enjoined no painful ceremony, except that of circumcision. It required only one fast, viz. that of a single day in a year, while it ordained three annual festivals of considerable length. But the heathens began even their principal festival with the most barbarous rites of mourning, with tearing their hair, shaving their heads, and mangling their flesh. These cruel rites of worship are expressly forbidden to the Israelites." Ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness between your eyes; ye shall not print any marks in your flesh; for ye are a holy people to the Lord."-Every incentive to lewdness, which was openly practised in the pagan worship, was far removed from that of Jehovah. As the heathens were fond of worshipping on the tops of mountains, and in groves, where every kind of abomination was conveniently committed; the Jews on this account were forbidden to plant groves near to the altar of God. While the superstition of the former converted their temples and altars into a sacred asylum for all sorts of criminals; the altars of the latter afforded no refuge to presumptuous offenders;" If a man, says the king of Israel, come upon his neighbour, and slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die."

Fifthly, the heathen nations were extremely devoted to divination, witchcraft, and necromancy; insomuch that even the refined Romans held the established auguries in the highest veneration; and many serious christians, as well as infidels, in this enlightened age have great faith in similar superstitions. But every thing of this kind is severely interdicted in the Jewish law. This cir cumstance, especially considering the times in which this system was framed, strongly evinces the superior, the divine wisdom of its Founder. We may add, the heathens

reserved some part of the first fruits of their harvests for magical purposes. When they had gathered all their fruits, they took a kid, and boiled it in its mother's milk, and with magical rites sprinkled it on their gardens and fields, thinking hereby to render them fruitful. This superstitious practice is forbidden to the Hebrews"thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk." And when they presented their first fruits, they were directed to recount, with decent and pious gratitude, the goodness of God to them and their fathers.

Sixthly, the antient pagans had many superstitious rules with respect to sacrifices. Thus hogs were sa crificed to Ceres, an owl to Minerva, a hawk to Apollo, a dog to Hecate, an eagle to Jupiter, a horse to the Sun, a cock to Esculapius, a goose to Isis, and a goat to Bacchus. They also reserved some of the flesh of these victims for superstitious uses. But to prevent every such use of sacrifices, the Jews were ordered to keep nothing of theirs till the ensuing morning. They were also strictly forbidden to eat any part of it raw; which was a superstitious and savage custom of the Egyptians and some other nations. In short, the Hebrews alone kept to the rational and useful idea of sacrifices; for they confined them to things most proper for the food of man, in order to express their acknowledgments to God, as the giver of this food, and to sit down as thankful guests at his table.

Finally, if we duly attend to the regulations prescribed for the diet of this people, permitting some kinds of food, and prohibiting others, we shall find them restricted to such provision, as best suited their intended climate and the purposes of health. Whereas the restrictions laid on many of the heathens in this particular sa

vored of gross superstition. In short, you can scarcely name any kind of superstitious absurdity practised in the pagan world, which is not particularly reprobated and barred in the Jewish laws.

How false and injurious then is the representation of many writers, that this system is a most degrading, oppressive, and detestable superstition! The conclusion of the celebrated author abovenamed is infinitely more just and enlightened; who pronounces the great object of this institution to be "the most worthy that can be conceived," and declares, that "considering all the circumstances of the antient Jews and of neighbouring nations, their system was the best possible one, as much superior to any of human invention, as the works of nature excel those of art."

F

LECTURE IV.

Hebrew constitution adapted to secure the freedom and happiness of its subjects. Hebrew government originally a free and equal republic. Fundamental laws required, that the territory should be equally divided; that estates should be holden as a freehold from God himself; and that they should never afterward be alienated, but descend in perpetual succession. Agrarian law, or year of Fubilee. Military regulations. Population encouraged. General government for the common safety and happiness.

IN considering the civil government of the an

tient Jews, we have shown that its primary object was the preservation of the true religion in that nation, and consequently in the world. We have also seen that the leading provisions of this government were excellently adapted to this design. The other object of the Hebrew policy was the temporal freedom and happiness of its subjects. These outward blessings indeed would naturally, as well as by divine promise, result from their faithful adherance to the pious and virtuous principles pre-. scribed in their law. But besides the salutary influence of these principles, their whole political constitution was eminently fitted to the same beneficent end. This will fully appear from a brief survey of their form of government, as appointed by Jehovah, and delineated by his servant Moses.

As property is the usual source of power, and consequently of civil authority; hence every government receives its complexion from the manner, in which its lands or other possessions are distributed to its several members. If the prince, as in some eastern communities, be

proprietor of the territory, he will of course be absolute; since the tenants of the soil will in this case hold it at his arbitrary will, and thus must feel a servile dependence on his pleasure. If the property be shared by a few men, and the great body of the people hold it under them; these few will constitute a ruling nobility, who will really concentrate the authority of the nation. But if the property be divided in a nearly equal manner among all the members of the society, these will naturally possess both its physical and civil power, whatever be the form of their political union.

If we apply these remarks to our present subject, we shall find that the Hebrew government was originally a free and equal republic. According to the mean computation of the most accurate authors, the territory of Canaan settled by God on the Jewish nation, though a small country, contained at least fourteen millions of acres; which, divided among six hundred thousand people, the estimated number of that nation, will give to each person the property of of twenty one acres, after reserving more than a million acres for public uses, This distri bution of property, under a constitution, which animat ed and dignified industrious, simple, and frugal manners, and in a period of the world, when such modes of life were honorable, would secure to each virtuous Israelite a decent, comfortable, and independent support, espé cially in a climate and country so propitious as those of Judea. At the same time this provision was so moderate, as to preclude in the best manner the baneful vices of idleness and luxury; and every man's circumstances would forcibly recommend the opposite virtues.

As the most effectual securities for the permanent freedom and purity of the Jewish government, and the equal