It is the proper function of the sciences to arrive at general principles; that is to say, primary, or general facts, in which all secondary, or particular facts are included. Gravitation may serve as an illustration of many meanings. By this one simple principle, astronomy explains all the complex laws of the celestial harmony.
In political, as well as physical science, there are certain great principles, true or false, from which, in any given case, all the numerous details of social organization flow. Every state is based upon some fundamental ideas, and the study of those ideas is the most important object of inquiry in the study of its constitution. No social system can be understood without a knowledge of its fundamental principles. The Hebrew government, like all others, was founded upon certain great maxims of policy, to the development and elucidation of which the reader's attention is now invited.
The first and most essential of these fundamental principles was the unity of God.1
To some it may have an odd sound, to hear announced, as a principle of political science, what we are apt to regard as a mere religious dogma. But this can arise only from a want of due reflection on the subject. When Moses made his appearance in the world, idolatry had crept in on every side. It was firmly established in all nations. With its long train of moral and social evils, it had become the common sentiment and common practice of mankind. It had gained the credit of a settled truth, and the authority of an undoubted principle of common sense. There was not a civil constitution then in being, which was not based upon the assumed truth of polytheism. The Israelites themselves had become so infected with it, that all the miracles wrought for their deliverance were not sufficient to cure their superstition, and keep them steadfast to the worship of the true God.
A civil constitution, inseparably interwoven with the worship of the one living God, was, as far as we can judge, an indispensable agency in enabling, perhaps I ought rather to say, in compelling the Hebrews to answer their high destination. By this means, the worship of the true God would be made imperishable, so long as the nation continued a nation. By this means, it would happen that religion and the political existence of the people must be annihilated together. Whatever reason, therefore, there was for desiring the overthrow of idolatry, there was the same reason for incorporating the idea of the divine unity into the political structure of the Hebrew commonwealth.
Such a politico-religious constitution could then be introduced without difficulty, since it was in accordance with the political ideas of the times. Religious prodigies were as familiar as civil edicts, and as constantly bore their share in the administration of public affairs. All the ancient lawgivers called in the aid of religion to strengthen their respective polities Thus did Menes in Egypt, Minos in Crete, Cadmus in Thebes, Lycurgus in Sparta, Zaleucus in Locris, and Numa in Rome.
But the procedure of Moses differed fundamentally from that of these heathen legislators. They employed religion in establishing their political institutions, while he made use of a civil constitution as a means of perpetuating religion.2 Thus Moses made the worship of the one only God the fundamental law of his civil institutions. This law was to remain forever unalterable, through all the changes, which lapse of time might introduce into his constitution. Thus was the Jewish lawgiver enabled to secure a result of indispensable necessity to human virtue and happiness; a result, which, as far as we can see, could have been attained in no other way.
In this procedure Moses has shown himself one of the greatest benefactors of mankind. The pernicious influence of polytheism will be more fully exhibited in our chapter on the Hebrew theocracy. Let it suffice for the present to observe that the superstitions connected with it are a prolific source of immorality, crime, and misery. But it is to be carefully noted, that it is one thing to make the single article of the worship of one God the first principle of a civil polity; and it is another and totally different thing to make the numerous articles of a religious creed, and their maintenance among the people, the object and scope of political arrangements. Moses framed no symbolic books for the people to subscribe, nor did he publish any mere theological dogma, the belief of which was to be enforced by civil penalties. Such was the structure of the Hebrew state, as will be explained in the next chapter, that idolatry became, under its constitution, a civil crime. No mere private opinion, however, nothing but the overt act of idolatry, was punishable, under the laws of Moses, by the civil authorities.3
NOTES:
1 Deuteronomy 6:4. 2 It is not meant to be asserted here that Moses did not also employ religion in establishing his political institutions, but merely to direct attention to the fact that, with the heathen legislators religion was the means and government the end, while with him government was the means and religion the end. 3 Mich. Com. on the Laws of Moses. Arts. 32, 33, 34, and 245. The political prohibition of idolatry, under the sanction of civil punishment, was not, as we shall see in the next chapter, founded on the doctrine of the true God, considered as a theological dogma, but on the principle that Jehovah, having delivered the Israelites from slavery and made them a nation, was, by their own free choice, constituted civil head of their commonwealth. He was, therefore, to be honored as their king, as well as their God. Even on the assumption of the truth of idolatry, on the supposition that there actually were other gods, this principle bound every subject of the Israelitish government to worship none but the God of Israel. Still, it was not opinions that were prohibited, but actions. But words may be political actions. Blackstone, indeed (B. 4. C. 6.), lays down the doctrine that words spoken amount only to a high misdemeanor and no treason; for the words may be spoken in heat, without any intention, or they may be mistaken, perverted, or misremembered by the hearers. But he adds that words set down in writing constitute an overt act of treason, for scribere est agere. But by the law of Moses, words spoken against the divine king of Israel were considered as compassing, that is, designing and aiming at the overthrow of the government. They were an overt act of treason, which was punished capitally. Hence blasphemy was a state crime, and I have no doubt that to speak any evil of the God of Israel, or to deny his existence, was blasphemy, within the meaning of the statute. This law extended to foreigners as well as to natives. (Numbers 15:15.) While Moses provided that strangers who took refuge in the land of Israel should be treated with justice and kindness, he gave no protection or privilege to any foreign religion. He prohibited absolutely all manner of idolatry. Still, if the stranger was, in his heart, a friend of paganism, Moses did not authorize am inquiry into his private opinion. Such an inquisitorial procedure was foreign both to this temper and his legislation. His laws gave no sanction to it. They were framed against actions, not ideas.
