that a religion without the doctrine of immortality and future retribution is no religion.  But in our time philosophy takes a different view, declaring that there is nothing necessarily religious in the belief of immortality, and that to do right from fear of future punishment or hope of future reward is selfish, and therefore irreligious and immoral.  Moreover it asserts that belief in immortality is a matter of instinct, and something to be assumed, not to be proved; and that we believe in immortality just in proportion as the soul is full of life.  Therefore, though Moses did not teach the doctrine of immortality, he yet made it necessary that the Jews should believe in it by the awakening influence of his law, which roused the soul into the fullest activity.

But beside genius, beside knowledge, did not Moses also possess that which he claimed, a special inspiration?  And if so, what was his inspiration and what is its evidence?  The evidence of his inspiration is in that which he said and did.  His inspiration, like that of Abraham, consisted in his inward vision of God, in his sight of the divine unity and holiness, in his feeling of the personal presence and power of the Supreme Being, in his perception of his will and of his law.  He was inwardly placed by the Divine Providence where he could see these truths, and become the medium of communicating them to a nation.  His inspiration was deeper than that of the greatest of subsequent prophets.  It was perhaps not so large, nor so full, nor so high, but it was more entire; and therefore the power that went forth from the word and life of Moses was not surpassed afterward.  “There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”  No prophet afterward till the time of Jesus did such a work as he did.  Purity, simplicity, and strength characterized his whole conduct.  His theology, his liturgy, his moral code, and his civil code were admirable in their design and their execution.

We are, indeed, not able to say how much of the Pentateuch came from Moses.  Many parts of it were probably the work of other writers and of subsequent times.  But we cannot doubt that the essential ideas of the law proceeded from him.

We have regarded Moses and his laws on the side of religion and also on that of morals; it remains to consider them on that of politics.  What was the form of government established by Moses?  Was it despotism or freedom?  Was it monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, or republicanism?  Were the Jews a free people or an enslaved people?

Certainly the Jews were not enslaved.  They had one great protection from despotism,—­a constitution.  The Mosaic law was their constitution.  It was a written constitution, and could therefore be appealed to.  It was a published constitution, and was therefore known by all the people.  It was a sacred constitution; given on the authority of God, and therefore could not be modified, except