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 principal characteristic of that wondrous institution,
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
institution, 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 God, 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
God 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
God--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 God and carrying out his commands. To that effect, God 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 assistance to
improve his moral condition; and this assistance 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 pass
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 institution, 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 circumstances 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 institution
in its ultimate universal compass. 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 instituted 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
circumstances, and circumscribed 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
circumstances 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 assisted by the best commentators, that several
ordinances are the creatures of circumstance 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 God inscribed for perpetuity on the
banner of Israel.--THE TRANSLATOR.]
XCVI. What the inspired Arch-prophet had foretold came too truly to
pass, as soon as the people of Israel, mixing too freely with their
corrupt neighbours, wished to imitate them, and assumed the form of a
monarchy. Ambition and lust 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
institutions, consisted only of the material service of the temple, and
some exterior acts mechanically performed, but sadly lacking the idea,
which alone constitutes 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 latitude, 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.]