was levelled with the ground, the country was made a wilderness, and six hundred men, posted on the inaccessible rock of Rimmon, were all that remained of the contumacious tribe.

With respect to the various departments of the national government, they were arranged in such a manner as to secure the liberty and prosperity of the people, their republican character depending upon their spirit, rather than on any given forms. There was no need of legislative action; since a code had been prepared, suited to all public and private relations then existing, and all which would be likely ever to arise. The social and domestic part of this law is, as has been suggested, extremely well suited to infant agricultural colonies, like those of our fathers, so far as they could apply. There were cases in which directions were given respecting divorce, vengeance for blood, and some other things, which would not answer for modern times; but it will be observed, that these practices are not enjoined by his law. They were practices then existing and common, which he introduced into his law only to limit and discourage them, with a view to their final abolition. So there were local regulations with respect to clothing and provisions, so clearly limited to their climate and people, that no other would think of adopting that portion of the law. Neither would the sanguinary penalties of his law answer for modern and more gentle times; death was his common punishment, because in all Israel there was but one prison, and that was—the grave.

But while there was no need of a Congress for the purpose of making laws, conventions were often required and often assembled for other public purposes; and these were attended by the notables, or renowned men of the congregation,more properly those who were used to attend. It does not appear that delegates were elected by the people; but there were those who by prescription represented the people, and to whom, without any formal act, they looked in all matters of public concern. They were more like an assembly of 'notables,' than like the members of our public bodies; but the people evidently considered them as representing their interests, and their acts in turn were binding upon the people.

The judicial department was organized in such a manner as to insure the administration of justice without delay. The Hebrew statesman considered this trust so important, that he

intended to retain it in his own hands. But he soon found, that no human strength was equal to the labor; he therefore appointed others, and, at last, there were judges in almost every city. Not, however, those who bear that name in the Old Testament. Most of the Judges, as they are unappropriately called, were persons of no civil authority; some were mere partisan officers; there was but one, Samuel, who in any respect resembled a President of our Union.

With respect to the Executive department, it was the object of the founder of Israel to do, if possible, without one. Knowing how difficult it was to control power once intrusted to the hands of an individual, he wished to have executive purposes answered without setting apart a single person for that tempting distinction, trusting that, on emergencies, men would appear, who could discharge the duty required by the occasion, without any other commission than their own qualifications, acknowledged by the public voice. Such were the persons recorded in the book of Judges,-persons wholly without authority, starting up whenever and wherever they were needed, doing whatever was necessary, and then sinking back into the great body of the people, whence they sprang. But he foresaw that this arrangement would not always be satisfactory to the Hebrews; indeed, that it might not always be adequate to public purposes; and that his people, too unenlightened to relish republican simplicity, would be misled by the example of surrounding nations, and would at last demand a king. He therefore made provision for this exigency in case it should arise, and, after solemn warnings of the danger of despotism, proceeded to enact, that, if they insisted upon having a king, he should be a king only in name, and nothing more than a popular magistrate in power. No king was ever to ascend the throne against the will of the people. When Saul, by acclamation, was called to this high station, Samuel prepared a writing, and deposited it in the sanctuary, where reference might afterwards be made to it, in case of royal usurpation. And when Saul was set aside, in consequence of mental derangement, David did not ascend the throne till he was called to it by the popular voice. For some time, he was acknowledged only as king of Judah, nor did he think of extending his authority over the other tribes, till their consent had been formally given; and even after the revolt of Absalom was suppressed, a new election on the part of the nation was

thought necessary, before David could re-ascend the throne. The king was restricted as to the public treasures. He was forbidden to keep a force of cavalry, since they were not wanted for defence, and would only be employed in foreign invasions. The words and spirit of the law enjoined upon the king to consider himself as one of the people, never to suffer his heart to be lifted up above his brethren; thus the office was made as consistent as possible with republicanism and popular rights; and by a wise foresight, which conceded to the people what he knew they would require, he guarded at once against the dangers of despotism, and saved his institutions from being overthrown.

If this concession seem inconsistent with republicanism on the part of the Hebrew statesman, it must be remembered that it was equally inconsistent with his own views of what was best for the people. It was forced upon him, as some other things were, by a tendency of popular feeling, which there was no resisting. The spirit of his law was wholly against it; all who afterwards maintained the spirit of his law, were equally strong against it. This was the case with Samuel, that perfect example of a popular magistrate, who remonstrated solemnly and eloquently with the people against their rash determination to have a king. He might have secured the throne for himself and his children; but this he disdained to do. He told the people that they were fastening upon themselves an Oriental despotism; that their kings would rule them with a rod of iron, and they would repent when it was too late. The scene, where he resigns his own authority to the convention of the people, and calls on each man who had been injured by his public acts, to step forward and accuse him, is one of the finest scenes in history. They all reply, with one voice, "Thou hast injured, oppressed, and defrauded none."

The truth was, that all who followed the maxims of the founder of the state, set their faces against usurpation, and maintained the rights of the people at all hazards, and in the most disastrous times. When Saul, his head turned by success, undertook to unite the sacerdotal with the royal power, a step unconstitutional in itself, and dangerous to freedom, the republican spirit of the nation took the alarm at once. From that moment, Samuel and other friends of liberty felt, that he was not the man to govern a free people. We have seen how cautiously David, who was a better politician, proceeded, never VOL. XXI. 3D S. VOL. III. NO. 1.

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attempting to claim the royal authority till it was freely conceded by the people, who were also induced by his forbearance to give him the right of naming his own successor. The reign of Solomon was full of public discontent, occasioned by taxation, and his life was made wretched by the curses both loud and deep which followed him to the grave. When hist son came forward in his stead, only Judah and Benjamin acknowledged him. The rest of the tribes offered to do it on conditions which were not accepted. They then, not rebelliously, but in the exercise of an undoubted right, rejected him, chose their own sovereign, and established a separate kingdom. All this was the action of the republican spirit, and that spirit was inspired, cherished, and sanctioned by the constitution. Who, then, can doubt whether it was a constitution intended for the free?

If any doubt remained upon the subject, it would be removed by an express provision in the constitution itself, that it was not to be considered in force till it had been submitted to the people, and formally accepted by them all. The place and manner, in which it should be accepted, were also pointed out. When they were come into the land of promise, they were to be assembled in an amphitheatre formed by two mountains, Ebal, a bleak, frowning rock towering on one side, and Gerizim, springing up covered with verdure and beauty on the other. The one height was a prophetic monument of the prosperity and loveliness, which would follow the observance of those institutions: the other was expressive of the barrenness and desolation, which a disregard of their constitution would inevitably bring upon their country; which indeed it has brought, so that, even to this day, the traveller finds the land of promise, through all its borders, as dreary and sterile as the peak of that dismal rock. There the tribes were ranged in order to hear its provisions, and there they signified their acceptance, by an act of free choice, which was binding on themselves and their children. Every seven years it was publicly read over, and a new oath of allegiance was taken by the people.

Thus we see that the Hebrew law, in its substance and in its forms, was not only republican, but that it bore in its leading features a striking resemblance to our own. And again we ask, if it is not wonderful, that, in the midst of barbarism and darkness, surrounded by examples of slavery and oppression, hearing no sounds but those of violence, and seeing no

soil that was not stained with blood, a legislator should have founded a government on principles of peace, humanity, and social order, carried out as far as in the freest government now existing in this world.

But it may be said, these institutions did not secure the prosperity of the Hebrew nation; on the contrary, their whole history is a record of degeneracy, and the suffering which followed it. But were his institutions to blame for this? He told them, that it would be so. He told them, that, the moment his constitution was violated, they would begin their downward march to ruin. So long as it was maintained, they prospered; when they disregarded his directions, they began to fall. Now, to make him responsible for this, is as unfair as the way in which some reproach the Christian religion. They say, “Look at the disputes, the passions, the corruption of Christians." What of it? Is it Christianity which makes them quarrel and sin? So far from it, Christianity positively forbids all those offences; and if they only regarded it, these things would be done away. There is not one principle, letter of Christianity, which leads to these things; all, on the contrary, if regarded, tend to prevent these things; and yet there are those, who accuse Christianity as the cause and author of all that it forbids. And they are the persons who charge the Hebrew institutions as the cause of the degeneracy and ruin of the Jews.

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But they did fall; and why?-Because the people were not good enough for their institutions. There was not among them that degree of intelligence and virtue, which was necessary in order to keep such institutions in successful operation. For these institutions do not exist independent of the people. The people, in every free country, are the state. If they are corrupt, the state is corrupt; and, when this is once found to be the case, the fate of the nation is sealed. It is gone, past all mercy and redemption, nor can any temporary expedients prevent its ultimate fall. In the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, which Michael Angelo boasted that he had suspended in the clouds, certain fissures have been discovered; to save this glory of architecture, they have bound it with a vast iron chain. Such is the way with republics. When they begin to fall, they are upheld for a season, as Rome was by Cæsar, by some strong hand, which binds them with a mighty chain; but, when the