sible that a difference of opinion should arise among sage divines respecting any subject not elucidated by the written law and its verbal exposition, the Divine Wisdom, in order to obviate every inconvenience, has determined that, in all such cases, the majority of these sage divines decide: As it is written, "Incline. thyself after the majority;" (Exodus xxiii. 2';) and although the minority may be more highly gifted than the majority, yet the latter decide, and the former are bound to abide by their decision. But by "the majority" are understood only pious men and sages; nor can the vulgar and ignorant ever be admitted to cause or swell that majority; as it is a fact confirmed by experience, that the vulgar are more prone to err than to admit the truth.

These words את הדברים האלה

spake the Lord unto all your congregation;" (Deut. v. 22;) relating to that part of the Decalogue which teaches the knowledge of the existence of the Deity, his immateriality, his being the Creator of the universe, his revelations, and providence, &c. This knowledge emanates directly from his own wisdom, by which it is imparted. The second teaches what is acceptable unto Him-blessed be HE! This emanates from his will; nor can any other reason be assigned for its performance than its being commanded by, and acceptable to, Him. Such are the prohibitions of wearing yw, "mingled garments," of sowing mixed seeds, the law of the red heifer, and others; into the reasons for which we cannot penetrate. These are called

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'pin, statutes," which we are bound to obey in accordance with the revealed will of God. The third teaches to do right and to avoid wrong, in all dealings between man and man. This emanates from the power of

God, and is called 'wp, “judg ments." It is evident that the laws of civilization cannot comprise either the first or the second of these two

objects, as we have already fully demonstrated: For the great truths of religion are altogether beyond the reach of human reason; and philosophy is insufficient to come to any decision; and it is equally impossible for man to know the particular and minute actions which are acceptable to the Deity. In both instances Divine revelation is his only instructer. The utmost extent of the laws of civilization are therefore limited to the third object; as their purpose is the endeavour to promote right, and prevent wrong, between man and man, to determine the rights of man, and uphold the institutions of society. But even in these objects mature reflection will show us the insufficiency of the laws of civilization, their incompetency to decide with precision, and in every case to administer real justice. What human reason is capable of deciding, what ought to be the just extent of penalty inflicted on a thief? whether he is to restore twofold, threefold, or sevenfold? Accordingly legislators vary in their enactments. Some condemn the thief to death, be his theft large or small; which is altogether contrary to reason, inasmuch as there is no proportion observed between the crime and its punishment. He stole property, and he forfeits life. Other legislators award imprisonment, which affords no compensation to the party despoiled: Whereas the Divine law apportions the punishment of the thief with the most just precision, and according to the degrees of criminality. He who denies having received that which has been confided to him, (an inferior species of theft,) is to restore twofold. He who steals a lamb must restore four-fold; and for an ox, five-fold; thus adapting the amount of compensation to the extent of in jury: And in every case, if the thief has not wherewithal to pay the fine, he is sold for his theft. (Exodus xxii. 3.) The punishment thus apportioned is in perfect accordance with the most equitable dictates of

libations unto her, we have been de prived of all, and are consumed by sword and famine." (Jeremiah xxiv. 15-18.) This last opinion leads to idolatry, or the worshipping of strange gods, and is most strictly prohibited by the law of Moses, as tending to pervert mankind to their own great detriment, by inducing them to withhold obedience where alone it is due, and to prostitute that homage which ought to be yielded to the Most High alone, according to their vitiated ideas. That the first opinion is not as expressly prohibited in that law, or condemned in words as plain and direct, is not because it is less pernicious or false than the other, but because the whole tenor of the law, its spirit, and enactments afford the fullest and most complete refutation of that absurd idea. The ancients, how liable soever to err, seldom disputed or called in question a Supreme Direction of the universe: Simple children of nature, they observed its operations, and felt that an invisible Guide directed and presided over all sublunary as well as all celestial subjects. They seldom attributed those operations to chance; but, while they owned the supremacy of rule, the question with them was, "Who is the ruler?" The limited faculties of man in that primitive age rendered him prone to superstition, which engendered fabulous deities, and imposed the worship of sticks and stones: As his limited faculties in modern times render him prone to presumption, which engenders arrogance and infidelity, and imposes the belief in chance as the author of all that is; an idea to the full as ridiculous and pernicious as idolatry.

These two opinions have ever borne sway over the mind of man, unenlightened by revelation. When the Israelites rebelled against their Great Benefactor, their question was

is predicted: My wrath will be kindled against them: On that day I will forsake them and hide my face from them: They shall be consumed and many evils and calamities shall befall them. And they shall say, Is it not because my God is not in me that all these calamities befall me? But I will hide my face from them on that day because of all the evil which they have committed." (Deut. xxxi. 17, 18.) When the punishment of their evil deeds befall them, they cry out, "We suffer because the Deity does not concern himself about us or about mankind: " Whereas they are expressly told, "I turn my face from you on that day; because of your evil deeds I will for a time turn my face from you, and you shall be abandoned !

Belief in the Divine Government, without which there can be no religion, was uppermost in Jacob's mind. Accordingly he says, "If my urgent wants are supplied, if I escape all dangers, and, contrary to the expectation entertained by myself and those who best know the circumstances which forced me to fly, if I return in peace to my father's house; it will thence be proved, that I am not abandoned to chance or to the governance of secondary influences, but that the Lord has been unto me a God, evincing himself as such by the especial protection afforded to

me.

This great truth it behoves me to make generally known to mankind; and, therefore, I will raise a house of prayer to Him to whom all prayer must be directed, and I will devote a tenth of my possessions to His service."

Man is superior to all other animals, because he acts according to his own will and determination. Nevertheless there are certain things which he does, as it were, intuitively, and in common with all other animals, to which nature has given certain instincts for their preserva

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my God is within me or not." (Exodus xvii. 7.) Does my God search and investigate my inward parts, and know whatsoever concerns me, or does he not regard me? This doubt in after-times led to the manifold sins and punishments of Israel, as

are not bestowed in vain, but the infallible effects of which can be obviously deduced. Thus, it is as natural and intuitive to man, that, when in danger, he should scream, as it is natural and instinctive to the cat, if thrown or falling from any height,

so to contract her body that on alighting on the ground she finds her centre of gravity on her legs. Man, when threatened with imminent peril in an absolute wilderness, where he is sure no human being can afford him assistance, will nevertheless shout and scream, because his doing so is intuitive and as independent of his will as is the action of putting forth his hands to save his head when falling. That the cry of pain is implanted in us by nature, is proved by the new-born infant, who, although unconscious of surrounding objects, utters his plaintive wail.

This intuitive impulse, not to call it instinct, is not implanted without a wise purpose: The cries of man for help, if they reach any human ear, will procure assistance from his fellow-men. And such a cry is prayer. It is innate in man to implore the aid of a Superior Being when exposed to immediate danger. Let it not be said that this is the effect of education alone. Even the man who has never been taught to believe in a God, much less to pray, will, notwithstanding, in the hour of his utmost need, utter some sound of invocation and of supplication. No man who was in danger of being engulfed by an earthquake, or of sinking under the billows, ever yet resigned life, without some involuntary exclamation, such as, "O God!" or even a simple "O!" bursting from his lips: Nor is the last of these, though a single plaintive sound, less a prayer than the first. This most

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forcibly demonstrates, that prayer in its rudest form is intuitive to man; and as nature bestows no instinct in vain, it confirms the words of Holy Writ : Then wilt thou call, and the Lord will answer; thou wilt scream, and the Lord will reply, Here I am!" (Isaiah lviii. 9.) Therefore Jacob vowed to erect a house to the Lord, that mankind might there be instructed how and to whom to pray.

It remains for us shortly to notice, why Jacob vowed to consecrate a tenth of his property to the service of the Lord, and why, previous to the giving of the law in the days of Abraham and Melchizedek, and through the enactments of the law down to the present times, one part in every ten has been set aside for the service of the Lord. The ancients assumed the various heavenly powers and influences to be ten; to which those who assigned the government of the world to the celestial constellations attributed all the good that they enjoyed. The worshippers of the true God, therefore, in order to express the real source of every good, and their independence of those ten influences, consecrated to him one part in ten of their increase, whether it were produced by agricultural or by commercial pursuits; thus breaking in upon the supposed symbolical number, and evincing their gratitude to their only true Benefactor: As it is said, "Every thing is from thee and from thy hand we give to thee." (1 Chron, xxix. 14.)