A Guide for the Religious Instruction of Jewish Youth Part 4

Lx.x.xIV. In promulgating the duties of man towards his fellow-men, the holy scripture a.s.sumed 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 cla.s.s belong the following prohibitions, viz., of nouris.h.i.+ng hatred, rancour, revenge; of calumniating, or in any way whatever damaging the reputations of others; of a.s.sailing 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 a.s.sociating with the wicked; of breaking a pledge-word; of violating or a.s.sailing 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 cla.s.s.

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 a.n.a.logy, be comprised in an enunciated forbidden action all others of a similar nature, character, and tendency, as being understood in the former.

Lx.x.xV. 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 is _enjoined_ to 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 the _stranger_, whom we are commanded to love as ourselves; and Scripture explained already what is to be understood by the word _stranger_, 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 G.o.d, 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 circ.u.mstance 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 dest.i.tute 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.

Lx.x.xVI. 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 const.i.tuted authority, not permitting the infliction of punishments of any kind, without the intervention of those appointed to administer justice. Pa.s.sing 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 ent.i.tled, 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 const.i.tuted by G.o.d 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 a.n.a.logies and sound hermeneutical deductions, from the various texts referring to such subjects.

Lx.x.xVII. 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 n.o.ble mind and a magnanimous heart, commonly called virtue, which are by moralists only _recommended_, as meritorious works, are by the Divine law _enjoined_, 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. G.o.d is the owner of the land; He gave it to the diligent to cultivate, and through His blessing their labours prosper; He a.s.signed 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 t.i.thes 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 n.o.blest 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 cla.s.s also belong the precepts, which make it a duty to give timely a.s.sistance to him who is about to succ.u.mb to fatigue and labour, to supply with provisions the discharged servant, to restore before sunset the clothing taken in p.a.w.n, 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 G.o.d is also all-merciful, and he who satisfies not both alike, does not fully discharge his duties to society.

Lx.x.xVIII. 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, G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 s.e.xually different species of animals, to practise on them castration, to constrain simultaneously to joint labour beasts of unequal strength, to muzzle them while thras.h.i.+ng, and to use towards them any kind of cruelty. Nay, it is enjoined that they, also, should partic.i.p.ate in the general rest ordained for men on festivals. It is well for us to reflect how incomplete are as yet the modern inst.i.tutions 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.

CHAPTER XIV.

Lx.x.xIX. THE third cla.s.s 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 G.o.d, for thou wast created in His image." As, however, this sanctification of self cannot possibly be effected without knowing and loving G.o.d, 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--it _is_ the 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, G.o.d 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 a.s.similating, 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 G.o.d.

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 cutting _off_ or 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. It _is_ likewise 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. Pa.s.sing to other moral requirements which come within the sphere of man's duties towards himself, it is unnecessary to demonstrate here how it is inc.u.mbent upon every man to choose a state in society adapted to his individual faculties and apt.i.tude, 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 G.o.d; therefore, to sanctify ourselves is to shape our own acts and will upon the known will of G.o.d; 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 sanct.i.ty of G.o.d 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 wors.h.i.+p, morals, judicial laws, and all single observances prescribed, are but branches or const.i.tuent 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 inc.u.mbent 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 inst.i.tution, or to initiate it into a more scrupulous sanct.i.tude, 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 Pa.s.sover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, which, besides being linked to, and combined with, rural events and circ.u.mstances, are also designed to commemorate luminous epochs in the national history; the great day of atonement, as a highly important act of reconciliation with G.o.d; the circ.u.mcision, as an ineffaceable mark of the adoption of Israel; the a.s.siduous 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 grat.i.tude to, the Supreme Cause; the prohibition to feed on certain loathsome animals, and reptiles and insects, in order not to a.s.similate to the human body substances of a low, imperfect, and possibly deteriorated organization; the interdiction of marriages between certain degrees of relations.h.i.+ps, because wanting in the antagonism required in connubial unions;[5] the duty of offering up prayer, one of the n.o.blest offices of piety, and the most effectual medium of communion with G.o.d; that of confessing sins, the inevitable consequence of human frailty; the injunctions to reject idolatry, divinations, charms, exorcisms, sortileges, and all manner of superst.i.tions, 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 a.s.signed to them.

[Note 5: Another probable reason of this prohibition is, that the practice of such unions would be fraught with great domestic disorders and unhappiness, and consequent social evils. But it is opportune here to remind the leader, that many attempts have been made, in the course of centuries, by eminent expositors, to a.s.sign to many of the Mosaic ordinances motives of various characters, rationalistic and metaphysical, sanitary, political, and mystical, but all more or less conjectural. To the religious man the positive knowledge of the true motives is not at all essential for the performance of the divine precepts; and in the words of our author himself, as stated elsewhere, "we have to bow reverently before an explicit and rigorous commandment of G.o.d, and we consider it as calculated to contribute to the promotion of our own weal."--THE TRANSLATOR.]

CHAPTER XV.

XCIII. CASTING now a retrospective glance on what we have hitherto briefly stated, it will be easy to deduce, from the aggregate of these notions, the princ.i.p.al characteristic of that wondrous inst.i.tution, which it pleased the Divine mercy to found upon earth for the benefit of the human family, selecting for its organ the people of Israel; an inst.i.tution, which, in reference to the means adopted for its preservation and propagation, is called _Judaism_. The scope of Judaism is, then, the propagation among men of the _religious idea_, and this comprises the doctrines revealed respecting the Deity and respecting man, in consequence of which the latter will be able to attain his true goal. Respecting G.o.d, revelation teaches that He is a Being absolute--that is to say, that has in Himself all the sources of existence, of will, of power, and of action--hence He is eternal, all-perfect, all-powerful, all-holy; He is unique, because there is no G.o.d beside Him; and He is one, because in Him there can be no multiplicity or division of parts; He created out of nought the universe, which He governs by pre-ordained physical laws, and all that exists owes to Him its existence and conservation. Respecting man, revelation teaches that he has an immortal soul, made in the image of G.o.d--that is, endowed with various spiritual faculties similar, in their nature, to those of his Maker--therefore susceptible of a progressive perfection, which he will attain by sanctifying himself--that is, by imitating G.o.d and carrying out his commands. To that effect, G.o.d entered into an immediate relation with man, whereby He not only provides for the preservation of mankind, as He does for that of all other things created, but He, moreover, granted him a supernatural a.s.sistance to improve his moral condition; and this a.s.sistance consists in having made him the recipient of a revelation, by which He instructed him in the best rules of life, and declared to him that He will be his support, his protector, his judge, his loving father, and his guide towards eternal felicity.

XCIV. But the religious idea is not simply a theory that may be accepted or rejected without affecting the human actions, it is not an abstraction confined within the sphere of contemplation; it is a practical system, which requires to be put into execution, and to be manifested in every part of the human conduct. As such, it was to pa.s.s into the hands of men, to direct their actions; and they could conform to it only to the extent of their intellectual comprehension of its spirit. Now, every inst.i.tution, however excellent in itself, is liable to vicissitudes, as soon as human ingenuity seeks to comprehend it, and human weakness to carry it into effect. Even as the intellectual powers and the modes of viewing things vary among men, so the religious idea, in its practical application, was subject, in the lapse of time, to some alteration among those who became its depositaries. Judaism did not remain always pure and consentaneous to its ends; and, although based on a foundation unchangeable in its nature, and eternal, its practice was sometimes at variance with its spirit, and its essence was either neglected or misunderstood, according to certain circ.u.mstances of the national development, as we are informed, even by the records of sacred history.

XCV. There can be no doubt but the inspired man, who first was commissioned to proclaim the true religious idea, had fully realized in his mind the vastness and immense consequences of that new inst.i.tution in its ultimate universal compa.s.s. In his eloquent addresses there are even some broad traits which allude to a fulfilment reserved to the latest posterity. Nevertheless, it is obvious, that, having to instruct a people who were not yet prepared to realize such an idea, and in an age when the opinions of all mankind ran into totally different directions, he had to take into account the condition of the times and of men, and to use a language suited to his hearers. At the same time it was not designed, or expected, by the holy legislator to see at once realized the last and comprehensive results to which the revealed doctrine aspires; it was sufficient to have given it existence and form, and to have inst.i.tuted a repository capably of preserving it, leaving its final universal triumph to the development of humanity and progress of civilisation. Considered in these points of view, Mosaism has the appearance, in its exterior garb, of a special law, adapted to peculiar circ.u.mstances, and circ.u.mscribed to few persons, but in reality, and apart from that kind of integument, it contains the universal doctrines, destined to become the inheritance of all mankind. The blessed Prophet clearly foresaw that the new ideas preached by him would meet with many an obstacle, before they were thoroughly adopted, even by those who were called upon to preserve them; hence the greater was the force with which he inculcated the monotheistic principle, and the necessity of segregation from foreign and idolatrous influences; thus his laws acquired an aspect of _particularism_ and nationality, whereas on being carefully studied, and deeply penetrated, they exhibit their more general and sublime tendency. Therefore, in judging of Mosaism, and in interpreting the body of laws contained in the Pentateuch, we must never lose sight of the two following necessary cautions; viz., to deduce general theories from particular cases; and to take into account the circ.u.mstances of time and place, in order to seize that which is designed for all times and all places.[6]

[Note 6: The attentive student of the Pentateuch must see, especially when a.s.sisted by the best commentators, that several ordinances are the creatures of circ.u.mstance and time, and consequently of an essentially transitory character. Among these stand foremost all such as refer to the treatment of, and relations with, the Canaanitic families. The strict separation of Israel from those corrupt and idolatrous populations, and their ultimate destruction, were conditions necessary to the establishment and success of the new order of things.

As soon as the end of those ordinances was accomplished, they naturally ceased to have any other than a historical value. Therefore, he (if any such there be) who would transfer to the Gentiles of our days the principles of the policy that was inculcated towards the Canaanites of the time of Moses, would not only he committing a sad mistake, but running counter to the spirit of Judaism, and violating the very letter of the law, elsewhere clearly expressed. "Thou shalt love the stranger as thyself," is the motto which G.o.d inscribed for perpetuity on the banner of Israel.--THE TRANSLATOR.]

XCVI. What the inspired Arch-prophet had foretold came too truly to pa.s.s, as soon as the people of Israel, mixing too freely with their corrupt neighbours, wished to imitate them, and a.s.sumed the form of a monarchy. Ambition and l.u.s.t of power could ill agree with a law, which establishes individual liberty and equality of rights. Consequently, it was not long before Paganism ascended the throne, attended by a hideous train of profligacies and crimes; and, what then remained of the Mosaic inst.i.tutions, consisted only of the material service of the temple, and some exterior acts mechanically performed, but sadly lacking the idea, which alone const.i.tutes their merit. To put an end to so great a disorder, Prophetism rose. With admirable zeal, energy, eloquence, and abnegation, thundering in the courts, the temple, and the public markets; now by word of mouth, then by writings; now threatening, anon exhorting; always struggling with infinite obstacles, and setting at defiance the tyranny of the ruling powers with the sole prestige of the animated word, Prophetism undertook to revivify the religious idea, almost extinguished, or crushed under the weight of universal perversion. But to repress with greater force the overflowing depravity, and to combat the evil with an opposite extreme, it was proper to divest the religious idea of its particularising and national forms, and to present it in its more comprehensive and general character, in its celestial 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 the expressions used by the Prophets, any intention of slight towards the ceremonial laws, and those biblical prescriptions, which are specially intended for the chosen people. True, these are to be regarded as means calculated to a superior end; but they remain in full force and validity until that end (which is in store in the Eternal Mind) shall have been fully and finally attained. The Prophets eliminated nothing from, and added nothing to, the law; they sought to revive the religious idea, which is the foundation and aim of the law; they brought it into prominence, to impress it more forcibly on the minds of a people who had nearly lost it. But they did more; they bounded over the confines of the present, transferred themselves through the imagination to a future final re-arrangement of the human conditions; and, giving to the religious idea its greatest possible lat.i.tude, depicted a future state of ideal perfection, which, while it offered a vivid contrast with contemporary corruption, left to posterity an imperishable monument of their inspired eloquence and exquisite foresight.[7]

[Note 7: The original has here several succeeding paragraphs devoted to a historical review of various phases of Judaism, which it describes under the names of Talmudism, Rabbinism, Caraism, and Cabalism.

Believing this digression, or appendix, to be unnecessary to the general purposes of the present book, I have omitted it in the translation, _with the sanction of the distinguished Author himself._--THE TRANSLATOR.]

CHAPTER XVI.

XCVII. JUDAISM is now clearly delineated before us. From the outline that we have endeavoured to sketch, it is evident that the religion of the Jew imposes upon him solemn duties towards G.o.d, towards his fellow-men, and towards himself. A sincere, pure, undivided, active, loving wors.h.i.+p of his heavenly Father, and a constant practice of justice, benevolence, and charity, in their widest sense, will lead to his self-sanctification, which is the aim intended for him. These are his fundamental duties, as far as regards actions. Many of the observances prescribed by Holy Writ teach the modes and means of carrying out such duties. All such prescriptions as are strictly connected with the existence of the temple, and the sojourn in Palestine are dispensed with, since the destruction of the former, and the dispersion of Israel on the face of the earth. But no doubts can exist as to the others, which are all, and for ever, in full force, having been ordained for all times and all places.

But the Jew has also a creed to profess. According to the Scriptures, he is bound to believe in the unity, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, unerring justice, and infinite mercy of G.o.d; in His general providence over all the universe, which He created and which He governs, and His more special providence over man; he is bound to believe in the divine origin of the Mosaic revelation, in its truth and immutability, and in its efficacy to promote his own sanctification; he is bound to believe in the spirituality and immortality of the human soul, in its destination and apt.i.tude to perform all that is good, and in the future reward of the virtuous and punishment of the wicked; and, lastly, he is bound to believe, that, in order to make known, preserve, and propagate these dogmas, a covenant was established between G.o.d and Israel, in consequence of which the latter is called _servant of G.o.d, son of G.o.d, holy people_, and has the particular mission to conform to the will of G.o.d, which is called _walking in the ways of the Eternal_. These various points are, however, so intimately connected with each other, and form so complete a system, that one being admitted, the others follow as legitimate consequences.

It now remains for us only to add a few words concerning the hopes of Israel. The future--as great in its consequences as extraordinary in its conditions--which the Jew has a right to expect, has its foundation in the Divine promises, and, consequently, its accomplishment, though long in the womb of time, is infallible. By virtue of such promises, Israel expects a complete material restoration and spiritual perfection, not of his own people only, but of all the human family; so that every individual of the human species may then correspond, in all respects, to the lofty requirements of his nature, and attain the ends pre-established for man by the infinite wisdom of the Creator; and this not only during his earthly life, but also beyond it, in his immortal condition. As to the modes by which these heavenly universal promises will come into actuality, we must rest satisfied with very feeble and vague notions, and not require an exact comprehension of specialities, which, in our present limited power of mind, we might be unable even to conceive. It is sufficient for us to be able to deduce with certainty from prophetic words, that (as regards the future condition of this life) an increased intelligence, and a more energetic will directed towards what is good--which in the biblical language is called _circ.u.mcision of the heart_--will be the means of diffusing throughout the world the knowledge of the One G.o.d, and the exercise of virtue, under the regimen of an incorruptible justice, a generous benevolence, a universal peace, and an uninterrupted prosperity and happiness. To Israel, in particular, the gathering of his scattered members, the restoration of his ancestral inheritance, and the re-establishment of his nationality, have been promised and repeatedly a.s.sured; and the glory of that epoch forms the subject of the most glowing pictures of inspired poetry. But the fulfilment of these promises the Jew must expect from the wonder-working hand of G.o.d alone, without any personal efforts of his own. Meanwhile, he is to consider himself, as he truly is, a citizen of the country in which he dwells, a brother to his fellow-citizens, a dutiful observer of the law of the land, and a loyal subject of the sovereign, whose authority is const.i.tuted by G.o.d.