LXII. THE descendants 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 them _a 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 a _holy 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.
[Note 2: The author has already informed us, that he confines
himself, in this book, to the enunciation of principles, and leaves to
teachers the task of demonstrating, developing, and applying them, in
course of instruction. Nevertheless, as this proposition recurs more
than once in these pages, and contains a very important principle, it is
perhaps desirable, for the general reader, to offer here an elucidation,
by the following examples of its application.
We are taught, "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray,
thou shalt surely bring it back to him again" (Exod. xxiii. 4). We are
to understand, that the lesson thereby conveyed, is not confined to the
particular case named, but that we are commanded to cast off
selfishness, and to extend our kindness and charity even to enemies,
actively exerting ourselves for the assistance and benefit of others,
whenever opportunities offer themselves in our every-day life.
Again, we are enjoined, "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a
stumbling-block before the blind" (Lev, xix. 14). We are clearly to
conclude therefrom, that any net of treachery, in itself already
detestable in the eyes of God, becomes doubly so when directed against
the unconscious and the helpless; and a very wide range of treacherous
actions would, therefore, come within the meaning of this prohibition.
The paramount importance of this hermeneutical rule will be any apology
for having dilated on a point, which must be already well known to
biblical students.--The TRANSLATOR.]