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The law of the Eternal » תורת ה' תמימה משיבת נפש פקודי ה' ישרים

משמחי לב •

the soul; the precepts of the Lord are heart." (Ps. 19, 8 and 9 v.)

is perfect, it refreshes just, they gladden the

18. Which, however, are the fundamental articles in the Mosaic religion?

The principal points of faith, upon which our holy religion is founded, are of two kinds. Namely, first, those truths which we can already discover through our reason alone, and are comprehensible from the nature of things; and secondly, historical facts and doctrines, which are neither discoverable through the means of reason solely, nor deducible from our every day experience.

19. Which are the truths of the FIRST KIND?

a) There exists one Eternal God; that is to say, a Supreme Being, who is almighty, all-wise, and all-good; the creator, preserver, and ruler of all things.

b) Our soul is immortal; her existence, therefore, does in no wise terminate at the death of the body; but

c) She will surely receive from the hands of the all-just God, in the future and eternal life, reward or punishment for her actions whilst here.

20. Which are the doctrines of the SECOND KIND, founded on historical truths?

which are

a) That God revealed himself, in a supernatural manner, to our ancestors, and in particular to our teacher Moses-the greatest of all prophets, who ever lived or will live-and that he communicated to us laws and doctrines for our happiness,

which are contained in the book of the law, now actually in our possession.

b) That Moses taught and wrote nothing voluntarily or from his own fancy; but every thing from divine inspiration. That, therefore, every promise made to us by God, through Moses and the prophets, will be eventually accomplished, as soon as his all-seeing wisdom and goodness shall deem us worthy thereof.

c) That also the more particular explanations and definitions of the written precepts, were likewise communicated and orally delivered to Moses by God; so that these traditions (which were afterwards delivered by Moses to the elders and rulers of the people by word of mouth solely, and thus handed down from generation to generation) constitute a prominent and essential part of the law.

CHAPTER III.

OF GOD AND HIS ATTRIBUTES.

21. How does reason alone already point out to us the existence of God?

Reason teaches, that one thing is always produced by another; therefore, that the world could not have sprung into existence of itself, but that it must have had a wise author and creator; and this first cause, this wise and mighty creator of all things, I call GOD. And thus we read:

,Do but ask the cattle » ואולם שאל נא בהמות ותרך ועוף השמים ויגד לך - או שיח לארץ ותרך ויספרו לך דגי הים •

מי לא ידע בכל אלה כי יד ה' עשתה זאת :

and they will teach
thee; and the birds

of heaven, and they will tell it thee; or view the earth, and she will instruct thee; and the fish of the sea will make it known to thee: Who discovers not in all these, that the hand of the Eternal has created them all?" (Job, 12 ch. 7-9 v.)

22. What convinces us, that God is not alone the creator, but also the ruler and supporter of the universe?

This we discover already in the preservation and continuance of all beings and creatures on earth; but chiefly in the regular course of the sun, moon, and stars. For they retain the same proportion and relative situation to one another, which they had thousands of years ago: the seasons change always in their due order, and the constellations pursue their course-even in the most distant orbits-and re-appear regularly and with the utmost punctuality at the place from whence they commenced their course. And says Isaiah, (40 ch. 26 v.):

Raise your eyes to heaven » שאו מרום עיניכם וראו מי ברא אלה המוציא במספר צבאם לכלם בשם יקרא מרב אונים

and see; who created

ואמיץ כח איש לא נעדר •

these? He bringeth out

their host by number, calleth each by name (i. e. assigns to each its course and destination). None is hidden from Him, the Almighty and All-powerful."

The heavens relate the glory * השמים מספרים כבוד אל, ומעשה ידיו

מגיד הרקיע וגו'

of God, and the firmament

tells of the work of his hands," &c. (Ps. 19.)

23. But we cannot see God?

Every power is invisible; consequently, the Supreme Power must likewise be imperceptible to our eyes. A power appears only in its effects; and the effects of the Supreme Power we see every where, and in all directions, in the innumerable mass of creatures, from the greatest to the least. God is a spirit, an invisible being. We read, therefore, in the Bible:

For you saw no figure whatever of the * כי לא ראיתם כל תמונה.

Deity." (Deut. 4 ch. 15 v.)

24. What do you mean to express by-God is a spirit? That God is the Supreme Power; an incorporeal being, to whom we cannot attribute, and who possesses not, the qualities, casualties, and nature of the body or of matter.

And to whom will you compare * ואל מי תדמיוני ואשוה יאמר קדוש •

me, that I could resemble him? speaks the Most Holy.” (ls. 40 ch. 25 v.)

25. But we read (Numb. 12 ch. 8 v.): “He (Moses) saw the form of the Eternal;" how shall we understand this and many other expressions of the Bible which speak of the HAND of God, the MOUTH of God, the EYE of God, &c.?

All these and similar expressions must not be taken in their literal sense, that is, in their common acceptation, but ought only to be considered, as employed in a figurative meaning, to give to our senses some faint idea of the qualities and works of God, which would otherwise be altogether unintelligible to us. And whereas we are accustomed, to do all that we do, through the means of our limbs, we, therefore, find the operations of God presented to us in these figurative expressions, that they may be rendered more comprehensible and in a measure made visible to our mind. Thus the above adduced allegorical phrase is only intended, to express more emphatically the superiority of Moses above all other prophets, in so far, namely, as he had the greatest knowledge of God's attributes and providence; it is, therefore, merely a further explanation of the preceding sentence, which says in substance:

-God spoke with him in a perfectly plain man * במראה ולא בחידות •

ner, and not through riddles."

26. Is that other expression of the Bible, which says: "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,

נעשה אדם בצלמנו יי,

(Gen. 1 ch. 26 v.) also to be taken in a figurative sense? This also is certainly nothing more than a figurative phrase, and is the less applicable to bodily form, as otherwise the words (in our form, in our shape) ought to have been used. The above words, however, convey no other idea, than that the spirit of man bears, in a certain degree, some resemblance to the Deity; since it renders man not only immortal, but is also the cause of his being endowed with such great and excellent mental powers; so that he is the only one of all living things, who acknowledges his Creator, and reflects upon his own being, and governs all animals: just as God is in truth alone the wisest and most mighty ruler of all things. This

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