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 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS GUIDE,
 
 Erratum. By mistake, the pages 51 to 128 have been erroneously 
 headed as Decalogue.
 
 aifo |UIigras 
 
 BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 
 UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, 
 
 ESPECIALLY INTENDED FOR 
 
 JEWISH SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES. 
 
 DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 BY 
 
 MORITZ DAVIDSOHN. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HOULSTON AND STONEMAN, 
 65, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1855.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 A. BENISCH, PRINTER, 7, BEVIS MARKS, ST. MARY AXE.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Letter to Lord John Russell . . . . vii 
 
 Preface . . . . . . . ix 
 
 Introduction The Nature and Object of Instruction . 1 
 
 The Decalogue, or the Ten Words . 15 
 
 The Fundamental Articles of the Mosaic Religion . 51 
 
 Festivals and Fasts . * . . . 80 
 
 Worship, its Nature and Tendency . , v . 100 
 
 Tradition The Mishna . . ' . 113 
 
 The Talmud . . 117 
 
 Duties towards God . . . , . 129 
 
 Ourselves . . . /, . 130 
 
 our Fellow Men . . " . .134 
 
 ,, Relatives Benefactors . . 146 
 
 Matrimonial Duties . . ' . ' . 148 
 
 Duties of Preceptors and Pupils . . . 151 
 
 Masters and Servants . . . 152 
 
 Ecclesiastics and Wardens . . .154 
 
 a Citizen to the State 157 
 
 2094068
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 Humility ... 167 
 
 Forbearance ... 168 
 
 Integrity and Uprightness . . . .170 
 
 Pride ..... 171 
 
 An S er . . . . 174 
 
 Vengeance . . . * 176 
 
 Conclusion .... 179
 
 TO THE 
 
 EIGHT HON. LOUD JOHN EUSSELL. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 When historians shall panegyrize your glorious life 
 they will not only refer to the valuable services which 
 you have rendered both to Queen and country in the 
 capacity of Minister of State, but they will also highly 
 praise your zealous exertions in promoting popular 
 education, your championship of Roman Catholic 
 emancipation, and in abolishing the Corporation Test 
 Act, and your advocacy of civil and religious liberty. 
 These ornaments will shine brightly upon coming ge- 
 nerations, which will always cherish your memory. 
 But I consider that my co-religionists particularly, not 
 only in this country but also in the greatest part of the 
 globe, will remember with gratitude that your Lord- 
 ship has always been the warm advocate of their eman- 
 cipation, and that by your indefatigable exertions, by 
 your generosity and influence, almost all the barriers
 
 VIII LETTER. 
 
 which in darker ages were erected by prejudice and 
 ignorance, have in your life-time been broken down 
 and razed to the ground ; and thus it may be hoped 
 that the sun of intelligence will soon be able to pene- 
 trate and enlighten also those few still prejudiced 
 nobles who yet cling to the last tottering barrier, 
 which will soon fall. Therefore my Jewish brethren, 
 in all generations, will remember your Lordship's name 
 with reverence and joy for your having paved the way 
 for their full emancipation. Having compiled a book 
 intended as a moral and religious guide, based on the 
 principle of universal brotherhood, I felt a natural 
 desire to offer the first fruits of my pen to you who 
 evince such noble sentiments, who live and move for 
 the welfare of your fellow men without regard to creed, 
 sect, station, or number. I therefore ventured to so- 
 licit your Lordship's permission for inscribing my work 
 with your noble and glorious name ; and for the high 
 honour kindly conferred on me by your Lordship's 
 gracious autographical consent I hereby express my 
 sincere thanks, which may serve as a reminding 
 monument to the readers of my book to show honour 
 to whom it is due. 
 
 Your Lordship's 
 
 Most humble Servant, 
 
 MORITZ DAVIDSOHN. 
 
 London, July, 1855.
 
 PKE.FACE. 
 
 IN introducing the following work to the notice of the 
 public, the Author begs to disclaim all pretension to 
 originality or novelty, either in thought or in expres- 
 sion. The truths which it contains are ancient, and 
 have formed the basis of instruction from time imme- 
 morial, and have been frequently expressed in ancient 
 and modern languages. The Author, therefore, only 
 compiled some fragments from the piety and wis- 
 dom of great and good men, without quoting the 
 authors who preceded him, and presents them in the 
 English language, hoping that they may prove useful in 
 the instruction of " children of a larger growth/' or in 
 confirming the faithof the adult. His objects in the 
 publication may be thus simply expressed : 
 
 1st. To furnish a book for schools, in which the fun-
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 damental truths of religion and morality would be ge- 
 nerally taught, reserving it for teachers, who are en- 
 trusted with the sacred mission of educating youth in 
 piety and religion, to explain and illustrate these truths 
 in detail. 
 
 2ndly. To enable those who have been deprived of 
 the advantages of early religious training in some 
 measure to repair the loss, and to become intimately 
 acquainted with the relations and duties of human life, 
 that the child and parent, the husband and wife, the 
 employer and the employed, may become fully ac- 
 quainted with their condition, privileges, and obliga- 
 tions in society. The author indulges the hope that 
 an attentive consideration of these truths may be pro- 
 ductive of domestic enjoyment, and of increased pros- 
 perity, peace, and harmony in the intercourse of human 
 life. 
 
 3rdly. That the general reader may be reminded of 
 his duties as a creature to the great Creator, as a ci- 
 tizen to the state, and as a member of the human 
 family to his fellow men. 
 
 4thly. To remove the injurious prejudice, arising 
 either from misunderstanding or design, that the
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 Jewish doctrines or laws are immoral or pernicious, 
 and, on the contrary, to show that there is nothing in 
 the religion of Jews that would tend to disqualify them 
 from the possession of equal civil rights and privileges 
 with their fellow men of another creed. The writer in- 
 dulges the hope that the study of this book may serve 
 to counteract this bias and dissipate error and free the 
 public mind from these erroneous impressions. 
 
 With these motives, he submits the work to the 
 attention of the public. Should its contents prove 
 useful and interesting, he will be fully rewarded for his 
 labours ; he neither affects to despise the shafts of 
 criticism, nor would he willingly provoke them; his 
 only pleasure will be derived from the consciousness 
 that he has sought to serve the interests of morality 
 and religion, 
 
 If any erring mind become thereby enlightened, any 
 transgressor reformed, any character elevated, his pur- 
 pose is accomplished, he will be happy to think and 
 feel that he has not lived in vain, the vicissitudes of 
 life will be borne by him more calmly, and future posi- 
 tions of trouble and danger will be illumined by the 
 hope that when he shall depart from the scenes of this
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 world, the consciousness of leaving behind him some 
 vestiges of moral influence will accompany him to the 
 regions of immortality. 
 
 It would be more than vanity were the Author to 
 imagine for a moment that he will satisfy the minds of 
 all readers, whose views are so various, or were he to 
 think that the reader will find in this work a complete 
 treatise of Jewish theology ; he has only furnished the 
 essential elements, which may serve to future labourers, 
 and the materials may be employed in constructing an 
 edifice in which inexperienced youth may find a refuge 
 from the storms of unbelief, irreligion, bigotry, and 
 hypocrisy. The author will be satisfied with having 
 carried a few stones to the foundation of the holy 
 edifice, or with having provided a drop of oil for the 
 sanctified lamp. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 London, July, A.M. 5615 1855.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE NATURE AND OBJECT OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 THE nature of man disposes him to seek enjoyment. 
 The instance of the prince and the beggar supply us 
 with illustrations of this truth. Man seeks to be always 
 happy ; and his ideas of happiness comprise bodily 
 health, sufficient clothing, a comfortable dwelling, free- 
 dom from anxiety and care, and the participation in 
 pleasure. 
 
 To acquire these materials of enjoyment, he studiously 
 avoids the sources of disease and sorrow, and labours 
 with industry and perseverance to acquire the wealth 
 which will render his future prospects bright and peace- 
 ful. But let us remember that death acquires dominion 
 
 B
 
 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 over the body only ; this becomes the subject of corrup- 
 tion, whilst the soul secure of immortality enters the 
 invisible world, in the expectation of reward or punish* 
 ment, for actions which are either good or bad. Every 
 reflecting man will therefore at once perceive that there 
 are spiritual wants, and that for these provision must be 
 made, real happiness being identified with spiritual 
 well-being. 
 
 The wants of the body are insignificant, compared 
 with those of the soul; the former extending rarely 
 beyond threescore years and ten, the latter throughout 
 eternity. To have, therefore, an inheritance beyond the 
 grave, a portion in the spiritual world, is to possess 
 happiness surpassing all imagination in the prospect, 
 and no estimate of its enjoyment is commensurate with 
 the vast and astounding reality. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 In the pursuit of spiritual good we must be guided 
 by the instructions of the wise and learned, and walk in 
 the paths of morality and virtue, cultivate the highest 
 order of benevolence which springs from the fear of God,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 and blend our love of him and that of man. The casual 
 observer may feel disposed to inquire, if all mankind 
 be supposed to be unanimous in their efforts to be happy 
 here and hereafter, how can we account for the fact, that 
 many perversely injure their faculties, and destroy their 
 prospects of happiness ? For instance, the drunkard 
 does not refrain from the pursuit of pleasure, and 
 though warned by sickness, and the gradual approaches 
 of death, he does not hesitate to destroy his prospects 
 of acquiring happiness hereafter ; the sick man obsti- 
 nately refuses to drink the draught which would restore 
 him to health ; and other illustrations of human folly 
 and obstinacy lead us to the conclusion, that the human 
 race does not adopt the means of carrying into effect 
 this ardent desire to insure happiness in both worlds. 
 A little reflection will, however, remove the difficulty of 
 these apparent contradictions. It may be admitted 
 that all men desire and seek happiness, while it is evi- 
 dent that few understand the only means by which it is 
 to be acquired. Men are governed by appearances 
 rather than by realities. Certain pursuits seem good ; 
 but on close inspection we discover their emptiness ; they 
 promise pleasure, but it is evanescent, and such pleasure 
 
 B 2
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is discovered to be the forerunner of pain. The virtuous 
 action may be apparently painful, and may summon us 
 to the exercise of self-denial, whilst its results may be 
 of the most pleasing character. The reflecting man will 
 not therefore be governed by appearances, but he will 
 pause and consider, whilst the thoughtless and the vain 
 man will rashly embrace the enjoyment of the fleeting 
 hour. 
 
 Wine is pleasant to the palate, and medicine bitter ; the 
 wise man will regulate his appetite, so as to avoid the 
 sin of drunkenness, and in the hour of sickness will em- 
 ploy the remedy, and be restored to health ; whilst the 
 wicked man will indulge his passions to excess, and be- 
 come like the beasts that perish. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 To distinguish accurately between the evil and the 
 good requires an amount of judgment and experience 
 which we rarely discover in mankind. To perceive not 
 only the action, but the consequences which flow from 
 its commission to detect the pleasure or the pain which 
 are the ulterior results these are attainments to which 
 the most enlightened of the human family aspire.
 
 INTRODUCTION O 
 
 Hence the evil is sometimes selected in preference to the 
 good from a wrong perception of things, from error in 
 judgment, or the predominance of imagination over 
 reason. The Scriptural phrase that " the imagination 
 of man's heart is evil from his youth," conveys the idea 
 that man is young, inexperienced, weak, subject to the 
 dominion of the passions, grasps at the shadow, and ne- 
 glects the substance, mistaking the evil for the good. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 As the traveller, when visiting unknown shores, seeks 
 the assistance of a guide, before he ventures to explore 
 the country, and associates with companions on his 
 journey until the road has become familiar to him ; so 
 the discerning youth will learn upon reflection to dis- 
 trust his own judgment, and to seek the assistance of 
 parents and teachers, that he may be conducted in the 
 paths of truth and righteousness. Thus will his tem- 
 poral and spiritual welfare be amply provided for, and 
 he will avoid those follies and vices which are offensive 
 to God, and dishonourable to man. For the soul to be 
 without knowledge is not good; happiness and knowledge 
 are twin-sisters, and both are the handmaids of devotion.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As no man can erect a house without materials, which 
 the builder arranges in their proper positions, so know- 
 ledge, which is the accumulation of ideas, affords the 
 means and motives to good actions, presents to view 
 the rewards of virtue and the punishment of vice. Hence 
 arose the saying of the Sages, that the ignorant cannot 
 be really virtuous. Every man, however separated from 
 others by his faith and religion, can acquire spiritual 
 good, strengthen the soul with knowledge, and thus walk 
 uprightly before God and man. So the Fathers teach 
 us, when they say : " The virtuous of all nations will 
 have a share in the future world." 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Upon the Israelite, however, a more imperative obli- 
 gation rests. To acquire knowledge, and practise virtue, 
 is not presented as an object of choice, but of solemn 
 obligation. He has a Law, given by Moses, promul- 
 gated on Sinai by the Almighty, accompanied with such 
 demonstrations of the presence of the Deity, that it 
 would prove the height of impiety to resist it. The 
 Law was not bestowed on Abraham, but on his descen- 
 dants, nor even on these till many generations after his
 
 INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 death. Then after stretching forth His hand to redeem his 
 people, after wonders and signs in Egypt, the Law is 
 given amidst the solitudes of the desert, and the thun- 
 derings and voices of celestial hosts in their adoration of 
 the Lawgiver. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 The brevity of the Law has been compensated for by 
 the instructions of the prophets, on whom devolved the 
 task of teaching it more fully. They taught on the Sab- 
 baths, festivals, and the first day of the months, what 
 the conduct of the Israelites should be, what they should 
 do, and what they should avoid, and when the spirit of 
 prophecy had ceased, men of learning and wisdom as- 
 sumed the task of unfolding the beauties and mysteries 
 of the Law. 
 
 It is recorded in Treaties Aboth, "that God commu- 
 nicated laws to Moses which were unwritten, that these 
 were traditions, faithfully preserved by Joshua and the 
 great Synod, and as they were too numerous to be con- 
 tained in the Holy Book, they were denominated the 
 oral Law, whilst the Scriptures were regarded as the 
 written Law ; the two productions constituting one
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 whole, each being an integral portion of the Mosaic 
 Law." 
 
 [Such is the view adopted by the majority of the Jews, 
 who consider themselves bound by the writings of the 
 Sages of the Mishna and the Talmud, But the Caraites, 
 and some of the Jews of the present day, known by the 
 name of the " Reformed Israelites," do not subscribe to 
 this doctrine. They profess a belief in the divinity of 
 the written Law only, and although they do not repu- 
 diate the practice of many of the customs enjoined on 
 the authority of the Talmud, and which are not found in 
 the Bible, they merely regard them as the recommen- 
 dations of men who were good and wise and zealous for 
 the promotion of Judaism, but who were not inspired.] 
 
 As the perfection of the Jewish nation depends upon 
 their due observance of the Law, I shall endeavour 
 therefore to show, firstly, that the conduct and character 
 are to be formed by obedience to the Law; and secondly 
 the doctrines to be received, and the morals to be ob- 
 served, on which the salvation of mankind depends.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 It is necessary that we should diverge from these 
 topics for a moment to contemplate the dignity of man. 
 
 Man is the noblest work of God, the richest exponent 
 of the wisdom and goodness of the great Creator ; the 
 structure of his body and the endowments of his spirit, 
 place him on the summit of animal creation. Whilst 
 various animals evince sagacity, in many instances ap- 
 parently almost to a level with human intelligence, there 
 is one pre-eminence by which man, even in his savage 
 and uncultivated state, is distinguished; namely, the 
 firm conviction implanted within his mind of the exis- 
 tence of a Supreme, though to him unseen, Being, holding 
 sovereign sway over his destinies, and entitled to his 
 exclusive homage. His powers of reason and of deter- 
 mination invest him with a dignity that is sublime; the 
 one aids him in distinguishing the evil from the good, 
 the other determines and fixes the line of conduct thus 
 prescribed. Reason affords him the power of con- 
 trolling, regulating, and wisely directing the passions of 
 his nature, forming the habits of prudence, temperance, 
 justice, and benevolence; and his freedom or security
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from interruption and from extraneous agency renders 
 every action an object of approbation or condemnation, 
 deserving either reward or punishment. The impor- 
 tance of possessing such powers will be immediately 
 seen. Without self control, inclinations would dege- 
 nerate into raging lusts, passion would embody itself in 
 action the most offensive and criminal, whilst self 
 restraint, and the freedom of the human will, confer the 
 blessings of self-approbation and a tranquil conscience ; 
 for conscience is but the sense of pleasure or of pain 
 with which our actions are contemplated. To impress 
 these truths more fully on the mind, we perceive that 
 the very condition of our nature instructs us in the hope 
 of gradual and progressive perfectibility. We are born 
 the most helpless and dependent of all creatures ; our 
 childhood is the longest in duration, our faculties the 
 most slowly developed, but our superiority over other 
 portions of the animal creation is the result of long- 
 continued observation and experience. 
 
 Nature thus demonstrates the importance of self im- 
 provement, of directing knowledge to the pursuit of 
 virtue, and of thus ultimately attaining to the enjoy- 
 ment of happiness in both worlds.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 Virtue is the highest exercise of the human faculties, 
 the perfection and beauty of the soul, the love of the 
 real and the true, and the rejection of the imaginary and 
 the false, the selection of the good and refusal of the 
 evil, in other words, it is the conformity of the mind and 
 the affections to the will of God. 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 Religion is the highest and most developed form of 
 virtue. The terms resemble lines drawn from the 
 circumference, each of which terminates in one common 
 centre. They are the source of life, and teach us to 
 escape the snares of destruction. 
 
 The design of religion is to acknowledge God as the 
 Creator of the Universe, to adore his wisdom, power, 
 and goodness, as evidenced in Creation and in the re- 
 velation of his will, and to obey his dictates, in the due 
 observance of the precepts of his Law. Religion renders 
 man happy; without its hopes, he is abandoned, and is 
 an inhabitant of a forsaken and fatherless world. It
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 purifies the heart and character, and claims our regard 
 as the highest boon that heaven can offer to an erring 
 race. 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 Fear : "As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
 pitieth them that fear him." 
 
 An earthly parent solicitous for the prosperity of his 
 children is an imperfect type of the tender mercies of 
 our heavenly Father, and though man cannot agree to 
 adopt one uniform mode of faith or worship, yet every 
 intelligent being acknowledges a Creator and a God. 
 and the virtuous and religious of all nations may without 
 presumption look forward to the prospect of happiness 
 hereafter. To fear a Being so great and good is an 
 emotion to be cherished with delight. It is a fear, be it 
 remembered, that is associated with no terror; it is the 
 reverence of an affectionate and grateful child, or the 
 awe which a creature feels towards a Creator, a subject 
 towards a gracious Sovereign, and a fervid desire to 
 avoid the displeasure of the greatest, the wisest, and best 
 of Beings.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 SECTION XL 
 
 A sacred duty rests on the Israelite of remaining 
 faithful to that religion which his ancestors accepted 
 for themselves and their posterity, and to this they 
 swore obedience and entered into a covenant with God. 
 To deviate then from the observances enjoined by 
 Moses would be to invoke the curse which the whole 
 nation uttered before the Eternal. As the descendants 
 of Abraham, and the heirs of promise, we must adhere 
 to the religion we profess, and allowed by every sect to 
 be the most ancient and the mother of them all, a 
 system of truth, expressive of the omnipotence and 
 omniscience of the great Creator, who alone laid the 
 foundations of the heavens and earth.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 SECTION I. . 
 
 THE DECALOGUE, OR THE TEN WORDS. 
 
 WE have previously remarked that the Lord redeemed 
 the children of Israel from Egypt, that after the re- 
 demption the day of glory dawned, and God revealed 
 himself to Israel. 
 
 For this event they appear to have been prepared, 
 and were anxiously waiting to hear the voice of the 
 Almighty. 
 
 The shrewdest philosophers had failed to discern the 
 will of the Almighty; their reasoning, however vast and 
 profound, was exceedingly obscure; they knew not God, 
 and could arrive at no results which would be attended 
 with advantage to mankind. These efforts, however,
 
 16 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 aid us in interpreting the meaning of the Divine will, 
 the commands and doctrines which abound in re- 
 velation. 
 
 The ten commandments are generally divided into 
 two separate classes, our duties to God, and our 
 duties to man; and as an illustration of this division 
 we may observe, that the name of God is not mentioned 
 in the second five, and that they were written on 
 a separate table of the covenant with the finger of 
 God. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 PROCLAMATION FROM MOUNT SINAI. 
 
 1st Command : " I am the Eternal God who have 
 brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and the 
 house of bondage." 
 
 This first command embraces the recognition of 
 Divine supremacy, the Eternal and Almighty One, the 
 Being who exists alone and underived, admitting none 
 to share his sovereignty or to usurp the homage due to 
 him the Lord, or Governor, who lives through all 
 time and space, pervades creation with his presence, and 
 \vhose immensity and eternal sway surpass our highest
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 17 
 
 thoughts. This Being reveals himself as one already 
 known, perceived by human intellect as the Creator of 
 all worlds, recognized by Israel as his Redeemer. 
 
 The absence of all attempts to prove the reality of 
 the Divine existence is the clearest evidence that the 
 truth had been already established, and was rendered 
 palpable. The injunction assumes additional interest, 
 therefore, from its association with the history of Israel. 
 God was their deliverer; he recalls it to their re- 
 membrance, and memory would supply abundant 
 instances of wisdom, goodness, and mercy so signi- 
 ficantly displayed. (See Sect, xii.) 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 2nd Command : " Thou shalt have no other gods 
 before me; thou shalt not make unto thee any 
 graven image ; or any likeness of any thing that is 
 in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is 
 in the water under the earth ; thou shalt not bow 
 down thyself to them nor serve them, for I the 
 Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the 
 
 c
 
 18 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 iniquities of the father upon the children, unto the 
 third and fourth generation of them that hate me, 
 and showing mercy unto thousands of them that 
 love me, and keep my commandments." 
 This commandment forbids idolatry, the indulgence 
 of any conception which would ascribe to the Deity any 
 form or shape. It admonishes us that God is infinite, 
 and, therefore, beyond imagination, and that to compare 
 his nature with that of any material object, is to dis- 
 honour and defile his name. It urges us to bend before 
 his throne with lowly reverence, to pray to him alone, to 
 pour out our hearts with gratitude for mercies which 
 we receive, and to expect deliverance in seasons of 
 distress from him alone. 
 
 Those who make to themselves images, and bow down 
 to and worship them, are taught that the Lord is jealous, 
 that he will not suffer so gross an outrage on his majesty 
 to escape with impunity, that reverence paid to idols 
 leads men to forget the Almighty, to violate his laws, 
 and ends in vice and misery, that ignorance and super- 
 stition flow from idolatry to corrupt he heart, darken 
 the intellect, and degrade the character. 
 
 In the common course of events, the effects of the
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 19 
 
 father's sin descend upon his offspring, diseases the 
 result of excess and vice become hereditary for ge- 
 nerations ; the prodigal leaves his children poor, the 
 miser by example entails the curse of avarice ; and 
 nothing more than this appears to be embodied in the 
 threatening, to show that the laws of nature and society 
 are in harmony with the dictates of revelation. The 
 virtuous man, however, who has descended from an im- 
 pious parent need entertain no apprehension, if he select 
 the good and renounce the evil ; his reward will be in- 
 creased by the courage and resolution which he has 
 displayed; and on the other hand the descendant of 
 pious parents is forbidden to indulge the hope that his 
 transgressions will escape the eye of justice or punish- 
 ment, which will fall with more relentless severity, as 
 due to unprovoked transgression. 
 
 The Prophet confirms this view when he declares : 
 " The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not 
 bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father 
 bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness, of the 
 righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the 
 wicked shall be upon him." Ezekiel xviii. 20. (See 
 Sect. xiii. xv.) 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 3rd Command : " Thou shalt not take (bear) the 
 name of the Lord in vain, for the Lord will not 
 hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." 
 
 This command does not exclude the solemnities of 
 swearing in courts of justice, where appeals to the holy 
 name of God may subserve the interests of truth and 
 justice, nor is it merely designed to rebuke and con- 
 demn false oaths taken for the purpose of extortion or 
 deceit ; for these the Law has made separate provisions. 
 It embraces a wider range, and warns us against levity 
 and thoughtlessness, impiety or pride, to use the name 
 of God with due solemnity and reverence, remembering 
 that God is great, and high, and holy, and the disparity 
 between a creature and a Creator is so great as to re- 
 quire awe and subjection and reverence for his name. 
 This commandment is also violated whenever we ad- 
 dress God in prayer, and the sentiments of our hearts 
 do not correspond with the prayer of our lips. (See 
 Sect, xvi.)
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 21 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 4th Command: "Remember the Sabbath day to 
 keep it holy. Six days thou mayest labour, and do 
 all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of 
 the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, 
 thou nor thy son, nor daughter, man nor maid ser- 
 vant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within 
 thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven 
 and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and 
 rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed 
 the seventh day, and hallowed it." 
 
 This command is simple and explicit ; it recognizes 
 the importance of commemorating by a solemn act the 
 creation of the world. Its observance was designed to 
 furnish a standing and imperishable monument of the 
 completion of Almighty skill in the formation of the 
 world. God rested, and, therefore, the obligation 
 is imposed on man that he should rest, and that by means 
 of the intellect bestowed on him he should contemplate 
 the manifestations of Divine wisdom, power, and beauty, 
 which are alike apparent in the stage of nature and re- 
 velation. (See Sect, xvii.)
 
 22 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 5th Command : " Honour thy father and thy mo- 
 ther, that thy days may be long upon the land 
 which the Eternal thy God giveth thee." 
 
 This command is justly ranked amongst the first 
 class, and as one of the duties which man owes his 
 Maker. The reason is obvious, and the inference is 
 clear, that he who regards not an earthly parent will be 
 disobedient to a Heavenly Father; the analogy is dis- 
 tinct, and resembles the relation of the shadow to the 
 substance, the emblem to the reality. He who in utter 
 disregard of the claims of nature can treat a parent with 
 levity or contempt, can neither honour or love his 
 Maker. The man who forgets the earthly parent, the 
 author of his being, will be unmindful of the Heavenly 
 Father ; and the duties which enjoin honour and re- 
 verence for the one, entail obligations the most im- 
 portant and impressive towards the other. 
 
 The duty urged by the commandment appeals to the 
 common sense of mankind for its enforcement ; it brings 
 to our recollection, as arguments to sustain the obli-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 23 
 
 gation, the tenderness and care with which the scenes 
 and wants of infancy and childhood have been watched. 
 We remember our helplessness and dependence, the 
 affection, so deep and full, of an anxious mother, the pro- 
 vision which anticipated every want, shielded us from 
 danger, fostered our growth, ministered to our enjoy- 
 ment, and surrounded us with all the appliances of love 
 and gentleness. When, therefore, the commandment 
 urges us to honour our father and mother it receives the 
 sanction of fond remembrances, the aid of rational and 
 just claims, which are coeval with our existence, and 
 the authority of God blends with the sympathies and 
 sense of justice implanted in our breast, which urge us 
 to honour and obey. The nature and object of the 
 commandment is equally intelligible; honour to our 
 earthly parents involves the act of ministering to their 
 support, the aid of sympathy, relief, and protection, to 
 shield them from the rigours of poverty, want, reproach, 
 and shame, to render the declining years of life pleasant, 
 and to smooth by kind offices their passage to the tomb. 
 (See Sect, xix.)
 
 24 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 6th Command : " Thou shalt not commit murder/' 
 
 Wanton destruction of animal life is reprehensible, 
 though it be only an insect which dies. The killing of 
 an animal can only be justified by the necessity which 
 man experiences to obtain food, or to prevent his own 
 destruction. The importance attached to human life 
 arises from the impress of our Maker's image ; it is the 
 destruction of a noble pile, reared by the hand and 
 adorned with the wisdom of the Almighty. This com- 
 mandment therefore impresses additional value on 
 human life, proscribes the infliction of injury to life or 
 limbs, enjoins on all the utmost regard to the integrity 
 and perfection of our bodily structure, and declares the 
 murderer to be guilty of the most heinous crime. 
 (See Sect, xxi.) 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 7th Command : "Thou shalt not commit adultery." 
 
 This offence strikes at the root of every social com- 
 pact and institution. Adultery severs the bond of union,
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 25 
 
 annuls the marriage contract, plants discord in the 
 household, and sows the elements of moral pestilence 
 amidst scenes of confusion and crime. God therefore 
 enacts the avoidance of the crime, lends his high 
 sanction to virtue, and warns the guilty that they shall 
 not escape unpunished. (See Sect, xxii.) 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 8th Command : " Thou shalt not steal." 
 
 This command is addressed to those covetous pro- 
 pensities which could lead us to disregard the rights of 
 others in the great community of man. It is rigid and 
 inflexible, and requires us to abstain from appropriating 
 to ourselves that which is not our own. It recognizes 
 property as the right of the possessor, as that which is 
 useful to his protection and support, and applies itself 
 to the sacred regard which should ever be maintained 
 for the fruits of industry and skill. It embraces the 
 smallest infraction; for he who contracts the habits 
 of peculation in trifles will find his mind become 
 hardened and impervious to the perception of greater 
 wrongs, will sink into fraud and dishonesty, usury and
 
 26 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 deceit, false weights and measures, and ultimately be 
 abandoned as the prey to the meanest and most con- 
 temptible vices. (See Sect, xxiii.) 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 9th Command : <f Thou shalt not bear false witness 
 against thy neighbour." 
 
 Falsehood without the sanctity of an oath has been in 
 every age the object of the abhorrence both of God and 
 man ; it threatens to sap the foundations of mutual con- 
 fidence, and to destroy the intercourse of man with man. 
 How much more revolting and offensive, then, must per- 
 jury appear, when we consider the peril in which oar 
 names or lives are placed ? The perjurer inverts and 
 destroys the whole character of evidence, causes the 
 punishment of the innocent, or the acquittal of the 
 guilty. Such abominations deserve the heaviest pe- 
 nalties, and the safety, interest, and existence of a com- 
 munity demand that he should be regarded as a felon 
 stained with the deepest guilt, and visited with the 
 direst punishment which human justice can inflict. 
 (See Sect, xxvii.)
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 27 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 10th Command : " Thou shalt not covet thy neigh- 
 bour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's 
 wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, 
 nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything else which 
 belongs to thy neighbour." 
 
 The desire of acquisition is lawful, and becomes the 
 source of wealth. The commandment is not therefore 
 directed against this desire, but against its irregular 
 and exorbitant excess ; when this desire renders us in- 
 sensible to the claims of justice, to the rights of pro- 
 perty in others, or leads us to violence or fraud, it then 
 becomes an evil and a crime. 
 
 A transient wish for the possessions of another, which 
 passes away and is forgotten with the moment which 
 gave it birth, is not the object of condemnation, and 
 cannot be characterized as covetous, but the desire 
 which is fanned and fostered, developed and nursed, 
 which grows into tlie habit of covetous and inordinate 
 ambition, against this the ordinance of the Almighty is 
 imperative. We may admire the beauty of our neigh-
 
 28 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 hour's dwelling, the luxuriance of his grounds, the pro- 
 duce of his fields, his domestic enjoyments, his retinue 
 and state ; a momentary impulse may induce us to wish 
 that these were ours, yet this state of feeling differs 
 materially from the long-continued indulgence of a desire, 
 from excess of unlawful passion, from a series of intrigues 
 or acts of violence, which might lead us to their 
 possession ; the former may be the offspring of folly, 
 the latter is the recklessness of crime. 
 
 Against covetousness, and avarice, and unlawful am- 
 bition, the sentence of the Eternal God has been di- 
 rected, and woe unto that man who contendeth against 
 his Maker. The potsherds may strive against the pots- 
 herds of the earth, but a controversy with God must be 
 succeeded by overwhelming confusion and disgrace. 
 The testimony of revelation is aided by the voice of 
 reason ; both admonish us of the danger of inordinate 
 desire. Man is not to be considered as the slave or 
 sport of passion, but as its master, appointed to control 
 and guide its movements, curb its violence, and restrain 
 its excess. (See Sect, xxv.)
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 THE sublimity and beauty of the Ten Command- 
 ments, and their important bearings on the welfare 
 of the community, deserve a more elaborate in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 As the source of moral duty and obligation the root 
 of every social virtue they possess peculiar interest to a 
 reflective mind. As a stream which, though small in its 
 source, expands in its increase, till it becomes a mighty 
 and majestic river, fertilizing every land through which 
 it passes, so the commands of the Almighty in their re- 
 lations to peace and purity, the social virtues, and 
 even national grandeur, become the topics of profound 
 inquiry and grateful recollections. They are empha-
 
 30 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 tically a light unto our feet; the paths of virtue by their 
 aid become illumined, and the paths of misery and vice 
 become obnoxious and objects of disgust. Their moral 
 value is inestimable in the amount, and demands the 
 universal homage of the human race. But, to notice them 
 each in particular, we remark that the first command- 
 ment recognizes the deliverance of the nation from the 
 Egyptian bondage, the reason for which is obvious. It 
 was no ordinary event, but one so striking, recent, and 
 impressive, that the motive to gratitude for the re- 
 demption of Israel must have been most intense. What 
 was involved in their remembrances of slavery ? Hard 
 labour, stern oppression, execution, weariness, death, 
 the disruption of every social tie. They were wanderers 
 in a strange land, with no eye to pity them, and no arm 
 to redress their wrongs. From this condition they are 
 released, brought under the guidance of Moses to the 
 wilderness, fed miraculously from heaven, and the 
 transition must have been so wondrous, the happiness so 
 great, that no motive to obedience could have possessed 
 such power as the following words : 
 
 " I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of 
 the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 31 
 
 This may also be regarded as implying that the 
 descendants of Abraham were bound to observe the 
 law of the Almighty ; that the Gentile world was 
 not included in the obligation, the same reason being 
 assigned for the first as for the fourth commandment, 
 " And thou must remember that thou wast a slave in 
 the land of Egypt." From these considerations, then, 
 it becomes obvious, that no efforts should be made to 
 induce others to accept our faith, to proselytize the people 
 among whom it may be our lot to dwell. It is equally 
 clear that we should not despise others because they 
 do not live according to our usages or laws, which were 
 not designed for them. Other nations are only bound 
 to observe the moral laws or the voice of conscience ; 
 as the precepts enjoined on the children of Noah : 
 1 st, to abstain from idolatry ; 2nd, from blasphemy ; 3rd, 
 from killing or wounding our fellow men ; 4th, from theft 
 and fraud; 5th, to exercise justice ; 6th, not to commit 
 adultery or incest ; and, 7th, not to eat the flesh of an 
 animal until life be e,xtinct ; but the Law which Moses 
 commanded us is the inheritance of the congregation of 
 Jacob. (Deut. xxxiii. 4.)
 
 32 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 From the second command we learn, that we should 
 place our trust in the Eternal God and in no other 
 being ; that we should not attempt to represent the 
 Most High by any corporeal form, or clothe him in our 
 conception with attributes of earthly power ; that as a 
 spirit pure and incorporeal no symbol can depict, no 
 emblem show his purity or beauty ; that these attempts 
 to liken the Most High and Holy One to earthly form or 
 figure diminish his lustre, and are productive of mental 
 darkness and disorder. 
 
 The command enjoins also the renunciation of gross 
 and revolting superstition. "Thou must be perfect 
 with the Eternal thy God." (Deut. xviii. 13.) God 
 desires the happiness of man, and to promote this, he 
 claims exclusive homage and confidence. Nothing 
 tends so effectually to destroy the happiness of man as 
 superstition and idolatry. False conceptions of the 
 Divine nature lay the foundation of every social and 
 moral evil ; idolatry corrupts the heart, blinds the 
 understanding, perverts the moral powers, and leaves 
 our nature a prey to every species of extravagance and 
 folly.
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 33 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 The ' pages of history teem with the evidences of 
 abominations the most foul, vice unmasked and in its 
 hideous array, the relations of human life neglected and 
 forsaken, the garb of decency removed, and every habit 
 which could refine and exalt our nature trampled upon 
 and renounced. Such are the fruits of idolatry, such the 
 lessons taught by superstition ; from these we turn away 
 with unmitigated aversion and abhorrence to the pure 
 and holy precepts of Revelation. 
 
 Against these practices we are especially warned : 
 " Thou shalt not learn to imitate the abominable customs 
 of these nations ; no one shall be found amongst you 
 who causeth his son or daughter to go through the fire, 
 nor any one who is a fortune-teller, observer of clouds, 
 an augur, conjurer of snakes, or a wizard ; for whoever 
 does any of these is an abomination to the Eternal." 
 (Deut. xviii. 9.)
 
 34 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 
 The threatening with which this commandment 
 closes, "visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children 
 to the third and fourth generation," appears to be irre- 
 concilable with the declaration made : " The parent 
 shall not die for the children, nor the children perish 
 on account of the parent, but each for his own sins." 
 (Deut. xiv. 16.) It is evident, however, that the diffi- 
 culty is removed by the accompanying clause, viz., 
 those " that hate me." If, therefore, the descendants of 
 a wicked man continue to hate God, the penalty 
 descends, but the principle of individual responsibility 
 remains untouched ; the conduct of the parents cannot 
 be pleaded in extenuation of the children's sin, nor the 
 conduct of children be estimated by its relation to the 
 conduct of parents. The fundamental law of the Divine 
 Government remains amidst all the influences of cus- 
 tom and example : " I will judge every man according 
 to his ways." (Ezekiel xviii. 30.)
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XVI. 
 
 The third commandment relates to the manner in 
 which we are to use the name of God ; to recognize 
 the reverence which is due from a creature to a Creator, 
 to venerate the highest and holiest name which the 
 universe contains. Even prayer, if unaccompanied by 
 devotion, becomes offensive, an unnecessary oath a sin, 
 a false oath an unpardonable act of profanation and dis- 
 regard : " And you shall not swear falsely by my name, 
 then wouldst thou thus profane the name of thy God. 
 I am the Eternal." (Levit. xix. 12.) 
 
 Another violation of this commandment is seen in 
 swearing falsely ; when, for example, a man seeks to 
 support an assertion known to be false by the solemnity 
 of an oath, an appeal to the presence and justice of the 
 Almighty, the act is one of taking the name of God in 
 vain. And if a man carelessly or wantonly uses the name 
 of God on light and trivial occasions, where a simple 
 assertion is all that is requisite to ensure belief, the 
 command is disregarded, he takes God's name in vain. 
 
 The claims of justice sometimes demand the sanction 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 of an oath, as a security which the administration of 
 human laws requires. Yet even in this case the act 
 should be regarded with due solemnity and preparation, 
 that we may not lightly or profanely give utterance 
 to the hallowed name ; for every prudent man will con- 
 sider maturely the importance which attaches to the 
 performance of a sacred duty. 
 
 In short the obligation embraces so wide a range that 
 it is scarcely possible for us even to glance at its im- 
 portant bearings. Suffice it to say, that its great object 
 is to inculcate reverence for the Supreme, as the Father, 
 Creator, and moral Governor of mankind, to enjoin that 
 humility which springs from the condition of a finite 
 and imperfect creature, to teach us that no violation of 
 his sanctity will be permitted to pass unpunished, and 
 thus directly to preserve the relations of man to the 
 Creator, and his dependence on him. 
 
 SECTION XVII. 
 
 The fourth commandment enjoins the consecration of 
 the Sabbath in honour of the Eternal, and its objects 
 appear to be that we should by this perpetual ob-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 37 
 
 servance express our faith in the existence of a Creator, 
 that he formed, governs, and sustains the universe. 
 The universal Benefactor and Parent of our race, its per- 
 petuity serves to demonstrate our confidence in his im- 
 mutability and love, and every revolving period demands 
 some fresh acknowledgment of his presence. On this 
 day rest is enjoined, and abstinence from labour and 
 worldly occupations, that we may direct the mind to 
 acts of worship in thanksgiving and prayer, bring the 
 actions of life under our serious review, and form those 
 resolutions of prudence and integrity that may conduct 
 us safely through the present scene. " If thy foot rest 
 on the Sabbath, and thy labour cease on my holy day., 
 if thou callest the Sabbath a delight of the soul, con- 
 secrated wholly to the satisfaction of the Eternal, and if 
 thou honourest it by not pursuing thy usual occupations, 
 and if thou abstainest from vain desires and speaking of 
 
 thy worldly affairs, then wilt thou surely find delight in 
 
 
 
 the Eternal." (Isaiah Iviii. 13.) Such are the peculiar 
 solemnities with which the day has been invested, and 
 such the kind of thought and occupation, and to these 
 we refer as evidence of its importance and interest.
 
 38 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XVIII. 
 
 The day prescribed is the seventh, and from the 
 Divine appointment there can be no appeal ; all sects 
 agree as to the original day of its observance, but as- 
 sign various reasons for the change which has been in- 
 stituted. Christians kept the seventh day for centuries 
 after the foundations of their faith were laid. But sub- 
 sequently they substituted the Sunday. The Maho- 
 metans fixed Friday for their Sabbath. They are at 
 liberty to do so, for the command was not addressed to 
 them ; but the Israelite is bound by the most solemn 
 obligation to retain the day prescribed, and whilst this 
 circumstance separates the nation from all others, to 
 introduce the elements of change into an everlasting 
 covenant would be to set at nought the authority which 
 has issued the command. The faith and hope of Israel 
 are identified with its observance and perpetuity. 
 
 SECTION XIX. 
 
 The fifth commandment enjoins honour to parents. 
 This duty flows from natural relation and dependence.
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 39 
 
 A reflective mind will perceive the adaptation of this 
 commandment to our nature. There is a moral beauty 
 in the act of rendering both honour and esteem to an 
 earthly parent. Gratitude urges us to the performance 
 of the duty honour is due where benefits have been be- 
 stowed; every age has demonstrated the instinctive and 
 sympathetic approval of mankind, in the reverence which 
 has been cheerfully rendered to the aged, and the abun- 
 dant provision made for their protection and support. 
 The nature of this duty demands consideration; it implies 
 that the child should speak to parents with deference and 
 respect, receive rebuke with humility, and endeavour by 
 every means to render their condition happy. How in- 
 vigorating to the heart of a father must filial piety 
 prove ; with what emotions of gladness must he watch 
 the development of these seeds of virtue, and what in- 
 cessant thanksgiving must continually flow to the throne 
 of heavenly grace! i{ Strive thou that thy father and 
 mother may be glad, and that those who educated thee 
 may find pleasure." The promise which is attached to 
 the command is indicative of its importance in the 
 social economy. Without this the scenes of domestic life 
 would be darkened, their relations be disturbed, and
 
 40 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 discord and inextricable confusion would ensue. The 
 All-merciful has, however, promised that high rewards 
 shall accompany obedience, that every act of self sacrifice 
 in which we minister to others rather than to ourselves 
 meets with his approbation and secures a rich reward. 
 
 SECTION XX. 
 
 The only limit placed to this observance is, when 
 honour to parents interferes with the discharge of 
 duties towards God or the dictates of conscience. In 
 such a case the higher claim prevails, since nothing can 
 justify the neglect of duties of so high and supreme a 
 character. The same lesson is inculcated in another 
 precept : " Each man shall fear his mother and father, 
 and observe my Sabbaths. I am the Eternal your 
 God." (Levit. xix. 3.) Obedience to the Almighty, 
 then, becomes the correlative duty alike of the parent 
 and the child. 
 
 SECTION XXI. 
 
 The following precepts, "Thou shalt not kill, commit 
 adultery, or steal," are given in exceedingly concise
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 41 
 
 terms, the reason for which will be obvious ; they each 
 contemplate the infliction of injuries, varying in degrees 
 of malignity. The crime of violating these is so evi- 
 dent that the injunctions did not require elaborate ex- 
 position or enforcement. They are not addressed to 
 the Jewish race alone, but to all mankind. In these 
 we lose sight of the distinctions of sex and clime, of 
 the differences of faith and opinion. The commands 
 embrace the whole community, and he who violates 
 them is a traitor to his race and a rebel against his God. 
 
 SECTION XXII. 
 
 The operation of these laws is not restricted to the 
 simple act which is condemned, but to all the circum- 
 stances which can provoke or terminate in the offence. 
 Thus hatred, jealousy, and revenge are involved in the 
 conception of murder ; impurity, wantonness, and lust 
 in adultery ; cupidity, ambition, avarice, and covetous- 
 ness in stealing. Against these elementary sources of 
 evil the command is therefore directed. The great ob- 
 ject secured by obedience here in the economy of hu- 
 man life appears to be the protection of life, liberty,
 
 4^ THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 and possessions, to inflict no injury, to perpetrate no 
 wrong, but to regard the persons and rights of others as 
 sacred and inviolable. We are indirectly taught to 
 protect the interests of human life, to abstain from de- 
 liberately or incautiously shortening its duration ; not to 
 expose our own life or safety, or that of others, to un- 
 necessary risk ; to abstain from demoralizing vices, 
 which destroy the body, weaken the mind, and leave 
 the spirit a prey to the most slavish passions. Against 
 these effects the commandment admonishes us : "Thou 
 shalt not commit adultery." Every species of unlawful 
 desire is here prohibited ; the avenues to the spirit 
 must be guarded against surprise, the wandering eye, 
 the impure wish, the wanton action, all tending to 
 violate and disturb continence and self-restraint. Dis- 
 solute habits inflict fearful penalties ; the mind and 
 body sink beneath their ravages ; the consequences are 
 as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged 
 sword. The deluded victim hastens to ruin and death, 
 his steps bend downwards to the grave and destruction. 
 In reaping these fruits of folly, how vain is lamenta- 
 tion. With wasted flesh, a trembling frame, a disordered 
 spirit, the unhappy criminal anticipates his entrance
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 43 
 
 into a world unknown. In such an hour of self-reproach, 
 the stings of conscience are felt to be sharper than a 
 serpent's tooth, and the heart exclaims, How soon have 
 I sunk into deep distress, before the face of the whole 
 world. Let us learn, then, to shun every word and 
 scene which could induce misery so deep ; and in order 
 to assist us in the effort, let us remember that the eye 
 of God is ever on us, and his presence invests our 
 sleeping and our waking hours ; neither darkness nor 
 the shadow of death can hide the doers of evil from 
 him. (Job. xxxiv. 22.) 
 
 SECTION XXIII. 
 
 The eighth commandment, " Thou shalt not steal," 
 prescribes that every man shall recognize the fruits of 
 labour or of skill which are in his own possession or 
 that of another. 
 
 The intercourse of life is sustained by mutual con- 
 fidence; the property of others is committed to our 
 care, we are admonished to respect the trust, and to 
 regard it as sacred and inviolable. To defraud or cheat 
 are violations of this command ; they are the inflictions 
 of injury, they contain the elements of lying and de-
 
 44 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 ception, and are treasons against the welfare of society 
 and the laws of God, 
 
 He who defrauds his neighbour or violently appro- 
 priates the possessions of another has, by that act, for- 
 feited his own claim on the confidence of a community, 
 and is excluded from its pale. 
 
 Hence, Scripture enjoins : " Thou shalt not steal, 
 nor withhold from another what is his, and not 
 lie; thou shalt keep nothing back of thy neighbour's 
 property, and not rob ; and thou shalt not keep back 
 the pay of a day-labourer by thee till morning." (Levit. 
 xix. 11.) Deception is therefore hypocrisy, in what- 
 ever shape or phase it may appear. To cause a man to 
 believe a lie is to manifest in outward words or actions 
 that which does not show the true state of the thoughts 
 and affections. Such a one is described in Holy Writ 
 as a thief of the heart ; a most expressive phrase, and 
 one which is intended to express consummate hypo- 
 crisy. Another passage compares lips burning with 
 love when the heart is bad to an earthen vessel 
 covered with silver leaf. (Prov. xxvi. 23.) "False 
 lips are an abomination to the Eternal, but those who 
 act uprightly are pleasing to him." (Prov. xii. 22.)
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 45 
 
 SECTION XXIV. 
 
 The ninth commandment, " Thou shalt not bear 
 false witness," is next to be considered. Its foundation 
 is the truth so universally recognized, that words 
 should always be indicative of the state of the heart 
 whence they spring. The interests of society are ad- 
 vanced or injured in proportion to the truth or false- 
 hood of evidence in courts of justice; the safety of 
 society demands the utterance of truth. Solemn obli- 
 gations devolve on a man when he assumes the position 
 of a witness; he is summoned to tell the whole truth, 
 and nothing but the truth ; appeals are made to the 
 presence and power of the Deity, and conscience is en- 
 listed on behalf of truth. The transgressor offends 
 against both human and divine laws when he offers 
 evidence which does not comport with these solemn 
 obligations, and becomes justly obnoxious to punish- 
 ment. " A lying witness will not escape unpunished, 
 and he who spreads fraudulent assertions will be lost." 
 (Prov. xix. 9.) To confirm a falsehood by the solem- 
 nities of an oath is a still greater crime, but when we
 
 46 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 contemplate the perils which threaten society, the 
 probable conviction of the innocent, and the acquittal of 
 the guilty, the magnitude and enormity of such offences 
 become manifest. 
 
 But, to pass on to the lower gradations of offence, 
 the commandment prohibits backbiting and slander : 
 " Thou shalt not walk about as an informer among thy 
 people." This class of offences is deserving of serious 
 reprehension. What is more ungenerous or disgrace- 
 ful than to speak evil of others in their absence, to 
 spread false reports about them ? '' The pious man 
 hates a lying word, but the wicked slanders and abuses 
 others." (Prov. xiii. 5.) Obedience to this injunction 
 does not prevent our disclosing evil and vice, when 
 social welfare demands it ; under such circumstances, 
 silence is sin. We are, however, admonished here not 
 to bear false witness, to adhere strictly to truth, and to 
 refrain from inhuman or malignant exultation when 
 we behold the exposure or the downfal of a trans- 
 gressor.
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 47 
 
 SECTION XXV. 
 
 The tenth commandment is, " Thou shalt not covet." 
 It requires that our desires and passions should be 
 subject to the control of reason and reflection. The 
 origin of desire is obscure, but its existence and power 
 are matters of observation and record. To control 
 these wisely, to render them subordinate to the dictates 
 of reason and of divine authority, are matters of holy 
 ambition. The commandment implies that we should 
 guard the heart against envious or covetous desires, that 
 we should not contemplate the possessions or honours 
 of others with an emotion of uneasiness or dissatisfac- 
 tion, arid that we should not draw a painful and invi- 
 dious contrast between them and ourselves. This 
 desire, habitually encouraged, becomes ultimately a vice. 
 Ambition, envy, discontent, and avarice are the evils 
 which attend its train. Hence the injunction, " Thou 
 shalt not covet." The evil is assailed at its com- 
 mencement, the irregular desire is stifled in its birth, 
 and we are led to contemplate the danger in its inci- 
 pient stage, ere it has become developed into crime.
 
 48 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XXVI. 
 
 This command is therefore of deep importance, in- 
 asmuch as the mental and moral habits which it 
 induces are of the highest value, and are productive of 
 the most beneficial results. He who has acquired 
 the habit of self-restraint has attained a proud pre- 
 eminence amongst his fellow mortals. Duty will be a 
 source of pleasure ; its irksome and tedious observance 
 will be no longer a matter of complaint ; he will pursue 
 the path of peace and virtue with cheerfulness and 
 tranquillity, and leave behind him a fragrant testimony 
 and bright example of the power of true religion. On 
 the other hand, the man who has surrendered himself 
 to the dominion of wanton or impetuous passions, who 
 has permitted his heart to become the habitation of the 
 most degenerate desires, the prey of intemperance, 
 envy, malice, uncharitableness, or covetousness such 
 a character becomes unfitted to fill the station Provi- 
 dence assigns, or to discharge the duties incident to 
 life ; he endures his existence as a burden, and, 
 oppressed with the emotions of disgust and misery, 
 closes his career as a melancholy example of the per-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 49 
 
 nidous tendencies of vice. Such lessons are daily 
 taught by observation : " Be particularly careful, there- 
 fore, over thy heart, for this is the source of life." 
 (Prov. vii. 23.) These passions soon destroy the man, 
 and deprive him of the prospect of bliss hereafter. 
 
 SECTION XXVII. 
 
 In concluding these remarks on the commandments, 
 it is necessary to advert to an obvious distinction to be 
 observed between offences committed against God 
 and those which are perpetrated against man. The 
 former among which may be specified idolatry 
 and neglect of the Sabbath, as direct offences against 
 the Deity may be obliterated by repentance and re- 
 formation, and an All-merciful Father accepts these 
 expressions of contrition and grief; but when trans- 
 gressions affect the condition of society, or the welfare 
 of individuals, the divine law enjoins the most ample 
 restitution. In vain may we sorrow and regret; 
 fasting and prayer alone can never repair the evil 
 or lessen its enormity; society presents its claims, 
 the injured demand redress, the act of fraud must be
 
 50 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 acknowledged, and the dishonest practices renounce, 
 the injury repaired to the utmost extent within our 
 power, and pardon solicited from the wronged and the 
 oppressed. It is only then that we can expect the for- 
 giveness of the Eternal, and humbly sue for pardon 
 and acceptance at his footstool. Yet such is the 
 ignorance and perversity of our nature, that men who 
 retain the spoils of fraud or violence are ready to slander 
 and defame, while they seek to atone for these offences 
 by fasting and prayer. Such conduct exhibits the most 
 glaring hypocrisy and self-deception ; it excites the 
 horror and disgust of a reflective mind, and must be 
 contemplated by the Almighty as one of the most 
 flagrant violations of his law.
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 51 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SECTION XXVTII. 
 
 THE FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLES IN THE MOSAIC 
 RELIGION. 
 
 THE objects of faith are twofold, and these comprise 
 the whole of our belief. Firstly, truths which are de- 
 ductions from pure reason ; and, secondly, events in 
 history and doctrines which are neither deducible from 
 reason nor analogous with experience. Consequently 
 we divide the truths of our faith into thirteen articles, 
 viz. : 
 
 1st. There is a supreme and eternal Being who is 
 described as almighty, wise, and good, the creator, 
 preserver, and ruler of the universe, without begin- 
 ning of days or end of years. Reason instructs us that 
 
 E 2
 
 r THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 every other form of existence is dependent and de- 
 rived ; that animate nature could not have sprung into 
 being without cause and origin ; that the indications of 
 design imply the existence of a designer, and the pre- 
 siding Spirit visible in the creation is the Creator, God. 
 The eternity of the divine Being is still further proved 
 by the fact that he is unchangeable, able to create or 
 to destroy. Immutable and self-existent, the idea of 
 time must be excluded from our conceptions of God ; 
 a thousand years and a fleeting day, the revolutions of 
 cycles and the passing moment, are instantaneously the 
 objects of divine perception. 
 
 SECTION XXIX. 
 
 2nd. The next article of faith is, that God is one, 
 exclusive of other existences, a Spirit with neither the 
 properties of matter nor the limbs of a physical body. 
 All living bodies are composed of parts, bones, flesh 
 and blood. The Creator bears no resemblance to any- 
 thing which he has made ; the arguments of reason, and 
 testimonies of Revelation, equally convince us of the 
 fact. " Hear, Israel, the Eternal our God is the only 
 eternal Being, and besides him there is none else."
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 53 
 
 SECTION XXX. 
 
 3rd. God created the world ; in other words, he 
 formed nature by the expression of his will. He spoke, 
 and it was done, commanded, and it stood fast. In 
 this wondrous effort no assistance was derived from 
 other agencies or powers. Since its foundation, he 
 has governed and upheld the universe ; from him 
 all life continues to flow, and through him order and 
 regularity prevail ; the winds and waves are con- 
 trolled by his voice, and the orbs which roll through 
 space obey his high command. Against such power no 
 obstacles can prevail, no danger threaten ; no diffi- 
 culties obstruct it ; who, then, by searching, can find out 
 God, or know the Almighty to perfection ? (Job. xi. 8.) 
 \Ve recognize material objects by their appearance, 
 their colour, form, and size ; acquire our knowledge of 
 them through the medium of the senses. Not so with 
 respect to our knowledge of the Deity. We estimate 
 his power by the vastness of its effects, the diversity of 
 its objects, the magnitude of its operations, above, 
 around, beneath us, extending from animated nature 
 to those remote regions of the universe which have not
 
 >4 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 been exposed to observation, and which may exceed 
 the highest flights of fancy of the human mind. " The 
 heavens relate the glory of God, and the firmament 
 tells of the works of his hands." (Ps. xix. 2.) Crea- 
 tion is subject to vicissitudes, each form cf life presents 
 new changes, however slow and imperceptible ; there is 
 a period in the history of every creature when it be- 
 comes visible. The helpless babe increases into the 
 proportions of a child, a youth, a man ; nature then 
 tends to degeneracy and decay, until the body returns 
 to its native earth, and the spirit to God that gave it. 
 The plant displays its flower or fruit, sheds its perfume, 
 and dies. Motion and change are the conditions of all 
 existence, whilst the Eternal mind continues undivided, 
 and operates unexhausted. Hence arose the challenge 
 embodied in the words of the prophet: " To whom 
 will you compare me, that I should resemble him?" 
 
 SECTION XXXI. 
 
 But, it may be remarked, we read that Moses saw 
 the Eternal, and many passages speak of the eye, the 
 hand, and mouth of God. It is evident that such ex-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 55 
 
 pressions are intended to convey ideas figuratively, 
 phrases which accommodate themselves to our imper- 
 fect conceptions. As we are conversant with the eye 
 and hand, these are employed to assist us in our con- 
 ceptions of the knowledge and power of the Almighty ; 
 when, therefore, we read that Moses saw God, we under- 
 stand that he had a more intimate acquaintance- with 
 his perfections and providence, explaining the previous 
 expression more clearly, that God spake with him, in a 
 perfectly plain manner, and not through enigmas. 
 Again, when we read, " Let us make man in our image, 
 in our likeness," we have the same figure, conveying 
 the idea, that the human spirit bears some resemblance 
 to the Deity, that it is immortal, endowed with capa- 
 cious powers, and that man is the only creature that 
 is capable of acknowledging and adoring the Creator, 
 elevating his own nature, governing the multitude of 
 creatures, having all things placed under his hand. 
 
 SECTION XXXII. 
 
 4th. That God is the first great Cause, existing before 
 the creation of the universe, immutable and perfect.
 
 56 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 The excellence of human beings is rela<ive ; end admits 
 of com pail son and degree. The pe-fecr'ou c human 
 character, however great, is soireii lies eclipsed by more 
 illustrious examples, and if we ?o r't ihe e:'>s eice of 
 angelic nature, men is lit ; le lower thyn ihe p^e's. 
 Celestial spirits are charged with fau ! ls ; B-e ; f:om 
 necessity, imperfect and subordinate ; as creatmrs <hey 
 are dependent on the will of the Cier-or. rphrM by 
 his power, and clothed wHh spleneorr by Hs decise; 
 they minister to his will, and their e::celVnce, glory, 
 and beauty are all conferred by hiir. If, then, the 
 highest orders of intelligence are not se^f ex'slert, but 
 derived, there remains but o::e snpreirc, elcinft!, self- 
 existing Being, who governs all things agreeably to the 
 counsel of his own will. 
 
 SECTION XXXIII. 
 
 God is omnipotent; in other words, he can c"eate 
 all that he pleases. Creation, let it be remembered, 
 is the act of bestowing existence rnd form where it did 
 not previously exist. The utmost exeilion of human 
 skill and power can only extend to form and arrange,
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 57 
 
 but no power inferior to the Deity can create, Man 
 cannot c"e..ie an e'om, bat he can remodel, form 
 matier ioto new combinations, i'rom materials which are 
 already provided. Mi: a can originate nothing; not a 
 pauicle of a'r, not a single blade of glass, not a spark of 
 fire or drop of wa'er is he able to produce. As man 
 cannot cvesie, neither can he destroy; it is an axiom 
 in natural philosophy, that matter is indestructible; 
 we may, by some manipulation, some ingenious pro- 
 cess, subject it to various mutations, but to destroy it 
 is beyond our power, and one Being only, the Creator 
 himself, can totally annihilate. The Deity, simply by 
 the exercise of his will, produces light, matter, and 
 existence, creatures, from the insect which floats in the 
 sunbeam to the huge whale, adorns his creation with 
 elements of beauty, and makes man in his own like- 
 ness. By that will the universe is upheld ; without it 
 all would be disorder and destruction : " He spake and 
 it was done, he commanded and it stood ;" and, again, 
 "Thou turnest thy face away, they become affrighted ; 
 thou takest away their breath, they perish."
 
 5S THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XXXIV. 
 
 The perfections of God are blended, so that we can- 
 not separate them even in imagination. The union of 
 these is exhibited in the creation. The shapes, mo- 
 tions, and mutations of all physical objects convince us 
 of the truth ; the sun, moon, and stars in the celestial 
 canopy, the earth with its mountains, forests, and 
 flowers, the oceans and streams with their inhabitants, 
 the cattle, birds, and reptiles, all testify to the presence 
 of a wise, a just, a gracious God; whilst man, his 
 noblest work, the reflection of his glory, gives ad- 
 ditional grandeur to these impressions. 
 
 The order and harmony of the universe convince us 
 that it is governed by one presiding mind. The sun 
 who sheds his light by day, the moon and stars which 
 glisten by night, the changing seasons, show that order 
 is Heaven's first law, whilst the benevolence of God is 
 proclaimed by the geniality of the spring; each plant 
 and flower and fruit as they are ripened by the heat of 
 summer, and the gathering in of the autumn, when he 
 that sows and he that reaps rejoice together, the falling
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 59 
 
 snows and raging tempests, which close the wintry 
 scenes, all speak a language which will be intelligible 
 to the end of time. 
 
 SECTION XXXV. 
 
 The evidences of design and wisdom are still farther 
 illustrated in the structure of every creature. Each is 
 to subserve some end, and fulfil some purpose ; the 
 arrangement of the limbs of the human body shows 
 design and skill ; the feet transport us from one locality 
 to another, the head controls and governs, the eye 
 apprizes us of danger, the ear detects alarm, and 
 receives pleasure from sweet sounds, the mouth com- 
 municates knowledge, the teeth masticate the food, 
 whilst every joint and ligament in the wondrous fabric 
 shows forth the praises of the Artificer. Yet, vast and 
 perfect as the physical arrangement appears, how much 
 is it exceeded in the mysterious union of the body with 
 the spirit ! The elements most uncongenial, yet the 
 union complete, so that intelligence flashes in the eye, 
 resounds through the speech, is evidenced in gesture 
 and in tone, and the body becomes the vehicle through
 
 CO THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 which thought is conveyed and awakened. How 
 wondrous too the soaring of thought its range ; in a 
 trice we travel from pole to pole, contemplate in an 
 instant the inhabitants of every clime, pass, in our 
 slumbers, from the condition of a beggar to that of a 
 prince, and in our flights of fancy outstrip the fleetness 
 of the wind or the flashes of lightning. When we con- 
 template these things, we are constrained to exclaim 
 with David, " How manifold are thy works ; they all 
 prove thine infinite wisdom and goodness." 
 
 SECTION XXXVI. 
 
 Admitting the wisdom and power of the Almighty 
 to be infinite, it will be equally obvious that no limits 
 can be assigned to his existence and benevolence. All 
 these perfections blend and harmonize so that they can, 
 separately, neither be conceived in imagination nor per- 
 ceived in reality. An architect may design a palace 
 without possessing tie rrau>ri:Vs i om v. 'ch to con- 
 struct the edifice; the Llrill exhibited in the a. lodge- 
 ments will be of no avail without tlie power 'o build; 
 and again, the absence of wisdom in the builder may
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 61 
 
 give rise to exertions of power which are unproductive 
 of good results, should he erect his palace in a desert, 
 where the foot of man had never trodden. We may 
 admire the hero of a hundred battles, or the inventor 
 of a useful machine, but we love the philanthropist 
 and benefactor of his species. These sentiments are 
 heightened and blended in our conception of the Deity. 
 Wisdom, power, and goodness unite in him, and diffuse 
 their glories around his name, for God is good to all, 
 his tender mercies are over all his works. And still 
 more elevating is the thought, that such are the per- 
 fections of God, that the universe, with all its vast 
 dependencies, will continue to be governed with uniform 
 skill and power, that, as all events are known and the 
 thoughts of man revealed to his discerning eye, no 
 danger can threaten, no exigency arise without due 
 provision, since the harmony of his laws and the bene- 
 volence of his designs effectually prevent the possibility 
 of discord and confusion.
 
 G2 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XXXVII. 
 
 5th. That the design of creation is to reveal the 
 glory of God, and to endow man with sense and reason, 
 that he may be fitted to discharge his duties, and enjoy 
 the happiness which awaits him. 
 
 Reason demonstrates the propriety of acknowledging 
 the blessings which we hourly receive, of recognizing 
 the hand which feeds, and clothes, and guides us 
 through our journey of life, expressing our grateful 
 thanks, acknowledging our dependence on his pro- 
 vidence, praying for future favours, and offering our 
 adoration to him alone. Whether we contemplate the 
 heavens or the earth, nature, with its countless hosts of 
 creatures, or man in his diversities of condition, the 
 natural and social laws, the organization or the opera- 
 tion of physical objects, our pleasure increases in the 
 pursuit. As we unravel the secrets of the earth, or 
 those of human life and character, we learn the im- 
 portance of humility, and the value of true virtue ; we 
 strive, at an awful distance, to imitate the benevolence 
 of our heavenly Father whilst we clothe the naked, 
 feed the hungry, compassionate the orphan and the
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 63 
 
 widow, and pour the balm of consolation into the 
 troubled bosom. Such are the sources of true pleasure, 
 and such pursuits not only contribute to the sum of 
 individual and collective happiness, but enforce, by 
 bright examples, the claims of virtue on the homage and 
 obedience of others. 
 
 SECTION XXXVIII. 
 
 6th. That God, in pity to mankind, imparted the 
 gift of prophecy to a few pious men. Prophecy reveals 
 truths which could be gathered from no other source, 
 and holy men were, in past ages, commissioned to pro- 
 claim the will and precepts of the eternal King. It is 
 formally announced, in Deut. xviii. 15, "A prophet 
 from amidst thee, from thy brethren, like myself, will 
 the Eternal thy God raise up unto thee, him ye shall 
 obey." Revelations of this character we describe as 
 prophecy, and him who utters them a prophet. 
 God manifested his will by dreams and visions to 
 Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and more fully to 
 prophets in a later age. In compassion to the weak- 
 ness of human reason, which often errs, Revelation is
 
 64 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 designed to correct these defects, and to present a 
 perfect standard by which human actions may be tried. 
 When false prophets rose, and spake in the name of 
 God, a simple test detected the imposition ; if the event 
 came not to pass the deception was at once exposed, 
 and the punishment was proportionately severe. 
 
 SECTION XXXIX. 
 
 7th. The revelation made to Moses was more ample 
 than any other. Prophecy can only be interpreted fully 
 by events. When first delivered it must appear obscure, 
 if not incomprehensible; the degrees of inspiration 
 vary, the circumstances under which inspiration is 
 vouchsafed are different. Visions of the night and 
 of the day trances, when the powers of life are 
 suspended audible voices solemn or ecstatic mus- 
 ings these are the circumstances which accompany 
 the inspiration of the prophet. On the contrary, the 
 instance of Moses stands alone; his intercourse with 
 God was intimate, to him the Deity appeared, and the 
 sacred historian testifies, " And there never again arose 
 a prophet in Israel like Moses." The Lord said, "Not
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 65 
 
 so my servant Moses; I spoke to him mouth to 
 mouth ;" which phrases imply that the legislator was 
 able to comprehend the will of God, which he conveyed 
 to Israel, and demanded their obedience in the name 
 of the Most High. 
 
 SECTION XL. 
 
 8th. That the laws given by Moses after the deliver- 
 ance of Israel are beneficial. Their promulgation is 
 proved not only on the evidences of miracles, but also 
 by the internal evidence contained in their adaptation 
 and utility. Miracles wrought in the presence of more 
 than six hundred thousand persons attested the divine 
 authority of the Law. The people saw and heard, 
 whilst the Eternal announced with deep solemnity 
 the commandments and the Law. Miracles thus 
 confirmed the obligation of unchangeable truths, and 
 God intended to enforce doctrines and precepts which 
 should guide future generations to happiness and 
 prosperity, the object of which is still more clearly 
 expressed in the passage : " That the people may hear 
 when I speak with thee, that they may also believe in
 
 66 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 thee for ever." (Exod. xix. 9.) The Revelation was 
 ushered in with scenes of sublime and awful splen- 
 dour; clouds, darkness, and tempest were the heralds 
 of the dispensation. Under the influence of the terror 
 which they awakened, the people earnestly besought 
 that God should not speak to them, but that Moses 
 should be appointed their mediator (Deut. v. 26) ; and 
 their request was granted, God sealing the covenant 
 with his approbation of their choice : " My servant 
 Moses is trusty in all my house." (Numb. xii. 7.) 
 It is evident, from the whole narrative, that Moses 
 taught nothing without express permission or com- 
 mand, and that the most perfect harmony prevails be- 
 tween the doctrines and the precepts of the Law, the 
 ten commandments uttered by the voice of the Al- 
 mighty and the succeeding disclosures of his will. 
 
 The solemnities with which these commands were 
 uttered by the Almighty himself are to be attributed 
 to the fact that they comprehend all duties, and lay the 
 foundation of every virtue and of every succeeding 
 precept, and that they are of universal application to 
 mankind of every class, clime, and degree. 
 
 When Moses descended from the mountain, after a
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 67 
 
 sojourn of forty days and nights, he produced the tab- 
 lets of stone on which the hand of God had traced the 
 ten commandments, and they have accordingly been 
 designated " the tablets of the covenant which was 
 made with Israel." The Revelation on Sinai has this 
 pre-eminent distinction, that it was witnessed by mul- 
 titudes, attested by miracles, and that the eternal and 
 unchanging principles of universal truth and justice, 
 the foundations of every divine and human law, were 
 enunciated by the voice of God. This leads us to the 
 consideration of the following article of our faith, 
 which is 
 
 SECTION XLI. 
 
 9th. That the Law given to Moses is eternal, and 
 can admit of no change. God is immutable ; no reason 
 can exist for an alteration of his laws ; in these every 
 contingency has been provided for, and every vicissi- 
 tude considered. The laws of man demand successive 
 changes as new circumstances arise; the relations of 
 society, the condition of a people, the increase of wealth 
 or poverty, the relation of foreign states, all fluctuate, 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 and new modes of government and policy are required 
 by new events and dangers. But he who can perceive 
 the successive order of events, to whom all objects, 
 from their formation to their decay, are obvious, who 
 in an instant can consider and provide with him there 
 is no variableness ; the laws which he imposes and the 
 truths which he reveals are eternal and unchanging as 
 the foundations of his throne. 
 
 SECTION XLII. 
 
 10th. The Creator is omniscient. From him no 
 secrets can be hidden; the records of the past and 
 present and the mysteries of the future are equally 
 known. The earth, full of his glory, and far distant 
 worlds are patent to his eyes ; nothing can elude his 
 scrutiny or escape his power ; the thoughts of the hu- 
 man heart, its sentiments and passions, pass in succes- 
 sion under his view, and no event can transpire but 
 with his permission. He sees not as man sees; he 
 judges not from appearances, but from motives ; his 
 justice is pure and unsullied, without the admixture of 
 forgetfulness or partiality in his decisions ; he contem-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 69 
 
 plates the virtuous resolution, the action in prospect, or 
 motive whence it springs ; the act performed in dark- 
 ness or emblazoned by the light of day is equally the 
 object of Divine perception. From this we learn the 
 moral lesson, the utter vanity and hopelessness, of at- 
 tempting to deceive the Almighty, and the folly of 
 falsehood and deception in our intercourse with man- 
 kind. The God of truth abhors a lie, and the severity 
 with which he contemplates and punishes the trans- 
 gression should deter us from its commission. 
 
 SECTION XLIII. 
 
 llth. That God is a righteous Judge, a moral Go- 
 vernor, who will dispense reward and punishment 
 agreeably to the principles of truth and justice. In the 
 administration of human law we perceive that the de- 
 sign of its enactment is to bestow reward and favour on 
 the virtuous, and punishment and disgrace on the of- 
 fending. How much more may we expect from him 
 who is the source of rectitude and truth that he will 
 judge righteously. 
 
 The reward bestowed on the upright who trusts in
 
 70 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 God's providential and affectionate care amidst scenes 
 of sorrow and pain will be proportioned to their fidelity 
 and resignation. To those who reject the temptation 
 to unlawful pleasure and vice, who spurn riches and 
 honours when incompatible with virtue, the enjoyments 
 of futurity and the approbation of God will afford 
 ample recompense. The punishment, on the other 
 hand, which is inflicted on the evil doer, the rebel 
 against God's government, who adds hypocrisy to 
 guilt, and violates the laws of the Almighty with reck- 
 lessness and scorn, will be proportionately severe. God 
 is good ; his tender mercies are over all his works ; he 
 has created nothing in vain. Happiness is the design 
 of existence, and creatures with an organization, 
 powers, and instincts each after its kind are framed 
 for enjoyment. When man offends he is punished ; 
 as a father pities whilst he chastens, so God unwillingly 
 rebukes. In the Divine mind no hatred can abide. 
 Anger and revenge are the attributes of frail and 
 erring mortals ; good and just is the Eternal, therefore 
 he leads sinners in the right path. 
 
 Such reflections should lead us to submit without a 
 murmur to his will, to receive with filial acquiescence
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 71 
 
 the dispensations of his providence, and, when troubles 
 encompass us, to look forward to the results of sorrow, 
 to accept them as from a father's hand, acknowledging 
 the justice and the mercy mingled in the cup, know- 
 ing in our heart that the Eternal has punished us as 
 a father punishes his son. 
 
 SECTION XLIV. 
 
 The judgment of God is perfect and unimpeachable, 
 and exhibits none of the infirmities or prejudices which 
 attach themselves to the decisions of the wisest of men. 
 A human judge, though sincere and upright, may err 
 in his decision ; the innocent may be condemned and 
 the guilty escape ; his judgment is based on appear- 
 ances ; it addresses itself to the senses and the pas- 
 sions, but the judgment of him who looks in the heart . 
 is purely just. 
 
 SECTION XLV. 
 
 There are many who can form no conception of re- 
 ward or punishment from observation of the apparent 
 inequalities of human life. They are perplexed at 
 witnessing the sorrows of the righteous, and the pros-
 
 72 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 perity of the wicked. Many have enriched them- 
 selves by spoliation and fraud, whilst the virtuous 
 can sometimes scarcely procure the means of sub- 
 sistence; they labour and toil, and close their three- 
 score years and ten in penury and pain. Such obser- 
 vations cause the impious to exclaim, "There is no 
 God, no righteous Judge/' and they falsely conclude 
 that the scenes of the future will display the same 
 features as the present. Our estimation, it should be 
 remembered, is partial and imperfect, and our judgment 
 premature ; we neither know nor can we appreciate all 
 the circumstances of the case. The proud man, whom 
 we deem prosperous and happy, may have bitter ingre- 
 dients of misery mingled with apparent bliss, whilst 
 the pious and sorrowful may possess peace and enjoy- 
 ment for the loss of which the riches of the world 
 would prove a feeble recompense. In an unseen state, 
 again, we have reason to believe these inequalities of 
 condition will be adjusted, these difficulties will dis- 
 appear in the scenes of eternity, displaying the wisdom 
 and the justice of the ways of God to man. There vir- 
 tue meets its due reward, and vice its punishment ; the 
 scene re-opens after death with new aspects and brighter
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 73 
 
 colours ; existence does not terminate with death, but 
 extends beyond the grave ; the body perishes, but the 
 soul survives to render its account to the Judge of the 
 living and the dead, and to receive its portion of happi- 
 ness or woe. 
 
 SECTION XLVI. 
 
 12th. That the Lord has not banished the descend- 
 ants of Abraham from his favour for ever, that they 
 should remain like sheep without a shepherd. We 
 have lost our temple, priests, and prophets, we dwell 
 amongst strangers and wander without a leader, but 
 we expect the advent of a period, when our heavenly 
 Father will summon Israel to return to the land of 
 promise and restore our scattered tribes, when a new 
 temple shall be raised, and the people shall serve the 
 Lord with love and freedom. Prophets have an- 
 nounced the great event, and Messiah is predicted as 
 the Redeemer of the chosen race. 
 
 This hope of redemption does not prevent obedience 
 to the laws of the land in which we dwell, nor inter- 
 fere with the engagements which our occupations de-
 
 74 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 mand. We pursue our daily avocations whilst we 
 devoutly expect the ultimate deliverance of our race, 
 and fervently pray that the salvation of Israel should 
 come out of Zion. 
 
 To this the admonition of the prophet Jeremiah di- 
 rects us. " Thus speaketh the Eternal Zebaoth, the 
 God of Israel : ' Build houses and dwell therein ; 
 plant gardens and eat their fruit, and seek to promote 
 the peace of the city whither I shall have banished you, 
 and pray for the same to the Eternal, for through it ye 
 also shall have peace.' " 
 
 SECTION XLVII. 
 
 13th. That there shall be a resurrection of the dead 
 and a final judgment. The belief is based on the pro- 
 phecy of Ezekiel (xxxvii. 12 15) ; and our sages teach 
 us (Aboth. iv. 22), " They who are born must die, and 
 the dead will live again, and the raised are to be 
 judged." Reason furnishes us with some proofs of im- 
 mortality, whilst observation demonstrates that nothing 
 in the material world is destroyed. Hence we can 
 form conceptions of change, but not of annihilation.
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 75 
 
 The forms and aspects of nature vary and are subject 
 to vicissitude, yet nothing perishes. Trees bud and 
 shed their leaves and fruits, then wither and are re- 
 solved into their native elements ; animals grow and 
 die, and mingle with the earth and air, the insect passes 
 through its stages of existence and its varied forms, yet 
 nothing is annihilated or made in vain. The soul of 
 man is the reflection of the glory of the Almighty, 
 created in his image, adorned with his beauty. Reason 
 discards the supposition of its annihilation as absurd, 
 whilst warm and vigorous impulses urge it to anticipate 
 an immortality. Its progress towards perfection, its 
 exalted faculties, its capabilities of improvement and of 
 happiness, all indicate its prospects of a life beyond the 
 grave, its deliverance from the thraldom of the body, 
 and an eternity from which all the contingencies of 
 change and uncertainty shall be excluded. Relying, 
 therefore, on the word of God, and fortified by the tes- 
 timonies of reason, observation, and the hope of immor- 
 tality, we patiently await the dawning of a brighter day.
 
 76 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION XLVIII. 
 
 Our belief in immortality is strengthened by our 
 knowledge of the perfection to which our nature may 
 aspire. Man is furnished with mental power to perceive 
 and appreciate truth, record it in the memory, inter- 
 weave it with the judgment, delight the imagination by 
 contemplating it, and render these exercises useful by 
 cultivating that wisdom which will direct us in action, 
 and tend to exalt human character. There is an in- 
 satiable thirst for truth and knowledge, which no effort 
 can subdue and no acquirements satisfy. As a moral 
 element, blended with our existence and our destiny, 
 what purpose is it destined to accomplish ? How stale 
 and unprofitable would the accumulation of knowledge 
 and wisdom prove, were we to admit that they perish in 
 the grave ; that faculties expand, powers enlarge, the 
 kindliest sympathies are developed, the soul matures, 
 and that the close of this majestic development of 
 the divine image is extinguished by silence, darkness, 
 extinction, and that the solitude of the tomb is attended 
 with the annihilation of the soul. Such sentiments are
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 77 
 
 unnatural and conflicting, whilst the reverse of these 
 conclusions agreeing with the testimonies of nature and 
 inspiration, our being is not restricted to this sphere in 
 which we dwell, and everlasting life awaits us. We aim 
 at perfection, eternity alone can supply the means of 
 its attainment ; we desire happiness, its source and its 
 streams are in the future ; we are created in the Divine 
 likeness, it has been partially defaced, heaven only can 
 restore its lineaments ; we are but preparing in the pre- 
 sent life, our perfection must be attained hereafter. 
 Thus speak our sages, " This life is but an outer 
 court (a school of preparation), prepare thyself so in the 
 court, that thou mayest be deemed worthy to enter the 
 palace." 
 
 SECTION XLIX. 
 
 The belief in immortality will induce us to attach less 
 importance to the present life, will defend us from the 
 seductive influences of riches, power, and pleasure ; we 
 shall commence the journey under fairer auspices, and 
 close it with higher honours, we shall prefer the solid
 
 78 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 to the specious, the precious to the vile, the real to the 
 false, and direct our energies to those results which are 
 the objects of our existence. 
 
 In conclusion, we should remember, that as our term 
 of life is short and uncertain, and the duration of the 
 future is eternal, its claims on our attention are impera- 
 tive, its interests immense. Each day will be regarded 
 as a season of preparation, and death will be divested 
 of its terrors, and the grave of its hideousness and 
 gloom. 
 
 SECTION L. 
 
 We lament the folly of those who contemplate death 
 with unconcern, and neglect the preparation which is 
 due to its solemnities, but we also condemn those who 
 all their life-time regard it with unmingled terror, who, 
 participating in no enjoyment, torture themselves by in- 
 flicting mortification and fasting. Such conduct, we 
 apprehend, can never commend itself to Him who has 
 created nothing in vain, furnished the elements of ra- 
 tional enjoyment, and sent us into the world to enjoy
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 79 
 
 its beauties and pleasures. The wise king said, " Re- 
 joice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart 
 cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the 
 ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes, but 
 know thou that for all these things God will bring thee 
 unto judgment."
 
 80 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 SECTION LI. 
 
 FESTIVALS AND FASTS. 
 
 THE appointment of these days may be explained by a 
 reference to the characteristics of the Jewish year, or 
 the division of time made in past ages. 
 
 The year is either solar or lunar, and is calculated 
 therefore either by the revolution of the earth round 
 the sun, or by that of the moon round the earth. The 
 solar year is divided into three hundred and sixty-five 
 days and a quarter, whilst the lunar year contains three 
 hundred and fifty-four days eight hours and four-fifths. 
 The Israelites have uniformly adopted the lunar year as 
 the basis of their chronology, and have divided it ac- 
 cordingly into twelve months, which are called, Tishri,
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 81 
 
 Heswan, Kislev, Tebeth, Shebat, Adar, Nisan, lyar, 
 Sivan, Thamuz, Ab, and Elul. 
 
 In this arrangement we perceive that the solar year 
 has nearly eleven days more than the lunar year ; when, 
 therefore, the surplus time amounts to about thirty 
 days, the lunar becomes a leap-year, and has assigned 
 to it an additional month, called the second Adar. 
 
 The Scriptural account presents the month Nisan 
 as the first, in which the children of Israel came out of 
 Egypt. From these we reckon the periods of religious 
 festivals ; this, therefore, may be regarded as the re- 
 ligious year. Another method of dividing the time is 
 to regard Tishri as the first month, and the first day 
 in the month we consider to be the commencement 
 of the year, and all occurences in life are therefore 
 reckoned by periods in this, which we denominate the 
 civil year. 
 
 SECTION LII. 
 
 PASSOVER. 
 
 The first religious month, Nisan, in Scripture called 
 the spring month, has always thirty days, and during 
 
 G
 
 82 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 this period the solemnities of Passover are observed. 
 On the 14th of this month (Passover-eve) all leavened 
 bread, with whatever belongs to it, and the products of 
 grain must be removed from our dwellings. On the 
 evening of this day the feast of unleavened bread com- 
 mences, and, by the divine command, lasts seven days ; 
 during this period we do not admit into our dwellings 
 the leavened produce of wheat, rye, barley, oats, or 
 spelt. The first and seventh days, which correspond 
 with the 15th and 21st of the month, are considered 
 holidays. [The intermediate days are half festivals, on 
 which we are permitted to transact our usual business 
 and to perform engagements which cannot be postponed 
 without inconvenience or loss.] Rabbinical authorities 
 have added to them two days, the second and eighth, as 
 holidays, the reason for which appointment we shall 
 presently explain. The great event which Passover is 
 intended to commemorate, is the redemption of Israel 
 from Egypt, and to recall the miracles and wonders 
 which the hand of God then wrought, and of which our 
 ancestors were witnesses to bring into vivid remem- 
 brance the hour when Pharaoh and the Egyptians, 
 filled with dismay, urged the people to leave the land
 
 THE DECALOGUE 83 
 
 in haste, when, at so short a warning, no time was left 
 for baking bread, or making preparations for their 
 journey, but the dough, not yet kneaded, was taken 
 on their shoulders, before leavened, and the people 
 hurried forth from the land of Egypt and the house of 
 bondage. 
 
 SECTION LIII. 
 
 The institution of the Passover is founded on the 
 precept given by Moses to the people to kill a lamb, 
 and with the blood to sprinkle their door-posts, that 
 the angel of death might pass over their dwellings. The 
 deliverance thus effected was worthy of commemora- 
 tion, and a perpetual ordinance on the recurrence of 
 each succeeding year displays the interest felt by the 
 nation at its remembrance, and their gratitude at such 
 a great deliverance. From the period when the Israelites 
 left Egypt down to the destruction of the temple, it was 
 customary to kill a lamb, and to eat it with unleavened 
 bread and bitter herbs ; and in order to recall to their 
 remembrance the sorrows of their fathers in the land of 
 Egypt, the custom, with slight changes, is still observed ; 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 the roasted meat as a memorial of the offering, and 
 the roasted egg as the feast-offering, with unleavened 
 bread and bitter herbs, the fruits mixed to resemble 
 mortar, remind us of the exactions of the Egyptian task- 
 masters, whilst with these mournful symbols of past 
 sorrows we also blend thanksgivings for our deliver- 
 ance, and our hearts expand amidst the comforts of our 
 dwellings with the utterance of gratitude and praise. 
 
 SECTION LIV. 
 
 We have made mention of the addition of two inter- 
 calary holidays, the reason for which appointment we 
 now proceed ot explain. 
 
 The Jews in Jerusalem observe only seven days. The 
 addition of the eighth and the increase in holidays may, 
 at first sight, appear to violate the command of Moses, 
 "Ye shall not add and not diminish," and to involve a 
 deviation from the customs of our co-religionists in 
 Jerusalem. To explain this matter fully, we must relate 
 the circumstances under which the change occurred. 
 Our computation is made by lunar months, the period 
 in which, according to the ancients, the earth revolves
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 85 
 
 round the moon, or, according to the moderns, the 
 moon revolves round the earth. The day of the 
 new moon is the commencement of the month; to 
 ascertain this period became a matter of consider- 
 able difficulty, arising from the circumstance that 
 the moon became invisible at the close of the pre- 
 ceding period. As the 15th day could not be calcu- 
 lated till the appearance of the new moon was 
 known, the Synod at Jerusalem, in their anxiety to 
 fix the period definitively, sent out, previous to the 
 beginning of the month, their messengers to different 
 places to observe its first appearance. On their return 
 they gave their testimony, and after a comparison was 
 made between the evidence of the several witnesses, the 
 day was fixed, and was duly announced to the inhabi- 
 tants of Jerusalem, who thus kept the seven days 
 strictly according to the command of Moses. Bufc a 
 difficulty arose. There were Israelites who dwelt far 
 from Jerusalem, who could not ascertain the ordinances 
 thus instituted. These persons, ignorant of the precise 
 period fixed, kept the 15th and 16th days of Nisan as 
 holidays, and the 21st and 22nd lest they should violate 
 the Divine command. The addition of these days
 
 86 THE DECALOGUE- 
 
 sprang from their feeling of uncertainty and doubt, and 
 not from a desire to introduce a new institution. And 
 it is also to be remarked, that when, in subsequent 
 periods, the wise and learned were agreed in the ap- 
 pointment of the day, and calculations had determined 
 it with certainty, the foreign Israelites were willing to 
 abolish the additional holidays, and had made applica- 
 tion to the Synod for that purpose. The assembly 
 however determined that these days should be observed 
 to commemorate the zeal and fidelity of the dwellers 
 out of Jerusalem. Such is the brief historical account 
 of these additions, which were not intended as innova- 
 tions but as memorials of past wisdom and piety. 
 
 [The members of the reform congregations do not 
 consider themselves bound by the rabbinical ordinance 
 of the double festival, but, regarding these days as 
 opposed to the Mosaic command, they do not observe 
 them, but keep those days only which are Scripturally 
 commanded.]
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 87 
 
 SECTION LV. 
 
 PENTECOST. 
 
 The second feast we term the Pentecost, and it is 
 ordained to be kept on the 6th day of the month Sivan 
 (and the 7th is also kept for the reason of doubt). It 
 is the feast of weeks, and of first ripe fruits. 
 
 The harvest commenced in Palestine immediately 
 after Passover, and Scripture enjoins that the first-fruits 
 of the earth should be preserved, and seven weeks 
 numbered from the time that the sickle is first laid 
 on the standing corn, and at the end shall be a feast of 
 weeks in honour of the Eternal. It was strictly en- 
 joined that we should not eat of the new fruits of the 
 earth until the offering was made, and hence arose the 
 name by which it is designated. It is true that the 
 observance was especially commanded to the inhabitants 
 of Palestine, yet that the great truths which it teaches 
 us to recognize are obligatory on the nation does not 
 admit of a doubt the right of the Creator and Bene- 
 factor to receive from his creatures their recognition of 
 the bounties and blessings yielded in the produce of the
 
 88 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 fields. This is also called the Feast of Revelation, be- 
 cause on the 6th day of the month God spake from 
 Mount Sinai, and gave the ten commandments ; we 
 therefore observe the day as one on which the wise 
 counsels of Heaven were known, and we return our 
 thanks with reverence and gladness for the possession 
 of such inestimable gifts. 
 
 SECTION LVL 
 
 NEW YEAR. 
 
 In the seventh month of the religious year, or the 
 first of the civil year (Tishri), we celebrate the new 
 year. In Scripture it receives the titles of the " day of 
 remembrance," and the " day of blowing the cornet." 
 An idea obtains that on this day God pronounces judg- 
 ment on mankind ; it has no foundation, however, in 
 Scripture, but depends wholly on tradition. The cor- 
 net was blown as the announcement of the supremacy 
 and royalty of the great King, and as a memorial of 
 the sound of the trumpet on Mount Sinai which filled 
 the camp with fear. A further symbolic meaning ap- 
 pears to be that the people should awaken from their
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 89 
 
 slumber, be admonished to repentance, excited to 
 virtue, should calmly review the past and solemnly re- 
 solve to amend the future, to seek forgiveness of past 
 transgressions at the hand of God, repent and reform 
 their lives and habits, and thus indulge the hope of 
 acceptance before his throne and of future happiness. 
 On the first and second day, therefore, Jews spend 
 their time in devotion and prayer, and keep these days 
 as holidays. 
 
 [This feast is also kept in Jerusalem for two days ; 
 but the Jews adopting the reformed ritual keep one 
 day only.] 
 
 SECTION LVII. 
 
 DAY OF ATONEMENT. 
 
 This festival commences on the eve of the ninth day 
 of Tishri, and closes on the eve of the tenth. It is re- 
 garded as the holiest and most solemn of the festivals. 
 Fasting, devotion, and repentance are the religious ex- 
 ercises which we observe, and to these the period is 
 exclusively devoted. The authority for its observance 
 is thus given : " Surely on the tenth day of the seventh
 
 90 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 month is the day of atonement ; it shall be to you a 
 day of holy convocation and of fasting, no work shall ye 
 be permitted to do on the same, for it is the day of 
 atonement on which you will be pardoned before the 
 Eternal your God. It shall be to you a complete day 
 of rest, and you shall fast ; on the evening of the ninth 
 you shall commence, and keep your resting day from 
 evening to evening." (Levit. xxiii. 26.) 
 
 The day derived its name of atonement from the fact 
 that the unusual and solemn sacrifices offered in the 
 temple were atonement offerings, and that the Israelites 
 in succeeding ages who sincerely repent and reform 
 would atone for their transgressions. Whoever, there- 
 fore, on this day has obeyed the Divine commandment 
 and observed it with deep solemnity, repaired the 
 wrongs which he has inflicted, sought pardon from 
 those whom he has injured or defamed, confessed his 
 sins with sorrow, and promised amendment, receives 
 the full remission of his offences, and is accepted at the 
 throne of God.
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 91 
 
 SECTION LVIIf. 
 
 A great moral and social purpose is secured also by 
 this institution. It is designed to promote a spirit 
 of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, to subdue 
 
 pride and arrogance, to allay the passions of anger and 
 
 fc 
 revenge. The solemnities attending its celebration 
 
 tend to secure these great results ; for who can hope 
 for pardon and reconciliation with his Maker who has 
 not renounced all enmity to hig fellow man ? 
 
 The temple service on this day was accompanied by 
 rites the most solemn and impressive. The sacrifice, 
 the purifications of the priesthood, and the solemn en- 
 tering of the high priest into the holiest place, to stand 
 alone with God within the veil, must have impressed 
 th t e worshippers with sentiments of the most solemn 
 awe. But as we have now neither temple, sacrifices, 
 priesthood, nor offerings, we observe the injunction of 
 the prophet : " To obey is better than sacrifice, and to 
 hearken than the fat of rams." (1 Sam. xv. 22.)
 
 92 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION LIX. 
 
 TABERNACLES. 
 
 The next festival to which we shall refer is desig- 
 nated the Feast of Tabernacles, or, in scriptural lan- 
 guage, the " festival of gathering," or autumnal feast. 
 The precept is clear and precise in enjoining the ob- 
 servance, " Seven days you shall dwell in booths, that 
 your latest descendants may learn to know that I caused 
 the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought 
 them out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your 
 God." (Levit xxiii. 30.) " And you shall take unto 
 yourselves on the first day the fruit of the tree Hadar, 
 the palm branch, the twig of the tree Aboth, and the 
 willow of the brook, and you shall be joyful before the 
 Eternal your God seven days." [We keep the second 
 day also as a festival, for the reason given in Section 
 liv.] The purposes for which it was instituted are, 
 therefore, twofold; first, as a memorial that our fathers 
 dwelt in the desert in booths, and, secondly, to com- 
 memorate the gathering in of the fruits of the earth, the 
 wine and oil ; we therefore take and combine four kinds
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 93 
 
 of fruit together, and wave them as a token of thanks- 
 giving before the Lord, partake of the bounties which 
 are spread by his kind care, and bless the name of the 
 eternal King, who has been mindful of our wants. We 
 combine the different fruits, the scarcest and most costly 
 with the lowly willow, that we may symbolically convey 
 the lesson, that the hand of God protects with equal 
 tenderness and care the lowly and the high, extends the 
 provision of his bounty to every grade and clime, that 
 hence we learn the lesson of humility and forbearance, 
 not to despise the ignorant or poor, the labourer or the 
 slave. 
 
 The intermediate days, from the second of the Taber- 
 nacles holiday till the Feast of Conclusion, are half 
 ^festivals, and the last is named Hoshana Rabba, on 
 which some particular ceremonies are observed in the 
 synagogue, but they are of cabalistic origin. 
 
 SECTION LX. 
 
 The Feast of Conclusion commences on the evening 
 of the seventh day of Tabernacles, or the 21st of Tishri, 
 and the 22nd is a separate holiday, the authority for
 
 94 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 which is, " On the eighth day ye shall have the Feast of 
 Conclusion, and do no manner of work." (Numb. 
 xxix. 35.) This is therefore called the " Conclusion 
 Feast," as it concludes the three national feasts. On 
 this occasion, as on Passover and Pentecost Feasts, the 
 male population of Judea were commanded to appear 
 at Jerusalem, to present themselves before the Lord. 
 What an animated and striking scene was then pre- 
 sented to the eye of the spectator : the temple, in its 
 majestic grandeur and beauty; the priests, in their 
 stately robes, receiving the offerings of the worshippers 
 amidst the hymns and melodies of music and of voices ; 
 the palaces of the kings, the solemn assembly of the 
 synod, and the gathering of innumerable multitudes, all 
 contributing to render its attractions most striking and 
 impressive. These three festivals were scenes of joy 
 and pleasure ; the design of their appointment was, that 
 the nation might have its seasons for religious worship, 
 assemble at Jerusalem, show their attachment to God, 
 to princes, priests, and judges, and thus renew, from 
 time to time, their national union. These festivals also 
 afforded excellent opportunities of settling family dis- 
 putes, promoting concord, creating friendship, and con-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 95 
 
 suiting on improvements in their occupations as agricul- 
 turists, or other affairs. 
 
 The Conclusion Feast of the 22nd of Tishri we also 
 hold on the 23rd (for reasons mentioned in Section liv.), 
 and, since more modern times, this day has been cele- 
 brated under the name of Rejoicing of the Law, when 
 the yearly reading of the book of the Law is concluded 
 and recommenced. 
 
 [This 23rd day being wholly of rabbinical origin, is 
 not kept by the reformed Jews ; they finish and recom- 
 mence reading the Law during the afternoon service on 
 the 22nd.] 
 
 SECTION LXI. 
 
 CONSECRATION DAYS. 
 
 In addition to the festivals already described, which 
 are instituted by Divine authority, we have other days 
 in which we commemorate the great events that have 
 occurred in the history of the Jewish nation. On 
 these occasions we are not debarred from pursuing our 
 daily avocations, nor do we consider these days as 
 sacred holidays, though they are seasons of rejoicing.
 
 96 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 The Consecration of the Temple is the first to which 
 we shall allude. We commemorate it on the 25th of 
 the month Kislav, and observe it for eight days. The 
 great event to which it refers is the purification of the 
 temple by the pious Maccabees. Under the guidance 
 of the high priest, Mathias, and his sons, the Israelites, 
 in the year 3630, A.M., obtained a signal victory over 
 the army of Antiochus Epiphanes. Having returned as 
 conquerors, the temple of Jerusalem was purified from 
 its defilement by the Greeks, the altar rebuilt and con- 
 secrated again. Tradition informs us, that when the 
 Israelites took possession of the temple, they found a 
 small vessel of oil which was used to supply the lamps 
 of the temple, the quantity of which was sufficient for 
 one night's consumption only ; and as no more conse- 
 crated oil could be obtained, this, like the widow's 
 cruise, was found by miraculous interposition to be suf- 
 ficient to supply the lamps for eight successive nights, 
 till oil properly prepared could be procured. For these 
 reasons our sages ordained that, during this festival, we 
 should light lamps in our synagogues and dwellings, 
 with songs and praise and thanksgiving. To com- 
 memorate the event they also enjoined that the number
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 97 
 
 of lights should be increased by one each evening, so 
 that on the first we light one lamp, on the second two, 
 and so on till eight lamps conclude the festival. 
 
 SECTION LXII. 
 
 FEAST OF PURIM. 
 
 On this festival, which is kept on the 14th day of Adar, 
 we commemorate the miraculous deliverance of the 
 nation from death. We recall to our remembrance the 
 decree of Ahasuerus and the evil designs of Haman. 
 The book of Esther, which records these interesting 
 events, is publicly read in the synagogue with great 
 solemnity in the evening and morning, accompanied 
 by special thanksgiving for so marked an interposition 
 of God's providence. In our social intercourse on this 
 occasion the season is distinguished by unusual hospi- 
 tality and mutual kindness, by the interchange of 
 presents, distribution of alms to the needy, and acts of 
 benevolence. We regard these as sacred obligations 
 which are demanded by the day, and the authority for 
 which we have expressly given in Esther ix. 25 : 
 
 H
 
 98 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 " To make them days of feasting and joy, and to send 
 presents one to another, and to distribute gifts to the 
 needy." 
 
 SECTION LXIII. 
 
 FAST DAYS. 
 
 We now proceed very briefly to enumerate the ad- 
 ditional fast days, having already referred to the most 
 solemn one, the Day of Atonement. We set apart for 
 this purpose the 10th of Tebet, on which Nebuchad- 
 nezzar commenced the siege of Jerusalem. The 17th 
 Tanms commemorates the taking of Jerusalem previous 
 to the destruction of the second temple (3830 A.M.) 
 and many other calamities which then befel the nation. 
 
 The 9th of Ab is set apart to recall the succession 
 of calamities occurring at that period, the destruction 
 of the first and second temple, and the dissolution of 
 the Jewish commonwealth, and is therefore regarded 
 by us as a day for special fasting and lamentation. 
 
 The 3rd Tishri points out the slaughter of the ruler 
 Gedaliahj who was left by Nebuchadnezzar to preside 
 over the Israelites after the destruction of the first
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 99 
 
 temple, and whose death exposed the people to the 
 most cruel indignities and sufferings. 
 
 The 13th Adar is designed to commemorate the re- 
 markable fast instituted by Esther the Queen and the 
 Jews who dwelt at Shushan. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 * 
 SECTION LXIV. 
 
 WORSHIP, ITS NATURE AND TENDENCY. 
 
 BY divine command Moses erected the tabernacle 
 and appointed the ritual or ceremonial observances for 
 both the priests and the people, and as the command 
 was explicit, the ministrations of religious worship 
 were continued during the sojourn in the desert. This 
 was succeeded by a temple reared by Solomon, and in 
 his reign the solemnities of worship were observed with 
 unusual splendour. The great truth was recognized by 
 this illustrious king, and embodied in his consecration 
 prayer, "that the heaven of heavens cannot contain 
 the majesty of God, much less the house which he had 
 built." An earthly temple with its gorgeous splendour
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 101 
 
 was yet both insignificant and worthless when con- 
 trasted with the immensity and holiness of God. 
 
 Worship is the homage due from the creature to the 
 Creator, the reverence of a subject to a sovereign. That 
 it contributes nothing to the majesty of God, renders 
 no additional glory to the Eternal, is obvious, but on 
 the contrary its effects are seen in the increasing piety 
 and wisdom of the worshipper. The welfare of man is 
 the direct result, the acquirement of those habits of 
 humiliation, dependence, fear, and hope, which are es- 
 sential to this spiritual excellence of character; the 
 emotions of gratitude and love thus cherished not only 
 ennoble, but prepare the spirit for the enjoyment of a 
 future scene. Thus the psalmist describes the effects : 
 " He who offereth me thanks glorifieth me, and to him 
 that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the 
 salvation of God." (Ps. 1. 23.) 
 
 SECTION LXV. 
 
 The condition of the Israelites must be remembered. 
 They were slaves, and at the time unfitted for the en- 
 joyment of perfect freedom; and the reversal of their
 
 102 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 condition would have been accompanied with danger- 
 ous results. The example of idolatry in Egypt had 
 weakened their perceptions of truth, and had left their 
 minds debased and wavering ; it was therefore necessary 
 that the first principles of truth should be communicated 
 in a simple and explicit form. Hence the duties of 
 the ten commandments were first taught, the avoidance 
 of sins which would have been attended with peril to 
 the community in succeeding times. Worship was com- 
 manded, that they might be induced to recognize at 
 stated periods the unity and supremacy of the living 
 God. Hence also arose the necessity of a priesthood to 
 preside, of sacrifices to be offered, and of ceremonies 
 to impress the minds of the assembled worshippers. 
 These institutions were eminently successful ; through 
 them the people derived religious knowledge, and 
 learnt to perceive the distinctions between vice and 
 virtue, obedience and sin. 
 
 SECTION LXVI. 
 
 The erection of the tabernacle as well as its worship 
 subserved these purposes in the wilderness, and when
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 103 
 
 the families spread in Judea, and founded villages 
 and towns, the temple was erected in Jerusalem ; for 
 God said, "In strength will I build mine house to 
 stand fast for ever." Jerusalem, the capital, contained 
 many advantages for this purpose ; it was the residence 
 of the king, the priests, the magistrates, and the 
 military powers. 
 
 Moses accordingly commanded that the people 
 should present themselves before the Lord in the 
 three great festivals, that their devotions to God might 
 be accompanied with due solemnity, and that their 
 respect for the lawfully-constituted authorities of the 
 land and their union in the bonds of national brother- 
 hood might be more firmly and indissolubly cemented. 
 At these times the rites of hospitality were liberally 
 practised and the people mutually rejoiced as members 
 of one common family. 
 
 SECTION LXVII. 
 
 At the time the temple existed, daily Sabbath and 
 feast offerings were presented as devotional gifts, and 
 with these ascended prayers for the congregation and
 
 104 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 for individuals. Men of every clime and language were 
 permitted to enter within its gates and to pray before 
 the Lord. Sacrifices were, however, restricted to the 
 service of the temple, the place which God had chosen, 
 and to offer them without its precincts would have 
 been a great violation of the Divine command. Hence 
 sacrifices ceased when the temple was destroyed. Je- 
 rusalem had been appointed as the city, and the 
 temple as the spot to which these solemn offerings 
 were to be brought. It must be remembered, that the 
 cessation of sacrifices cannot affect the moral or spi- 
 ritual condition of a nation; for in Jerusalem private 
 sacrifices were not necessary either for worship or the 
 safety of the worshipper. The man who never brought 
 a voluntary offering was not condemned; the great 
 principle being recognized, that God will have mercy 
 and not sacrifice, that a life of virtue and religion is 
 more acceptable to God than the most costly sacrifices 
 which we can offer. 
 
 SECTION LXVIII. 
 
 Worship may be regarded as external and inward, 
 as relating to the circumstances which affect the
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 105 
 
 actions, and those which accompany the emotions of 
 the heart. Inward worship implies the reverential 
 homage which we pay, in sentiments of adoration, 
 confidence, and gratitude to the Supreme, our aspira- 
 tions, prayers, and praises blending harmoniously with 
 the declarations of God's will. These affections spring 
 from our contemplation of God's works, his word, and 
 providential care. We recognize his hand in the 
 shining of the sun, the dew and rain, the fruitful field, 
 and the provisions of our tables. His word reveals 
 still fuller glories, viz., that he is a tender Father, a 
 righteous Judge, long suffering and abounding in mercy; 
 and whilst we meditate upon these truths the heart 
 expands, the affections glow, the spirit is carried into 
 devotional exercises of gratitude and love ; we trust his 
 promises with firm reliance, and offer the inward and 
 happy worship of the spirit. To this David refers 
 when exhorting his son : " And thou, Solomon my 
 son, know the God of thy fathers, and serve him with 
 an undivided heart and a willing mind ; for the Eternal 
 searches all hearts, and discovers all inclinations and 
 thoughts."
 
 106 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION LXIX. 
 
 Outward worship, however, respects those actions 
 which should accompany the real and inward devo- 
 tion. Benevolence and charity, however estimable, can 
 never supply the place of external worship, or com- 
 pensate for its absence ; for it includes the acts of pri- 
 vate and public prayer, and obedience to the ceremonial 
 law. Neither contemplation nor study can suffice, as we 
 must fulfil our duties, regard our mutual relations, and 
 prove the sincerity of our religion by acts of external 
 worship. We, therefore, present to God the homage of 
 the spirit and of the body the one to express our deep 
 affections, and the other to embody them in outward 
 obedience to the Divine law. The necessity of setting 
 apart stated particular periods for religious exercise 
 will be apparent; the avocations of human life, the 
 engagements of business, would otherwise absorb all 
 our energies and consume our whole existence, whilst 
 the appropriation of periods for religious worship re- 
 calls the attention from the world we inhabit to the 
 Deity whom we serve, and leads us to make prepara-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 107 
 
 tions for the realms of light and immortality. Another 
 important purpose which is accomplished by the insti- 
 tution of religious worship is, that pious feeling is 
 strengthened by sympathy a communion with others 
 gives to it increasing energy and force ; by the mutual 
 cultivation of religious and virtuous habits we attain 
 more readily the power and the facility of self-govern- 
 ment, the controul of passions, and the formation of 
 habits of obedience to God. Worship is, however, to 
 be contemplated not only as a duty, but as a privilege, 
 a source of pure and unfeigned delight. What can be 
 more congenial to the affections than to speak often of 
 the friend whom we love, and the home in which we 
 hope to dwell ; the tongue is loosened and the affec- 
 tions kindle while we dwell on themes like these. 
 
 SECTION LXX. 
 
 In worship we praise God with the whole heart. 
 Our words of praise are but feeble indications of the 
 strength and depth of our sentiments, the outward act 
 being necessary to evidence the inward emotion ; and 
 as every good man loves God with pure and filial affec-
 
 108 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 tion, it is but natural that such sentiments should give 
 rise to songs of praise, or silent meditation, or 
 obedience to the laws which He has ordained. When, 
 therefore, in the midst of the solemn assembly, we 
 publicly proclaim the blessings which we have re- 
 ceived, avow our gratitude, read the most holy Law, 
 and observe the religious rites which God has com- 
 manded, we stimulate ourselves and others to practise 
 religious duties, and we deepen the foundations of 
 true religion, fulfilling the Divine command, " And 
 I will be sanctified in the midst of the children of 
 Israel." We therefore regard worship as sanctifying 
 God and exalting his name, and as the act of rendering 
 homage and gratitude to him. Without these senti- 
 ments all outward acts and offerings are vain and worth- 
 less a heartless prayer, an unmeaning ceremony, a 
 posture of the body, with no intention of rendering 
 homage, can prove of no avail to man, and is an offence 
 against God, for the Lord looketh to the heart, every 
 ceremony being designed only to remind us of God's 
 providential care, and all acts of worship to be the ex- 
 pression of our piety and zeal. If we neglect the con- 
 sideration of the design of worship, we fall under the
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 109 
 
 condemnation, "He that turneth away his ear from 
 hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be abomination." 
 (Prov. xxviii. 9.) " Because these people came nigh 
 unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from 
 me." (Isaiah xxix. 10.) 
 
 SECTION LXXI. 
 
 In ancient times the Hebrew language was univer- 
 sally employed by the Jews, and extemporaneous prayer 
 appears to have been the general practice. Each man, 
 prompted by a sense of his individual wants and de- 
 sires, conveyed them in the act of prayer without re- 
 straint ; but after the dispersion of the nation, and 
 when they had to sojourn in other countries, the know- 
 ledge of the language gradually disappeared, and they 
 felt considerable difficulty in expressing their sentiments 
 as formerly. To obviate this inconvenience, Ezra the 
 scribe and the great Synod are supposed to have 
 arranged some forms of prayer, and expressed them 
 in the language which was commonly employed, and 
 which now form the basis of the ritual which we use. 
 This uniformity of worship secures a more perfect uni-
 
 110 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 formity of religious sentiment and worship amongst 
 Israelites. 
 
 The custom observed amongst us is, that where ten 
 male Israelites dwell, they select a separate room in 
 which they meet at the appointed times, the morning, 
 afternoon, and evening, to offer their supplications to 
 the Most High ; and such a house of prayer we term a 
 synagogue. 
 
 SECTION LXXII. 
 
 In addition to the worship of the synagogue there 
 are special prayers and thanksgivings to be offered be- 
 fore we eat and drink, and retire to rest ; we are di- 
 rected to acknowledge the benefits conferred on us, and 
 to solicit the continuance of God's favours. To habituate 
 ourselves to devotional exercises, we are required to 
 learn the Hebrew language, that we may be able to 
 comprehend and employ the customary prayers, whilst 
 we are enjoined to blend meekness, devotion, and sin- 
 cerity of heart ; then may we expect that the all- wise 
 and merciful Father will grant us our requests, so far as 
 they are compatible with our own interests and his
 
 THE DECALOGUE. Ill 
 
 glory. The direction of our thoughts towards God thus 
 tends to moral excellence and spiritual elevation, makes 
 us contented with the dispensations of divine Provi- 
 dence, and liberal and just in our conduct to- 
 wards others, whilst it inspires us with fervour and 
 zeal in the discharge of our social duties. Important 
 results may also be traced to the habits of self-research 
 which are thus induced ; we naturally examine our de- 
 sires before we give them expression, we test their 
 prudence and truth, and determine whether prudence 
 and discretion will lend us their sanction in making 
 them known to God. 
 
 SECTION LXXIII. 
 
 Supplications for Divine assistance will lead us to 
 inquire whether the difficulties which we deplore, and 
 from which we seek deliverance, were brought on by 
 our folly or negligence, and whether the evil may not 
 at present be avoided by consideration and prudence. 
 When we pray for others we discover the useful ten- 
 dency of such an effort in increasing sympathy, in 
 deeper pity for their misfortunes, and in our greater
 
 112 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 benevolence and charity in action. In the act of re- 
 turning thanks for benefits conferred our enjoyment 
 of the blessing becomes heightened, and is rendered 
 more intense, purer, and more spiritual, since we refer 
 it to the great source of benevolence and goodness. 
 
 The regulations of our sages with respect to prayer 
 imply the necessity of devotion and attention, and it is 
 obvious that prayer without devotion resembles a life- 
 less body, from which the immortal spirit has fled. 
 Again, prayer without devotion resembles the flight of 
 the arrow through the air, which leaves no trace of its 
 progress. The mind should therefore be collected, the 
 thoughts concentrated, the attention immoveably di- 
 rected towards God, and the whole spirit should be 
 pervaded with the solemn consciousness that the eye of 
 the Lord is upon us, and his ear is open to our cry. 
 
 [Those who have no knowledge of the Hebrew 
 language may employ the vernacular for praise and 
 thanksgivings.]
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 113 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SECTION LXXIV. 
 
 TRADITION, OR THE ORAL LAW, AND FOUNDATION OF 
 
 THE MISHNA. 
 
 THE majority of the Israelites believe that God in 
 ancient times delivered laws to Moses, which were 
 unwritten, and that in addition to the books and pre- 
 cepts which are recorded, Moses received oral interpre- 
 tations of the Law, which he communicated orally to 
 others. At the close of his life we find that he ap- 
 pointed Joshua to be the leader of the nation, and that, 
 in his hearing, he repeated all the commands and pro- 
 hibitions which have been collected in the book of 
 Deuteronomy. It is evidently impossible to suppose 
 that all the detailed expositions of these laws, their
 
 114 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 application and relative bearings could have been writ- 
 ten, especially in the expectation of approaching death. 
 Moses would therefore, it is supposed, content himself 
 with delivering them traditionally to Joshua, enjoining 
 on him that he should teach them without adding to 
 or diminishing from their number. In like manner it 
 is asserted in the traditions of the fathers, that Joshua 
 taught them to the elders, the elders to the prophets, 
 and the prophets to the men of the great Synod. 
 
 SECTION LXXV. 
 
 The Synod, or, in the Greek language, the Sanhedrin, 
 consisted of seventy persons, who were selected from 
 the wisest and best of the nation ; their president was 
 styled the prince, and their meetings were held at 
 Jerusalem. From this ecclesiastical court, which was 
 considered to be entrusted with the duty of watching 
 over and expounding the Law, the traditions to which 
 we have referred were supposed to have been handed 
 down, and thus transmitted, orally, from generation to 
 generation until the time of Ezra, the wisest and best of 
 the land, when one hundred and twenty sages met and 
 framed these bye-laws, as necessary defences and
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 115 
 
 barriers against the encroachments which might be 
 made either upon its letter or its spirit. 
 
 Schools and colleges appear at the same time to have 
 been founded in different places, over which profes- 
 sors, deeply versed in Jewish law, presided. Judges 
 were then appointed, who gave their decision in all 
 matters of dispute, and whose office also it was to en- 
 force the authority and obligation of the Law, and to 
 expound its meaning according to the oral testimonies 
 which they had received. 
 
 [Those traditions are not accepted in the same 
 manner by the Jews of the reformed ritual. They be- 
 lieve that the Mishna contains a true account of many 
 practices and customs that prevailed in the second 
 temple; but they do not regard the Mishna in any 
 other light than a compilation by uninspired men, 
 whose motives were pure, but whose judgment was 
 often at fault. Whilst, therefore, they observe many 
 rabbinical precepts, they perform them because they 
 are good in themselves, and not because they possess 
 any binding religious authority. The only infallible 
 authority recognized by those who are called the re- 
 formed Israelites is the Holy Bible.] 
 
 i 2
 
 116 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION LXXVI. 
 
 In succeeding ages disputes and differences of in- 
 terpretation arose ; then verbal explanations were neces- 
 sarily, from the infirmities of the human mind, somewhat 
 obscure and imperfect. Occasionally the teachers of 
 the Law omitted some doctrines and precepts through 
 forgetfulness, and added others as supplementary; some 
 who were possessed of more extensive knowledge ex- 
 plained the precepts in a new sense, or gave them a 
 different application to meet new contingencies which 
 arose, whilst others undesignedly corrupted the testi- 
 monies which they had received. The confusion thus 
 occasioned became alarming ; disputes and dissensions 
 increased, the integrity of the Law was threatened, and 
 it was necessary that some degree of uniformity in dis- 
 cipline and doctrine should be restored. To increase 
 the danger, the teachers of the Law became reduced in 
 numbers, through the oppressions of the people, and 
 hence arose the emergency, giving rise to the collec- 
 tion and arrangement of these Laws into a more concise 
 and harmonious system. Rabbi Judah Hanassi com-
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 117 
 
 piled (3980 A.M.) all the doctrines, explanations, and 
 judgments which had been given in past ages, and 
 committed them to writing, in the form of short sen- 
 tences, noting the differences which then existed on 
 controverted points ; he also occasionally gave his own 
 decision, whilst he left others undecided. All these 
 writings are contained in six books, which, collectively, 
 are styled the Mishna, which means the repetition of the 
 Law. It may be urged that this was contrary to the 
 letter of the Law, but the circumstances to which we 
 have referred must be regarded as extenuatory, and 
 justifying the act, and it is obvious that there are times 
 when necessity requires the suspension of obedience to 
 a precept, to preserve the integrity of the whole Law, or 
 that of an essential portion of it. 
 
 SECTION LXXVII. 
 
 THE TALMUD. 
 
 The effort made, however, was unsuccessful, as in a 
 short time the same difficulty and danger to the 
 interests of religion were felt. The Mishna, with all its 
 excellencies, was too brief, many matters were left un-
 
 118 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 determined, and some were unintelligible without ad- 
 ditional explanations. A hundred and eighty years 
 elapsed and the evil was unremedied, when, at that 
 period (4160 A.M.), Rabbi Jochanan compiled the Jeru- 
 salem Talmud, and a hundred years later (4260 A.M.), 
 two eminently learned and pious men, Rabina and 
 Rabashii, collected again the traditions of the past, ex- 
 plained them more fully, and illustrated them so that 
 they might become intelligible. This work, which is 
 styled the Babylonian Talmud, divided into thirty-six 
 books, contains the explanation of texts of Scripture, 
 the code of moral, civil, and ceremonial laws, much 
 useful information in arts and sciences, disquisitions on 
 moral and social virtue, and rules for conduct in life. 
 These are all scattered in rich profusion, but with less 
 order, amongst the treasures of the book, which may be 
 entitled a universal cyclopaedia. 
 
 SECTION LXXVIII. 
 
 The Talmud has been assailed and calumniated at 
 different times by the friends and enemies of Judaism. 
 Its friends have contended that some of the doctrines
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 119 
 
 and precepts are not worthy of observance, and its 
 enemies have charged the authors with immorality, and 
 held up its testimonies to ridicule. Piles of wood were 
 often kindled for its destruction ; in short, no production 
 of human talent and industry has ever met with more 
 ungenerous treatment, but the reason was, that they 
 took hold of its shadow, withdut perceiving or con- 
 sidering its reality and value. It is only after a careful 
 survey of the whole of Jewish history that the lustre 
 of the work will shine forth. The non-Israelite, with- 
 out the most extensive learning and incessant labour, 
 cannot be expected to understand or appreciate its con- 
 tents ; but Jewish calumniators, who have renounced 
 their faith from pecuniary or malevolent motives, have 
 been deeply engaged in the attempt to prove its ab- 
 surdity, and to heap dishonour on its writers, to please 
 priests and monks ; but many eminent Christian theolo- 
 gians, as Professors Rabe, Reichlin, and Buxtorf, have 
 left their honourable testimonies to the value of the Tal- 
 mud ; the latter declares " that those are generally the 
 despisers of the Talmud who have the least acquaintance 
 with it."
 
 120 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 SECTION LXXIX. 
 
 The Talmud cannot be considered as an ordinarily 
 written book. It bears no comparison with any literary 
 work, since its contents, figuratively speaking, exhibit a 
 world of its own, whioh must be judged by its own laws ; 
 it is therefore very difficult to assign its true rank to 
 the work from the want of a measure or standard, and 
 even he who is endowed with the best knowledge, and 
 acquainted with its peculiarities, cannot succeed in this 
 point. It matters, however, less what the Talmud is, 
 than what it has effected in history, that is to say, what 
 it has done for the succeeding generations as the chief 
 agent in their education. It cannot be gainsaid that 
 the Talmud is not free from inconsistencies, like many 
 other productions of genius, which follow their own 
 course with a peculiar consistency and undeviating di- 
 rection. These defects may be summed up under four 
 heads: 1st, That the Talmud contains many incongruous 
 matters, which it treats with too much importance and 
 in too serious a manner, and some doctrines appear not 
 worthy of observance. 2ndly, That it received from
 
 ' 
 THE DECALOGUE. 121 
 
 Persia some superstitious particulars and institutions 
 which presuppose the existence of mediate beings, 
 which is contradictory to the spirit of Judaism. 
 Srdly, That the Talmud contains some expressions and 
 views concerning members of other nations and creeds 
 which might be considered as immoral and unsocial. 
 And 4thly, That these bye-laws, which are supple- 
 mentary to Scripture, appear superfluous and unsuited 
 to the age. 
 
 For these faults the whole Talmud has been made 
 responsible and condemned, without considering that it 
 is not the work of a single author, or of a few in- 
 dividuals living in the same society under similiar 
 circumstances, who would have to answer for their 
 words; else, if such responsibility existed, the whole 
 Jewish nation would have to be considered as the au- 
 thors, and made responsible. Let it be remembered 
 that more then six hundred years are represented, as 
 it were petrified, in the Talmud, possessing a life of 
 its own, conspicuous for phraseology and thought, as a 
 literary Hercules, towering up unparalleled and in- 
 capable of being compressed into narrow dimensions. 
 It cannot surprise us if in such a world the sublime and
 
 122 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 the vulgar, magnitude and frivolousness, seriousness 
 and puerility, the altar and the ashes, are found 
 mixed together. 
 
 In order to answer the accusations mentioned before, 
 we must consider, 1st. That we ought not to interpret 
 all its expressions too literally, while the conventional 
 phraseology of those times was eminently figurative. 
 2ndly. As a counterpoise to gross superstition, we 
 find earnest warnings against superstitious heathen 
 practices, and injunctions against the blasphemous 
 idea of mediation between the great Creator and 
 his creatures. Srdly. In regard to the immoral ex- 
 pressions upon which the enemies of Judaism harp, 
 they can only be regarded as hasty expressions of an 
 exasperated individual, and as the result of observations 
 on the circumstances by which the authors were 
 surrounded. Their companions and neighbours were 
 heathens, who acknowledged not God, and disregarded 
 the ties and claims of humanity, and therefore some 
 doctrines of reprisal and of retaliation cannot be 
 considered as unjust, such having been so frequently 
 employed in the decisions of judges and the laws 
 of nations; but even those are fully outweighed
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 123 
 
 and overbalanced by the many lessons of humanity, 
 benevolence, and love which the Talmud teaches us 
 to observe towards mankind, without distinction of 
 birth, religion, or creed. 4thly. Their explanation of 
 the sacred volume only is, even by the most ortho- 
 dox party, considered as the oral law, whilst their 
 conversations, mystical allusions, allegories, parables, 
 proverbs, facetious similes, are not regarded as doc- 
 trines ; and those fences and barriers which they 
 thought it necessary to erect at their times for 
 protecting the divine Law cannot have been intended 
 for eternity. 
 
 SECTION LXXX. 
 
 An infinite abundance of thoughts and stirring 
 ideas are deposited in the store-house of the Talmud, 
 but not all as a finished theme, which could be 
 mastered in a state of somnolency ; it requires all the 
 acuteness of a vigorous intellect, penetrating as it 
 does into the deepest recesses, pursuing it from stage 
 to stage, till it often rises to such a height of incompre- 
 hensibility as to bewilder the amazed fancy.
 
 124 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 The Babylon Talmud has been preferred as a 
 valuable possession of the Jewish nation, as the breath 
 and soul of their national life, and it became for 
 the succeeding generations a family history in 
 which they felt themselves at home and moved 
 and had their being, the thinker in the ideas, the 
 essayist in the beauteous ideal figures and forms. 
 For thirteen centuries the external world nature 
 and its glories, the pleasures and the sorrows of life, 
 its stirring events, exhilarating and depressing feelings 
 did not exist for the Jews, or had only a phantom 
 existence. Their reality was the Talmud ; a new object 
 was, in their eyes, considered only as true when it could 
 be found sanctioned and attested by the authority of the 
 Talmud. Even the knowledge of the Bible, as their 
 ancient national history, the fiery or balmy words of the 
 prophets, the deep gush from the psalmist's soul were 
 often known to them only through the Talmud, and 
 viewed in its light. But as Judaism has been founded on 
 the ground of the true rules of life, and the Talmud dis- 
 cussed the realities of this world, the visionary opinions, 
 the contempt of the world, the hatred to reality pre- 
 vailing in the middle ages, the hermit life, the
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 125 
 
 monks and the nuns, could not produce any impression 
 on the Jewish nation. In a word, the Talmud was the 
 educator of the Jewish nation, and this education was 
 not bad ; as, in spite of all disturbing influences of 
 exemption, dejection, and systematic immorality which 
 did prevail during these ages, the Talmud fostered in 
 the Jewish mind morals, the purity of which was even 
 admitted by their enemies. It has supported and pro- 
 moted the religion and moral life of Judaism, has 
 erected for the dispersed congregations on the globe 
 such a banner as prevented their splitting in factions or 
 sects, while it has shaped the mind of Israel, sharpened 
 their intellect, and has taken care that even the en- 
 slaved and contemned should not grow dampish, while 
 the torch of knowledge has been kindled for them. 
 
 SECTION LXXXI. 
 
 The authors of the Talmud were unpaid teachers, 
 and as they lived by their own industry, as black- 
 smiths, boot-makers, and by other laborious trades, they 
 were independent. They used their freedom of speech 
 and expression without fear of being considered by one
 
 126 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 party as too orthodox, or by another as sceptics or in- 
 novators, while their pupils, in their ardent desire 
 and eagerness that not a lesson of their teachers should 
 be lost or forgotten, wrote down everything which has 
 been embodied in the Talmud. Therefore we find in 
 this work such latitudinarian expressions and lessons, 
 that, if they were not uttered by such high authorities, 
 but in after ages, when the inquisition was errone- 
 ously considered as the means for the protection of 
 religion, they would have been despised, and the 
 authors condemned. In conclusion, I say that every 
 reflecting Jew who possesses a knowledge of the Tal- 
 mud should regard this work with as much reverence 
 and respect as the Christians and Mahometans pay to 
 their sacred books ; and it may be worthy of remark, 
 that there is no moral lesson contained either in the 
 New Testament or Koran which is not to be traced in 
 the Talmud ; and as the founder of Christianity was a 
 scholar of a Talmudical college, it may be properly in- 
 ferred that he and his successors are indebted to Jewish 
 sages for the moral lessons which they teach.
 
 THE DECALOGUE. 127 
 
 SECTION LXXXII. 
 
 The work " Yad Hachsakah," written by Rabbi Moses 
 Maimonides (4936 A.M.), and the " Shulihan Aruch," 
 edited by Rabbi Don Joseph Caro (5325 A.M.), form 
 the code, in concise and systematic order, containing 
 the decided and established laws of the Talmud, with 
 the omission of the discussions. 
 
 The doctrines and precepts of the Talmud are the 
 material which furnish themes of instruction for the 
 Jewish Rabbis and ecclesiastical assemblies through- 
 out all generations ; by their assistance the people are 
 taught the true objects of faith, the necessity of dis- 
 criminating between true and false religions, to avoid 
 the superstition, idolatry, and infidelity by which they 
 are surrounded, to perceive the relations and duties of 
 the several conditions in human life, and the laws of 
 God and of the state. In these books parents are 
 taught the necessity of superintending, with a watchful 
 eye, the conduct and education of their children, to 
 make due provision for the wants and necessities of 
 human life, to examine their conduct in the house of
 
 128 THE DECALOGUE. 
 
 prayer, to offer up their devotions with solemnity and 
 decorum, to lay aside, in the services of religion, the 
 distinction between rich and poor, and to remember 
 that the Lord is the maker of them all, and to retain 
 the deep impression that the vigilant and unslumber- 
 ing eye of the Eternal King is present to behold the 
 evil and the good. 
 
 SECTION LXXXIII. 
 
 To attain these ends more fully, it is provided that 
 the wardens and ecclesiastical officers of the congre- 
 gation should discharge their duties with fidelity, from 
 motives which are pure and blameless ; that they be 
 accordingly selected from those classes in society which 
 will exempt them from the sense of obligation to, or 
 dependence on, their fellow-worshippers ; that truth, 
 justice, and impartiality do characterize their conduct, 
 and that the welfare of the congregation be their only 
 motive of action. Hence also it follows, that the con- 
 gregation should obey willingly the directions of their 
 religious teachers, and comply cheerfully with their 
 suggestions, which have a tendency to promote the 
 prosperity and happiness of the community.
 
 129 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SECTION LXXXIV. 
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 EVERY reflecting man, without distinction of creed or 
 country, will perceive that there are duties towards 
 God, towards himself, his fellow man, and the state, 
 which devolve upon him. 
 
 Our duties towards God consist in the acknowledg- 
 ment of his unity, supremacy, power, wisdom, and 
 goodness, and in obedience to the commands which he 
 has given. From these perceptions of the divine 
 nature, we are led to expect reward or punishment, to 
 confide in his paternal love, to indulge the hope that 
 whilst we seek his favour in preference to worldly 
 
 K
 
 130 DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES. 
 
 interests, with uprightness of heart, the eye of the Lord 
 is upon us, and his ear is open unto our cry. 
 
 Thus we are furnished with an antidote against 
 despair, a condition the most deplorable and appalling, 
 against which the testimony of the prophet is directed : 
 " As sure as I live, speaks the Eternal God, I have no 
 pleasure in the death of a sinner, but I desire that he 
 may return from his wicked way and live." (Ezek. 
 xxxiii. 11.) 
 
 All the duties of man may be comprised in the 
 general precept, " Fear thou the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart, and with all thy soul ; walk thus in his 
 ways." 
 
 SECTION LXXXV. 
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES. 
 
 There are duties to be performed to ourselves, and 
 amongst those is that we should ever retain a con- 
 sciousness of our dignity and destination, that we are 
 created 4n the Divine image, and that eternity is our 
 home and dwelling-place. That we are created in the 
 likeness of God affords us the strongest motive to
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES. 131 
 
 attain to moral excellence and purity, to cultivate the 
 powers of mind and body which God has given, and to 
 strive to approach perfection. 
 
 In the regulation of our thoughts and passions, and 
 in the formation of our character, we are thus ad- 
 monished to use these powers discreetly, to direct them 
 to wise and useful objects, and, in imitation of the 
 Deity, to blend wisdom and goodness with influence 
 and power, that reason and religion should unite to 
 form our character and govern our lives. 
 
 It is true, that no direct command to love ourselves 
 is given, but it is rather implied as a necessary con- 
 dition of our being ; but the Divine command, " to love 
 our neighbours as ourselves," has recognized it so fully 
 that it has made it the standard or measure of the love 
 which we are desired to bear to others. Self-love, 
 founded on self-respect in its purest form, requires that 
 we should examine the aspects and chances of the ob- 
 jects which present themselves before us, select the 
 good and reject the evil, that we should penetrate the 
 surface, and not content ourselves with blind attach- 
 ment to pleasing and grateful aspects which appearances 
 convey ; lest we should mistake the shadow for the sub- 
 
 K 2
 
 132 DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES. 
 
 stance, and find that our hopes are ultimately extin- 
 guished by despair. The body endowed with health 
 and vigour demands our care for its preservation, and 
 the avoidance of excess of appetite or passion which 
 might weaken or destroy it. Considered rightly, the 
 body is a temple for the Deity, a sacred shrine, in 
 which his presence may be recognized, whilst our 
 thoughts, our words, and actions show that we reverence 
 his presence, and delight to obey his will. 
 
 SECTION LXXXVI. 
 
 Again, we observe that by self-love we endeavour to 
 acquire perfection ; this can only be attained by in- 
 creasing knowledge, benevolence, and piety, our sense 
 and reason, our perceptions of honesty, justice and 
 virtue; every good feeling implanted or awakened in 
 our nature, are so many sources through which we may 
 attain to moral excellence. These lead us to consider 
 the duties which we owe to ourselves, the care neces- 
 sary to be bestowed upon the body and the spirit, and 
 the collective faculties, and to remember that the bond 
 of union is so perfect, and the mutual sympathy so
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES. 133 
 
 great, that neither the body nor the mind can endure 
 suffering alone, the enfeebled body being accompanied 
 by the sorrowful spirit, and the dejected mind leaving the 
 furrows of its care traced on the countenance. The in- 
 telligent and serious man will thus bestow his care both 
 on the containing casket and the jewel which is de- 
 posited within. 
 
 Self-love will lead to the exercise of prudence ; we 
 shall consider our condition and the circumstances by 
 which we are surrounded. The regulation of our de- 
 sires will follow, never to indulge ourselves to sa- 
 tiety, and be oppressed by gluttony or intemperance 
 and excess ; to avoid the extremes of prodigality and 
 avarice ; to regulate our benevolent propensities and 
 emotions, lest they should lead to self-neglect and 
 poverty; in short, so to adapt our conduct to our cir- 
 cumstances, that we may examine ourselves rigidly, and 
 return from the examination with a feeling of satis- 
 faction and self-approval.
 
 134 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 
 
 SECTION LXXXVII. 
 
 Self-love will produce industry, because this affords 
 the means for subsistence and usefulness. It leads to 
 self-reliance and independence which conduce to our 
 prosperity, and provides against the wants and woes 
 which threaten our safety. Thus wants of every kind are 
 amply provided for ; those of the body requiring food, 
 clothing, and protection from the rigour of the climate 
 and the seasons, those of the mind, moral, intellectual, 
 and spiritual, by providing knowledge, wisdom, and re- 
 ligion. A sound body and a vigorous mind, knowledge 
 to enlighten, wisdom to direct, and religion to elevate 
 the spirit, all spring from self-love and self-respect, and 
 show by their results the high importance attached to 
 the Divine command to love ourselves and to diffuse 
 the elements of love around us. 
 
 SECTION LXXXVIII. 
 
 .DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 
 
 The Divine command, " And thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour as thyself; I am the Eternal," is the foun-
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 135 
 
 dation of all the social laws, and derives its importance 
 from the love which we profess towards God. It is 
 obvious that he who loves his Maker will neither ne- 
 glect nor despise his creatures, will reverence the image 
 of the Almighty though it may be reflected in the 
 meanest form. Our mutual relation as children of one 
 great Parent will lead to mutual love ; for, as members 
 of one family, our happiness will materially depend on 
 that of other members of the household. 
 
 To assist the needy, relieve the indigent, to pour 
 consolation into the troubled spirit, to compassionate 
 the weak, and raise the fallen, will be regarded not as a 
 duty, but as an ineffable privilege and glory. We shall 
 feel that our great Father regards such conduct with 
 complacency, and that our measures of happiness in- 
 crease until the cup is overflowing. A heathen asked 
 the great teacher, Hillel, " What is religion ?" and re- 
 quested him to convey his answer in few words. " It 
 consists," replied the sage, " in this : Love thy 
 neighbour as thyself; do nothing to thy neighbour that 
 thou wouldst dislike to be done to thee. Here thou 
 hast the whole law all the rest is but commentary ; 
 go and learn it."
 
 136 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 
 
 SECTION LXXXIX. 
 
 We have previously observed that the prohibitions, 
 " Thou shalt not steal, kill, or defraud/' were parts of 
 an universal law, and not obligatory on Israelites alone, 
 but embraced the whole human race, and the com- 
 mandment now under review partakes of the same 
 nature : love to man, without reference to country or 
 to creed, to age or condition, love to the universal 
 family of which we form a part. 
 
 When we find the word neighbour employed in the 
 sacred volume, it embraces every human being ; when 
 it refers to the Israelite only, the word Hebrew or chil- 
 dren of Israel is expressly added. An illustration of 
 this occurs in the instance of the Egyptians, whose ex- 
 cessive and notorious cruelty to the children of Israel 
 is recorded ; yet even these are called our neighbours, 
 our fellow men. (Exod. xi. 2.) The Scripture also 
 enjoins, " Thou shalt not reject the Edomite, for he is 
 thy brother." Though they marched out with a strong 
 army to attack the Israelites, " And the Egyptians also 
 thou shalt not reject, for a stranger hast thou been in 
 their land." There is but one exception to be observed.
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 137 
 
 In the time of Moses there were seven nations whose 
 iniquities were full, who by their horrible practices in 
 idolatry and lewd abominations excited abhorrence and 
 contempt. Against these the Israelites were warned; 
 their society was shunned, and no intercourse was per- 
 mitted with those nations especially named. Their 
 remembrance has perished, and the exception exists no 
 longer. Now we are enjoined that other nations and 
 communities should form objects of our love, and that 
 we should abstain from doing unto others that which we 
 should dislike if done to ourselves. This exhortation 
 strikes at the root of bigotry in every age and every 
 creed, and utters its expressive condemnation of in- 
 tolerance and mutual hatred, and urges the higher and 
 nobler motives of philanthropy and universal love. 
 
 SECTION XC. 
 
 The history of the world has disclosed the fearful 
 consequences of the violation of the command. Ig- 
 norant, prejudiced, and wicked men have presumed to 
 restrict the operations of the Law to their communities 
 and sects, and still the evil remains to be deplored.
 
 138 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 
 
 Priests and religious leaders are often the advocates of 
 intolerance, and are inflated with spiritual pride ; they 
 justify the emotions of anger and malignity which they 
 cherish by the pretence of religious zeal. These men, 
 however, show but little practical acquaintance with the 
 laws which they acknowledge, and still greater igno- 
 rance of the God whom they profess to serve. The 
 Divine command enjoins, " A stranger ye shall not 
 offend with words nor oppress, and if a stranger dwells 
 with you in your land, ye shall not do him any wrong ; 
 he shall be as good to you as a native of your land, and 
 thou shalt love him as thyself. I am the Eternal your 
 God." (Levit. xix. 34.) "For the Eternal who 
 judges not the appearance of the person, and takes no 
 bribes, and who loves the stranger, to give him food 
 and clothing, ye, therefore, must love the stranger." 
 (Deut. x. 1719.) 
 
 These exhortations show clearly that the bigotry and 
 intolerance of sects have been condemned, and that 
 those who advocate them are wolves in sheep's clothing. 
 To the priest it belongs to inculcate religious and moral 
 duty, but not the right or power to blame or condemn 
 his fellow man, or to cause disunion amongst the family
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 139 
 
 of God on earth. We pass on to notice that love to 
 our neighbour embraces the condition of the servant 
 and the slave, requires attention to their wants, com- 
 passion for their infirmities, provision for their com- 
 forts, and the avoidance of every kind of treatment that 
 is cruel, or even unkind. 
 
 SECTION XCI. 
 
 Holy Writ prohibits fraud : " Ye shall not do in- 
 justice in judgment, in dry measure, in weight, and 
 wet measure." The action is an oifence against God. 
 The position of the person against whom it is perpe- 
 trated does not affect the enormity of the crime ; the 
 amount of injury inflicted, or the suffering and poverty 
 which result, form no standard for judging of its sin- 
 fulness; it remains a transgression against the Most 
 High. Our sages, therefore, conclude that such an 
 offence is not only against the laws of God, but that 
 the offender is guilty of the unpardonable offence of 
 profaning God's name. The reason which they assign is, 
 that he lowers the religion which he professes, as well 
 as his fellow-believers, in the estimations of others, and,
 
 140 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 
 
 therefore, transgresses the command, " Ye shall not 
 profane my holy name." Our sages also teach that 
 every Israelite is commanded, by the Divine Law, to 
 love those of all nations who observe the seven pre- 
 cepts of the children of Noah, to support the poor, to 
 assist the needy ; these must be performed by the 
 Israelites with gladness, and every act demanded by 
 humanity and philanthropy towards those who observe 
 these precepts. 
 
 SECTION XCII. 
 
 The Scripture again enjoins, " If thy brother be- 
 come poor near thee, and let his hand sink, thou shalt 
 assist him, as also the stranger and sojourner, that he 
 may live with thee ; thou shalt not take from him any 
 interest or advance, and thou shalt fear thy God, and 
 suffer thy brother to live near thee. Thou shalt not 
 lend him thy money on interest, nor thy food at ad- 
 vance." (Levit. xxv. 36, 37.) In this command usury 
 is forbidden to be exacted from either the Israelite or 
 stranger who is destitute of the necessaries of life. 
 Again, " If thou lend money to any of my people that
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 141 
 
 is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, 
 neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." (Exodus xxii. 
 24.) But what is intended to be permitted in Deut. 
 xxiii. 21, as to the act of receiving interest, is clearly 
 forbidden in the passages to which we have previously 
 alluded. The just conclusion appears to be that, as the 
 Talmudists decide, every Israelite is forbidden to pay 
 interest to a member of his nation. A very striking 
 reason may be assigned for this. The Jewish nation 
 was originally employed chiefly in the pursuits of agri- 
 culture; trading and exchange of commodities were 
 comparatively little known, the original institution of 
 state polity recognized an agricultural nation ; for this 
 purpose the commands relative to the Sabbatical year 
 were given, and the general agrarian laws were insti- 
 tuted. Under these circumstances, it becomes obliga- 
 tory on the Israelites to assist each other in seasons of 
 calamity or need, to grant loans without receiving 
 interest for money or for food that was advanced. It 
 was also strictly forbidden to pay interest, as agricul- 
 ture could not yield profits large enough to defray the 
 interest on loans, and serious evils might have been 
 inflicted on the community had such been the practice.
 
 142 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. ' 
 
 Were interest to be permitted, the lender might allow 
 it to accumulate until no means of payment remained, 
 the results of which would be, that large estates would 
 be transferred from the hands of the many to the few; 
 an aristocracy would thus be created, founded on in- 
 justice and spoliation, possessing a power that would be 
 irresistible, a political influence that would subvert the 
 interests and doctrines of the nation, and render void 
 those wise and humane regulations which were pre- 
 scribed by the laws of Moses for the preservation of 
 the state and the protection of the poor. 
 
 SECTION XCIII. 
 
 If this view be correct, it follows that the passage, 
 Deut. xxiii. 21, is only a continuation of the preceding 
 verse, if the native will not lend thee without interest, 
 thou mayest then give interest to the foreigner, but 
 never to thy brother. Some of our teachers add the 
 following explanation : " If thou hast promised in- 
 terest to a foreigner, thou art bound to give it him, 
 but if thou hast made such a contract with an Israelite, 
 it is void, and thou art not at liberty to comply with its
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 143 
 
 conditions." Admitting, for the sake of argument, that 
 the passage does not refer to the borrower but the 
 lender, and that it means, " From a stranger thou 
 mayest take interest, but not from thy brother," it 
 would yet not permit us to lend on usury to our neigh- 
 bour, who is not of our faith ; for, in the first place, the 
 passage cannot refer to usury, no word of such import 
 being found in Holy Scripture. All etymologists must 
 see the justice of the decision of the sages on this 
 matter ; for usury means more than legal interest, but 
 nowhere in the Mosaic Law is any measure of law- 
 ful interest assigned ; so far from this, interest of 
 every kind is excluded from the enactments of that 
 code, and, therefore, as no interest is specified, no word 
 expressive of usury can be found; secondly, all our 
 fellow citizens, without distinction of faith, are to be 
 regarded as brethren, and from this relation it follows 
 that we are obliged to assist them in the time of need, 
 without regard to compensation. Have we not one 
 Father ? has not one God created us ? Why then 
 should one brother act deceitfully towards another ?
 
 144 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 
 
 SECTION XCIV. 
 
 The Mosaic Law decides that we are forbidden to 
 demand interest from our fellow man if he be in poor 
 circumstances. The consciousness of having done our 
 duty and commended ourselves to God in this respect 
 will afford us ample compensation. But if our neigh- 
 bour should receive our aid for the purpose of extend- 
 ing his trade or mercantile speculations, it may then 
 become lawful for the lender to receive a portion of the 
 profits thus realised, or, in another form, the interest 
 on the loan, such as custom and the law of the country 
 will sanction ; but should the enterprise prove unsuc- 
 cessful, the lender is morally bound to take no interest 
 under such conditions. By the Talmudical law, a per- 
 son whose particular business is usury is not permitted 
 to become a witness, nor his evidence, given on oath, 
 held worthy of belief. Usury is a crime against God, 
 the laws of a state, and the social economy. King 
 David testified, " Lord, who shall dwell in thy holy 
 mountain?" Who never lends his money upon in- 
 terest. (Ps. xv. 5.) The Talmud, in explanation of
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS OUR FELLOW MEN. 145 
 
 the passage, remarks, " even to the stranger or the 
 pagan." In the same place we also read the following : 
 "Moses taught us our religion in six hundred and 
 thirteen precepts. David reduced them to eleven. 
 Isaiah (xxxiii. 15) condensed them in the following six : 
 ' He that walketh in righteousness, speaketh honestly 
 the truth, despiseth unjust advantages, withdraweth his 
 hand from the touching of bribes, closeth his ears 
 against blood-thirsty calumny, and his eyes, not to be- 
 hold the evil done.' Micha (vi. 8) taught us all the 
 precepts in three articles : to do justice, to love mercy 
 and benevolence, and to walk in silent meekness before 
 God." From these reflections we learn that usury is 
 offensive to God and unjust to man ; and observation 
 convinces us that unlawful gains are seldom productive 
 of happiness to their owners, or long in their pos- 
 session, that riches thus iniquitously gathered are 
 squandered by their children, and poverty and sorrow 
 are, in succeeding generations, the retributions for such 
 crimes.
 
 146 
 
 SECTION XCV. 
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS RELATIVES AND BENEFACTORS. 
 
 From the general duties to mankind arise special 
 obligations to individuals, and our relations to them de- 
 termine the precise character of the duties which we 
 owe. The most important and interesting are those 
 which are due to parents. We have only to contem- 
 plate the circumstances which accompany this relation 
 to perceive its high importance. The care which they 
 bestowed upon our helpless infancy, the tenderness and 
 affection which they manifested in our childhood, the 
 unceasing vigilance and anxiety with which they 
 watched our delicate infancy, provided our wants, and 
 protected us from injury and death, impose a debt of 
 gratitude upon us which we can never sufficiently dis- 
 charge. The impulses of nature and the sense of duty 
 require that we should love and honour them, and seek 
 to avoid that which would displease or cause them un- 
 necessary pain. To return some portion of the favours 
 bestowed, it becomes us to watch over their declin- 
 ing years, to smooth their descent into the vale of
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS RELATIVES. 147 
 
 death, to bestow upon them our tender and fostering 
 care, and to secure them from want or poverty. Or if 
 our relation is that of a parent to his children, then 
 there devolve on us duties in that capacity, viz., to 
 afford them protection in their helplessness, assistance 
 in sickness, provide them food, clothing, and shelter, 
 to lend aid to the formation of a healthy body, and to 
 endeavour, by education, to form a vigorous and virtu- 
 ous mind. In addition to these it will become our 
 duty to observe the habits which they form, and the 
 companions with whom they associate, to endeavour to 
 train them to industry, frugality, temperance, and pru- 
 dence, and to place them in occupations in which they 
 can acquire an honourable livelihood, and become use- 
 ful members of society. 
 
 Our daughters must be trained to domestic duties, 
 and the cultivation of those virtues which will render a 
 wife a crown of glory to her husband, and a bright 
 example to her offspring. 
 
 SECTION XCVI. 
 
 The relation of brothers and sisters in a family im- 
 poses its distinctive duties, and love and harmony 
 
 L 2
 
 148 MATRIMONIAL DUTIES. 
 
 constitute the true happiness of the domestic circle. 
 Should circumstances render it necessary, these sym- 
 pathies will then be exhibited, and should we be father- 
 less, and forsaken by the world, the bonds of union will 
 be drawn more closely, and mutual aid be more heartily 
 rendered. 
 
 SECTION XCVII. 
 
 MATRIMONIAL DUTIES. 
 
 These are important and sacred ; mutual love and 
 fidelity, confidence and esteem, form their basis. It is 
 incumbent on the husband that he should cherish and 
 esteem the partner of his joy and sorrow, and by his 
 industry provide for her the comforts of life. Though 
 power be vested in the husband to preside and rule, he 
 will not exercise it wantonly or cruelly, but lay aside 
 its appearance and seek to please his wife by the dis- 
 play of sincere affection, regard her as his friend and 
 counsellor, seek her advice, and conduct himself with 
 such uprightness and candour as will infallibly secure 
 her confidence and esteem. If, unfortunately, the con- 
 duct of the wife deserve censure, he will administer
 
 MATRIMONIAL DUTIES. 149 
 
 rebuke with all gentleness and forbearance, and thus 
 show that she has not lost her place in his esteem, but 
 will be offered the opportunity of retracing her steps 
 and freeing her character from suspicion. In the 
 general intercourse of domestic life, it will be his duty 
 to avoid everything that could cause discomfort or 
 sorrow, as these too often produce peevishness and 
 irritation, which, if unchecked, grow into anger, and 
 lay the foundation of domestic misery. Family dis- 
 cord leads to confusion and mutual contempt; the 
 happiness of the household, when lost, is succeeded by 
 aversion and contention; children espouse the cause 
 of one or other of the parents, and know not whom 
 to obey ; the servants are distracted in their attentions, 
 and become the object of suspicion or jealousy, and the 
 order, welfare and prosperty of households thus become 
 endangered, if not destroyed. 
 
 SECTION XCVIII. 
 
 Other duties remain to be discharged by the wife ; 
 she is bound not only to love, but to honour and 
 obey. Her excellency of character will be manifested
 
 150 MATRIMONIAL DUTIES. 
 
 in the arrangements of the household. Order, arrange- 
 ment, and punctuality contribute largely to domestic 
 comfort. The regularity of meals, the hours of rising 
 and rest, are, though apparently trifles, of high impor- 
 tance ; they contribute to prosperity and success when 
 combined with economy; and instances of illustrious 
 virtue in females convince us that a careful regard to 
 expenditure, the conduct of servants and family, con- 
 stitute an excellence of character which will always be 
 felt and appreciated. 
 
 Her conduct towards her husband will be open and 
 sincere ; her aim will be to make him happy; her heart 
 and eye will ever be directed to him, and sympathize 
 with him in seasons of calamity, and rejoice with 
 him in those of prosperity ; and, to conclude, she will 
 cautiously abstain from actions or language which might 
 awaken suspicion or jealousy, remembering that she, 
 in days of warm affection, dedicated her energies to his 
 happiness and advancement. 
 
 A still more sacred duty remains in relation to her 
 children. A mother has the most solemn responsibi- 
 lities to her Creator, to infuse the sentiments of af- 
 fection and religion into the opening mind, to check
 
 DUTIES OF PRECEPTORS AND PUPILS. 151 
 
 the follies and vices of childhood in their incipient 
 stages, to watch over the formation of character with 
 deep anxiety, and to fan into a vivid flame all that is 
 bright and good as the indications of future usefulness 
 and prosperity. 
 
 SECTION XCIX. 
 
 DUTIES OF PRECEPTORS AND PUPILS. 
 
 There are duties also which we owe to our pre- 
 ceptors, as the knowledge which they have imparted 
 may be of material service to us in future life. 
 
 Respect and gratitude are, therefore, the duties of 
 the pupil to the teacher. The instructor should also 
 endeavour to impart knowledge under the influence of 
 the kindest sentiments, to teach with patience and for- 
 bearance, to direct the attention to the advantages 
 which spring from habits of morality and virtue, and to 
 set a good example in his own conduct. His object 
 should be, not to receive the wages of a hireling, but to 
 train the pupil for the present and future conditions of 
 his life, to avoid intemperate and passionate reproaches, 
 to endeavour to simplify the truths which he teaches,
 
 152 MASTER AND SERVANT. 
 
 till they become clear to the weakest understanding, 
 to be patient, laborious, and compassionate, and thus 
 to reap the fruits of a growing intelligence and increas- 
 ing virtue in the characters of those who are placed 
 under his control. 
 
 SECTION C. 
 
 MASTER AND SERVANT. 
 
 The relations between master and servant, the em- 
 ployer and the employed, have next to be considered. 
 The duty of the employed is to yield obedience to the 
 employer, to discharge his trust with all fidelity, in- 
 dustry, and promptness, so that the most perfect satis- 
 faction may be given to the master. The duties thus 
 devolving on the servant also imply the necessity of 
 cheerful obedience and strict integrity. A faithful man 
 will not dole out his labour and time to the assumed 
 value of his wages, and yield them reluctantly ; a reflect- 
 ing man will not conceal from his master the conduct 
 of others which may injure his prosperity ; a wise man 
 will not betray the secrets of his master's trade, but 
 will offer labour, time, and skill as a cheerful tribute of
 
 MASTER AND SERVANT. 153 
 
 affection and respect, and conduct himself with such 
 fidelity as will lend dignity to his character, and elevate 
 him to higher positions of influence and trust. 
 
 The history of Joseph furnishes us with a beautiful 
 illustration of these truths. Potiphar, his master, was 
 an idolater and heathen ; his practices were, therefore, 
 most offensive to a pious Hebrew ; still Joseph dis- 
 charged his duties as a servant with such fidelity that 
 he quickly won his esteem, and secured his confidence 
 so fully that the whole arrangements of his household 
 were confided to his care. 
 
 SECTION CI. 
 
 The duties of the master are equally important ; to 
 treat his servants with respect and kindness, not to 
 overtax their powers, nor to reproach them with harsh- 
 ness or severity, to allow intervals of rest and of re- 
 freshment undisturbed; to remunerate for labour and 
 skill according to their productiveness, without either 
 abatement or delay ; to rebuke kindly and patiently, to 
 point out the evils and dangers of misconduct or ne- 
 glect, and to endeavour to reform the character and win
 
 154 DUTIES OF ECCLESIASTICS. 
 
 back the erring man, and in connection with these the 
 duty of rendering aid to the employed in times of sick- 
 ness or calamity. 
 
 If by their aid we have ascended the hill of prosperity 
 and accumulated wealth, riches have their obligations 
 too ; to restore a portion in aid of suffering and in 
 defence from poverty appears to be one of the most 
 indispensable of these. 
 
 The Scriptural precept is, " And when thou sendest 
 him, the slave, out free from thee, thou shalt not let 
 him go away empty ; thou shalt furnish him liberally of 
 thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine 
 press ; of that wherewith the Lord thy God has blessed 
 thee, thou shalt give unto him." 
 
 SECTION CII. 
 
 DUTIES OF ECCLESIASTICS AND WARDENS. 
 
 In the exercise of the sacred mission entrusted by 
 Providence to the priest, his actions and words should 
 be free and not guided by individual influence ; there- 
 fore he should not accept gifts or presents which would, 
 indirectly and even against his will, bribe and incline
 
 DUTIES OF ECCLESIASTICS. 155 
 
 him to favour the opinion of the donors. However 
 wise, just, and conscientious he may feel himself to be, 
 he should yet ponder the words of the sacred law, de- 
 claring, " And thou shalt take no gift, for the gift doth 
 hlind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the 
 righteous ;" and as a gift given to him who is not in 
 need cannot be called charity, it must be classified 
 under the category of bribe. He who does not attend 
 to this prohibition, neither his words nor his actions 
 will influence his flock, and his judgment in private or 
 in public affairs will always be mistrusted, since only he 
 who is free and independent is able to obey the pre- 
 cept, " Thou shalt not wrest judgment, thou shalt not 
 respect persons." It is a particular duty of the priest 
 to respect the poor alike as the rich, and to admonish 
 and preach freely what is right and good, and to ex- 
 pose what is wrong and evil, without fear, lest one 
 party, by their ignorance or erroneous notions, consider 
 him a sceptic, or another party, blinded by credulous 
 desire, regard him as leaning too much to orthodoxy. 
 He has also to teach the people, that they may know 
 which are the precepts and prohibitions of divine origin, 
 and which are enacted by human authority, or only
 
 156 DUTIES OF ECCLESIASTICS. 
 
 pious practices ; and again, which prayers are insti- 
 tuted by the great Synod, and accepted by the Jewish 
 nation at large, and which have been, in after ages, 
 prescribed by single individuals, and were only ac- 
 cepted by some congregations, and rejected by others. 
 Such instruction may prevent that which is often the 
 case, figuratively speaking, the throwing away of the 
 kernel and holding the shell. 
 
 There are many other duties incumbent on the priest, 
 which we think superfluous to enumerate, because the 
 candidate for such an office should have acquired a full 
 knowledge thereof, and should be inspired with such a 
 high moral sense as to have no need for such an ad- 
 monition. 
 
 SECTION CIII. 
 
 The warden of a congregation has also many most 
 important and arduous duties to perform ; we will only 
 hint at a few. In the election of a minister, or 
 other official, there should be no other motives but 
 to select the best and the fittest person, without regard 
 to private influence; and the elected should be so 
 placed as to be independent of all those around him.
 
 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 157 
 
 The warden has to support the dignity of the priest, 
 and to assist him in carrying out what is beneficial for 
 the congregation, but at the same time the warden has 
 to superintend and control the actions of the priest; 
 if he be timid and slow, or in want of moral courage, 
 the warden has to stimulate and encourage him, or, if 
 his movements be precipitate, to advise him to be 
 moderate ; and while the Jewish priests are not under 
 the control of a higher tribunal, like those of other 
 creeds, and while history warns us of the dangers and 
 evils arising from the independence of the priest in 
 former ages, and experience teaches, in many instances, 
 that a control of their action is necessary, the wardens 
 of the congregation have to watch over their actions, 
 and co-operate with them hand in hand. 
 
 SECTION CIV. 
 
 
 
 THE DUTIES OF A CITIZEN TO THE STATE. 
 
 Having considered the duties which spring from the 
 several relations in life which we sustain, another im- 
 portant class of duties remains to be considered, viz., 
 those which we owe to the state.
 
 158 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 
 
 As subjects and citizens, we form some of the con- 
 necting links which bind a community together, and, 
 from our mutual compact and dependence, we owe 
 fidelity to our country, obedience to its laws, and alle- 
 giance to its Government. As no society can preserve 
 its order without laws, so no laws can be effective with- 
 out the executive power and legislators to amend 
 and alter the existing statutes that they may adapt 
 themselves to the circumstances of the age, and be 
 founded on principles of reason, truth, and justice. 
 
 All laws should be intelligible, and so perspicuous 
 that every man can comprehend them, and all Govern- 
 ments should enforce obedience to them without par- 
 tiality. Every man possesses natural and political rights 
 to the free and uninterrupted exercise of his physical 
 powers and mental energies, and to dispose of his pos- 
 sessions as he chooses ; but every man must concede 
 the possession of these also to his neighbours. To pre- 
 vent the evil and sufferings of mutual oppression, and 
 the infliction of wrongs, the law interposes its autho- 
 rity, and becomes the umpire to decide the controversy.
 
 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 159 
 
 SECTION CV. 
 
 The legal right of a man throws its protection round 
 him, and every step which he takes, transgressing the 
 boundary, is an invasion of the privileges of another. 
 Property is either individual or collective; portions of 
 this must be regarded as belonging to a community, 
 and its uses must be equally participated in by the 
 governors and the governed. Each right imposes a 
 duty, and, vice versa, each duty presupposes the pos- 
 session of a right, so that their reciprocal influence and 
 bearing upon each other form the solid foundations on 
 which the dependency and welfare of society are 
 reared. 
 
 SECTION CVI. 
 
 From the ignorance and natural selfishness of man- 
 kind, the nature of these rights may be mistaken, or 
 their value exaggerated; and when an undue pre- 
 ponderance of individual interest is sought, and the 
 safety of others threatened, the apprehension of these 
 disturbances requires the introduction of express enact-
 
 160 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 
 
 ments, to check their progress, that duties may be 
 defined, the interests of others protected, and the 
 mutual relations and privileges of the community be 
 preserved inviolate. 
 
 To execute these laws wisely and impartially, men 
 are selected to settle disputes, to punish offenders, to 
 ensure respect and obedience to the statutes of the 
 realm ; and it follows, that respect and honour should 
 be paid to men who fill these offices of trust, and 
 obedience yielded to their decisions. Scripture com- 
 mands, " Thou shalt not revile the judge, nor curse the 
 ruler of the people ;" and as a general truth it is appli- 
 cable to all ages. The Talmud teaches, "that the 
 law of the sovereign shall be considered as a holy law ;" 
 that with respect to all rules, commands, and prohibi- 
 tions which the governor of the country dictates to 
 society, we should obey them in all political and moral 
 objects, and respect them as though they were issued 
 by a king or a judge of Israel ; that we should revere, 
 honour, and love the sovereign and judge of every 
 creed, as if they were of our own nation, and that we 
 should always consider the beneficial services which 
 the law and administration renders for the benefit of
 
 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 161 
 
 society, by which the poor and the needy are protected, 
 the widow and orphan assisted, and every one can en- 
 joy, peacefully, the pleasures which his earnings and 
 prosperity may afford. 
 
 SECTION CVII. 
 
 A little reflection will convince us how various and 
 important the objects contemplated by a good govern- 
 ment are, in the protection of our persons and dwellings; 
 the supply of air, light, and water, for the purposes of 
 health; receptacles for the afflicted; the arrangement 
 of the currency ; our coins, weights and measures, our 
 roads, forests, and rivers; the education of men for 
 science and art, to fill their several departments ; the 
 education of the poor, to check the progress of crime ; 
 our courts of justice; the army and navy to defend our 
 country ; the numerous officers essential to the regula- 
 tion of these departments. Considering these duties of 
 a government, we shall immediately perceive how 
 necessary it is to render our aid to the promotion of 
 these objects, to refrain from any act which might inter- 
 pose an obstacle or produce delay, and, on the contrary, 
 
 M
 
 162 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 
 
 to yield that cheerful obedience which will assist this 
 supreme power to render these objects more easily 
 attainable. 
 
 SECTION CVIII. 
 
 The safety of a country also requires that ;it should 
 possess an army for its defence ; for nations are often 
 actuated by the lust of ambition, or the desire of spolia- 
 tion, to attack and to destroy their fellow nations. To 
 form an efficient army, it is necessary that skilful 
 officers, well versed in military discipline and know- 
 ledge, should preside, and that soldiers should obey, 
 that men should be selected from the nation, to serve 
 their period of enlistment ; and it becomes the duty of 
 the soldier thus chosen to serve his country and his 
 king with fidelity and zeal. Even his wounds are 
 honourable, and his sorrows are to be respected. A 
 grateful country should be disposed to recompense his 
 courage, and offer him the tribute of her approval. 
 
 SECTION CIX. 
 
 Punishments are essential to the administration of 
 human law, and, however painful to witness, they are
 
 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 163 
 
 demanded by imperious necessity. We cannot exclude 
 the operation of the motives, springing from wholesome 
 fear, to warn and to prevent the recurrence of crime. 
 
 The welfare of society requires the infliction of 
 punishment on the offender; its social order and 
 economy would otherwise be threatened and sub- 
 verted. Such are the preventives of public or open 
 crime ; but the laws cannot reach the privacies of 
 domestic life, or the secret offences which men are 
 prone to commit. It is, therefore, necessary that there 
 should be modes of conveying moral instruction, such 
 as those of public preaching, lectures, scientific institu- 
 tions, which, by awakening new tastes, and imparting 
 pleasures of a new order, may counteract such gross 
 and morbid tendencies. . Government, therefore con- 
 sidered as the patron of liberal arts and sciences, 
 fostering the development of genius, and paying the 
 tribute of homage to intelligence is entitled to our 
 admiration and support ; and whilst the laws restrain, 
 and judges punish, the hopes of amelioration will arise 
 from the diffusion of knowledge, from imbibing purer 
 tastes, from the discoveries of science, and the increas- 
 ing industry and prosperity of mankind. King Solomon 
 
 M 2
 
 164 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 
 
 said, " Wisdom is better than strength, the words of 
 the wise man are heard in quiet more than the cry of 
 him that ruled among fools." Wisdom has the pre- 
 ference over strength ; whilst power can punish, wisdom 
 can convince, persuade, and reform, and convert the 
 hardened transgressor into a penitent and virtuous 
 man. 
 
 SECTION CX. 
 
 If such be the duties which we owe to the laws and 
 administration of a country, it is evident that they 
 apply with increasing force to the presiding sovereign. 
 Admitting that the creed of a country is erroneous, 
 obedience to the king remains a duty, and a con- 
 scientious man, who loves his country, will respect 
 its ruler. The sages of Israel, who lived after the 
 destruction of the Jewish state, taught us to pray for 
 the reigning king or regent individually, and instructed 
 us that the kingdom in which we might live was like 
 the kingdom of heaven, that we should reverence and 
 honour the king in secret as in public, as we are bound 
 to reverence the King of heaven.
 
 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 165 
 
 It is a duty of a loyal subject to reveal conspiracies 
 against the safety or person of the monarch if he dis- 
 covers them, that such calamities may be averted. The 
 history of Esther furnishes an instance : Mordecai was 
 a Jew, Ahashuerus a heathen and a tyrant, yet Mor- 
 decai revealed the plot, and surrendered the criminals 
 to justice. How much more incumbent then is it on 
 the subjects of a sovereign, where the same Creator is 
 acknowledged, to prevent a catastrophe so great, and 
 save the state from a series of convulsions and struggles. 
 King Solomon said, " My son, fear the Eternal and the 
 king, and never mix with those who will create dis- 
 turbance." (Prov. xxiv. 20.) And again, "Even in 
 thought curse not the king, and in thy most secret 
 sleeping chamber do not pronounce a malediction upon 
 the superior in authority." (Eccl. x. 20.) We are, 
 therefore, bound by every authority, both human and 
 divine, by every motive of patriotism and humanity, to 
 pray for the prosperity of the land, for all in authority, 
 that peace and order, harmony and prosperity may be 
 increased, vices checked, evils redressed, and the causes 
 of crime diminished. Thus may we hope, by rendering 
 the aid of wise and enlightened citizens, by obedience
 
 166 DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 
 
 to laws, respect for our modes of government, and 
 attachment to the land in which we dwell, to live in 
 abodes of prosperity, contentment, and enjoyment, 
 while the consciousness that these duties are performed 
 cheerfully, as acts of obedience to Divine authority, 
 will render their discharge easy and the reflection on 
 them pleasing.
 
 167 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SECTION CXI. 
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 HUMILITY has in every age, been regarded as a virtue, 
 conferring excellence on character, and ennobling and 
 dignifying our common nature. It requires self-ex- 
 amination, and a due estimate of our position and 
 abilities. The humble man will, when conscious of an 
 error, frankly acknowledge it, and seek to rectify the 
 mistake ; he will do justice to the abilities of others, 
 and be disposed to acquire from them the knowledge 
 which he has failed to attain. This virtue is uncon- 
 genial to caprice or self-conceit; a consciousness of 
 his own infirmities will lead him to regard the opinions 
 of others with deference and respect ; if, on mature con-
 
 168 FORBEARANCE. 
 
 sideration, he deems their opinions wrong, he will ex- 
 press his own with caution and without arrogance. 
 Whilst his own views are expressed clearly and im- 
 pressively, he will abstain from exultation and unseemly 
 triumph, and seek only to convince and to arrive at a 
 knowledge of the truth. The humble man will love 
 retirement rather than display, will prefer the shade, 
 and will discover that this is the most effectual method 
 of deserving and winning the esteem of others. Ho- 
 nour follows him who shuns it; and every reflecting 
 mind will perceive that whilst its exertions are directed 
 to purposes of usefulness it gains the esteem of man- 
 kind. 
 
 SECTION CXII. 
 
 FORBEARANCE. 
 
 From humility, forbearance and a disposition to for- 
 give will naturally follow ; for, as we are constrained to 
 bear inflictions of pain and suffering from the hand of 
 God, so, by analogy, we shall be led to endure pa- 
 tiently the wrongs inflicted by others, and whilst we 
 seek redress by honourable means, we shall not be
 
 FORBEARANCE. 169 
 
 ruled by the spirit of retaliation. When our enemies 
 perceive the error of their conduct, and sue for pardon, 
 we should bestow it without reluctance or reserve ; not 
 contenting ourselves with professing to forgive, we 
 should endeavour to blot out from our memories the 
 record of the injuries. Such conduct has in every age 
 met with the universal approbation of mankind. 
 
 SECTION CXIII. 
 
 Nothing can be more pleasing to the great Father of 
 our race than to perceive these indications of mutual 
 affection amongst his offspring. On such scenes his 
 eye must rest with complacency, and his heart rejoice. 
 He who forgiveth because he knoweth our frame and 
 remembereth that we are dust looks from the throne of 
 his glory with approbation on these benevolent senti- 
 ments. Our sages draw an important line of distinc- 
 tion here; they say that there are four kinds of 
 temperament or passion. One man is easily offended 
 and easily appeased ; in him the disadvantage balances 
 the advantage. Another is easily offended, but ap- 
 peased with difficulty ; his is a bad temper. A third
 
 170 INTEGRITY AND UPRIGHTNESS. 
 
 can scarcely be offended, and is with difficulty ap- 
 peased ; in this case the good balances the evil. But 
 he who can with difficulty be offended, but easily 
 appeased, he only is the truly virtuous man. 
 
 SECTION CXIV. 
 
 INTEGRITY AND UPRIGHTNESS. 
 
 The duty of integrity comes next under our notice, 
 and it is obvious that this is essential to the formation 
 of excellence in the human character. When circum- 
 stances require that we should offer an opinion or give t 
 advice, we should act with straightforwardness and 
 candour, avoiding the use of subtlety to perplex, or 
 subterfuge to deceive ; thus only can we lay the foun- 
 dation of mutual security and confidence, and men will 
 speak well of us while we do well unto ourselves. The 
 sages teach the importance of speaking the truth, of 
 saying nothing which will not bear the full light of 
 evidence to justify it ; not to speak that with the mouth 
 which the heart does not mean ; for he who is not up- 
 right in his dealings with man is not upright with God. 
 The testimony, "He who walks in the upright way,
 
 PRIDE. 171 
 
 he shall serve me," implies, that he who has integrity 
 of heart and action shows that he has reverence for 
 God, whilst he who is not upright with man forgets that 
 the actions of his life are observed and recorded by 
 the Judge of all. 
 
 Expediency suggests the prudence of such a line of 
 action, for he who would obtain respect and confidence 
 from others must respect himself; uprightness of heart 
 will receive sympathy and friendship in the intercourse 
 of life ; pride and arrogance must be replaced by hu- 
 mility and meekness, and thus only can we obtain the 
 esteem and confidence of those with whom the inter- 
 course of human life has been conducted. 
 
 SECTION CXV. 
 
 PRIDE. 
 
 How ridiculous does pride appear, whether we put it 
 in beauty, station, intelligence, or wealth. Yet we dis- 
 cover many whose only object in existence appears to 
 be the desire to eclipse or outshine others ; arrogance 
 and contempt mark their passage through human life, 
 and thus they become isolated from their fellow men.
 
 172 PRIDE. 
 
 Such characters are unsusceptible of human friendship 
 and undeserving of it, and in times of want and sorrow, 
 how deep and fatal is their fall ; despised by men and 
 abandoned by God, they remain forgotten and forsaken, 
 like a gorgeous structure that has been reduced to ruins. 
 
 Every man who is proud in heart is an abomination 
 to his Maker, and his pride shall bring him low, while 
 honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. 
 
 A proud man cannot receive instruction, his self- 
 sufficiency impedes his progress. A vain man cannot 
 receive aid, inasmuch as he feels it a degradation to so- 
 licit or receive assistance, whilst a man of understand- 
 ing and reflection will conclude that pride is contemp- 
 tible and deluding, that its elements are incongruous, 
 and its object so fluctuating and uncertain, that his 
 confidence in wealth or power may be suddenly ex- 
 tinguished; that no acquirements, however splendid, 
 can afford a compensation for the loss of the graces of 
 integrity or meekness.
 
 PRIDE. 173 
 
 SECTION CXVI. 
 
 Should Providence exalt us, let us learn to bear our 
 honours and distinctions with humility, and endeavour 
 to become useful to society and an honour to the re- 
 ligion which we profess, remembering that these are 
 treasures committed to our care as stewards of God's 
 bounty, that the design of the Creator, in conferring 
 these, was to supply us with the means of usefulness 
 and the expression of benevolent sentiments. 
 
 The precepts of morality and sound policy corroborate 
 these views ; their compact requires that mutual aid 
 should be demanded and freely given; history, 
 shows that in great emergencies great characters are 
 required and discovered. Rulers and warriors, coun- 
 sellors and statesmen, conform to the necessities of 
 society, and merchant princes or wealthy traders are 
 found to fulfil the duties of citizens and subjects. 
 Wealth has its duties to discharge as well as its privi- 
 leges to sustain ; to succour the needy, cheer the afflicted, 
 and perform acts of mercy, are duties to be discharged, 
 and privileges to be enjoyed.
 
 174 
 
 SECTION CXVII. 
 
 ANGER. 
 
 Anger and a disputatious spirit lead to evil results, 
 whilst the desire to live peaceably with mankind is ac- 
 companied by harmony of intercourse and general 
 prosperity. 
 
 A meek and quiet spirit, desirous of promoting uni- 
 versal fellowship, will endeavour to reconcile and to 
 restore concord amongst those whose bitter passions 
 have long estranged and alienated them from each 
 other ; strife and discord interrupt the progress of in- 
 dividual prosperity ; men who quarrel neglect their 
 occupations, seek to enlist others in their contentions 
 for mastery, and waste their time and energies in these 
 unprofitable conflicts. The order of society becomes 
 deranged, the engagements of business too often inter- 
 rupted, whilst acts of mutual provocation excite deadly 
 passions more fiercely, and the purity and peace of 
 social life become disturbed. 
 
 It becomes in consequence the duty of those who 
 wish to merit the appellation of philanthropists to en-
 
 ANGER. 175 
 
 deavour to restore peace and concord, and thus to 
 render the highest service to the interests of mankind 
 in general. 
 
 SECTION CXVIII. 
 
 The causes of such strife will generally be found to 
 proceed from the tongue of calumny, the hearts of evil 
 speakers, and the credulity of mankind in listening to 
 their statements. Hence the exhortation of the sacred 
 writer becomes important: "Thou shalt not go as a 
 tale-bearer among thy people." Every man should 
 shun a vice so despicable and destructive. Slander is 
 the foulest and the most degrading sin. The slanderer 
 has in every age been justly branded as a criminal in 
 the moral estimate of mankind; for he who resorts to 
 such insidious assaults upon his neighbour's name or 
 character is a coward and a poltroon. Of this the 
 history of Joseph affords an illustration. Unhappily he 
 attempted to lower his brethren in the esteem of his 
 aged father, and the sufferings which he subsequently 
 endured appear to have been inflicted as a just retri- 
 bution for the offence. It follows also that if this be
 
 176 VENGEANCE. 
 
 an offence, to listen to the slanderer or to receive his 
 testimony must be a sin. A sense of duty, honour, and 
 religion should lead us to demand that the charge 
 should be not insinuated but declared, and it should 
 be substantiated by the most convincing evidence. 
 Where these are shunned or refused, the offender 
 should be treated as an enemy to the race whose name 
 he bears. 
 
 SECTION CXIX. 
 
 VENGEANCE. 
 
 We are commanded to refrain from cherishing the 
 desire for vengeance, and not to indulge in emotions 
 of malice towards our enemies, however great the pro- 
 vocation offered : " Rejoice not when thine enemy falls, 
 be not glad when he stumbles, for the Eternal would 
 see it and disapprove of it." (Prov. xxiv. 170 " ^ s thine 
 enemy hungry, offer him bread ; is he thirsty, give him 
 water ; and though thou shouldst thus heap coals of fire 
 on his head, yet will the Eternal reward they deed." 
 (Prov. xxv. 21.) " If thou shouldst find the ox or the 
 ass of thine enemy going astray, thou must return the
 
 VENGEANCE. 177 
 
 same to him. If thou seest the ass of him who hated 
 thee lying under his burden, then darest thou not 
 withhold thy assistance from him, but thou shalt help 
 him to unload." (Exod. xxiii. 4.) " Hate not thy 
 brother in thy heart, and thou mayest reprove thy 
 neighbour, but darest not cherish against him the 
 remembrance of the offence ; thou shalt not take re- 
 venge, nor retain any grudge." (Levit. xix. 17.) 
 
 The Talmud thus interprets the passage : If any one 
 has refused thee a favour, and desires at any time 
 hereafter any service from thee, thou shalt not refuse it 
 to him ; thou shalt not take revenge, but thou must 
 neither say to him, Behold, I serve thee now, although 
 thou didst refuse the favour which I asked of thee. 
 As soon as thou speakest thus thou hast transgressed 
 the commandment, ' Thou shalt not retain any grudge.' " 
 " Say not, I will treat him as he has treated me ; I will 
 act towards every one as he has acted towards me." 
 (Prov. xxiv. 29.) Thus, both the testimony of Scrip- 
 ture and the oral Law denounce the imprudence and 
 iniquity of the passion of revenge.
 
 178 VENGEANCE. 
 
 SECTION CXX. 
 
 From these special laws, we infer the general truth, 
 that we ought to love our enemies. Religion com- 
 mands and reason sanctions the sacred obligation of 
 forbearance ; against this no argument can prevail, no 
 reason justify, or even palliate its breach ; we have no 
 right to hate or to offend those who have been guilty 
 of transgressions against ourselves, and much less to 
 those who transgress against God ; for these they are^ 
 accountable to God only. 
 
 There are opportunities afforded for repentance in 
 this life, and were we to become our own avengers we 
 should deprive the offenders of this resource ; and then 
 to avenge ourselves would be to intrude on the pro- 
 vince of the Almighty, the assumption of his preroga- 
 tive as a wise and upright judge. 
 
 We are, by the considerations presented both by re- 
 ligion and humanity, required to make every effort to 
 recall an erring or guilty brother by mild and gentle 
 treatment, by displaying in our demeanour and cha- 
 racter the perfection of virtue, and thus convey
 
 CONCLUSION. 79^ 
 
 the deep impression of its superiority to the habits 
 of grovelling vice. On the passage, " Thou mayest 
 reprove him," the Talmud remarks, " Endeavour to re- 
 prove thy neighbour in so gentle a manner as not to 
 make him ashamed ; for thou wouldst be drawing upon 
 thyself a great sin, as we believe he who makes his 
 neighbour ashamed has no share in the happiness of 
 the future world. We must imitate the Eternal, who 
 is a merciful judge." 
 
 An unkind treatment of an offender would only 
 serve to remove him to a greater distance from us, 
 alienate him still more widely, and render every pros- 
 pect of his improvement or restoration more doubtful 
 and difficult, and thus we should shut out the hope of 
 reconciliation, to which the declaration of the Almighty 
 affords a striking contrast, " The Eternal is good and 
 upright ; he therefore shows sinners the right path." 
 (Ps. xxv. 8.) 
 
 SECTION CXXI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Looking back on what we have briefly stated, we 
 may easily deduce the aim and end for which the great
 
 180 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Creator, in his divine mercy, formed us, endowed us 
 with various spiritual faculties similar in their nature to 
 those of his own being, susceptible of a progressive 
 perfectibility; that is, by imitating God, whom alone 
 we are bound to recognize as the Deity, to whom ado- 
 ration and loyal obedience are due, to recognize him as 
 the Creator of the universe, the Supreme Cause of all 
 things, that it has pleased the Supreme Being, through 
 his infinite mercy, to manifest his will and make known 
 some great and precious truths, which men would have 
 vainly attempted to discover ; we are, therefore, bound 
 to show our fear and reverence of God by obeying 
 his commandments, without superstition, bigotry, or 
 hypocrisy, also to love our fellow men as ourselves, to 
 respect the law of the country in which we dwell as 
 good subjects and citizens, and to endeavour to pro- 
 mote the welfare of society. 
 
 Such is the aim and end of creation. 
 
 A. Benisch, Printer, 7, Bevis Marks, St. Mary Axe.
 
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