XCIV. But the religious idea is not simply a theory that may be accepted or rejected without affecting the human actions, it is not an abstraction confined within the sphere of contemplation; it is a practical system, which requires to be put into execution, and to be manifested in every part of the human conduct. As such, it was to pass into the hands of men, to direct their actions; and they could conform to it only to the extent of their intellectual comprehension of its spirit. Now, every institution, however excellent in itself, is liable to vicissitudes, as soon as human ingenuity seeks to comprehend it, and human weakness to carry it into effect. Even as the intellectual powers and the modes of viewing things vary among men, so the religious idea, in its practical application, was subject, in the lapse of time, to some alteration among those who became its depositaries. Judaism did not remain always pure and consentaneous to its ends; and, although based on a foundation unchangeable in its nature, and eternal, its practice was sometimes at variance with its spirit, and its essence was either neglected or misunderstood, according to certain circumstances of the national development, as we are informed, even by the records of sacred history. XCV. There can be no doubt but the inspired man, who first was commissioned to proclaim the true religious idea, had fully realized in his mind the vastness and immense consequences of that new institution in its ultimate universal compass. In his eloquent addresses there are even some broad traits which allude to a fulfilment reserved to the latest posterity. Nevertheless, it is obvious, that, having to instruct a people who were not yet prepared to realize such an idea, and in an age when the opinions of all mankind ran into totally different directions, he had to take into account the condition of the times and of men, and to use a language suited to his hearers. At the same time it was not designed, or expected, by the holy legislator to see at once realized the last and comprehensive results to which the revealed doctrine aspires; it was sufficient to have given it existence and form, and to have instituted a repository capably of preserving it, leaving its final universal triumph to the development of humanity and progress of civilisation. Considered in these points of view, Mosaism has the appearance, in its exterior garb, of a special law, adapted to peculiar circumstances, and circumscribed to few persons, but in reality, and apart from that kind of integument, it contains the universal doctrines, destined to become the inheritance of all mankind. The blessed Prophet clearly foresaw that the new ideas preached by him would meet with many an obstacle, before they were thoroughly adopted, even by those who were called upon to preserve them; hence the greater was the force with which he inculcated the monotheistic principle, and the necessity of