iousness; and I am not certain but that
elaborate and metaphysical reasoning on the nature and attributes of God
weakens rather than strengthens the belief in Him, since He is a power
made known by revelation, and received and accepted by the soul at once,
if received at all. Among the earliest noticeable corruptions of the
Church was the introduction of Greek philosophy to harmonize and
reconcile with it the truths of the gospel, which to a certain class
ever have been, and ever will be, foolishness. The speculations and
metaphysics of theologians, I verily believe, have done more harm than
good,--from Athanasius to Jonathan Edwards,--whenever they have brought
the aid of finite reason to support the ultimate truths declared by an
infinite and almighty mind. Moses does not reason, nor speculate, nor
refine; he affirms, and appeals to the law written on the heart,--to the
consciousness of mankind. What he declares to be duties are not even to
be discussed. They are to be obeyed with unhesitating obedience, since
no discussion or argument can make them clearer or more imperative. The
obligation to obey them is seen and felt at once, as soon as they are
declared. What he says in regard to the relations of master and servant;
to injuries inflicted on the body; to the respect due to parents; to the
protection of the widow, the fatherless, and the unfortunate; to
delicacy in the treatment of women; to unjust judgments; to bribery and
corruption; to revenge, hatred, and covetousness; to falsehood and
tale-bearing; to unchastity, theft, murder, and adultery,--can never be
gainsaid, and would have been accepted by Roman jurists as readily as by
modern legislators; yea, they would not be disputed by savages, if they
acknowledged a God at all. The elevated morality of the ethical code of
Moses is its most striking feature, since it appeals to the universal
heart, and does not conflict with some of the ethical teachings of those
great lights of the Pagan world to whose consciousness God has been
revealed. Moses differs from them only in the completion and scope and
elevation of his system, and in its freedom from the puerilities and
superstitions which they blended with their truths, and from which he
was emancipated by inspiration. Brahma and Confucius and Socrates taught
some great truths which Moses would accept, but they taught errors
likewise. He taught no errors, though he permitted some sins which in
the beginning did not exi