder andlightning, dense vapour and blazing fire, the whole ground trembling andthe mountain echoing, a sonorous voice from heaven descends on theterrified ears of the people, and carries distinctly and unmistakeablyto humanity the high message of God. By the pomp and circumstance whichattended the glorious scene of the first revelation, God was pleased toafford an incontestable evidence of the truth and divinity, not only ofthe doctrines which were then and there being revealed, but of those, also, that were to follow; the unimpeachable testimony of the senses ofa vast multitude, brought to bear upon the first and fundamentalcommunication, was capable of producing so full and lasting a convictionin the minds of the numerous hearers, as to remove for the future alldoubt as to the divine origin of revelation. Through an immediatesensible perception--which by its nature carries the most irrefragablecertainty--Israel, then, received from God Himself the first dictates ofa religion, of which that people was to become the professor, conservator, and propagator, in perpetuity; and equally convinced of thetrue mission of its leader, Moses, it naturally accepted from the latterall subsequent instructions, as laws emanating from the same divinesource. 

LXV. The word of God pronounced in that memorable instant, and knownsince under the name of Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, could not, however, embrace the whole sum of religious truths that were intended tobe revealed, because it would have been humanly impossible to the peopleto persist in that extraordinary state of intimate spiritual orprophetic relation with the Deity, till the end of all the revelation. Therefore, the Decalogue exhibits only some fundamental points, which, from their importance, deserved to be more prominently impressed; itmarks the outlines of the foundation upon which the edifice of revealedreligion was afterwards to be raised. Yet, although the promulgation ofthe entire divine code was a work reserved for the blessed legislatorMoses, the Ten Commandments present, nevertheless, a compendious butcomplete system of institutions, referring to all those social andreligious subjects, which most interest mankind. In fact, the threerelations of man towards his Creator, his fellow-man, and himself, aretraced in the Decalogue in a masterly manner, classified according totheir order, and elucidated by placing prominently forward oneculminating point, which serves to determine their true character. Suchis the wise economy of all revealed laws, that generally avoidingabstractions, they select as a standard one special case of the mostinteresting, and leave it to thy care of the human understanding togeneralize, and deduce from it universal theories. [2] Consequently, onanalysing the ten emanations of the Divine Will, we must transfermentally each of them to the class of duties to which it belongs, andconsider it as intended to represent all that class. 

[Note 2: The author has already informed us, that he confineshimself, in this book, to the enunciation of principles, and leaves toteachers the task of demonstrating, developing, and applying them, incourse of instruction. Nevertheless, as this proposition recurs morethan once in these pages, and contains a very important principle, it isperhaps desirable, for the general reader, to offer here an elucidation, by the following examples of its application. 

We are taught, "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again" (Exod. Xxiii. 4). We areto understand, that the lesson thereby conveyed, is not confined to theparticular case named, but that we are commanded to cast offselfishness, and to extend our kindness and charity even to enemies, actively exerting ourselves for the assistance and benefit of others, whenever opportunities offer themselves in our every-day life. 

Again, we are enjoined, "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put astumbling-block before the blind" (Lev, xix. 14). We are clearly toconclude therefrom, that any net of treachery, in itself alreadydetestable in the eyes of God, becomes doubly so when directed againstthe unconscious and the helpless; and a very wide range of treacherousactions would, therefore, come within the meaning of this prohibition. 

The paramount importance of this hermeneutical rule will be any apologyfor having dilated on a point, which must be already well known tobiblical students. --The TRANSLATOR. ]

CHAPTER X. 

LXVI. THE first commandment, which regards the relations of man withGod, lays down that the acknowledgment of the Supreme Being is the basisof all the revelation, and gives us to understand that such a convictionthen began historically to manifest itself on earth, taking root firstin the people of Israel, whom therefore the Deity addresses, saying, "Iam the Eternal, _thy_ God, " signifying, "by _thee_ alone acknowledgedhitherto. " It also establishes the immutable eternity of the absoluteBeing, conveyed in the etymology of the ineffable Name; next, hisindivisible unity, indicated in the word _El_, which denotes the sum ofall the powers, and the aggregation of all the attributes, in one andthe same essence. The same text proceeds then to arouse the feelings ofgratitude, which must bind especially this people to the powerful handthat had delivered it from ignominious servitude: and this involves theobligation in the same people of devoting itself entirely to God, andsubordinating all its tendencies to religious feeling. The last twowords of this text allude to one of the great principles on whichrevealed religion rests, the Eternal having thereby proclaimed, not onlythe individual equality of all the Israelites before the law, but alsothe personal liberty of all men, which principle, being regulatedaccording to the true idea of right, becomes the fundamental basis ofcivil society. 

LXVII. The worship of the only God, coupled with the absolute rejectionof every form of idolatrous and superstitious creed, forms the subjectof the second commandment, which completes the portion of the Decalogueregarding the relations of man towards the Creator. It severelyprohibits every kind of idolatry, both that which substitutes for thetrue God false and imaginary beings, or even beings real but contingentand created, and that which would associate in His worship a venerationfor others, under the title of mediators or protectors; it theninterdicts the making of any image whatsoever, when intended torepresent the infinite and incorporeal Being, and bids us neither to payto any such simulacra a religious respect or veneration, which is due tothe true God alone, nor to practise such conventional acts, as, howeverinsignificant in themselves, are yet held by idolaters as modes ofworship. Lastly, this commandment conveys the obligation to dissentfrom, and reject, every superstition and every error, requiring us topreserve pure and intemerate the adoration due to the Supreme Being, who, in this sense, is represented in this text as jealously watchingover human actions, and a not indifferent spectator of good or evil;therefore a sure punisher of the guilty, and an eternal remunerator ofhim who faithfully adheres to His law. 

LXVIII. As a transition from the duties towards God to those towards ourfellow-men, the two succeeding precepts are opportunely placed, one ofwhich concerns the act of invoking the Divinity between men, and theother the mode of elevating men towards the Divinity. In themultifarious contentions arising in social life, it sometimes occurs tohave recourse to God, to convalidate an assertion, or to test a truth. Now, in the act of attestation called oath, the third commandmentprohibits with the greatest rigour anything that might offend thesanctity of the ineffable name of God, which is invoked by the deponentin attestation of the truth of his words. Consequently the textdeclares, that if such a solemn invocation were made to confirm a thing, which is not wholly conformable to the intimate conviction and mostscrupulous conscience of the swearer, the consequences would be aprofanation of the name of God, and a scandalous immorality, to thedetriment of society at large; for this could not subsist without anupright administration of justice; and the latter would be upset andtrampled upon by perjury. In order to shew more prominently the gravityof this matter, and to protect society, an avenging God protests that Hewould never leave unpunished whomsoever should render himself guilty ofthe monstrous crime of perjury. 

LXIX. From the moment when the work of creation was completed, theDivine wisdom ordained that an intimate relation should subsist betweenman and his Creator, and called that day holy and blessed on which somerciful an institution was inaugurated and began to come intooperation. This relation, which, as we have already stated, forms thebasis of revealed religion, tended to emancipate man from the sphere ofmateriality, and to render him conscious of his higher destination, andcapable of accomplishing it. It was, therefore, natural that the peoplecalled upon to give the religious principle a durable consistency onearth, should keep a perpetual commemoration of that day whichrepresented the bond subsisting between the Divinity and humanity; itwas proper that the day should not only and simply be remembered, butthat it should, also, have some feature exercising a predominatinginfluence over material life, by making this subordinate to thespiritual requirements. The fourth word of the Decalogue prescribes, then, that the Israelite should for ever remember the holy day ofsabbath, as a representative of religion, and should, during that day, abstain, and cause all his dependants to abstain, from all manual labourand earthly occupation, that might distract him from the contemplationof heavenly subjects, which should exclusively occupy his mind on thatday. 

LXX. Among all man's duties towards his fellow-men, those of childrentowards their parents are assuredly the highest in degree, becausewithout them the bonds which hold society together would be destroyed. These duties form the subject of the fifth commandment. To define theircharacter in a single trait, a profound wisdom has selected the word_honour_, thereby pointing to a respect which arises, not from fear andterror, but from gratitude, love and submission. Additional importanceis given to this precept by the consideration, that the revealedreligion could not have been preserved and made known to the latestposterity but by the instrumentality of an uninterrupted tradition fromgeneration to generation; and the faith to be placed in such a traditiondepended, to a great extent, on the respect in which parents would beheld. The reward promised to him who observes this commandment, is inperfect and natural harmony with the observance itself; man's life willbe prolonged and blessed by honouring the authors of it. 

LXXI. The three conditions most prominent in human society, viz. , life, matrimony, and property, are referred to in the subsequent words, whichform the sixth, seventh and eighth precepts of the Decalogue. Toconcentrate in one word all that is to be observed regarding theseessential elements of a social state, the sacred text confines itself toproclaiming, in an absolute mode, their _inviolability_, thereforeadopting the negative or prohibitive form. It is desired to prevent andforbid every arbitrary act, and every unjust attempt, directed todeprive the legitimate possessor of, or to restrict and in any other wayto disturb him in, the full, free, and exclusive enjoyment of his own. To respect the life, the conjugal bed, and the property of others, is toconsolidate the bonds of society, to pay homage to the eternalprinciples of justice, upon the practice of which God willed that thepreservation and prosperity of mankind should depend. 

LXXII. In order that our conduct towards our neighbours be strictly inaccordance with justice, it is necessary, generally, that it should bebased upon an honest and straightforward character of veracity, and thatour outward demonstrations, in deeds and in words, should not be atvariance with our inward convictions, respecting the merits or demeritsof our fellow-men. Falsehood, detraction, calumny, and other similarvices, injurious to the peace and reputation of others, as well assimulated friendship, and hypocrisy, may all be comprehended within thedenomination of perfidy; and as an extreme and most distinctmanifestation of perfidiousness is to be found in false testimony, hencethe ninth commandment is addressed to this vice, and forbids thewitnessing against our fellow-men anything that is not entirely andstrictly conformable to the truth. It is easy and natural for us to stepfrom this special prohibition to the spirit which dictated it, and toconclude that the precept is generally directed to remove from societyall perfidy and wrong, as contrary to truth and justice. 

LXXIII. A certain involuntary or instinctive desire of that which ispleasing, is in human nature itself; but this vague and voluble feelingmay, by deliberate reflection, convert itself into an act of free-will, and, eventually increasing in strength, become a vehement affection, anuncontrollable passion. Now, so long as that feeling does not pass intoan act of appropriating the thing desired, human law cannot deal withit; but Divine law, which has for its object the internal perfection ofman, steps in to regulate the movements of the heart, when they areaccompanied by a deliberate will of possessing. Therefore, the tenth andlast commandment of the Decalogue, which refers to man's duties towardshimself, aims at the human will, and prescribes limits, within which thedesires, tending to procure possession, should be confined, forbiddingspecially to covet that which belongs to others. It is not therebyintended to absolutely prevent the formation of a natural wish, but itis directed to confine it within just limits, that it may not expand andbe transformed into a usurpation. 

CHAPTER XI. 

LXXIV. THE succeeding revelations, which were made to the blessedlegislator Moses, and by him collected into a body of statutes andrules, known under the title of Pentateuch, bear the same relation tothe Decalogue as that of a finished edifice to the first outline whichtraced its limits and compartments--they are the elaboration of it, theybranch into the same triple classification of duties which we haveremarked in it, and present its development and completion. What in theDecalogue appeared, as in nucleus, under the form of duties of mantowards God, towards his fellow-man, and towards himself, is developedby those laws into detailed instructions, through which the people ofIsrael was to learn the knowledge of God, to practise justice andcharity, and to effect its own sanctification; three cardinal points, corresponding to the three classes of duties above mentioned, whichembrace the whole sum and substance of revealed religion. We shall not, therefore, proceed to enumerate here, one by one, those multifariouslaws, --a great part of which, being contingent on the existence of thetemple and the possession of Palestine, have now no practicalapplication, --but we shall only treat of the three principles which formthe bases of them all, viz. , God, Justice, and Sanctification, leavingto the intelligence of those who sedulously investigate the singleprecepts, the easy task of tracing them to one or other of the saidthree categories. 

LXXV. To the elucidation of these three principles we must, however, premise two observations. In the first place, it is to be remarked, onthe one hand, that although the human intellect can by itself (providedit be not overruled by the sway of sensual appetites) recognisesummarily the excellence of such principles, and give them unreservedlyits sanction, yet its perceptions with respect to their specialitiesremain very imperfect, for several reasons: first, because it findsitself unable to rebut and conquer one by one all the objections whichthe infidel may bring forward; secondly, in consequence of the doubtswhich its own limited powers sometimes suggest, impairing its own senseof the truth; and lastly, because wanting the knowledge of many detailsand circumstances, about which it can form no judgment, the intellectcannot construct a complete rationalistic system of moral theology. Whereas, on the other hand, emanating as they do from the infinitewisdom and mercy of God, formulated in the shape of positive precepts, and corroborated by the portentous manner of their promulgation, thoseprinciples acquire an undisputed authority, remove every doubt, illuminethe mind with unexpected sublime truths, satisfy the heart which findsthem consentaneous with its own feelings, and are thus more apt toaccomplish the objects towards which they are directed. And if there beamong them some precept, of which we do not in our present time clearlyperceive the true tendency, we accept it, nevertheless, with that filialconfidence inspired by its divine origin; and, by analogy, we considerit as calculated to contribute to the promotion of our own weal. 

LXXVI. In the second place, it is necessary to distinguish, in theaggregate of this revelation, the universal theories applicable to, andconcerning all mankind, from the special prescriptions obligatory onlyon those to whom they were addressed. Generally, all the children ofAdam are bound to know God, to practise justice, and to procure theirown sanctification; such duties are inherent in human nature itself, they correspond exactly to the destination of man, and none can exempthimself from them, without rebelling against nature and the sovereignAuthor of it. Consequently, the doctrines contained in the revealed law, in regard to these three points, apply to all rational beings, andeverybody is called upon to participate in, and profit by, them; theyare the inheritance of all mankind. But it was obvious that those, whowere in the first instance selected to receive those dogmas, and tobecome their jealous conservators and perpetual propagators, should havesome distinctive and peculiar devices, and be charged with observances, qualifying them for adepts to the ministry of such a sublime mission. Hence it is, that among the precepts of universal appurtenance there areseveral which Israel alone is bound to observe, and these consist partlyof external acts to be performed, either at certain stated times, or atall times, partly of particular forms and rules to be followed, eitherin reference to one's self or to others, and to some external objects ofanimate or inanimate nature, and partly, in fine, they prescribeabstinence from certain things which to all others are left permissive. It will be easy to every attentive student to discern and point out theprescriptions of this class, as their very nature is sufficient tocharacterise them; we shall have, however, occasion to mention them, after we shall have endeavoured to place in a clear light the threeprincipal articles of the revelation. 

CHAPTER XII. 

LXXVII. IMMENSE efforts have been made by human reason to elevate itselfto the conception of the Deity, to demonstrate His existence, and todeduce with solid arguments His principal attributes. Yet, even thatquantum which human reason believes to have succeeded in establishing onthis exalted subject, has always had to encounter in the fields of proudphilosophy tenacious, or rather pertinacious, adversaries. Whereasrevelation, extricating man from the labyrinth of transcendentalabstrusities, presents him at once with a well constructed system oftheological science, which he has only to receive within his bosom, tolead a happy life on earth, and attain his true goal beyond the grave. The Divine word informs us of God, as a pure spirit, eternal andimmutable, incorporeal, absolute (that is, not dependent upon causeswithout Himself), omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, all-perfect andtherefore all-holy (that is, possessing all the attributes in thehighest degree of perfection); one, because admitting not in Himselfdistinctions of multiplicity, and sole, because beside him there is noGod; Creator of the universe from nought, therefore distinct from allthings created (which we would call, if allowed the expression, _extramundane_); Creator of man in His image, having endowed him withintelligence, liberty, and an immortal soul; provident and immediate[3]to man, watching over his actions, punishing faults and rewardingmerits, and pardoning him who truly repents of evil committed; He is aperpetual source of the purest love, hence a merciful father to all Hiscreatures, unto whom He continually pours forth treasures of Hiskindness; He strengthens the weak, comforts the afflicted, enlightensthe ignorant, protects the oppressed, and grants the prayer of those whotrust in Him; He governs human events according to His will, now causinghuman enterprises to succeed, anon to fail; always directing them to theends contemplated by His infinite wisdom, for He is the all-wise, just, and faithful, whose promises are infallibly accomplished, and whose wordsubsists to eternity. He sometimes suspends the order of nature, andworks miracles, whenever He deems it suitable to His high designs. Heestablished a covenant with the Abrahamitic race, and revealed to it Hisholy law, by this means to illuminate and bless all mankind. 

[Note 3: This expression is here used to indicate the direct andspecial relation of God with man, and the direct government of mankindby God, without intermediate agencies, in contradistinction to the otherterrestrial creatures, whose relation with the Creator is only general, and which are governed through the medium of pre-established physicallaws. --THE TRANSLATOR. ]

LXXVIII. Although these notions do not complete the idea of theDivinity, much less can they claim to define His essence--for to thevery limited faculties of the human mind this will always remaininconceivable--yet they are sufficient to afford such an instruction ondivine subjects as to satisfy the wants of humanity. With the guidanceof the elements offered, and by a conscientious meditation on thoseDivine attributes, man will be able to dispel the superstitious notionsand the errors into which they have fallen, who have not consulted theDivine word on such a subject; he will be able to sketch in his own mindan idea, however incomplete, of the sublime object of his adoration, andthus preserve himself from much that is evil. Having been destined tolive in society, and compelled to work in order to supply themultifarious wants of his body; always more or less struggling with theinterests of his fellow men to secure a possession often disputed to himby malice, or violence; and evil example and ignorance and the sensualappetites being concurrently at work--man became naturally, in the courseof time, too easy a prey to passions, vice and error; he was overpoweredby materialism, and fell into sin. Therefore, the idea revealed to himof a holy God, who watches over his destinies, who punishes the guilty, rewards the virtuous, and pardons the penitent, is the best balsam thatcould be administered, the best truth that could be taught to him; itsaves him from error, removes him from sin, invites him to direct hisview to heaven, restores him within the Divine grace, and opens to himthe prospect of an interminable beatitude. 

LXXIX. Among those attributes, however, one becomes prominent, from itsimportance; it is that which establishes an immediate relation, orcommunion, as subsisting between the Creator and the rational creature;a fundamental point on which the whole religion hinges. The intimacy ofsuch a relation manifested itself at the very beginning of the world byGod having created man _in His image_, by which expression it is meant, that the Divine Maker bestowed some part of His perfections on thenoblest creature on earth, endowing it with intelligence, free-will, andimmortality; these high prerogatives conferred upon man, to a certaindegree, a similitude with his Maker, and from this similitude wasnaturally to follow a closer relation of mutual love, than existsbetween God and the other created things. Such a relation assumed a moredefinite form when God took man under His special guardianship, whilstHe left the government of inanimate nature to physical laws, unalterableand compulsory, which He had established in the first instant ofcreation. The stupendous connection was lastly completed, by God havingcommunicated His will to men, and traced out to them the course they hadto follow, in order to render themselves worthy of the great boon, andto attain the end destined for them. From all these circumstances itbecame evident that God is _immediate_ to man. 

LXXX. As, in general, all the revelation, has for its object to benefithumanity, so, in particular, when the divine word is directed to impartto us the knowledge of God, it intends to teach us the duties we arecalled upon to fulfil towards the Author of our existence; duties whichwe could not well discharge if we were wanting in that knowledge. Now, the first of these duties is to _love God_. Such a noble feeling, which, as we have already stated, derives its origin from a relation ofsimilitude between him who loves and the object beloved, cannot bekindled in us by effect of a mere command, as the motions of the heartare not produced by authority. Therefore, while holy writ inculcates thelove of God, it at the same time indicates to us the means whereby thissublime love will be promoted; and the means is _to walk in the ways ofthe Eternal_. To understand the connection between the means and theend, we must consider the different degrees of which love issusceptible, and motives by which it is actuated. He who loves Godbecause of great favours received, is apt to feel a diminution ofattachment, or even indifference, on being overtaken by misfortune. Hewho loves Him with a view to benefits in a future life, is also indanger of ceasing to love, if some doubts were to arise in his mind andto weaken his hopes. But when man loves God because he understands, andadmires, and adores in Him the aggregate of all perfections, and feelswithin himself the flame of a desire to approach the Divine Majesty, then his love is an inextinguishable love, for he abnegates his ownself, and centres his motives exclusively in the object beloved. Thiskind of love, however, presupposes a uniformity of tendencies, whichcauses the one who loves to esteem and to endeavour to appropriate thequalities admired by him; and in this precisely consists theresemblance, which produces the true love. Justice, faithfulness, righteousness, mercy, and many other Divine attributes, which in thebiblical language are called _the ways of the Eternal_, cannot be fullyand worthily appreciated, except by him who uses all his endeavours toadorn himself with such virtues, as far as his limited nature allows. And now we can understand, why he cannot truly love who walks not in Hisways. 

LXXXI. Another principal duty, issuing from the same revelation, is thatwhich is commonly called _fear of God_, an expression very frequent inthe sacred text, but which requires to be explained. The Hebrew wordused is susceptible of two different interpretations. It might apply tothe fear of retribution, suggested by the reflection that anall-powerful God will not leave unpunished the transgressors of hiscommands; or the same word might signify the sense of reverence andunbounded veneration, with which the frail creature must feel almostoverwhelmed when thinking of its exalted Creator, who knows all, seesall, and governs all. The former originates in the intellect, the latterin the heart. It is obvious that the fear of punishment is not asufficient restraint to deter man, at all times, from sin; for in theebullition of impetuous passions, the intellect becomes offuscated andimpeded in the exercise of its functions, or frequently is itselfpressed into the service of the predominating passion. Not so the aweand reverence inspired by the majesty of the Supreme King of theuniverse. It pervades all the heart, disposes it to feelings ofsubmission and obedience, convinces it that man is at all times in thepresence of his Maker, and thus prevents inordinate material appetitesfrom bursting forth and rising forcibly to uncontrollable preponderance. Hence it is that the fear of God, taken in the latter sense, is apowerful prop which supports the religious edifice, is the mosteffectual and valuable lesson we derive from the revelation of theDivine attributes. 

LXXXII. From these two principal duties, spring, as corollaries, othersof no less importance, which come, also, within the sphere of the firstcardinal point of biblical revelation, the knowledge of God. He, whotruly loves and fears God, will surely feel the necessity of placing inHim exclusively all his trust, for he is convinced that there is nobeing in nature, besides God, that can offer an infallible support tohuman hopes. He will find in his heart an almost irrepressible impulseto praise the Divine perfections, to extol His glory, to offer sincerehomage to the Sovereign of the universe, to worship and serve Him withpurity of heart, to thank Him for favours received, to supplicate Himfor help, to confess to Him sins committed, and to ask His pardon withcontrite spirit. All these and other like acts of filial dependence andpiety, find their expression in that elevated form of external worshipcalled _prayer_, which, whether exercised publicly in appropriate andconsecrated temples, or recited in the solitude of the domesticcloset, [4] whether strictly following an established formulary, orpouring out the impulsive feelings of the heart, is always an urgentwant and an indispensable duty of every religious man. Lastly, the truelove and fear of God imply the obligation of avoiding, in all thatpertains to Divine worship, everything that might have the appearance ofidolatry, of intrusion of intermediate powers, or of any superstitionwhatever; above all clearly emerges the duty of not abusing the holyname of God, either by uttering it on trivial occasions--which wouldtend to diminish the reverence due to Him--or by profaning it with aninvocation to a false testimony, whereby the detestable crime of perjurywould be consummated. 

[Note 4: Public, as compared with private worship, has the undoubtedadvantage of being in itself a public homage to the omnipotence of God, and a solemn testimony of the dependence of man on Him. True, solitaryworship is often more likely to be attended with the requisite mentalabstraction from all worldly objects, and intellectual elevation of thesoul towards its Divine Source--a condition of mind indispensable toestablish a true spiritual communion in Prayer, and without which allour orisons and ritual ceremonies would be but mechanical andmeaningless performances, a body without soul. It is this condition ofthe mind that, in Talmudical style, is called [Hebrew: het-nun-vav-kaf], as is well known, and that later ascetic writers termed [Hebrew:tav-vav-dalet-dalet-vav-bet-het-he], from the circumstance that it issuperinduced by solitary meditation. But whenever this conditionis attained in a public service, then indeed is that service"divine, " and humanity is exalted in its approach to the Throne ofMercy. --THE TRANSLATOR. ]

CHAPTER XIII. 

LXXXIII. ON determining the duties of the individual towards hisfellow-men, and towards all that surrounds him in nature, revelation didnot think it proper to refer the motives to human intelligence, and toallow the bases of justice and benevolence to rest on human reasonalone; but it said, "Do what is right and just and good in the eyes ofthe Eternal thy God; and refrain from all that is not such, because itpleases not thy God, " whereby it wished to proclaim that the notions ofjust and unjust, of good and evil, of rights and duties, should beconsidered as emanating from, and prescribed by, the Divine wisdom, andtherefore obligatory only because agreeable to the Divine will. In thisalso the revealed word purposed to come to the assistance of humanfrailty, and to render superfluous the abstrusities--as arbitrary asuncertain and controvertible--about which eminent philosophers torturedtheir brains, for many centuries, to fix, as they thought, theprinciples of the so-called _Jure_ in its innumerable ramifications ofnatural and positive, public and private, civil and criminal, commercial, maritime, canonical, feudal, of police, of finance, of war, and what not, without ever yet arriving at a complete accord in theirspecialities; whereas all right obtains a solid and effective sanctionwhen its origin is referred to God, who comprehending in Himself the sumtotal of right, justice and moral good, and having communed with man toenjoin to him their exercise, willed that the carrying out of theirdictates should be considered as an act of religion, of service renderedto Him, and that violating the one or failing in the other, should bealike regarded as an offence committed towards Him, which He will punishseverely. God, then, is the source of right; He made man acquainted withit through His law, and committed to him its performance on earth afterrules prescribed by His will. 

LXXXIV. In promulgating the duties of man towards his fellow-men, theholy scripture assumed sometimes the negative form, to forbid all thatwhich may cause injury to others; and sometimes the positive form, enjoining the practice to be followed towards all. To the first classbelong the following prohibitions, viz. , of nourishing hatred, rancour, revenge; of calumniating, or in any way whatever damaging thereputations of others; of assailing their honour or good fame; ofrestraining or obstructing others in the exercise of their rights, or inthe use and enjoyment of their properties; of practising deceptions, impositions, frauds, and all forms of insincerity, usury, extortions, and violence; of laying obstructions in the way of the weak or helpless;of giving false testimony; of speaking untruth; of reporting even truth, when it may lead to discord and strife; of occasioning danger; ofoffending decency and good manners; of causing scandal; of withholdingwages or remuneration due; of keeping in pledge the clothing orimplements of the poor; of using two weights and measures; ofassociating with the wicked; of breaking a pledge-word; of violating orassailing the conjugal happiness of others; of coveting anything thatbelongs to others; and other similar prohibitions recorded in the sacredcode, which can be easily collected as pertaining to this class. Moreover, it will not be unreasonable to complete this list by theaddition of a few more particular actions, which, though notspecifically mentioned, must yet be understood to be forbidden; for, asit is a constant rule in biblical exegesis to deduce general theoriesfrom single laws which appear to refer to particular cases, so must, byanalogy, be comprised in an enunciated forbidden action all others of asimilar nature, character, and tendency, as being understood in theformer. 

LXXXV. The positive precepts concerning a man's conduct towards hisfellow-men, are naturally enunciated in directions of a tendencyprecisely opposite to those expressed negatively; that is to say, it is_enjoined_ to practise the reverse of what has been forbidden. Now, tobegin with the more general prescriptions; it is enjoined, in the firstplace, to love one's fellow-men as one's own-self, all mankind, withoutany exception, being comprised in this expression, as we meet again thesame injunction with regard to the _stranger_, whom we are commanded tolove as ourselves; and Scripture explained already what is to beunderstood by the word _stranger_, when it said: "Thou also hast been astranger in the land of Egypt"; from which it is evident that the loveinculcated extends even to adversaries and enemies. It is next commandedto respect in every individual the dignity of man, created in the imageof God, which establishes the inviolability of person, and the equalityof all before the law, so that there should be no privileged caste, nohereditary preeminence; desiring, on the contrary, that "under theprotection of the same law and same right should dwell the native andthe foreigner. " The personal liberty of every member of the human familyis also proclaimed, as it is with that intention that the Decalogue hasput prominently forward the circumstance of Israel having been deliveredfrom servitude; and if, on the one hand, the condition of the times, which had rendered the use of slavery natural and universal, did notthen admit of its sudden and immediate extirpation; on the other, Scripture designed to mitigate its acerbity by provident and humanelaws, so as to make obvious the tendency to its future total, thoughgradual, extinction. To prevent pauperism, as well as to cure its evils, the rich were enjoined to lend money to those who needed it; and thelaw, starting from the presumption that the poor man would not, or atleast should not, desire to borrow and incur a debt, unless beingdeprived of the necessaries of life, ordered that such a loan to thedestitute brother be gratuitous, whilst in commercial transactions withforeign people it permitted the charge of some reasonable interest onloans of money, as an equivalent for the service rendered. 

LXXXVI. The administration of justice being, according to the revealedprinciples, a divine office, was naturally to be confided to personscarefully selected for their intelligence, probity, incorruptibility, and superiority to every human regard; these are therefore invested witha judicial representation of the Divinity on earth, and are enjoined toproceed according to the rules of the strictest justice, without everdeferring either to the pitiable condition of the poor, or to theinfluence of the powerful. As a corollary to this system, every personis bound to appeal to these authorities in any emergency, and to refrainfrom taking the law into his own hands; even for the correction of thedisorders of one's own child, the law requires a recourse to theconstituted authority, not permitting the infliction of punishments ofany kind, without the intervention of those appointed to administerjustice. Passing to the other observances, which grow out of the grandduty to be just to all, we are strictly commanded to respect theproperty, the rights and the honour of others, to be solicitous of theirwelfare, as much as of our own, to act honestly, sincerely andfaithfully on every occasion, to fulfil our promises, to facilitate toothers the success to which they are justly entitled, and to pardon ourenemies. From the multifarious and varied ties which bind the individualto family and society, issue the special duties of husband and wife, offathers, of children, of relations, as well as the regard due tomisfortune, respect to the aged, the virtuous, the learned, themagistrates, and the authorities of the state, attachment to thecountry, and obedience and loyalty to the sovereign, who, in thelanguage of the Bible, is constituted by God to govern the destinies ofthe people committed to his or her care. All these duties, which branchoff into many specialities, are either explicitly declared, orincontestably result, by analogies and sound hermeneutical deductions, from the various texts referring to such subjects. 

LXXXVII. But not to strict justice alone our conduct towards ourfellow-men must conform itself; we are bound to act on the principles ofthe most generous benevolence and charity. Those acts of a noble mindand a magnanimous heart, commonly called virtue, which are by moralistsonly _recommended_, as meritorious works, are by the Divine law_enjoined_, as obligatory, in the most absolute sense. Alms, forinstance, are, in the Mosaic law, a duty of the rich, and a right of theneedy. God is the owner of the land; He gave it to the diligent tocultivate, and through His blessing their labours prosper; He assignedto the poor His dues on the cultivated soil, and ordered that to themshould be left the total produce of every seventh year, the tithes ofsome other years, and the gleanings of the fields and vineyards. It wasnot thereby intended to render charity legal and compulsory, deprivingit of its noblest attribute, which is spontaneity, but to show moreconspicuously the importance attached to it, having otherwise left freeall acts of kindness and mercy, to which the law does not fix anymeasure. To this class also belong the precepts, which make it a duty togive timely assistance to him who is about to succumb to fatigue andlabour, to supply with provisions the discharged servant, to restorebefore sunset the clothing taken in pawn, to obviate danger in buildinga house, to put no obstructions before the blind, to grant every kind ofrelief to whomsoever stands in need, without exacting, or evenexpecting, any remuneration, to rescue those who are in danger, todefend the weak, to protect the widow and the orphan, to attend thesick, and to give sepulture to the dead. These and other similarprescriptions, which make of charity a duty, carry with them the greatlesson, that justice must go always hand-in-hand with mercy, since theall-just God is also all-merciful, and he who satisfies not both alike, does not fully discharge his duties to society. 

LXXXVIII. The Mosaic dispensation, which considers the whole world as agrand unit, and tends to carry out the idea of moral good to its fullestextent, could not leave unnoticed the relations of man with beings ofdifferent species; therefore it also mentioned duties that we owe to theirrational creatures and inanimate beings. True, God granted to man asuperiority, a dominion over all things created on earth, permitting himthe use, and even the destruction, of them, whenever this is necessaryto his own welfare, or conducive to his own advantage; but He wiselyrestricted such power within certain limits. Mosaism regards the entireuniverse as a temple manifesting the glory of God, and directs us toadmire in the single component parts the profound counsels and infinitewisdom of Him who created and harmonized so many wonders. Thus we arecommanded, in the first place, to respect the laws of nature, asestablished by its Supreme Author from the creation, and not to docapriciously things that are in direct opposition to such laws. Fromthis principle spring the various prohibitions to couple sexuallydifferent species of animals, to practise on them castration, toconstrain simultaneously to joint labour beasts of unequal strength, tomuzzle them while thrashing, and to use towards them any kind ofcruelty. Nay, it is enjoined that they, also, should participate in thegeneral rest ordained for men on festivals. It is well for us to reflecthow incomplete are as yet the modern institutions for the prevention ofcruelty to animals, when compared with those of the ancient Mosaic code. Even the simultaneous sowing of heterogeneous species, and theingrafting of plants, are considered as violations of the law of nature, which had established the distinctions. In the second place, in orderthat man, while using all things for his benefit, might not imagine thathe is their absolute master, and should not forget the true Owner, whoconferred them upon him under various reservations, he was enjoined notto appropriate at the same time two things, one of which had been bornor produced from the other; but in the act of converting to his own usesome object or being, he should spare that which gave it birth, and notlay his hands upon both simultaneously. He is thus to learn to respectthe causes while enjoying the effects; and from the secondary causes hewill mentally ascend to the primitive one, which produced them all fromnought. This is the sense and intention of the prohibitions of taking ina covey the mother with the young, of slaughtering a quadruped togetherwith that which gave it birth, of cutting down a tree, were it even forthe necessity of a siege, while we are enjoying its fruit. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

LXXXIX. THE third class of duties comprises those which man has towardshimself; and here the fundamental rule, from which they all emerge, sounds thus--"Sanctify thyself, for I, the Eternal, am holy, " which, inother words, may be rendered as follows--"Imitate God, for thou wastcreated in His image. " As, however, this sanctification of self cannotpossibly be effected without knowing and loving God, and without walkingin his ways by practising justice and charity, it follows that thisthird article is the cardinal point, which virtually comprehends initself the other two--it _is_ the ultimate object of all the revelation, which purposed nothing more or less than the perfection of man; to thisgrand end the whole scheme of revelation was designed. 

It is clear that, in regulating the precepts of sanctification, therevealed word had not alone to deal with the human soul, but to takeinto account the body also, without whose concurrence man cannot attainperfection. Designed for a receptacle of an immortal spirit, and for aninstrument to carry out the actions of life, the body must be preservedentire, pure, and inaccessible to all contamination that would be anobstacle to the high spiritual functions to be accomplished by itsmeans. To ensure this inaccessibility, as far as possible, the Divinelaw prescribed for all mankind a rule, which, though to the shortunderstanding of many its character may not appear very clear, wasdeemed by the eternal wisdom as calculated to promote morality. Previously to Abraham's vocation, God forbade Noah and his children tofeed upon blood; and the scriptural declaration, that the soul ofanimals resides in their blood, seems to indicate that the motive ofthat prohibition is to prevent the human body being brutalised byabsorbing within itself, and assimilating, a large amount of an inferiorvitality, and thus causing the material propensities to preponderate inman. But even if the true reason of that prohibition remained unknown tous, this would not be the only instance of man being obliged toacknowledge his own ignorance, and to bow reverently before an explicitand rigorous commandment of God. 

XC. The principles inculcated by the Mosaic code, for the preservationof the body, involve, primarily, the prohibition of attempting itsexistence, and, secondarily, that of cutting _off_ or injuring any partof it. Suicide is, therefore, explicitly declared a crime; and severalprecepts are directed against mutilations, marks, and all sorts ofdeformations. The law does not permit voluntary macerations of the body, capricious abstinences from lawful things, multiplied or prolongedfasts, or subtractions from what is necessary to life. It, on thecontrary, intends that bodily health should be cared for, thatcleanliness and decency, in every respect, be regarded, a properdevelopment of the physical faculties promoted, and an employmentprocured for them consonant with the superior requirements of man. It_is_ likewise due to the physiology of the human body, not to use any ofits limbs in a manner contradictory to its organisation, to provide forthe restoration of equilibrium or health eventually lost, to avoid risksof injuries or disorders, and to take advice of skilled men in cases ofdisease. But food, drink, recreation, physical enjoyment, and everyother indulgence usually allowed to the advantage of the body, arerequired by the law to be moderated by certain rules of a moralstandard, having in view more elevated ends than the mere gratificationof earthly wants; so that even the most vulgar acts may, from theintentions which accompany them, acquire a certain religious importance. In short, the government of the body must be such as to favour, and notto hinder, the exercise of what concerns spiritual life. 

XCI. Passing to other moral requirements which come within the sphere ofman's duties towards himself, it is unnecessary to demonstrate here howit is incumbent upon every man to choose a state in society adapted tohis individual faculties and aptitude, to be industrious, sober anddecorous, to fix on a well-regulated distribution of his time and work, to be economical without parsimony and liberal without prodigality, andgenerally to follow such rules of wisdom as tend to render lifeprosperous, and human conduct acceptable to society. All such rules areself-evident, and grow necessarily out of the general principle whichdemands of the functions of the body to subserve the attainment ofself-sanctification. But we must now speak precisely of thissanctification, to point out briefly in what it consists. From theDivine prescript, "Sanctify yourselves because I am holy, " we clearlyconclude that the type of sanctification is to be sought, not inourselves, but in God; therefore, to sanctify ourselves is to shape ourown acts and will upon the known will of God; to be fully penetratedwith the idea of Him; to hold steadfastly to Him; to take Him for aguide in the walks of life; to make Him the goal of our actions and thecentre of our hopes; to devote our solicitude to the accomplishment ofthe high designs of His eternal wisdom; to perform whatever is agreeableto Him; to imitate, as far as possible, His perfections; in short, so toact, that what in Him is absolute may become in us subjective; and thusthe sanctity of God will produce man's own sanctification. Havingestablished this sovereign principle, revelation has accomplished itsintentions, has attained its object, for the whole sum of the Divine lawis concentrated in it; and worship, morals, judicial laws, and allsingle observances prescribed, are but branches or constituent parts ofthis principle; they all flow from, and return to, it, with a systematicconsequence. 

XCII. Besides the three cardinal articles above stated, the observanceof which, in their general tendencies at least, is incumbent on allmankind, there are in the sacred code various special prescriptionsobligatory only on Israel, as him who first received the revelation, andwho is bound to preserve it with particular means, and to testify it forever, by his acts and by his very existence. Through such prescriptions, the law designed either to keep alive among the people the idea of thehigh mission entrusted to it, and the memory of signal favours whichProvidence prodigally conferred upon it in the early times of theinstitution, or to initiate it into a more scrupulous sanctitude, byinterdicting to it some things that are left permissive to others. It isnot necessary here to give a complete list of such precepts, as the mereinspection of the sacred text suffices to point them out; and we shallconfine ourselves to indicating some of the more important. Pre-eminentamong them stands the sabbath, the elevated tendency of which has beenalready explained in the Sinaitic revelation; next come the threeFestivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, which, besides beinglinked to, and combined with, rural events and circumstances, are alsodesigned to commemorate luminous epochs in the national history; thegreat day of atonement, as a highly important act of reconciliation withGod; the circumcision, as an ineffaceable mark of the adoption ofIsrael; the assiduous study of the Divine law, as the purest source oftruth, and repository of the religious idea; the fringes in thegarments, the phylacteries or frontlets, the inscriptions on thedoor-posts, and such like commemorative means; the redemption of thefirstborn children; and the offering of the first fruits, as ademonstration of filial dependance on, and gratitude to, the SupremeCause; the prohibition to feed on certain loathsome animals, andreptiles and insects, in order not to assimilate to the human bodysubstances of a low, imperfect, and possibly deteriorated organization;the interdiction of marriages between certain degrees of relationships, because wanting in the antagonism required in connubial unions;[5] theduty of offering up prayer, one of the noblest offices of piety, and themost effectual medium of communion with God; that of confessing sins, the inevitable consequence of human frailty; the injunctions to rejectidolatry, divinations, charms, exorcisms, sortileges, and all manner ofsuperstitions, all of which are obstacles to the development of thereligious idea; and several other precepts, which may be found dispersedthroughout the sacred code, all having similar tendencies, and comingmore or less directly within the scope we have assigned to them. 

[Note 5: Another probable reason of this prohibition is, that thepractice of such unions would be fraught with great domestic disordersand unhappiness, and consequent social evils. But it is opportune hereto remind the leader, that many attempts have been made, in the courseof centuries, by eminent expositors, to assign to many of the Mosaicordinances motives of various characters, rationalistic andmetaphysical, sanitary, political, and mystical, but all more or lessconjectural. To the religious man the positive knowledge of the truemotives is not at all essential for the performance of the divineprecepts; and in the words of our author himself, as stated elsewhere, "we have to bow reverently before an explicit and rigorous commandmentof God, and we consider it as calculated to contribute to the promotionof our own weal. "--THE TRANSLATOR. ]

CHAPTER XV. 

XCIII. CASTING now a retrospective glance on what we have hithertobriefly stated, it will be easy to deduce, from the aggregate of thesenotions, the principal characteristic of that wondrous institution, which it pleased the Divine mercy to found upon earth for the benefit ofthe human family, selecting for its organ the people of Israel; aninstitution, which, in reference to the means adopted for itspreservation and propagation, is called _Judaism_. The scope of Judaismis, then, the propagation among men of the _religious idea_, and thiscomprises the doctrines revealed respecting the Deity and respectingman, in consequence of which the latter will be able to attain his truegoal. Respecting God, revelation teaches that He is a Beingabsolute--that is to say, that has in Himself all the sources ofexistence, of will, of power, and of action--hence He is eternal, all-perfect, all-powerful, all-holy; He is unique, because there is noGod beside Him; and He is one, because in Him there can be nomultiplicity or division of parts; He created out of nought theuniverse, which He governs by pre-ordained physical laws, and all thatexists owes to Him its existence and conservation. Respecting man, revelation teaches that he has an immortal soul, made in the image ofGod--that is, endowed with various spiritual faculties similar, in theirnature, to those of his Maker--therefore susceptible of a progressiveperfection, which he will attain by sanctifying himself--that is, byimitating God and carrying out his commands. To that effect, God enteredinto an immediate relation with man, whereby He not only provides forthe preservation of mankind, as He does for that of all other thingscreated, but He, moreover, granted him a supernatural assistance toimprove his moral condition; and this assistance consists in having madehim the recipient of a revelation, by which He instructed him in thebest rules of life, and declared to him that He will be his support, hisprotector, his judge, his loving father, and his guide towards eternalfelicity. 

XCIV. But the religious idea is not simply a theory that may be acceptedor rejected without affecting the human actions, it is not anabstraction confined within the sphere of contemplation; it is apractical system, which requires to be put into execution, and to bemanifested in every part of the human conduct. As such, it was to passinto the hands of men, to direct their actions; and they could conformto it only to the extent of their intellectual comprehension of itsspirit. Now, every institution, however excellent in itself, is liableto vicissitudes, as soon as human ingenuity seeks to comprehend it, andhuman weakness to carry it into effect. Even as the intellectual powersand the modes of viewing things vary among men, so the religious idea, in its practical application, was subject, in the lapse of time, to somealteration among those who became its depositaries. Judaism did notremain always pure and consentaneous to its ends; and, although based ona foundation unchangeable in its nature, and eternal, its practice wassometimes at variance with its spirit, and its essence was eitherneglected or misunderstood, according to certain circumstances of thenational development, as we are informed, even by the records of sacredhistory. 

XCV. There can be no doubt but the inspired man, who first wascommissioned to proclaim the true religious idea, had fully realized inhis mind the vastness and immense consequences of that new institutionin its ultimate universal compass. In his eloquent addresses there areeven some broad traits which allude to a fulfilment reserved to thelatest posterity. Nevertheless, it is obvious, that, having to instructa people who were not yet prepared to realize such an idea, and in anage when the opinions of all mankind ran into totally differentdirections, he had to take into account the condition of the times andof men, and to use a language suited to his hearers. At the same time itwas not designed, or expected, by the holy legislator to see at oncerealized the last and comprehensive results to which the revealeddoctrine aspires; it was sufficient to have given it existence and form, and to have instituted a repository capably of preserving it, leavingits final universal triumph to the development of humanity and progressof civilisation. Considered in these points of view, Mosaism has theappearance, in its exterior garb, of a special law, adapted to peculiarcircumstances, and circumscribed to few persons, but in reality, andapart from that kind of integument, it contains the universal doctrines, destined to become the inheritance of all mankind. The blessed Prophetclearly foresaw that the new ideas preached by him would meet with manyan obstacle, before they were thoroughly adopted, even by those who werecalled upon to preserve them; hence the greater was the force with whichhe inculcated the monotheistic principle, and the necessity ofsegregation from foreign and idolatrous influences; thus his lawsacquired an aspect of _particularism_ and nationality, whereas on beingcarefully studied, and deeply penetrated, they exhibit their moregeneral and sublime tendency. Therefore, in judging of Mosaism, and ininterpreting the body of laws contained in the Pentateuch, we must neverlose sight of the two following necessary cautions; viz. , to deducegeneral theories from particular cases; and to take into account thecircumstances of time and place, in order to seize that which isdesigned for all times and all places. [6]

[Note 6: The attentive student of the Pentateuch must see, especially when assisted by the best commentators, that severalordinances are the creatures of circumstance and time, and consequentlyof an essentially transitory character. Among these stand foremost allsuch as refer to the treatment of, and relations with, the Canaaniticfamilies. The strict separation of Israel from those corrupt andidolatrous populations, and their ultimate destruction, were conditionsnecessary to the establishment and success of the new order of things. As soon as the end of those ordinances was accomplished, they naturallyceased to have any other than a historical value. Therefore, he (if anysuch there be) who would transfer to the Gentiles of our days theprinciples of the policy that was inculcated towards the Canaanites ofthe time of Moses, would not only he committing a sad mistake, butrunning counter to the spirit of Judaism, and violating the very letterof the law, elsewhere clearly expressed. "Thou shalt love the strangeras thyself, " is the motto which God inscribed for perpetuity on thebanner of Israel. --THE TRANSLATOR. ]

XCVI. What the inspired Arch-prophet had foretold came too truly topass, as soon as the people of Israel, mixing too freely with theircorrupt neighbours, wished to imitate them, and assumed the form of amonarchy. Ambition and lust of power could ill agree with a law, whichestablishes individual liberty and equality of rights. Consequently, itwas not long before Paganism ascended the throne, attended by a hideoustrain of profligacies and crimes; and, what then remained of the Mosaicinstitutions, consisted only of the material service of the temple, andsome exterior acts mechanically performed, but sadly lacking the idea, which alone constitutes their merit. To put an end to so great adisorder, Prophetism rose. With admirable zeal, energy, eloquence, andabnegation, thundering in the courts, the temple, and the publicmarkets; now by word of mouth, then by writings; now threatening, anonexhorting; always struggling with infinite obstacles, and setting atdefiance the tyranny of the ruling powers with the sole prestige of theanimated word, Prophetism undertook to revivify the religious idea, almost extinguished, or crushed under the weight of universalperversion. But to repress with greater force the overflowing depravity, and to combat the evil with an opposite extreme, it was proper to divestthe religious idea of its particularising and national forms, and topresent it in its more comprehensive and general character, in itscelestial beauty of a future reign of happiness, based on love, justice, liberty, and universal peace. This was precisely what Prophetism did. Therefore, he would be greatly mistaken, who would suppose, in theexpressions used by the Prophets, any intention of slight towards theceremonial laws, and those biblical prescriptions, which are speciallyintended for the chosen people. True, these are to be regarded as meanscalculated to a superior end; but they remain in full force and validityuntil that end (which is in store in the Eternal Mind) shall have beenfully and finally attained. The Prophets eliminated nothing from, andadded nothing to, the law; they sought to revive the religious idea, which is the foundation and aim of the law; they brought it intoprominence, to impress it more forcibly on the minds of a people who hadnearly lost it. But they did more; they bounded over the confines of thepresent, transferred themselves through the imagination to a futurefinal re-arrangement of the human conditions; and, giving to thereligious idea its greatest possible latitude, depicted a future stateof ideal perfection, which, while it offered a vivid contrast withcontemporary corruption, left to posterity an imperishable monument oftheir inspired eloquence and exquisite foresight. [7]

[Note 7: The original has here several succeeding paragraphs devotedto a historical review of various phases of Judaism, which it describesunder the names of Talmudism, Rabbinism, Caraism, and Cabalism. Believing this digression, or appendix, to be unnecessary to the generalpurposes of the present book, I have omitted it in the translation, _with the sanction of the distinguished Author himself. _--THETRANSLATOR. ]

CHAPTER XVI. 

XCVII. JUDAISM is now clearly delineated before us. From the outlinethat we have endeavoured to sketch, it is evident that the religion ofthe Jew imposes upon him solemn duties towards God, towards hisfellow-men, and towards himself. A sincere, pure, undivided, active, loving worship of his heavenly Father, and a constant practice ofjustice, benevolence, and charity, in their widest sense, will lead tohis self-sanctification, which is the aim intended for him. These arehis fundamental duties, as far as regards actions. Many of theobservances prescribed by Holy Writ teach the modes and means ofcarrying out such duties. All such prescriptions as are strictlyconnected with the existence of the temple, and the sojourn in Palestineare dispensed with, since the destruction of the former, and thedispersion of Israel on the face of the earth. But no doubts can existas to the others, which are all, and for ever, in full force, havingbeen ordained for all times and all places. 

But the Jew has also a creed to profess. According to the Scriptures, heis bound to believe in the unity, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, unerring justice, and infinite mercy of God; in His general providenceover all the universe, which He created and which He governs, and Hismore special providence over man; he is bound to believe in the divineorigin of the Mosaic revelation, in its truth and immutability, and inits efficacy to promote his own sanctification; he is bound to believein the spirituality and immortality of the human soul, in itsdestination and aptitude to perform all that is good, and in the futurereward of the virtuous and punishment of the wicked; and, lastly, he isbound to believe, that, in order to make known, preserve, and propagatethese dogmas, a covenant was established between God and Israel, inconsequence of which the latter is called _servant of God, son of God, holy people_, and has the particular mission to conform to the will ofGod, which is called _walking in the ways of the Eternal_. These variouspoints are, however, so intimately connected with each other, and formso complete a system, that one being admitted, the others follow aslegitimate consequences. 

It now remains for us only to add a few words concerning the hopes ofIsrael. The future--as great in its consequences as extraordinary in itsconditions--which the Jew has a right to expect, has its foundation inthe Divine promises, and, consequently, its accomplishment, though longin the womb of time, is infallible. By virtue of such promises, Israelexpects a complete material restoration and spiritual perfection, not ofhis own people only, but of all the human family; so that everyindividual of the human species may then correspond, in all respects, tothe lofty requirements of his nature, and attain the endspre-established for man by the infinite wisdom of the Creator; and thisnot only during his earthly life, but also beyond it, in his immortalcondition. As to the modes by which these heavenly universal promiseswill come into actuality, we must rest satisfied with very feeble andvague notions, and not require an exact comprehension of specialities, which, in our present limited power of mind, we might be unable even toconceive. It is sufficient for us to be able to deduce with certaintyfrom prophetic words, that (as regards the future condition of thislife) an increased intelligence, and a more energetic will directedtowards what is good--which in the biblical language is called_circumcision of the heart_--will be the means of diffusing throughoutthe world the knowledge of the One God, and the exercise of virtue, under the regimen of an incorruptible justice, a generous benevolence, auniversal peace, and an uninterrupted prosperity and happiness. ToIsrael, in particular, the gathering of his scattered members, therestoration of his ancestral inheritance, and the re-establishment ofhis nationality, have been promised and repeatedly assured; and theglory of that epoch forms the subject of the most glowing pictures ofinspired poetry. But the fulfilment of these promises the Jew mustexpect from the wonder-working hand of God alone, without any personalefforts of his own. Meanwhile, he is to consider himself, as he trulyis, a citizen of the country in which he dwells, a brother to hisfellow-citizens, a dutiful observer of the law of the land, and a loyalsubject of the sovereign, whose authority is constituted by God. 

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