culcates the adoration of the one true God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is; who must, therefore, be infinite in power, and wisdom, and goodness; the object of exclusive adoration, of gratitude for every blessing we enjoy; of fear, for he is a jealous God; of hope, for he is merciful. It prohibits every species of idolatry; whether by associating false gods with the true, or worshipping the true by symbols and images. Commanding not to take the name of God in vain, it enjoins the observance of all outward respect for the Divine authority, as well as the cultivation of inward sentiments and feelings, suited to this outward reverence; and it establishes the obligation of oaths, and, by consequence, of all compacts and deliberate promises; a principle without which the administration of laws would be impracticable, and the bonds of society must be dissolved. On two subsequent Tracts on the special Laws connected with the different parts of it, is equally extended. He says, "The commands which God himself proclaimed, are not "only Laws, but the summaries or general heads of particular Laws; and those which "he promulgated by his prophet Moses, are all to be referred to the former."* the first and second commandments, he argues at large against the absurdity and guilt of idolatry in all its points; on the third, he impresses with the greatest earnestuess, the guilt either of perjury or rash swearing in conversation: "He who is about "to swear," says he, "ought diligently to examine all the circumstances attending the "subject about which he is to swear; whether it be important, whether it be true, "whether it be certainly apprehended by him. Next he ought to consider himself, "whether his soul is pure from guilt, his body from pollution, his tongue from evil"speaking; for it is criminal to permit any thing unworthy to be uttered by that "mouth, which pronounces the most holy name." Considering the Ten Commandments as summaries of general Laws, he observes,|| that "To the fourth is to he refer"red every thing relating to festival days and sabbaths, vows, sacrifices, purifications, "and every other part of religious worship." On the fifth he observes, "That in the "precept, 'Honour your parents,' are included many Laws, prescribing the duties of "the young to the old, of subjects to magistrates, and servants to masters, and those who have received benefits to their benefactors." And thus of the rest. I have made these quotations, to prove that the Mosaic Law effected the purpose, which I have contended it was calculated to promote; by rectifying and enlarging the moral views of the reflecting and enlightened part of the Jewish nation, to a degree far superior to that which Pagan morality had attained; a circumstance particularly remarkable, in the extent which Philo (p. 592, Letter ƒ,) gives to the command, "Thou "shalt not commit adultery," as prohibiting any irregular desire and licentious indul gence. A strictness utterly unknown to the heathen world. * Vide Philonis Opera, p. 576, Letter c. + Ibid. from p. 579, Letter, to 583, Letter e. || Philonis Opera, p. 590, from Letter ƒ, to the end of the Tract on the Decaloguo, By commanding to keep holy the sabbath, as the memorial of the creation, it establishes the necessity of public worship, and of a stated and outward profession of the truths of religion, as well as of the cultivation of suitable feelings: and it enforces this by a motive which is equally applicable to all mankind: and which should have taught the Jew, that he ought to consider all nations as equally creatures of that Jehovah whom he himself adored; equally subject to his government, and if sincerely obedient, entitled to all the privileges his favour could bestow. It is also remarkable, that this commandment, requiring that the rest of the sabbath should include the man-servant, and the maidservant, and the stranger that was within their gates, nay, even their cattle, proved that the Creator of the Universe extended his attention to all his creatures; that the humblest of mankind were the objects of his paternal love; that no accidental differences, which so often create alienation amongst different nations, would alienate any from the divine regard: and that even the brute creation shared the benevolence of their Creator, and ought to be treated by men with gentleness and humanity. When we proceed to the second table, comprehending more expressly our social duties, we find all the most important principles on which they depend, clearly enforced. The commandment which enjoins, "Honour thy father and mother," sanctions the principles, not merely of filial obedience, but of all those duties which arise from our domestic relations; and, while it requires not so much any one specific act, as the general disposition which should regulate our whole course of conduct in this instance, it impresses the important conviction, that the entire Law proceeds from a Legislator able to search and judge the heart of man. The subsequent commands coincide with the clear dictates of reason, and prohibit crimes which human laws in general have prohibited as plainly destructive of social happiness. But it was of infinite importance to rest the prohibitions, "Thou "shalt not kill-Thou shalt not commit adultery-Thou shalt not steal-Thou shalt not bear false witness," not merely on the deductions of reason, but also on the weight of a divine authority. How often have false ideas of public good in some places, depraved passions in others, and the delusions of idolatry in still more, established a law of reputation contrary to the dictates of reason, and the real interests of society? In one country we see theft allowed, if perpetrated with address: * in others piracy and rapine honoured, † if conducted with intrepidity. Sometimes we perceive adultery permitted, ‡ the most unnatural crimes committed without remorse or shame; § nay, every species of impurity enjoined and consecrated, as a part of divine worship. In others, we find revenge honoured as spirit—and death inflicted at its impulse, with ferocious triumph. Again, we see every feeling of nature outraged, and parents || exposing their helpless children to perish, for deformity of body or weakness of mind, or, what is still more dreadful, from mercenary or political views; and this inhuman practice familiarized by custom, and authorized by law. And to close the horrid catalogue, we see false religions leading their deluded votaries to heap the altars of their idols with human victims: T the master butchers his slave, the conqueror his captive; nay, dreadful to relate, the parent sacrifices his children, and, while they shriek amidst the tortures of the flames, or in the agonies of death, he drowns their cries by the clangor of cymbals and the yells of fanaticism. Yet these abominations separate or combined, have disgraced ages and nations which we are accustomed to admire and celebrate as civilized and enlightenedBabylon and Egypt, Phoenicia and Carthage, Greece and Rome. Many of these crimes legislators have enjoined, or philosophers • Vide Universal Hist. B. I. ch. xix. Vol. I. p. 564; and Plutarch in Lycurgus. Thucyd. Lib. I. sect. v. The second Universal Hist. Vol. I, 562; and Plutarch in his life of Lycurgus. § The proofs of this melancholy fact are unhappily too numerous. Eclogue of the correct Virgil is instar omnium. Vide also Plutarch in Lycurgus compared with Xenophon's Vindication, acknowledging that such guilt was authorized in many places, by the public Laws. Vide Leland's Advantage of Revelation, Part I. ch. vii. and Part II. ch. iii. | Vide Plutarch in Lycurgus, who made it a Law, that the father was obliged to submit his child to the inspection of certain judges, to determine whether it should be preserved, or cast into a deep cavern to perish. Plutarch passes no censure on it. Vide also, the Self-Tormentor of Terence, Act iii. scene 4. Plato and Aristotle approve this cruel violation of natural duty and affection. Vide Plato de Republica, Lib. V. pp. 25 and 28; and Aristotle Politic. Lib. VII. cap. xvi, and Cicero de Legibus, Lib. III. cap. viii, by which it appears, this practice was enjoined by a law of the Twelve Tables at Rome. Vide the authorities quoted in the last Lecture, note, pp. 193, 194, and 195, &c.; and Dr Ryan's useful Work on the Effects of Religion, Vol. I. p. 7, and seq. defended. What indeed could be hoped from legislators and philosophers, when we recollect the institutions of Lycurgus, especially as to purity of manners,* and the regulations of Plato on the same subject, in his model of a perfect republic; when we consider the sensuality of the Epicureans, and immodesty of the Cynics; when we find suicidet applauded by the Stoics, and the murderous combats of gladiators defended by Cicero, and exhibited by Trajan? Such variation and inconstancy in the rule and practice of moral duty, as established by the feeble or fluctuating authority of human opinion, demonstrates the utility of a clear divine interposition, to impress these important prohibitions; and it is difficult for any sagacity to calculate, how far such an interposition was necessary, and what effect it may have produced by influencing human opinions, and regulating human conduct, when we recollect that the Mosaic code was probably the first written law ever delivered to any nation; and that it must have been generally known in those eastern countries, from which the most ancient and celebrated legislators and sages derived the models of their laws and the principles of their philosophy. Such is the substance, and such the importance, of the Decalogue. Shall we then censure and despise the Jewish law, as a system of mere external and useless ceremonies; when it evidently places this great summary of moral duty at the head of all its institutions: and, in the very mode of its promulgation, stamps it with a sacredness and authority suited to its natural pre-eminence? For let it be remembered, that the Vide Plutarch in Lycurgus; and Plato de Republica, Lib. 5. This last exhibits the melancholy and humiliating spectacle, of the most enlightened of heathen philosophers coolly adopting and recommending as the perfection of public morals, a system of more brutalizing turpitude and unnatural cruelty, than ever in fact disgraced human nature in its most depraved state, or polluted the pages of the most licentious writer. Vide Vol. VII. from p. 17 to 28, Editio Bipontina. Alas! how striking a proof of the importance of Revelation. + Vide Cicero de Finibus, Lib. III. cap. xviii; Leland, Part II. ch. xi. How strongly is this expressed in the language of some East Indians, to the English! "If you send us a missionary, send us one who has learned your Ten Com "mandments." Vide Dr Buchanan's Essay on the establishment of an Episcopal Church in India, p. 61, a most interesting and important Work. Vide in the same Work, the cruel and immoral practices sanctioned by the Hindoo superstition, which supply an additional proof of the necessity of Revelation to rectify errors, and to regulate the conduct of man. Decalogue alone was promulgated to the Jews, not by the intermediate ministry of their legislator; but directly to the assembled nation by the voice of God, issuing from the glory on the top of Sinai. Thus does the Jewish legislator appeal to his nation in attestation of this fact: "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judg"ments which I speak in your ears this day. The Lord our "God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not "this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are "all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face "to face, out of the midst of the fire, saying, I am the Lord thy "God." Moses then repeats the Ten Commandments, and adds, "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in "the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of "the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more: "and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them "unto me." Thus awful was the promulgation of the divine Law, enjoining these great principles of duty both towards God and man; first, to the Jews, and through them, we may truly assert, to all the nations of the earth. And was not this an occasion worthy of the direct interposition of the Deity? May we not, without derogating from the wisdom and beneficence of the Divinity, ascribe to him such a law, so promulgated? But the Jewish religion promoted the interests of moral virtue, not merely by the positive injunctions of the Decalogue; it also inculcated, clearly and authoritatively the two great principles on which all piety and virtue depend, and which our blessed Lord recognized as the commandments on which hang the Law and the Prophets;-the principles of LOVE TO GOD, and LOVE TO OUR NEIGHBOUR. THE LOVE OF GOD is every where enjoined in the Mosaic Law, as the ruling disposition of the heart, from which all obedience should spring, and in which it ought to terminate. With what solemnity does the Jewish Lawgiver impress it, at the commencement of his recapitulation of the divine Law; " Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord : "and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, "and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."+ And again, "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, "but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to Deut. v. 1, &c. Deut. vi. 4 and 5. |