  LXXXIX. the third 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—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, 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 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. 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; |
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