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]

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]