ntified with that of the law and the courts. The law is part
of the social system of the State, by which the relations of individuals
are determined and upheld. The maintenance of this social order, of the
_status quo_, is considered justice by the law, whatever injustice to
individuals may result. But the Jewish idea of justice is not reactionary;
it owes to the prophets its position as the dominating principle of the
world, the peculiar essence of God, and therefore the ultimate ideal of
human life. They fought for right with an insistence which vindicated its
moral significance forever, and in scathing words of indignation which
still burn in the soul they denounced oppression wherever it appeared. The
crimes of the mighty against the weak, they held, could not be atoned for
by the outward forms of piety. Right and justice are not simply matters
for the State and the social order, but belong to God, who defends the
cause of the helpless and the homeless, "who executes the judgment of the
fatherless and the widow," "who regardeth not persons, nor taketh
bribes."(313) Iniquity is hateful to Him; it cannot be covered up by pious
acts, nor be justified by good ends. "Justice is God's."(314) Thus every
violation of justice, whether from sordid self-seeking or from tender
compassion, is a violation of God's cause; and every vindication of
justice, every strengthening of the power of right in society, is a
triumph of God.

4. Accordingly, the highest principle of ethics in Judaism, the cardinal
point in the government of the world, is not love, but _justice_. Love has
the tendency to undermine the right and to effeminize society. Justice, on
the other hand, develops the moral capacity of every man; it aims not
merely to avoid wrong, but to promote and develop the right for the sake
of the perfect state of morality. True justice cannot remain a passive
onlooker when the right or liberty of any human being is curtailed, but
strains every effort to prevent violence and oppression. It battles for
the right, until it has triumphed over every injustice. This practical
conception of right can be traced through all Jewish literature and
doctrine; through the laws of Moses, to whom is ascribed the maxim: "Let
the right have its way, though it bore holes through the rock",(315)
through the flaming words of the prophets;(316) through the Psalmists, who
spoke such words as these: "Thou art not a God who hath pleasure in
wickedness; evil