remnants of these impious nations, whose total extermination they had been warned was necessary to guard against the contagion of their vices and idolatries. It has also *appeared, from an examination into the established principles and direct precepts of the Jewish Law, that it was calculated to inspire a spirit of universal and active benevolence, even to enemies, as far as the peculiar situation of the chosen people would allow; and that it tended to soften and humanize the soul, by cherishing sentiments of sympathy and tenderness, even to the brute creation.

The flaws of war of the Jews towards all nations, (the Canaanites and Amalekites excepted,)

* Vide supra, p. 17, and from p. 23 to 30; also Vol. I. p. 300, 310, 356.

+ Concerning these laws of war, consult Josephus's Antiq. Book IV. sect. xlii. and contra Apion, Book II. sect. xxx.; in concurrence with the most respectable rabbis, and the general tradition of the Jews, he interprets Deut. xx. 13, only to imply a permission not a command, "Thou mayest kill (not thou shalt kill) the males, that is,

the adult males;" or as Josephus interprets it, "Those "who had borne arms against them," which at that time included all the adult males: compare 2 Kings, vi. 22, which, however interpreted, shews an instance of mercy to prisoners by express divine authority. Selden de Jure Gentium apud Hebræos, Lib. VI. cap. xvi. Vol. I. p. 673, quotes various authorities to shew the Jews were authorised

te

excepted,) were, for that period of the world, peculiarly humane. No enemy was to be attacked, till peace had been offered: on conquest, only the males who had borne arms, were permitted to be put to death, and even of these they might make prisoners: women and children were protected: female captives were guarded from abuse, and treated with tenderness and respect; all unnecessary waste and havock were strictly forbidden. Strangers and slaves were objects of peculiar attention in the Mosaic Law, and their interests and rights guarded with the most tender humanity. "Thou shalt not oppress "a stranger, says the Law; for ye know "the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were

strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall "not afflict any widow or fatherless child; "if thou afflict them in any wise, and they

cry

to spare all prisoners who would become proselytes, (even of the seven nations,) as there would then be no danger of learning abominations from them; Deut. xx. 18: and he proves it was an ancient tradition among the Jews, that in besieging a city, an interval was to be left to give the besieged an opportunity of escaping. For the treatment of female captives, consult Philo de Charitate, p. 547; and on the Laws of War, vide Jews Letters to Voltaire, Vol. II. Letter III. and Leland's Answer to Morgan, ch. iv.

* Exod. xxiii. 9.

cry at all unto me, saith the Lord, I "will surely hear their cry, and my wrath "shall wax hot, and I will smite you with "the sword, and your wives shall be widows, " and your children fatherless. If thou meet "thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, "thou shalt surely bring it back to him

again if thou see the ass of him that "hateth thee, lying under the burthen, and "wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt "surely help with him." Thus also the most sacred ordinances of religion, were stated to have a reference to the comforts of the poor, and the ease even of inferior animals. When the land was to rest each Sabbatic year, the Lawgiver assigns as a reason, "Ye shall let it rest, that the poor "of thy people may eat; and what they "leave, the beasts of the field shall eat." Thus also as to the Sabbath day: "Six

days thou shalt do thy work, and on the

"seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox "and thine ass may rest, and the son of

thy handmaid; and the stranger may be "refreshed. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox "that treadeth out the corn.

Exod. xxiii. 11. † Deut. xxv. 4.

If a bird's

"nest chance to be before thee, and the "dam sitting upon her young, thou shalt "not take the dam with the young; thou "shalt in any wise let the dam go, that it

6.6

may be well with thee, and that thou

mayest prolong thy days." These were precepts inculcating humanity to the most helpless of inferior animals, with an anxiety and solemnity unparalleled, I do not hesitate to say, in any code of laws ancient or modern. And shall we, notwithstanding all this, stigmatise the Jewish system as sanguinary and cruel; because under an express divine command, and for the important purposes of establishing, in one chosen people, the worship of the true God, and the principles of pure morality, and, above all, for the purpose of preparing for the Gospel scheme, it commanded the extermination of one impious, polluted and cruel nation; thus inculcating the horror of idolatry on the Jews, who were to be treated with similar severity for similar crimes; thus also proving the superiority of Jehovah over the idols of Canaan, and the terrors of the divine wrath against the vices pursued with such signal

vengeance,

vengeance, in the only way at once intelligible and impressive, amidst a people dull and worldly minded, seldom extending their views beyond temporal rewards and punishments, and who by these means only, could be disciplined and controuled, so as afterwards to be governed in a mode coincident with the general course of divine administration? Surely to neglect the various circumstances which thus explain and vindicate the severity exercised against the Canaanites by the divine command, and on account of these reject the whole scheme of revelation, would be a degree of incredulity and presumption, equally irrational and irreligious. Far be this from us my brethren: be it ours to weigh the dispensations of Providence with more humility, and derive, from the severity, as well as the mercy of the divine. administration, new motives to persevering watchfulness and holy obedience.