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1Si , lors de son origine , il pouvoit avoir à la fois trois grands objets de contemplation ; la Source de toutes les puissances , les vertus qui en descendent pour l’accomplilTement de ses Loix , & les Etres qui ne cessent jamais de lui rendre hommage ; il falloit qu’il lui reliât dans son état de dégradation , les indices & les traces de ce sublime fpe&acle : il falloit que tous ces grands objets fulTent présens à ses yeux , & que ce fulTent des hommes qui les lui repréfentaflent. Aussi dans l’exercice & l’ensemble du culte des Hébreux , pouvons-nous remarquer ces trois cîafles avec la plus grande jullelfe ? Le Peuple rangé autour du Temple , ou dans le parvis , rappelloit à l’homme cette multitude de productions pures de l’Infini , qui relient fidellement attachées à ce Principe , autant par amour pour sa gloire , que par intérêt pour leur propre félicité. Les Lévites occupés autour de l’Autel , lui représentoient par leur aûion , les fonctions de ces Agens privilégiés , & choisis pour faire parvenir les dons & les vertus du grand Principe jusqu’aux moindres de fçs productions. Enfin '74 Tableau
2Enfin le Grand - Prérre entrant seul , une seule fois l’année , dans le Saint des Saints , pour y porter les vœux de tout le Peuple , &: faire couler jusqu’à lui les secours de la vie , devenoit pour l’homme une image parlante du Dieu invisible , dont un seul a£le de puisssance fufEt pour animer à la fois tout le cercle des Etres , tandis que de tous ces Etres qui reçoivent perpétuellement de lui les germes même de leur existence aucun n’a jamais pénétré dans le fanéluaiie inaccefïitle de son essence. Et voilà comment l’homme a pu recouvrer l’idée de son premier séjour , puisqu’il en a eu fous les yeux un tableau réduit , mais régulier » puisqu’enfin il a vu retracer dans sa propre espece le Dieu des Etres , ses Minières & ses Adorateurs. Il y voyoit même les (ignés fenjitl.s , & de ses anciennes jouissances , & des fruits qui fcrvoient . de récompense à sa priere ; puisque les Traditions hébraïques donnent à entendre comment ces sacrifices étoient couronnés , en nous apprenant que le Temple se remplissoit de la gloire de l’ Eternel , ou de ces indices poficifs de penjees pares dont nous avons vu que l’homme étoit environné. Quant à cette multitude incroyable d’animaux qu’il est dit avoir été immolés lors de la dédicace de . "Naturel . 7f
3du Temple , & généralement dans les sacrifices des Hébreux , nous n’entreprendrons point de justifier ces récits , ni de réfuter tout ce qui a été dit sur l’impossibilité que la petite contrée des Juifs renfermât assez de bétail pour fournir tant de victimes , & qu’il y eût un nombre fufffant de Sacrificateurs pour les immoler. Ceux qui ont employé leur temps & exercé leur esprit à critiquer ces textes des Ecritures , pouvoient faire de l’un &: de l'autre , un usage plus utile. 11 eût été plus prudent de chercher les moyens de pénétrer ces emblèmes , que de s’arrêter à leur enveloppe. Il falloit observer que plais les Traditions des Hébreux offrent de justesse & de profondeur dans les endroits où elles sont claires , plus on doit supposer , quand elles paroissent obscures ou invraisemblables , qu’elles le sont à dessein , pour nous cacher des vérités qui n’appartiennent qu’à l’homme intelligent , & qui se~ roient nulles ou nuisibles à tout autre qui n’y seroit pas préparé. Il eût mieux valu nous rappeller combien ]a Langue hébraïque est rapprochée des objets de l’intelligence , puisqu’elle n'a pas même de mot peur exprimer la matière & les élémens • il eût mieux valu , dis-je , nous montrer combien le sens primitif de ses mots les plus communs; est piquant ; juste & sublime; & nous apprendre yé, Tableau
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1If, at the time of his origin, he could have at once three great objects of contemplation; the Source of all the powers, the virtues which descend from it for the accomplishment of its Laws, & the Beings who never cease to render it homage; it was necessary that there should remain to him in his state of degradation the indications & the traces of that sublime spectacle: it was necessary that all those great objects should be present to his eyes, & that it should be men who represented them to him. Also in the exercise & the whole of the worship of the Hebrews, may we not remark those three classes with the greatest justness? The People ranged about the Temple, or in the court, recalled to man that multitude of pure productions of the Infinite which remain faithfully attached to that Principle, as much by love for its glory as by interest for their own felicity. The Levites occupied about the Altar represented to him by their action the functions of those privileged Agents, chosen to make the gifts & the virtues of the great Principle reach even to the least of its productions. Finally '74 Tableau
2Finally the High-Priest, entering alone, a single time in the year, into the Holy of Holies, to bear there the vows of all the People, & to make the succours of life flow down to it, became for man a speaking image of the invisible God, one single act of whose power suffices to animate at once the whole circle of Beings, whilst of all those Beings which receive perpetually from him the very germs of their existence, none has ever penetrated into the inaccessible sanctuary of his essence. And thus it is that man has been able to recover the idea of his first abode, since he has had beneath his eyes a picture of it reduced but regular; since finally he has seen retraced in his own species the God of Beings, his Ministers & his Adorers. He saw there even the sensible signs both of his ancient enjoyments & of the fruits which served as recompense to his prayer; since the Hebraic Traditions give to understand how those sacrifices were crowned, in teaching us that the Temple filled itself with the glory of the Eternal, or with those positive indications of pure thoughts wherewith we have seen that man was environed. As for that incredible multitude of animals which it is said were immolated at the dedication of . "Naturel . 7f
3of the Temple, & generally in the sacrifices of the Hebrews, we shall not undertake to justify these recitals, nor to refute all that has been said upon the impossibility that the little country of the Jews should contain cattle enough to furnish so many victims, & that there should be a number sufficient of Sacrificers to immolate them. Those who have employed their time & exercised their mind in criticising those texts of the Scriptures might have made of the one & of the other a more useful use. 11 would have been more prudent to seek the means of penetrating those emblems than to stop at their envelope. It was necessary to observe that the more the Traditions of the Hebrews offer of justness & of depth in the places where they are clear, the more one ought to suppose, when they appear obscure or improbable, that they are so by design, to hide from us truths which belong only to the intelligent man, & which would be null or hurtful to any other who was not prepared for them. It had been better worth while to recall to us how much the Hebraic Tongue is brought near to the objects of the intelligence, since it has not even a word to express matter & the elements; it had been better worth while, I say, to show us how much the primitive sense of its most common words is piquant, just & sublime; & to teach yé, Tableau
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
PROVENANCE OF THE COPY SCANNED. The volume carries the bookplate of Sidney Edward Bouverie-Pusey, printed above the title page and here trimmed out of the reading text along with the scanner debris around it. It is recorded rather than discarded: it says whose copy of the 1782 Tableau naturel this archive is reading from, which is a fact about the artefact even though it is not a fact about the book.