66 poor brother. Nor let there be a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release is at hand; and "thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest "him nought, and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be "sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give, and thine heart shall "not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for "this thing the Lord thy God will bless thee in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out "of thy land; therefore, I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy "needy in thy land.”* With equal energy does the Law maintain the cause of the hired labourer: "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that "is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy "strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. At his day "thou shalt give him his hire; neither shall the sun go down upon it for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it, lest he cry unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee."+ 66 Thus, also, how are the feelings, as well as the wants of the poor consulted, in that precept which directed, "When thou "dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his "house to fetch his pledge:" as if the Legislator said, Intrude not into his abode, if he is not willing to expose to the stranger's eye the humiliating circumstances of want and nakedness which attend his destitute state; or perhaps there is some little monument of his better days, which he reserves to console his misery, which he would not wish the person from whom he implores aid to see lest he should demand that in pledge, and either, if denied, refuse relief, or, by tearing away this almost sacred relic to which his heart clings, embitter his distress. No, says the Law, the hovel of the poor must be sacred as an holy asylum; the eye of scorn and the foot of pride must not dare to intrude even the agent of mercy must not enter it abruptly and unbid, without consulting the feelings of its wretched inhabitant. "Thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge; "thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend "shall bring out the pledge unto thee."§ In the same strain of humanity the Law goes on: "If the • Deut. xv. 7-11, ✦ Deut. xxiv, 10. Ib. xxiv. 14 and 15. § Ib. ver. 11. "man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge. In any "case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun. "goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless "thee and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord "thy God." The same spirit of benevolence was to regulate the conduct and soften the heart of the husbandman in all his labours. "If "thou cuttest down the harvest of thy field," says the Law, "and hast forgot a sheaf, thou shalt not turn again to fetch it: "if thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: when thou gatherest thy grapes, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, "and the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all "the work of thy hands."+ With equal solicitude does the Law impress reverence for the authority, and attention to the wants. of the aged, delivering as the direct command of Jehovah :"Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face "of the old mar, and fear thy God: I am the Lord." How much praise have the Spartan institutions justly obtained for cherishing this principle; yet, how much more energetic and authoritative is the language of the Jewish Lawgiver. With a similar spirit the same Lawgiver inculcates in the strongest manner the duty of showing tenderness to those who labour under any bodily infirmity: "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put "a stumbling-block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the Lord." And with a still more exalted sense of the importance of virtue above every external advantage and the proportionable obligation of promoting it in all with whom we have any intercourse, the inspired Lawgiver considers the neglecting to do so as a proof of criminal malignity: "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, "nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”|| How admirably are such language and such sentiments as these suited to the sacred original from whence they are supposed to flow! How strongly do they attest the divine benevolence, + Deut. xxiv. 19-21. Levit. xix. 14. 66 66 66 Deut. xii. 12 and 13. Levit. xix. 17 and 18. which dictated the Jewish law, and the divine authority which alone could enforce such precepts by adequate sanctions, and impress such sentiments upon the human heart with practical conviction! If the intermixture of such sentiments and precepts with the civil code, and the union of political regulations with moral instruction and religious observances, is unparalleled in any other country, and by any other Lawgiver does not this circumstance afford some presumptive evidence of the divine original of the Mosaic code. TO REVIEW THE SKETCH WE HAVE EXHIBITED OF THE JEWISH CONSTITUTION, we have seen that it provided for the settlement of 600,000 freeholders, with independent properties, derived not from any human superior, but held in fee from the Sovereign of the Jewish state, even God himself. This distribution of property was guarded by preventing the accumulation of debt, and, if alienated for a time, securing its reversion to the family of the original proprietor at regular periods. The distribution of this body of freeholders through the land, by their tribes and families, forms an additional provision for their union and happiness. They are employed in agriculture, attached to domestic life, estranged from war, but bound to assemble for their country's defence, and thus forming a secure barrier against hostile violence or insidious ambition. They are governed by a nobility, by magistrates and by elders, possessing properties suited to their several ranks, respected for their patriarchal descent, uniting in their persons civil and military authority, by an hereditary right which precluded jealousy and discord. The whole tribe of Levi is set apart to attend to the religious and moral instruction of the nation, for which they have the fullest leisure, and to which they are bound by the strongest interests; dispersed over the whole, and forming a cement and bond of union between the remaining tribes. In this domestic and family government, as it has been justly termed, population is encouraged, freedom secured agriculture and residence in the country, and, by consequence, purity and simplicity of manners provided for-domestic virtue, reverence to the aged, kindness to the stranger, bounty to the fatherless and the widow, justice to all, are inculcated in the most forcible manner, and with the most awful sanctions, even the favour or the displeasure of the Lord Jehovah, who is the immediate Sovereign under whom this government ance. is exercised, by whom its Laws are formed, from whom all property is held, to whose powerful interposition the nation owed its settlement, and on whose protection it depended for its continuAll the blessings, therefore, which the Jew enjoyed under this constitution, and by this government, ought to have had the effect of animating his gratitude and piety to God, and enlarging his benevolence to the poor and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, those peculiar objects of the divine patronage and protection. Is not such a scheme of government worthy of the divine Author to whom it is ascribed? and does not its establish ment at so early a period, and amongst a people so apparently incapable of inventing it as the Jews, strongly attest its heavenly original. LECTURE V. Importance of the question, whether the Jewish Ritual is opposed to the system of Heathen worship, or in any degree borrowed from it?—The latter improbable, if Judaism is of divine original. Spencer's opinion—grounded on supposed political wisdom of such a proceeding-Examples he adduces-mistaken as to these examples—as to reformation from Judaism to Christianity—and from Gentilism to Christianity. Attempt to accommodate Christianity to pre-existing customs, &c.—its mischiefs—Reformation from Popery to Protestantism. Spencer's opinion contrary to Scripture. Parts of the Jewish Ritual more ancient than Moses-Origin of circumcision—Designed contrast between Judaism and idolatry-Jewish Ritual a barrier against idolatry, proved by experience-Josephus-Tacitus. Spencer's opinions supported by insufficient evidence. How far Judaism resembled idolatry-Instances of contrast. Minuteness of Ritual, how useful-and its sanctuary, priests, &c. Ritual not burthen some. ORIGINALITY AND DESIGN OF THE JEWISH RITUAJ In the preceding Lectures an attempt has been made to contrast the theological, moral, and political principles of the Mosaic Law, with the idolatries and corruptions almost universally prevalent at the period of its promulgation, as well as with the carnal temper and short-sighted views of the Jewish people, and their proneness to imitate the worship, and sink into the corruptions of their idolatrous neighbours. And it has been inferred, that the establishment of such a system, at such a period, amongst a people so apparently incapable of inventing it, as the Jews, and so evidently unwilling to submit to it, strongly attests its heavenly original. In the prosecution of this argument, I did not judge it necessary minutely to examine a question which has been agitated by writers of considerable note. How far the apparent resemblance between certain parts of the Jewish Ritual, and certain practices of the Egyptians, |