is hedged in with strong defences, and nations leaving that path will find broad but thorny roads leading down to ruin. The truth of this was demonstrated by the flood. Again the grand preparations were carried on for the noble experiment, and when all things were ready, its first developments were made in the history of God's chosen people. The scale upon which these things were conducted was worthy of Deity moving among men. No haste nor confusion is apparent. The movement was steady and glorious as the onward march of the sun, and when at length it was completed in the indescribable woes which burst upon the Holy City, a grand and most instructive chapter in human government was laid open before the nations. It is believed that the history of the Jews heretofore has not occupied so prominent a place in the science of government as it deserves; for this reason we crave pardon for dwelling at some length upon it, inasmuch as it has an important bearing upon our general subject.

Throughout the Jewish polity we witness one astonishing phenomenon, the union of two widely separated extremes. The democratic principle prevailed, and yet God was the Sovereign of the nation. Democracy and monarchy, in their purest forms, were combined. But we shall not be prepared justly to appreciate this government, without examining its fundamental principle. The concentrated energies of the created universe cannot produce so sublime and effective a principle. It comprehends the most distant extremes; it descends deep into the mysterious fountains of human action; it lays an authoritative hand not only upon actions apparent to human vision, but on the secret motions which no eye but God's can detect. This principle may thus be stated:-Every Jew was commanded to render heartfelt and perfect obedience to God as his King, and perfect affection to his fellow-subjects as brethren. We are not speaking in reference to the high awards of another world, upon which this principle exerts a determining influence. We refer to it simply as the controlling principle of a national government; and as such it has no parallel. It is wonderful. Its very face bears the signet

stamp of Deity. It bodies forth democracy in its divinest form, beautiful as ever filled the dreamy imagination of an enthusiast, whilst it concentrates all the executive energies of monarchy in its highest perfection. One vast obligation from heaven presses all to a common level, and the same obligation imperatively challenges a bended knee and an affectionate heart to one supreme Sovereign above. This is the fundamental principle of the theocracy, which even under the kings was never abrogated.

And here it is not asserted that the details of this system constituted a perfect model for all nations and circumstances. These were perfect thus far, that they were precisely adapted to the wants of the nation to which they were given; but it would be the height of absurdity to suppose that all the minutiæ could be obtained for all nations from a single model. But the mighty energy, propelling steadily the complicated machinery in different governments, may be the same. In this light the Jewish history assumes a peculiar interest in the present discussion, for it may appear that in this was discovered the true principle of national immortality, the details being left for other and future ages to discover.

In all other national experiments, we have seen the elements of ruin at work;

"And history, with all her volumes vast,
Hath but one page,"

and that page has been the register of birth, of manhood, of death. The destroyer's seal was upon them from the first. What if the Greek should point exultingly to his beautiful statue! its icy heart could not send the bounding blood throughout the limbs, to vivify with a generous vitality. The Roman might gaze with profoundest reverence upon the stern being whose frown and sceptre reduced all into submission to law; and yet he must acknowledge the existence of a fountain deeper than mere law can reach or human vengeance cleanse. That fountain was pregnant with national ruin. Let us now glance at the relation of the fundamental prin

ciple of the theocracy to the great cause of national ruin. And what is that cause? The want of a pure and controlling moral power in the individuals composing a nation. Of course this assertion of a negative fact implies its opposite affirmative, an impure controlling moral power in individuals. If proof is demanded, the private virtue of the noblest representatives of Grecian Democracy and Roman Law may be cited. The first devotes his energies to live out the theory of democracy, and crowns his labors by calmly quaffing the poison, because the people commanded it. And yet Socrates, the idol of philosophy, the caressed child of natural religion, the boast of all disbelievers in revelation, even he at times indulged in low vice. The second is a living personification of Roman regard for law. To him, Law is the real Jove, at whose nod all tremble, and at whose throne all kneel. And yet Cato, whose frown made the Roman Senator quail, and whose sentence was inexorable as Roman destiny, could smilingly commend a noble issuing from a house which "inclineth unto death," could encourage gross sensuality among his numerous dependents, and himself not unfrequently stoop to the control of like passions. If such the virtue of the best, what must have been that of the multitude! These examples are adduced to show that real purity of heart was a thing unknown among Grecians and Romans, and in this we see the fruitful cause of ruin.

But mark the principle of the Theocracy when applied to this cause. It has a twofold bearing, which encompasses the whole ground. Under the weightiest sanctions it absolutely prohibits the existence of impure moral principles in individuals, it descends to the very fountain of those principles, the heart. But it stops not here; it demands, under equally weighty sanctions, the existence of a pure source of action, from which might flow continually obedience to God and love to man. In a word, it enjoined that the Israelite's heart must be so perfect toward his sovereign and his fellow subjects, that even Deity might approve. Let it be remembered that we are now considering a governmental maxim; and is any

eye so piercing, any ken so discriminating, as to notice a single defect, a single weakness? Socrates and Cato are condemned by it. The lauded systems of ancient morality are. weighed by it and found wanting. In beauty it surpasses the Grecian model, in the power of law it is more inexorable than the Roman model, whilst it fathoms depths, and scales heights, and defines boundaries, which human wisdom unaided could never attain. In beauty, grandeur, and strength, it resembled the glorious Temple of God,

"In undisturbed and lone serenity,

Finding itself a solemn sanctuary

In the profound of heaven! It stands before us,
A mount of snow, fretted with golden pinnacles!
The very sun, as though he worshipped there,
Lingers upon the gilded cedar roofs;
And down the long and branching porticoes,
On every flowery-sculptured capital,

Glitters the honiage of his parting beams!"

Thus far we have considered this principle theoretically, and are safe in pronouncing it worthy its birth in heaven. Let us now trace some of its practical results. A partial view can only be taken, from the fact that the Jewish nation was not under the complete control of its theory. There is one respect in which this principle produced wonders. This may be called its expulsive power. The meaning of this phrase can easily be illustrated. Call up before the mind a spring sending up its crystal treasures in a beautiful jet, gushing up delightfully through the sand upon its bottom. Let a person attempt to destroy that fountain by forcing, with an engine, poison down its vein. For a short time that vein will throw out poison; but the pure fountain, deep in the earth, sending up its tide of health, flings off the poison and cleanses it completely away. This is its expulsive power. The human body, also, in perfect health, possesses an inherent power of throwing off disease. It seems to guard the citadel of life, by driving outwardly all injurious juices and substances, and

thus presents another beautiful illustration of the expulsive power.

The Jewish Government possessed an inherent energy analogous to these, an expulsive power, the tendency of which was to throw out of the system every thing injurious. Only two illustrations of this power will be given, from which the movements of the whole system may be inferred.

Oppression has ever been ranked as an efficient cause of national ruin, as may be learned from history. A species of slavery existed in the Jewish polity, and, if permitted to act out its real tendency, would prove as fatal here as elsewhere. The reason of its permission seems to have been the nature of the Jewish law, which prohibited any but Israelites from holding landed property in Canaan, and no stranger might remain in the country on any condition but that of scrupulously observing all the religious ordinances of the nation. If, then, any stranger were admitted to share the religious privileges of Israel, it could only be by becoming a member of some Jewish family, which would stand responsible for his religious conduct. Now it can easily be seen, that whilst this relation happily existed between the master and servant, the power of the state was augmented by the addition of those who felt gratitude for rescue from heathenism. But suppose these servants become dissatisfied, evidently they constitute an element destructive to the state; and here we see the expulsive power of the system. By neglecting to observe any one or all of the great feasts instituted by the Head of the nation, the dissatisfied man-servant could put an end to his servitude, and at the Passover every servant in the land might free himself by not observing the feast. For, no matter how avaricious the master, or how desirous of retaining his servants, the command of the sovereign was implicit, to banish every such person, as violating the principle of obedience to the King and of affection to fellow men. How simply and beautifully the system operates! Whilst the slave, so called, complies with the laws, he is an addition of strength; but the