L.thebenefits which the Eternal Wisdom had determined to confer upon mankind through revelation, depended, however, on a condition without which, they could never have been realized. It was necessary that men, on their part, should be inclined to receive the bidding addressed to them, that they should direct their attention to the truths to be gradually promulgated to them for their own advantage; in short, that they should feel disposed to correspond to the Divine intentions. It was no part of the plan of the Divine wisdom that men should be in any way constrained, for that would have been depriving them of the precious gift of free will, and destroying their essence. But this very liberty, of action granted to man, rendered the realization of the Divine thought doubtful; and it might have happened that a generation, sinking itself into complete corruption, would have lost every trace of the truths already revealed; and thence a necessity would have arisen for one or more repetitions of the communication, with equal uncertainty of permanent success.
LI. To avoid such a danger, it pleased the Divine Mercy to found upon earth a permanent institution of an exceptional, wonderful, almost preternatural character, through which the preservation of the principal doctrines, that form the substance of revealed religion, could be insured to mankind. As seeds of rare and precious plants are preserved with care, that the species may not perish, so the Ruler of Providence designed to establish among us a repository wherein to keep the germs of all that which concerns man's spiritual life; and He so ordained that they should be there jealously guarded, and with particular diligence cultivated, in order to bring about their slow and gradual, but sure propagation among all the individuals of the human family. This provision is a most luminous proof of the unbounded love and mercy of the Divine Artificer towards the rational creature, to whom a powerful assistance is thus offered to attain his noble destination, without in the least impairing his liberty of action.
LII. Such a provision consists in God having chosen a small portion of mankind to be a medium for, and co-operator in, the grand work, and having entrusted to it the special important mission of perpetually preserving within its pale, the principal dogmas of revealed religion; of keeping always alive on earth the remembrance of that relation which was established from the beginning of creation between the Creator and the human family; and, in short, of contributing with all its might to the practical realization of the Divine idea. The chosen few had consequently to propose to themselves, as the goal of their career, the defence of the sacred deposit entrusted to them from all attacks that might be directed by malice, ignorance or superstition; they had to promote the propagation of the notions of monotheism; of the divine origin of man, and of the duties incumbent upon him to practice justice, charity, rectitude, and piety; they had to protest incessantly against polytheism, and against all and every idolatrous and superstitious creed, as adverse and injurious to the development of the principles of revealed religion; they had to confirm these theories by making themselves the exemplars of a religious life, and by bearing witness to them, when necessary, by their own martyrdom; they had thus to become the effectual instruments to the gradual diffusion throughout the world of those elements of truth, of virtue and happiness, calculated to bring forth the ultimate and universal perfection of mankind.
LIII. In order that the individuals charged with such a grand mission should be competent effectually to fulfil it, it was necessary that they should themselves have been always free from the pernicious influence of the errors and corruption, which had already spread almost throughout the world; it was necessary that their minds should have remained unpolluted by the notions of the extravagant and degrading idolatries, which were in practice among almost all the ancient nations; and that their hearts should have remained untouched by the contagion of universal depravity. The soil to which any seed, however good, is to be committed, would never respond to the expectations of the husbandman, if it were not cleared from weeds and thistles. Those individuals had, therefore, to be drawn aside from the general society of men; and from their infancy educated and prepared, so as to receive within their virgin souls the seeds that were afterwards to produce in them, and through them, the spiritual regeneration of all mankind. But here another difficulty presented itself; who would have undertaken the charge of watching over those individuals from their infancy, and keeping them in such an isolation, as to make them inaccessible to the general depravity? It was, then, necessary to begin by a single individual, whose descendants should receive from that stock the education capable of fitting them for their future mission.
LIV. The providential measure once decreed, of selecting an individual as guardian of the revealed truths, and making him the father of a posterity, whose duty was to preserve them and to make them fructify, it remained only to determine the selection of the person. And here it is obvious that not a capricious hazard, not an indulgent predilection, but only a strict justice and wise impartiality could determine the important choice. Whoever would have aspired to such a glory—and everybody could have aspired to it—by no other means could he have attained it than his own merits. Such a man must have, of his own accord and spontaneously, withdrawn himself from the general current of depravity; opposed, by his own impulse, the absurd ravings of his contemporaries; displayed a lively attachment to virtue, and a steady abhorrence of evil; cultivated, above all, justice, charity, and righteousness, in his every action; that man must have thrown off the subjection of the senses, and all cupidity of earthly things, and, almost assuming a second nature, have soared towards the eternal Source of truth, the Creator of the universe, offering as a sacrifice to Him his own dearest personal interests, and, if required, his life itself.
LV.sucha man did appear on the stage of the world. It was the patriarch Abraham. The rarest qualities of mind and heart concurred admirably to render him fit for the high mission. By the superiority of his intelligence, he arrived at the rejection of the captivating, but absurd, idolatrous opinions of his contemporaries, and at the recognition of a unique supreme Cause of all things, omnipotent, all-wise and holy, that governs all with impartial justice and infinite mercy. The nobility of his sentiments led him to labour and exert himself in the diffusion of these holy notions wherever he found himself; and he was most sedulous in drawing the attention of men to that which most concerned their spiritual life. An unparalleled cordiality towards not only his own friends, but all who approached him; a self-abnegation, carried to the point of refusing the best deserved remuneration; a humility ready to waive any right of his own in order to support that of others; a hospitality full, generous, unasked; a continual exercise of charity and justice, which had become in him a second nature; in fine, a submission of all himself and his dearest to the will of God,—such was the character of that celebrated luminary of antiquity, of that man truly divine, of that exemplar of sublime virtue.
LVI. Although so many pre-eminent merits indisputably assigned to him the distinction we have pointed out, yet the Divine wisdom decided to subject his constancy to various trials, with the view of making manifest to the world the excellence of that virtuous character, and the justice which dictated the choice. In the continual antagonism between the material and spiritual interests involved in the events of his agitated life, he had opportunities to display the noblest firmness in causing the latter to prevail. Involuntary peregrinations, conflicts with foreign potentates, domestic discords, dangers, hazards, hopes deferred, and promises well nigh forgotten, became to him so many occasions for the exercise of the highest virtues: and last, the holy resignation with which he prepared to immolate his beloved son, thinking thereby to respond to a Divine bidding, raised his glory to an unapproachable summit. If the other deeds of his edifying piety caused him to be appointed a herald of the true religion, this last heroic act brought down upon him the greatest blessing, in the shape of a promise, that even to his remotest posterity would be extended the mission of jealously preserving the revealed truths, and effectually cooperating in their propagation, so that through that posterity would beblessed all the families of the earth.
LVII. Abraham's vocation marks a luminous and highly interesting epoch in the history of humanity. It was the commencement of the execution of that plan of education of mankind, which, conceived since the beginning in the Increate Mind, came by means extraordinary, yet consistent with the natural course of earthly events, to diffuse itself gradually and to acquire a progressive force among the various ramifications of the human family. In that vocation we perceive the first threads of a wonderful tissue of events, as well in the physical as in the moral world, which went on preparing a slow but always progressive development of the human intelligence, and will go on to produce ultimately the full final accomplishment of the same primitive plan, so grandly conceived. In fact, in the very act of electing this patriarch, God revealed the ultimate object of the election by saying, that He chose him, in order that he might transmit to his latest posterity the obligation—which was to become characteristic of it—of exercising and promotingcharityandjustice,the two chief columns on which rests the edifice of human perfectibility, two conditions indispensable to the fulfilment of the Divine idea, and therefore calledways of the Eternal.
LVIII. Abraham and his race having been called upon to perpetuate the idea of the relation existing between God and man, it was obviously necessary that such a relation should be fixed and established in a more precise 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, which was to be promoted among others, was firmly seated, under permanent and concrete forms, in those who were called upon to propagate it. This permanency of the relation exhibited itself, then, to Abraham and his posterity under the form of acovenantbetween God and that family, whereby the contracting parties, as it were, promised and undertook to maintain certain conditions, upon which depended the subsistence of that relation. The mutual conditions established were, in substance, nothing else than the universal relations subsisting between God and every rational being, but expressed, with respect to Abraham's, family, in more special and characteristic terms, viz., under a form in which God promised Abraham that He would be particularlyhis God, his Protector, Guardian, and Benefactor; and the Abrahamites, on their part, bound themselves to recogniseHim aloneas the Deity, to whom adoration and loyal obedience were due. Thus the covenant, which had been formerly established in general terms with Noah, as the representative of all mankind, was afterwards confirmed in more specific terms to the Abrahamites, as those who were appointed to keep and to promote among mankind the fulfilment of the conditions of the said relation.
Considering the Abrahamitic covenant in this point of view, all objections of unreasonable exclusiveness and unjust predilection, which have been sometimes urged, must disappear. The God of Abraham is the God of the universe; and the descendants of Abraham propose to themselves nothing more than the attainment of that same happiness to which every mortal can aspire.
LIX. In order that the idea of the contracted covenant might remain firmly impressed on all Abraham's progeny, it was necessary to institute some external mark, which should continually recall it to the mind; for an idea being but an abstraction, it could not be very long retained in men's minds, without some symbol or visible sign capable of keeping its remembrance alive. It was also necessary that the adhesion of that progeny to the covenant should not begin to take effect in individuals in the adult age only, and as a result of one's own spontaneous reflexions, as had been the case with the first stock of that family, but that it should present itself as an accomplished fact, and, therefore, irrevocable and obligatory; so that every future offspring should bear from his birth an external indelible mark, characterising him as a follower of that principle, and qualifying him to enter into the pale of that association. By such means the preservation of the covenant was insured, and a beginning was made in the system of those external, symbolical, and commemorative acts, which were to be thereafter prescribed to all that race, when sufficiently increased to form an entire people distinct from others. This external mark, instituted before the birth of the elect progeny of the patriarch, is thecircumcision.
LX. Before Abraham's descendants attained that degree of maturity which would fit them to receive a revealed legislation, they had to pass through various stages of progressive material increment and intellectual development, and also to undergo several sad vicissitudes produced by the inevitable relations of contact with other nations. Throughout all this period, which we may call preparatory, the Divine Wisdom was pleased to take that race by the hand, guiding its first steps, and watching in an extraordinary manner over its destinies, so as gradually to prepare it for the high mission for which it was designed. We, therefore, perceive, during that epoch, a continual intervention of the Divinity in regulating the particular concerns of the patriarchs and their successors, and an incessant care to draw their attention to the future destiny of their grandchildren, and to their duty of preparing worthily for it. Such a care manifested itself, particularly, in various providential measures, the objects of which evidently were to remove from them everything that might exercise over them a sinister influence; to enlighten them on the importance of their election, and to make them acquainted beforehand with the severe trials in store for them for several centuries, before they could deservedly reap the intended benefits.
LXI. To this category of providential measures belongs the state of isolation and of precarious subsistence, in which, by the Divine will, the first fathers had to live, in respect to their neighbours, in that same land which was yet promised to them as a perpetual inheritance; whereby they were brought to learn from the beginning that the great work, which their children were called upon to accomplish, was not absolutely dependent on the possession of a land under their own sovereignty, but rather on the religious doctrines to which they were to remain faithfully attached. To it belongs, also, the severance or removal of the elder branch of the first two families, which was too much inclined to material interests, to teach thereby that physical superiority is not at all requisite to the preservation of a covenant based entirely on spirituality. And, lastly, to the same category of measures belongs the decreed long servitude of the Abrahamites in a strange land, in which, not only the door to social enjoyments would be shut against them, but a barbarous tyranny would also deprive them of the free exercise of acts which are an imprescriptible right of all mortals. Through the instrumentality of such an oppression, the profound counsels of the Eternal Wisdom designed so to regulate the first education of that growing people, that, refined in the crucible of adversity, it should early learn to renounce the subjection of the senses, and turn its heart and soul to God, from whom alone it could hope salvation. It was only by depriving that people of all human support, and of all extraneous influences on its culture, that it could acquire a character, firm, independent, tenacious in the principles adopted, adverse to foreign notions, faithful to its vocation, and that its mind could be deeply impressed with the sentiment of a constant adoration of the Supreme Being, as its only Deliverer, Legislator, Father, and Sovereign.
LXII.thedescendants of the patriarchs, grown into a numerous people, were, then, obliged to undergo the severe trial of a long servitude in Egypt, from which they could expect no rescue otherwise than by a recourse to the God of their fathers. If the privations of earthly enjoyments tended to strengthen their spirits and courage against adversity, and to direct their desires towards gratifications of a more elevated nature; if the repulsive conduct of their oppressors (by character hostile to all strangers, and by system constituted in different castes, each of which jealous of its own privileges) favoured in a great measure their isolation, and kept them from a pernicious contact and association, it was the prayer which they offered up from the bottom of their hearts to the Supreme Ruler of their destinies, whose covenant with their progenitors they remembered; it was that prayer that hastened the termination of so severe a discipline, and drew near the epoch of their glorification. A fit instrument only was wanted, through which the deliverance should be effected, an organ to communicate to the people the Divine laws, a medium for the new solemn covenant which was to be proclaimed between God and Israel. This elect from among all mortals—whose noble character, resplendent with all human virtues, was heightened by the true grandeur of an unexampled humility—was the holy legislator Moses, the divine man, the faithful expounder of the will of God, the first link of the glorious chain connecting the human family with its Maker. He was appointed to deliver miraculously the Israelitish mass from the yoke of Egypt, and to lead it to the skirts of a mountain, where the grand act of the revelation was to be accomplished.
LXIII. Before imparting that revelation, the Divine wisdom vouchsafed to declare to the people at large, in brief but clear words, the ultimate object intended to be attained by such an institution, and the principal condition conducive to its realisation. Therefore it was, that God began his communications by saying to Israel, through Moses, "I have brought you unto me" a concise and sublime sentence, which comprehends in itself the whole system of revealed religion, for the recognition of the intimate relation which brings the rational creature near to its Creator, is the true goal of man's destination. He added that, to facilitate the attainment of that object, He had adopted the means of electing a small portion of mankind to be His missionaries ("although" said He, "all the earth is mine"); that He wished, therefore, to form of thema sacerdotal kingdom, that is, a class of persons, who, as priests of God, should watch over, conserve, and promote spiritual interests upon the earth; and that in consequence of the gravity of such a task, He required of them that they should become aholy people, that is, a people peculiarly devoted to self-sanctification—which substantially consists in imitating, in as far as human nature permits, the Divine perfections, or virtues.
LXIV. The awfully solemn act which succeeded this preliminary manifestation is the most portentous event to be found in the annals of the world. Two millions of persons, ranged around the skirts of a mountain, witness a majestic supernatural vision; and amid thunder and lightning, dense vapour and blazing fire, the whole ground trembling and the mountain echoing, a sonorous voice from heaven descends on the terrified ears of the people, and carries distinctly and unmistakeably to humanity the high message of God. By the pomp and circumstance which attended the glorious scene of the first revelation, God was pleased to afford an incontestable evidence of the truth and divinity, not only of the doctrines which were then and there being revealed, but of those, also, that were to follow; the unimpeachable testimony of the senses of a vast multitude, brought to bear upon the first and fundamental communication, was capable of producing so full and lasting a conviction in the minds of the numerous hearers, as to remove for the future all doubt as to the divine origin of revelation. Through an immediate sensible perception—which by its nature carries the most irrefragable certainty—Israel, then, received from God Himself the first dictates of a religion, of which that people was to become the professor, conservator, and propagator, in perpetuity; and equally convinced of the true mission of its leader, Moses, it naturally accepted from the latter all subsequent instructions, as laws emanating from the same divine source.
LXV. The word of God pronounced in that memorable instant, and known since under the name of Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, could not, however, embrace the whole sum of religious truths that were intended to be revealed, because it would have been humanly impossible to the people to persist in that extraordinary state of intimate spiritual or prophetic 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; it marks the outlines of the foundation upon which the edifice of revealed religion was afterwards to be raised. Yet, although the promulgation of the entire divine code was a work reserved for the blessed legislator Moses, the Ten Commandments present, nevertheless, a compendious but complete system of institutions, referring to all those social and religious subjects, which most interest mankind. In fact, the three relations of man towards his Creator, his fellow-man, and himself, are traced in the Decalogue in a masterly manner, classified according to their order, and elucidated by placing prominently forward one culminating point, which serves to determine their true character. Such is the wise economy of all revealed laws, that generally avoiding abstractions, they select as a standard one special case of the most interesting, and leave it to thy care of the human understanding to generalize, and deduce from it universal theories.[2]Consequently, on analysing the ten emanations of the Divine Will, we must transfer mentally each of them to the class of duties to which it belongs, and consider it as intended to represent all that class.
LXVI.thefirst commandment, which regards the relations of man with God, lays down that the acknowledgment of the Supreme Being is the basis of all the revelation, and gives us to understand that such a conviction then began historically to manifest itself on earth, taking root first in the people of Israel, whom therefore the Deity addresses, saying, "I am the Eternal,thyGod," signifying, "bytheealone acknowledged hitherto." It also establishes the immutable eternity of the absolute Being, conveyed in the etymology of the ineffable Name; next, his indivisible unity, indicated in the wordEl, which denotes the sum of all the powers, and the aggregation of all the attributes, in one and the same essence. The same text proceeds then to arouse the feelings of gratitude, which must bind especially this people to the powerful hand that had delivered it from ignominious servitude: and this involves the obligation in the same people of devoting itself entirely to God, and subordinating all its tendencies to religious feeling. The last two words of this text allude to one of the great principles on which revealed religion rests, the Eternal having thereby proclaimed, not only the individual equality of all the Israelites before the law, but also the personal liberty of all men, which principle, being regulated according to the true idea of right, becomes the fundamental basis of civil society.
LXVII. The worship of the only God, coupled with the absolute rejection of every form of idolatrous and superstitious creed, forms the subject of the second commandment, which completes the portion of the Decalogue regarding the relations of man towards the Creator. It severely prohibits every kind of idolatry, both that which substitutes for the true God false and imaginary beings, or even beings real but contingent and created, and that which would associate in His worship a veneration for others, under the title of mediators or protectors; it then interdicts the making of any image whatsoever, when intended to represent the infinite and incorporeal Being, and bids us neither to pay to any such simulacra a religious respect or veneration, which is due to the true God alone, nor to practise such conventional acts, as, however insignificant in themselves, are yet held by idolaters as modes of worship. Lastly, this commandment conveys the obligation to dissent from, and reject, every superstition and every error, requiring us to preserve pure and intemerate the adoration due to the Supreme Being, who, in this sense, is represented in this text as jealously watching over human actions, and a not indifferent spectator of good or evil; therefore a sure punisher of the guilty, and an eternal remunerator of him who faithfully adheres to His law.
LXVIII. As a transition from the duties towards God to those towards our fellow-men, the two succeeding precepts are opportunely placed, one of which concerns the act of invoking the Divinity between men, and the other the mode of elevating men towards the Divinity. In the multifarious contentions arising in social life, it sometimes occurs to have recourse to God, to convalidate an assertion, or to test a truth. Now, in the act of attestation called oath, the third commandment prohibits with the greatest rigour anything that might offend the sanctity of the ineffable name of God, which is invoked by the deponent in attestation of the truth of his words. Consequently the text declares, that if such a solemn invocation were made to confirm a thing, which is not wholly conformable to the intimate conviction and most scrupulous conscience of the swearer, the consequences would be a profanation of the name of God, and a scandalous immorality, to the detriment of society at large; for this could not subsist without an upright administration of justice; and the latter would be upset and trampled upon by perjury. In order to shew more prominently the gravity of this matter, and to protect society, an avenging God protests that He would never leave unpunished whomsoever should render himself guilty of the monstrous crime of perjury.
LXIX. From the moment when the work of creation was completed, the Divine wisdom ordained that an intimate relation should subsist between man and his Creator, and called that day holy and blessed on which so merciful an institution was inaugurated and began to come into operation. This relation, which, as we have already stated, forms the basis of revealed religion, tended to emancipate man from the sphere of materiality, and to render him conscious of his higher destination, and capable of accomplishing it. It was, therefore, natural that the people called upon to give the religious principle a durable consistency on earth, should keep a perpetual commemoration of that day which represented the bond subsisting between the Divinity and humanity; it was proper that the day should not only and simply be remembered, but that it should, also, have some feature exercising a predominating influence over material life, by making this subordinate to the spiritual requirements. The fourth word of the Decalogue prescribes, then, that the Israelite should for ever remember the holy day of sabbath, as a representative of religion, and should, during that day, abstain, and cause all his dependants to abstain, from all manual labour and earthly occupation, that might distract him from the contemplation of heavenly subjects, which should exclusively occupy his mind on that day.
LXX. Among all man's duties towards his fellow-men, those of children towards their parents are assuredly the highest in degree, because without them the bonds which hold society together would be destroyed. These duties form the subject of the fifth commandment. To define their character in a single trait, a profound wisdom has selected the wordhonour, thereby pointing to a respect which arises, not from fear and terror, but from gratitude, love and submission. Additional importance is given to this precept by the consideration, that the revealed religion could not have been preserved and made known to the latest posterity but by the instrumentality of an uninterrupted tradition from generation to generation; and the faith to be placed in such a tradition depended, to a great extent, on the respect in which parents would be held. The reward promised to him who observes this commandment, is in perfect and natural harmony with the observance itself; man's life will be 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, which form the sixth, seventh and eighth precepts of the Decalogue. To concentrate in one word all that is to be observed regarding these essential elements of a social state, the sacred text confines itself to proclaiming, in an absolute mode, theirinviolability, therefore adopting the negative or prohibitive form. It is desired to prevent and forbid every arbitrary act, and every unjust attempt, directed to deprive the legitimate possessor of, or to restrict and in any other way to 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 to consolidate the bonds of society, to pay homage to the eternal principles of justice, upon the practice of which God willed that the preservation and prosperity of mankind should depend.
LXXII. In order that our conduct towards our neighbours be strictly in accordance with justice, it is necessary, generally, that it should be based upon an honest and straightforward character of veracity, and that our outward demonstrations, in deeds and in words, should not be at variance with our inward convictions, respecting the merits or demerits of our fellow-men. Falsehood, detraction, calumny, and other similar vices, injurious to the peace and reputation of others, as well as simulated friendship, and hypocrisy, may all be comprehended within the denomination of perfidy; and as an extreme and most distinct manifestation of perfidiousness is to be found in false testimony, hence the ninth commandment is addressed to this vice, and forbids the witnessing against our fellow-men anything that is not entirely and strictly conformable to the truth. It is easy and natural for us to step from this special prohibition to the spirit which dictated it, and to conclude that the precept is generally directed to remove from society all perfidy and wrong, as contrary to truth and justice.
LXXIII. A certain involuntary or instinctive desire of that which is pleasing, is in human nature itself; but this vague and voluble feeling may, by deliberate reflection, convert itself into an act of free-will, and, eventually increasing in strength, become a vehement affection, an uncontrollable passion. Now, so long as that feeling does not pass into an act of appropriating the thing desired, human law cannot deal with it; but Divine law, which has for its object the internal perfection of man, steps in to regulate the movements of the heart, when they are accompanied by a deliberate will of possessing. Therefore, the tenth and last commandment of the Decalogue, which refers to man's duties towards himself, aims at the human will, and prescribes limits, within which the desires, tending to procure possession, should be confined, forbidding specially to covet that which belongs to others. It is not thereby intended to absolutely prevent the formation of a natural wish, but it is directed to confine it within just limits, that it may not expand and be transformed into a usurpation.
LXXIV.thesucceeding revelations, which were made to the blessed legislator Moses, and by him collected into a body of statutes and rules, known under the title of Pentateuch, bear the same relation to the Decalogue as that of a finished edifice to the first outline which traced its limits and compartments—they are the elaboration of it, they branch into the same triple classification of duties which we have remarked in it, and present its development and completion. What in the Decalogue appeared, as in nucleus, under the form of duties of man towards God, towards his fellow-man, and towards himself, is developed by those laws into detailed instructions, through which the people of Israel was to learn the knowledge of God, to practise justice and charity, and to effect its own sanctification; three cardinal points, corresponding to the three classes of duties above mentioned, which embrace the whole sum and substance of revealed religion. We shall not, therefore, proceed to enumerate here, one by one, those multifarious laws,—a great part of which, being contingent on the existence of the temple and the possession of Palestine, have now no practical application,—but we shall only treat of the three principles which form the bases of them all, viz., God, Justice, and Sanctification, leaving to the intelligence of those who sedulously investigate the single precepts, the easy task of tracing them to one or other of the said three categories.
LXXV. To the elucidation of these three principles we must, however, premise two observations. In the first place, it is to be remarked, on the one hand, that although the human intellect can by itself (provided it be not overruled by the sway of sensual appetites) recognise summarily the excellence of such principles, and give them unreservedly its sanction, yet its perceptions with respect to their specialities remain very imperfect, for several reasons: first, because it finds itself unable to rebut and conquer one by one all the objections which the infidel may bring forward; secondly, in consequence of the doubts which its own limited powers sometimes suggest, impairing its own sense of the truth; and lastly, because wanting the knowledge of many details and circumstances, about which it can form no judgment, the intellect cannot construct a complete rationalistic system of moral theology. Whereas, on the other hand, emanating as they do from the infinite wisdom and mercy of God, formulated in the shape of positive precepts, and corroborated by the portentous manner of their promulgation, those principles acquire an undisputed authority, remove every doubt, illumine the mind with unexpected sublime truths, satisfy the heart which finds them consentaneous with its own feelings, and are thus more apt to accomplish the objects towards which they are directed. And if there be among them some precept, of which we do not in our present time clearly perceive the true tendency, we accept it, nevertheless, with that filial confidence inspired by its divine origin; and, by analogy, we consider it as calculated to contribute to the promotion of our own weal.
LXXVI. In the second place, it is necessary to distinguish, in the aggregate of this revelation, the universal theories applicable to, and concerning all mankind, from the special prescriptions obligatory only on those to whom they were addressed. Generally, all the children of Adam are bound to know God, to practise justice, and to procure their own sanctification; such duties are inherent in human nature itself, they correspond exactly to the destination of man, and none can exempt himself from them, without rebelling against nature and the sovereign Author of it. Consequently, the doctrines contained in the revealed law, in regard to these three points, apply to all rational beings, and everybody is called upon to participate in, and profit by, them; they are the inheritance of all mankind. But it was obvious that those, who were in the first instance selected to receive those dogmas, and to become their jealous conservators and perpetual propagators, should have some 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 are several which Israel alone is bound to observe, and these consist partly of external acts to be performed, either at certain stated times, or at all times, partly of particular forms and rules to be followed, either in reference to one's self or to others, and to some external objects of animate or inanimate nature, and partly, in fine, they prescribe abstinence from certain things which to all others are left permissive. It will be easy to every attentive student to discern and point out the prescriptions of this class, as their very nature is sufficient to characterise them; we shall have, however, occasion to mention them, after we shall have endeavoured to place in a clear light the three principal articles of the revelation.
LXXVII.immenseefforts have been made by human reason to elevate itself to the conception of the Deity, to demonstrate His existence, and to deduce with solid arguments His principal attributes. Yet, even that quantum which human reason believes to have succeeded in establishing on this exalted subject, has always had to encounter in the fields of proud philosophy tenacious, or rather pertinacious, adversaries. Whereas revelation, extricating man from the labyrinth of transcendental abstrusities, presents him at once with a well constructed system of theological science, which he has only to receive within his bosom, to lead 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 and immutable, incorporeal, absolute (that is, not dependent upon causes without Himself), omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, all-perfect and therefore all-holy (that is, possessing all the attributes in the highest degree of perfection); one, because admitting not in Himself distinctions of multiplicity, and sole, because beside him there is no God; Creator of the universe from nought, therefore distinct from all things created (which we would call, if allowed the expression,extramundane); Creator of man in His image, having endowed him with intelligence, liberty, and an immortal soul; provident and immediate[3]to man, watching over his actions, punishing faults and rewarding merits, and pardoning him who truly repents of evil committed; He is a perpetual source of the purest love, hence a merciful father to all His creatures, unto whom He continually pours forth treasures of His kindness; He strengthens the weak, comforts the afflicted, enlightens the ignorant, protects the oppressed, and grants the prayer of those who trust in Him; He governs human events according to His will, now causing human enterprises to succeed, anon to fail; always directing them to the ends contemplated by His infinite wisdom, for He is the all-wise, just, and faithful, whose promises are infallibly accomplished, and whose word subsists to eternity. He sometimes suspends the order of nature, and works miracles, whenever He deems it suitable to His high designs. He established a covenant with the Abrahamitic race, and revealed to it His holy law, by this means to illuminate and bless all mankind.
LXXVIII. Although these notions do not complete the idea of the Divinity, much less can they claim to define His essence—for to the very limited faculties of the human mind this will always remain inconceivable—yet they are sufficient to afford such an instruction on divine subjects as to satisfy the wants of humanity. With the guidance of the elements offered, and by a conscientious meditation on those Divine attributes, man will be able to dispel the superstitious notions and the errors into which they have fallen, who have not consulted the Divine word on such a subject; he will be able to sketch in his own mind an idea, however incomplete, of the sublime object of his adoration, and thus preserve himself from much that is evil. Having been destined to live in society, and compelled to work in order to supply the multifarious wants of his body; always more or less struggling with the interests of his fellow men to secure a possession often disputed to him by malice, or violence; and evil example and ignorance and the sensual appetites being concurrently at work—man became naturally, in the course of time, too easy a prey to passions, vice and error; he was overpowered by materialism, and fell into sin. Therefore, the idea revealed to him of a holy God, who watches over his destinies, who punishes the guilty, rewards the virtuous, and pardons the penitent, is the best balsam that could be administered, the best truth that could be taught to him; it saves him from error, removes him from sin, invites him to direct his view to heaven, restores him within the Divine grace, and opens to him the prospect of an interminable beatitude.
LXXIX. Among those attributes, however, one becomes prominent, from its importance; it is that which establishes an immediate relation, or communion, as subsisting between the Creator and the rational creature; a fundamental point on which the whole religion hinges. The intimacy of such a relation manifested itself at the very beginning of the world by God having created manin His image, by which expression it is meant, that the Divine Maker bestowed some part of His perfections on the noblest creature on earth, endowing it with intelligence, free-will, and immortality; these high prerogatives conferred upon man, to a certain degree, a similitude with his Maker, and from this similitude was naturally to follow a closer relation of mutual love, than exists between God and the other created things. Such a relation assumed a more definite form when God took man under His special guardianship, whilst He left the government of inanimate nature to physical laws, unalterable and compulsory, which He had established in the first instant of creation. The stupendous connection was lastly completed, by God having communicated His will to men, and traced out to them the course they had to follow, in order to render themselves worthy of the great boon, and to attain the end destined for them. From all these circumstances it became evident that God isimmediateto man.
LXXX. As, in general, all the revelation, has for its object to benefit humanity, so, in particular, when the divine word is directed to impart to us the knowledge of God, it intends to teach us the duties we are called upon to fulfil towards the Author of our existence; duties which we could not well discharge if we were wanting in that knowledge. Now, the first of these duties is tolove God. Such a noble feeling, which, as we have already stated, derives its origin from a relation of similitude between him who loves and the object beloved, cannot be kindled in us by effect of a mere command, as the motions of the heart are not produced by authority. Therefore, while holy writ inculcates the love of God, it at the same time indicates to us the means whereby this sublime love will be promoted; and the means isto walk in the ways of the Eternal. To understand the connection between the means and the end, we must consider the different degrees of which love is susceptible, and motives by which it is actuated. He who loves God because of great favours received, is apt to feel a diminution of attachment, or even indifference, on being overtaken by misfortune. He who loves Him with a view to benefits in a future life, is also in danger of ceasing to love, if some doubts were to arise in his mind and to weaken his hopes. But when man loves God because he understands, and admires, and adores in Him the aggregate of all perfections, and feels within himself the flame of a desire to approach the Divine Majesty, then his love is an inextinguishable love, for he abnegates his own self, and centres his motives exclusively in the object beloved. This kind of love, however, presupposes a uniformity of tendencies, which causes the one who loves to esteem and to endeavour to appropriate the qualities admired by him; and in this precisely consists the resemblance, which produces the true love. Justice, faithfulness, righteousness, mercy, and many other Divine attributes, which in the biblical language are calledthe ways of the Eternal, cannot be fully and worthily appreciated, except by him who uses all his endeavours to adorn 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 His ways.
LXXXI. Another principal duty, issuing from the same revelation, is that which is commonly calledfear of God, an expression very frequent in the sacred text, but which requires to be explained. The Hebrew word used is susceptible of two different interpretations. It might apply to the fear of retribution, suggested by the reflection that an all-powerful God will not leave unpunished the transgressors of his commands; or the same word might signify the sense of reverence and unbounded veneration, with which the frail creature must feel almost overwhelmed when thinking of its exalted Creator, who knows all, sees all, and governs all. The former originates in the intellect, the latter in the heart. It is obvious that the fear of punishment is not a sufficient restraint to deter man, at all times, from sin; for in the ebullition of impetuous passions, the intellect becomes offuscated and impeded in the exercise of its functions, or frequently is itself pressed into the service of the predominating passion. Not so the awe and reverence inspired by the majesty of the Supreme King of the universe. It pervades all the heart, disposes it to feelings of submission and obedience, convinces it that man is at all times in the presence of his Maker, and thus prevents inordinate material appetites from bursting forth and rising forcibly to uncontrollable preponderance. Hence it is that the fear of God, taken in the latter sense, is a powerful prop which supports the religious edifice, is the most effectual and valuable lesson we derive from the revelation of the Divine attributes.
LXXXII. From these two principal duties, spring, as corollaries, others of no less importance, which come, also, within the sphere of the first cardinal point of biblical revelation, the knowledge of God. He, who truly loves and fears God, will surely feel the necessity of placing in Him exclusively all his trust, for he is convinced that there is no being in nature, besides God, that can offer an infallible support to human hopes. He will find in his heart an almost irrepressible impulse to praise the Divine perfections, to extol His glory, to offer sincere homage to the Sovereign of the universe, to worship and serve Him with purity of heart, to thank Him for favours received, to supplicate Him for help, to confess to Him sins committed, and to ask His pardon with contrite spirit. All these and other like acts of filial dependence and piety, find their expression in that elevated form of external worship calledprayer, which, whether exercised publicly in appropriate and consecrated temples, or recited in the solitude of the domestic closet,[4]whether strictly following an established formulary, or pouring out the impulsive feelings of the heart, is always an urgent want and an indispensable duty of every religious man. Lastly, the true love and fear of God imply the obligation of avoiding, in all that pertains to Divine worship, everything that might have the appearance of idolatry, of intrusion of intermediate powers, or of any superstition whatever; above all clearly emerges the duty of not abusing the holy name of God, either by uttering it on trivial occasions—which would tend to diminish the reverence due to Him—or by profaning it with an invocation to a false testimony, whereby the detestable crime of perjury would be consummated.
LXXXIII.ondetermining the duties of the individual towards his fellow-men, and towards all that surrounds him in nature, revelation did not think it proper to refer the motives to human intelligence, and to allow the bases of justice and benevolence to rest on human reason alone; but it said, "Do what is right and just and good in the eyes of the Eternal thy God; and refrain from all that is not such, because it pleases not thy God," whereby it wished to proclaim that the notions of just and unjust, of good and evil, of rights and duties, should be considered as emanating from, and prescribed by, the Divine wisdom, and therefore obligatory only because agreeable to the Divine will. In this also the revealed word purposed to come to the assistance of human frailty, and to render superfluous the abstrusities—as arbitrary as uncertain and controvertible—about which eminent philosophers tortured their brains, for many centuries, to fix, as they thought, the principles of the so-calledJurein its innumerable ramifications of natural 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 their specialities; whereas all right obtains a solid and effective sanction when its origin is referred to God, who comprehending in Himself the sum total of right, justice and moral good, and having communed with man to enjoin to him their exercise, willed that the carrying out of their dictates should be considered as an act of religion, of service rendered to Him, and that violating the one or failing in the other, should be alike regarded as an offence committed towards Him, which He will punish severely. God, then, is the source of right; He made man acquainted with it through His law, and committed to him its performance on earth after rules prescribed by His will.
LXXXIV. In promulgating the duties of man towards his fellow-men, the holy scripture assumed sometimes the negative form, to forbid all that which may cause injury to others; and sometimes the positive form, enjoining the practice to be followed towards all. To the first class belong the following prohibitions, viz., of nourishing hatred, rancour, revenge; of calumniating, or in any way whatever damaging the reputations of others; of assailing their honour or good fame; of restraining or obstructing others in the exercise of their rights, or in the 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; of offending decency and good manners; of causing scandal; of withholding wages or remuneration due; of keeping in pledge the clothing or implements of the poor; of using two weights and measures; of associating with the wicked; of breaking a pledge-word; of violating or assailing the conjugal happiness of others; of coveting anything that belongs to others; and other similar prohibitions recorded in the sacred code, which can be easily collected as pertaining to this class. Moreover, it will not be unreasonable to complete this list by the addition of a few more particular actions, which, though not specifically mentioned, must yet be understood to be forbidden; for, as it is a constant rule in biblical exegesis to deduce general theories from single laws which appear to refer to particular cases, so must, by analogy, be comprised in an enunciated forbidden action all others of a similar nature, character, and tendency, as being understood in the former.
LXXXV. The positive precepts concerning a man's conduct towards his fellow-men, are naturally enunciated in directions of a tendency precisely opposite to those expressed negatively; that is to say, it isenjoinedto practise the reverse of what has been forbidden. Now, to begin with the more general prescriptions; it is enjoined, in the first place, to love one's fellow-men as one's own-self, all mankind, without any exception, being comprised in this expression, as we meet again the same injunction with regard to thestranger, whom we are commanded to love as ourselves; and Scripture explained already what is to be understood by the wordstranger, when it said: "Thou also hast been a stranger in the land of Egypt"; from which it is evident that the love inculcated extends even to adversaries and enemies. It is next commanded to respect in every individual the dignity of man, created in the image of God, which establishes the inviolability of person, and the equality of all before the law, so that there should be no privileged caste, no hereditary preeminence; desiring, on the contrary, that "under the protection of the same law and same right should dwell the native and the foreigner." The personal liberty of every member of the human family is also proclaimed, as it is with that intention that the Decalogue has put prominently forward the circumstance of Israel having been delivered from servitude; and if, on the one hand, the condition of the times, which had rendered the use of slavery natural and universal, did not then admit of its sudden and immediate extirpation; on the other, Scripture designed to mitigate its acerbity by provident and humane laws, so as to make obvious the tendency to its future total, though gradual, extinction. To prevent pauperism, as well as to cure its evils, the rich were enjoined to lend money to those who needed it; and the law, starting from the presumption that the poor man would not, or at least should not, desire to borrow and incur a debt, unless being deprived of the necessaries of life, ordered that such a loan to the destitute brother be gratuitous, whilst in commercial transactions with foreign people it permitted the charge of some reasonable interest on loans of money, as an equivalent for the service rendered.
LXXXVI. The administration of justice being, according to the revealed principles, a divine office, was naturally to be confided to persons carefully selected for their intelligence, probity, incorruptibility, and superiority to every human regard; these are therefore invested with a judicial representation of the Divinity on earth, and are enjoined to proceed according to the rules of the strictest justice, without ever deferring either to the pitiable condition of the poor, or to the influence of the powerful. As a corollary to this system, every person is bound to appeal to these authorities in any emergency, and to refrain from taking the law into his own hands; even for the correction of the disorders of one's own child, the law requires a recourse to the constituted authority, not permitting the infliction of punishments of any kind, without the intervention of those appointed to administer justice. Passing to the other observances, which grow out of the grand duty to be just to all, we are strictly commanded to respect the property, the rights and the honour of others, to be solicitous of their welfare, as much as of our own, to act honestly, sincerely and faithfully on every occasion, to fulfil our promises, to facilitate to others the success to which they are justly entitled, and to pardon our enemies. From the multifarious and varied ties which bind the individual to family and society, issue the special duties of husband and wife, of fathers, of children, of relations, as well as the regard due to misfortune, respect to the aged, the virtuous, the learned, the magistrates, and the authorities of the state, attachment to the country, and obedience and loyalty to the sovereign, who, in the language of the Bible, is constituted by God to govern the destinies of the people committed to his or her care. All these duties, which branch off into many specialities, are either explicitly declared, or incontestably 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 our fellow-men must conform itself; we are bound to act on the principles of the most generous benevolence and charity. Those acts of a noble mind and a magnanimous heart, commonly called virtue, which are by moralists onlyrecommended, as meritorious works, are by the Divine lawenjoined, as obligatory, in the most absolute sense. Alms, for instance, are, in the Mosaic law, a duty of the rich, and a right of the needy. God is the owner of the land; He gave it to the diligent to cultivate, and through His blessing their labours prosper; He assigned to the poor His dues on the cultivated soil, and ordered that to them should be left the total produce of every seventh year, the tithes of some other years, and the gleanings of the fields and vineyards. It was not thereby intended to render charity legal and compulsory, depriving it of its noblest attribute, which is spontaneity, but to show more conspicuously the importance attached to it, having otherwise left free all acts of kindness and mercy, to which the law does not fix any measure. To this class also belong the precepts, which make it a duty to give timely assistance to him who is about to succumb to fatigue and labour, to supply with provisions the discharged servant, to restore before sunset the clothing taken in pawn, to obviate danger in building a house, to put no obstructions before the blind, to grant every kind of relief to whomsoever stands in need, without exacting, or even expecting, any remuneration, to rescue those who are in danger, to defend the weak, to protect the widow and the orphan, to attend the sick, and to give sepulture to the dead. These and other similar prescriptions, which make of charity a duty, carry with them the great lesson, that justice must go always hand-in-hand with mercy, since the all-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 a grand unit, and tends to carry out the idea of moral good to its fullest extent, could not leave unnoticed the relations of man with beings of different species; therefore it also mentioned duties that we owe to the irrational creatures and inanimate beings. True, God granted to man a superiority, a dominion over all things created on earth, permitting him the use, and even the destruction, of them, whenever this is necessary to his own welfare, or conducive to his own advantage; but He wisely restricted such power within certain limits. Mosaism regards the entire universe as a temple manifesting the glory of God, and directs us to admire in the single component parts the profound counsels and infinite wisdom of Him who created and harmonized so many wonders. Thus we are commanded, in the first place, to respect the laws of nature, as established by its Supreme Author from the creation, and not to do capriciously things that are in direct opposition to such laws. From this principle spring the various prohibitions to couple sexually different species of animals, to practise on them castration, to constrain simultaneously to joint labour beasts of unequal strength, to muzzle them while thrashing, and to use towards them any kind of cruelty. Nay, it is enjoined that they, also, should participate in the general rest ordained for men on festivals. It is well for us to reflect how incomplete are as yet the modern institutions for the prevention of cruelty to animals, when compared with those of the ancient Mosaic code. Even the simultaneous sowing of heterogeneous species, and the ingrafting of plants, are considered as violations of the law of nature, which had established the distinctions. In the second place, in order that man, while using all things for his benefit, might not imagine that he is their absolute master, and should not forget the true Owner, who conferred them upon him under various reservations, he was enjoined not to appropriate at the same time two things, one of which had been born or produced from the other; but in the act of converting to his own use some object or being, he should spare that which gave it birth, and not lay his hands upon both simultaneously. He is thus to learn to respect the causes while enjoying the effects; and from the secondary causes he will mentally ascend to the primitive one, which produced them all from nought. This is the sense and intention of the prohibitions of taking in a covey the mother with the young, of slaughtering a quadruped together with that which gave it birth, of cutting down a tree, were it even for the necessity of a siege, while we are enjoying its fruit.
LXXXIX.thethird class of duties comprises those which man has towards himself; and here the fundamental rule, from which they all emerge, sounds thus—"Sanctify thyself, for I, the Eternal, am holy," which, in other words, may be rendered as follows—"Imitate God, for thou wast created in His image." As, however, this sanctification of self cannot possibly be effected without knowing and loving God, and without walking in his ways by practising justice and charity, it follows that this third article is the cardinal point, which virtually comprehends in itself the other two—itisthe ultimate object of all the revelation, which purposed nothing more or less than the perfection of man; to this grand end the whole scheme of revelation was designed.
It is clear that, in regulating the precepts of sanctification, the revealed word had not alone to deal with the human soul, but to take into account the body also, without whose concurrence man cannot attain perfection. Designed for a receptacle of an immortal spirit, and for an instrument to carry out the actions of life, the body must be preserved entire, pure, and inaccessible to all contamination that would be an obstacle to the high spiritual functions to be accomplished by its means. To ensure this inaccessibility, as far as possible, the Divine law prescribed for all mankind a rule, which, though to the short understanding of many its character may not appear very clear, was deemed by the eternal wisdom as calculated to promote morality. Previously to Abraham's vocation, God forbade Noah and his children to feed upon blood; and the scriptural declaration, that the soul of animals resides in their blood, seems to indicate that the motive of that prohibition is to prevent the human body being brutalised by absorbing within itself, and assimilating, a large amount of an inferior vitality, and thus causing the material propensities to preponderate in man. But even if the true reason of that prohibition remained unknown to us, this would not be the only instance of man being obliged to acknowledge his own ignorance, and to bow reverently before an explicit and rigorous commandment of God.
XC. The principles inculcated by the Mosaic code, for the preservation of the body, involve, primarily, the prohibition of attempting its existence, and, secondarily, that of cuttingoffor injuring any part of it. Suicide is, therefore, explicitly declared a crime; and several precepts are directed against mutilations, marks, and all sorts of deformations. The law does not permit voluntary macerations of the body, capricious abstinences from lawful things, multiplied or prolonged fasts, or subtractions from what is necessary to life. It, on the contrary, intends that bodily health should be cared for, that cleanliness and decency, in every respect, be regarded, a proper development of the physical faculties promoted, and an employment procured for them consonant with the superior requirements of man. Itislikewise due to the physiology of the human body, not to use any of its limbs in a manner contradictory to its organisation, to provide for the restoration of equilibrium or health eventually lost, to avoid risks of injuries or disorders, and to take advice of skilled men in cases of disease. But food, drink, recreation, physical enjoyment, and every other indulgence usually allowed to the advantage of the body, are required by the law to be moderated by certain rules of a moral standard, having in view more elevated ends than the mere gratification of earthly wants; so that even the most vulgar acts may, from the intentions which accompany them, acquire a certain religious importance. In short, the government of the body must be such as to favour, and not to hinder, the exercise of what concerns spiritual life.
XCI. Passing to other moral requirements which come within the sphere of man's duties towards himself, it is unnecessary to demonstrate here how it is incumbent upon every man to choose a state in society adapted to his individual faculties and aptitude, to be industrious, sober and decorous, to fix on a well-regulated distribution of his time and work, to be economical without parsimony and liberal without prodigality, and generally to follow such rules of wisdom as tend to render life prosperous, and human conduct acceptable to society. All such rules are self-evident, and grow necessarily out of the general principle which demands of the functions of the body to subserve the attainment of self-sanctification. But we must now speak precisely of this sanctification, to point out briefly in what it consists. From the Divine prescript, "Sanctify yourselves because I am holy," we clearly conclude that the type of sanctification is to be sought, not in ourselves, but in God; therefore, to sanctify ourselves is to shape our own acts and will upon the known will of God; to be fully penetrated with the idea of Him; to hold steadfastly to Him; to take Him for a guide in the walks of life; to make Him the goal of our actions and the centre of our hopes; to devote our solicitude to the accomplishment of the high designs of His eternal wisdom; to perform whatever is agreeable to Him; to imitate, as far as possible, His perfections; in short, so to act, that what in Him is absolute may become in us subjective; and thus the sanctity of God will produce man's own sanctification. Having established this sovereign principle, revelation has accomplished its intentions, has attained its object, for the whole sum of the Divine law is concentrated in it; and worship, morals, judicial laws, and all single observances prescribed, are but branches or constituent parts of this principle; they all flow from, and return to, it, with a systematic consequence.
XCII. Besides the three cardinal articles above stated, the observance of which, in their general tendencies at least, is incumbent on all mankind, there are in the sacred code various special prescriptions obligatory only on Israel, as him who first received the revelation, and who is bound to preserve it with particular means, and to testify it for ever, by his acts and by his very existence. Through such prescriptions, the law designed either to keep alive among the people the idea of the high mission entrusted to it, and the memory of signal favours which Providence prodigally conferred upon it in the early times of the institution, or to initiate it into a more scrupulous sanctitude, by interdicting to it some things that are left permissive to others. It is not necessary here to give a complete list of such precepts, as the mere inspection of the sacred text suffices to point them out; and we shall confine ourselves to indicating some of the more important. Pre-eminent among them stands the sabbath, the elevated tendency of which has been already explained in the Sinaitic revelation; next come the three Festivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, which, besides being linked to, and combined with, rural events and circumstances, are also designed to commemorate luminous epochs in the national history; the great day of atonement, as a highly important act of reconciliation with God; the circumcision, as an ineffaceable mark of the adoption of Israel; the assiduous study of the Divine law, as the purest source of truth, and repository of the religious idea; the fringes in the garments, the phylacteries or frontlets, the inscriptions on the door-posts, and such like commemorative means; the redemption of the firstborn children; and the offering of the first fruits, as a demonstration of filial dependance on, and gratitude to, the Supreme Cause; the prohibition to feed on certain loathsome animals, and reptiles and insects, in order not to assimilate to the human body substances 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]the duty of offering up prayer, one of the noblest offices of piety, and the most effectual medium of communion with God; that of confessing sins, the inevitable consequence of human frailty; the injunctions to reject idolatry, divinations, charms, exorcisms, sortileges, and all manner of superstitions, all of which are obstacles to the development of the religious idea; and several other precepts, which may be found dispersed throughout the sacred code, all having similar tendencies, and coming more or less directly within the scope we have assigned to them.