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fatire: this is one: another is that pungent laying of Job to his uncandid and tormenting friends, Doubtless, ye are the men; and wisdom fhall die with you.

A third inftance of the kind, is the exquifitely keen fatire of Elijah upon the falle prophets, when he faid to them, whilst they were vehemently calling upon Baal, Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is purfuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he fleepeth, and must be awaked.

CHAPTER IV.

EXTRACTS FROM THE LAW OF MOSES.

1...

HE

Ye

E that fmiteth his father, or his mother, fhall furely be put to death. He that ftealeth a man, and felleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall furely be put to death. He who curfeth his father, or his mother, fhall furely be put to death. Whafo fheddeth man's blood, by man fhall his blood be shed. fhall take no latisfaction for the life of a murderer; he thall furely be put to death. So ye fhall not pollute the land wherein ye are ; for blood defileth the land; and the land cannot be clean fed of blood that is fhed therein, but by the blood of him that thed it.

2....If a man steal an ox, or a fheep, and kill it, or fell it, he fhall reftore five oxen for an ox, and four fheep for a fheep. If thou fee thy enemy's beaft goingaftray, thou shalt furely bring it back to him again. If thou fee the beaft of him who hateth thee, lying under bis burthen, thou fhalt furely help him.

3....Thou shalt neither vex a firanger, nor opprefs him. Ye fhall not afflict any widow or fatherless child: if thou afflict them, and they cry at all unto me, I will

furely hear their cry and your wives fhall be widows, and your children fatherlefs.

4-..If thou lend money to any of my people, who is poor, thou shalt not be to him an ufurer, neither fhalt thou lay upon him ufury. If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen into decay with thee, thou fhalt relieve him yea, though he be a ftranger or fojourner, thou shalt relieve him, that he may live with thee; thou fhalt not give him thy money upon ufury, nor lend him thy victuals upon increase.

5....Thou shalt not curfe the ruler of thy people. Thou shalt not raife a falfe report; neither put thine hand with the wicked, to be an unrighteous witness. Keep thou far from a falfe matter. Ye shall not feal, neither deal falfely, neither lie one to another and ye fhall not fwear by my name falfely; neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.

6....Thou shalt take no bribe; for a bribe blindeth the wife, and perverteth the words of the righteous. Ye shall do no unrighteoufnels in judgment: thou fhalt not refpect the perfon of the poor, nor honor the perfon' of the mighty; but in righteoufnefs thou shalt judge thy neighbor. Forty ftripes the judge may give him who is guilty of ftripes; and fhall not exceed.

7....Ye thall fear every man his father and his mother, and keep my Sabbaths and reverence my fanctuary ; I am the Lord your God. The father fhall not be put to death for the children, neither fhall the children be put to death for their father: every man fhall be put to death for his own fin.

8....When ye reap the harveft of your field, thou fhalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither fhalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harveft. And thou shalt not glean of thy vineyards, neither fhalt thou

gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou fhalt leave them for the poor, and the ftranger.

9...Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him. If thou fell aught unto thy neighbor, or buy any thing of thy neighbor, ye fhall not opprefs one another. Thou fhalt not avenge, or bear any grudge against the children of thy people: but thou thalt love thy neighbour as thy felf. Ye fhall not eat any thing with the blood. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people.

10....If a stranger fojourn with you in your land, ye fhall not vex him: the ftranger, who dwelleth with you fhall be unto you as one born amongst you; and thou fhalt love him as thy felt. Ye fhall have one manner of law, as well for the ftranger, as for one of your own land.

11.... Ye fhall do no unrighteoufnefs in weight or in measure: juft balances, and juft weights ye fhall have. Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverfe weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine houfe di. verfe meafures, a great and a fmall, (that is, one to fell by, and another for buying for all who do fuch things are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

12....The wages of him, who is hired, fhall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Thou shalt not opprefs an hired fervant, who is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or a franger. At his time, thou shalt give him his hire, neither fhall the fun go down upon it; for he is poor, and fetteth his heart upon it: left he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be fin unto thee.

13.... The woman fhall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither hall a man put on a woman's garment ; for all who do to are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

14....Thou fhalt rife up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man. When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not be flack to pay it that which has gone out of thy lips thou fhalt keep and perform.

15....Curfed be he that fetteth light by his father, or his mother and all the people fhall fay, Amen. Curfed be he that removeth his neighbor's land mark : and all the people fhall fay, Amen. Curfed be he that maketh the blind (or ignorant) to wander out of the way and all the people fhall fay, Amen.

16....Curfed be he that perverteth the judgment of the ftranger, fatherlefs, and widow and all the people fhall fay, Amen. Curfed be he that fmiteth his neighbour fecretly and all the people fhall fay, Amen. Curfed be he that taketh reward to flay an innocent perfon and all the people fhall fay, Amen.

REMARKS.

If the foregoing laws and maxims had been extracted from the code of Solon or Lycurgus, they would have had a fure claim to the public notice and approbation our refined deifts would applaud them as a valuable fragment of antiquity. But they are a part of the code of Mofes; they are fcripture: "there is the rub."

Peffibly, it will be found that no men are more under the influence of prejudice than the votaries of the goddefs of reafon, who are ever ridiculing the prejudices of the vulgar, and affect to be themselves fuperior to all prejudice whatever.

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Jofephus, in his difcourfe against Appion, demonftrated that the Jewish law was of fo high antiquity, that the very name of law was not known in other countries, till a thousand years after; infomuch that Homer, though obliged to fpeak of fo many different

nations, has not once ufed the word. The fame writer (Jofephus) produced clear evidence, that the famous legiflators of Greece and Rome, borrowed from the Jewish law their principal inflitutions."

1....

M. Pafcal's Thoughts

CHAHTER. V.

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

THOU, Solomon my fon, know thou

the God of thy fathers, and ferve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the Lord fearcheth all hearts, and underftandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou feek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forfake him, he will caft thee off forever.

2.... Hear, ye children, the inftruction of a father: I give you good doctrine, forfake ye not my law: for I was my father's fon, tender and only beloved in the fight of my mother. He taught me alfo, and faid unto me, Let thine heart retain my words, keep my com. mandments, and live.

For

3...Get wifdom, get understanding; forget it note; neither decline from the words of my mouth. fake her not, and the fhall preferve thee: love her and the fhall keep thee. Wildom is the principal thing; therefore get wifdom and with all thy acquirements, get understanding. She fhall give to thine head an ornament of grace.

4....Hear, O my fon, and receive my faying and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wifdom: I have led thee in right paths. Take hold of inftru&tion; let her not go: keep her, for the is thy life.

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