The same faith in divine

bring forth fruit for three years." Providence alone could prevail on them to leave their properties and families exposed to the attack of their surrounding enemies while all the males of the nation assembled at Jerusalem, to celebrate the three great festivals, enjoined by divine command, with the assurance, that "no man should desire their land, when they went up to appear before the Lord their God thrice in the "year." And finally, it is most evident, that, contrary to all other lawgivers, the Jewish legislator renders his civil institutions entirely subordinate to his religious; and announces to his nation, that their temporal adversity or prosperity would entirely depend -not on their observance of their political regulations, not on their preserving a military spirit, or acquiring commercial wealth, or strengthening themselves by powerful alliances--but on their continuing to worship the one true God, according to the religi ous rites and ceremonies by him prescribed, and preserving their piety and morals untainted by the corruptions and vices which idolatry tended to introduce. How clear and impressive are the concluding words of the last exhortation of their illustrious Lawgiver, to the assembled nation: "See," says he, "I have set "before thee this day life and good, death and evil; in that I "command thee this, day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in "his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, "and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and "the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou "wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, "and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall "surely perish, and that you shall not prolong your days upon "the land whither thou passest over Jordan to possess it. I "call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I "have set before thee life and death, blessing and cursing: there"fore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live; that "thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey "his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, (for he is thy "life and the length of thy days) that thou mayest dwell in the "land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to "Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."+

Such was the theology of the Jewish religion, at a period

• Lev, xxv. 21.

Exod. xxxiv. 24.

Deut. xxx. 15, & v.

when the whole world was deeply infected with idolatry; when all knowledge of the one true God, all reverence for his sacred name, all reliance on his providence, all obedience to his laws, were nearly banished from the earth; when the severest chastisements had been tried in vain; when no hope of reformation appeared from the refinements of civilization or the researches of philosophy; for the most civilized and enlightened nations adopted with the greatest greediness, and disseminated with the greatest activity, the absurdities, impieties, and pollutions of idolatry. Then was the Jewish Law promulgated to a nation, who, to mere human judgment, might have appeared incapable of inventing or receiving such a high degree of intellectual or moral improvement; for they had been long enslaved to the Egyptians, the authors and supporters of the grossest idolatry; they had been weighed down by the severest bondage, perpetually harassed by the most incessant manual labours; for the Egyptians "made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field."* At this time, and in this nation, was the Mosaic Law promulgated, teaching the great principles of true religion, the self-existence, the unity, the perfections and the providence, of the one great Jehovah; reprobating all false gods, all image-worship, all the absurdities and profanations of idolatry. At this time, and in this nation, was a system of government framed, which had for its basis the reception of, and steady adherence to, this system of true religion; and establishing many regulations, which would be in the highest degree irrational, and could never hope to be received, except from a general and thorough reliance on the superintendence of Divine Providence, controlling the course of nature, and directing every event, so as to proportion the prosperity of the Hebrew people, according to their obedience to that Law which they received as divine.

In the mode in which the doctrines of their religion were promulgated, we find a minute attention to the moral and intellectual character of the nation for whom it was designed, and the most admirable precautions used, to impress attention and command obedience, if the authority of the Lawgiver was in reality divine; but precautions of such a nature as would render his whole scheme abortive, and expose it to derision and contempt,

* Exod. i 14.

if he had contrived it only by human artifice, and relied on nothing but human aid.

Here then, I rest the first presumptive argument for the divine original of the Jewish scheme. And I contend that the promulgation of such a system of theology, at such a period, and to such a people, so connected with the form of its government, and adopting such extraordinary regulations and precautions, cannot be satisfactorily accounted for, without allowing the truth of the Mosaic history, the deliverance of Israel by supernatural aid, and the establishment of their religion and government by divine authority.

LECTURE II.

Their extent.

The Ten Commandments due to the Mosaic Law. Their importance illustrated by the practices of the heathen world. The Jewish religion inculcates the two great principles, of love to God, and love to man—Also love to our enemies, as far as was practicable under the Jewish economy. It did not substitute outward observances for internal piety-Proved from the general principles of internal religion which it establishes-From the conditions on which alone it proposes the forgiveness of transgressions-From the connexion it points out, between the ceremonies of the ritual and internal religion. Recapitulation.

DEUTERONOMY, iv. 8.

"What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this Law which I set before you this day?"

Ir shall be the object of this Lecture to enquire, how far this character, which the Jewish Legislator ascribes to his Law, is justified by the nature of the general moral principles which it inculcates, and the specific precepts it lays down, compared with the period at which they were promulgated, and the disposition and capacity of the nation for whom they were designed. In the first place, then, it is an obvious, but it is not therefore a less important remark, that to the Jewish religion we owe that admirable summary of moral duty, contained in the Ten Commandments. All fair reasoners will admit, that each of these must be understood to condemn, not merely the extreme crime which it expressly prohibits, but every inferior offence of the same kind, and every mode of conduct leading to such transgression;* and on the contrary, to enjoin opposite conduct, and the cultivation of opposite dispositions. Thus, the command, "Thou shalt not kill," condemns not merely the

That the Ten Commandments were understood in this extensive sense by the Jews themselves, is evident, not only from the various declarations of the inspired Psalmist and the Prophets, but from the testimonies of such Jewish writings as have reached us, particularly those of Josephus and the celebrated Philo. I refer in particular to the following passages:-Psalms iv, xv. and xix. 12, 13.; Psalm x. 16, to the end, particularly 23.; Psalm lxxxii. 2, 3, 4.; Psalms ci. and cxix. passim, particularly 151, 163, 172.; Isaiah, i, from 10 to 20; also lvi. lviii, Ixi.; Jeremiah, vii.

single crime of deliberate murder, but every kind of violence, and every indulgence of passion and resentment, which tends either to excite such violence, or to produce that malignant disposition of mind, in which the guilt of murder principally consists and similarly of the rest. In this extensive interpretation of the Commandments, we are warranted, not merely by the deductions of reason, but by the letter of the Law itself. For the addition of the last, "Thou shalt not covet," proves clearly that in all, the disposition of the heart, as much as the immediate outward act, is the object of the Divine Legislator; and thus it forms a comment on the meaning, as well as a guard for the observance of all the preceding commands.

Interpreted in this natural and rational latitude, how comprehensive and important is this summary of moral duty. It in

first sixteen verses. All these passages show clearly, that sincere and heartfelt piety and virtue, not Pharisaical strictness or mere ceremonial worship, was demanded by the Jewish law.

In confirmation, consult Josephus, Book II. against Apion, from sect. xvi. to the end. The following beautiful and important passage is very full and express:-"The "reason," says he, "why the constitution of this legislation was ever better directed "to the utility of all, than other legislations were, is this: that Moses did not make "religion a part of virtue, but he saw and he ordained other virtues to be part of "religion: I mean justice, and fortitude, and temperance, and an universal agreement "of the members of the community with one another; for all our actions and studies, "and all our words (in Moses's settlement) have a reference to piety towards God." And again, sect. xxiii. "What are the things then that we are commanded or for"bidden? They are simple, and easily known. The first command is concerning "God, and affirms that God contains all things, and is a Being every way perfect "and happy, self-sufficient, and supplying all other beings; the beginning, the middle, "and the end of all things. He is manifest in his works and benefits, and more "conspicuous than any other. Being whatsoever. But as to his form and magnitude, "he is most obscure; all materials, however costly, are unworthy to compose an "image for him; and all arts are unartful, to express the notion we ought to have of "him: we can neither see nor think of any thing like him, nor is it agreeable to piety "to form a resemblance of him. We see his works-the light, the heaven, the earth, "the sun and the moon. the waters, the generations of animals, the productions of "fruits: these things hath God made, not with hands, not with labour, nor as wanting "the assistance of any to co-operate with him; but as his will resolved they should be "made, and be good also, they were made and became good immediately. All men "ought to follow this Being, and to worship him in the exercise of virtue; for this way "of the worship of God is the most holy of all others." In explaining the other principles of moral duty, he combines the direct commands of the Decalogue with their various additions, explanations, and improvements, which are dispersed through the entire Pentateuch; thus applying them in the most extensive latitude.

The view which Philo takes of this subiect, in his Tract on the Decalogue, and the