from its principle, is like sundering the body from the head or the heart. No part of the Mosaic legislation is more excellent or admirable than the statute respecting the distribution and tenure of lands. Yet there is, probably, not a nation upon earth, at the present time, into whose civil code such a law could be introduced, without a violation of justice, and without shaking society to its deepest foundations. Where is the nation, now existing, that has its entire territory unappropriated? But where this is not the case, with what justice could an equal partition of the land be made? Yet this was the first great principle of the Hebrew agrarian; and, in a nation situated as the Hebrews were, at the formation of their code, it was equitable and wise. The second fundamental principle, which was equally just and beneficial, was an absolute prohibition of the sale of land in perpetuity. Yet, wise and righteous as this principle was in the Hebrew polity, what greater hardship could a lawgiver put upon those members of the state, who, when he framed his laws, were destitute of landed property, than that to which such a provision would subject them?

Moses himself, it is quite evident, was often compelled, by the force of circumstances, to admit into his code, laws, which under a different state of things, he would gladly have seen replaced by others. The law requiring a man to marry the widow of a brother, who had died without issue, is an instance in point. It is plain, as we shall see hereafter, that Moses cared very little for the execution of this law, and only gave place to it among his statutes as a piece of ancient Israelitish manners, and because he did not wish to shock the prejudices of his countrymen by abolishing it. Throughout his legislation there are traces of the influence of a more ancient system of laws,a lex non scripta, or jus consuetudinarium, -of much the same nature and force as the common law among us. Moses, as any wise legislator would do, (and certainly he was all the wiser for being inspired,) paid no little

deference to this law of custom. Sometimes he confirmed it, as it stood; sometimes he improved it by amendments; sometimes he restricted its operation; and sometimes he annulled it altogether.*

But more than this: The purely civil laws of Moses could be repealed or changed, as the altered state of the commonwealth required or justified, even during the continuance of the Mosaic government. For example, Moses's first law against usury forbade the taking of interest from the poor Israelites only; his second law on the subject extended the same prohibition to the whole nation. His statute, forbidding to kill animals for food in private, and enjoining to bring all such to the altar and offer them to Jehovah,§ remained in force only during the abode in the wilderness. It was formally repealed on entering the promised land. The punishments originally annexed to the violation of laws, must be increased in severity, when, as often happens in the progress of society and of crime, they become too mild to secure obedience to the civil rule. Hence the penalty for theft, which Moses had fixed at a fourfold or fivefold restitution, was increased to a sevenfold restitution in the time of Solomon.** The highest fine imposed by Moses in punishment for crime, was about fifteen dollars. What would that be, when the increasing wealth of the nation had proportionably diminished the value of gold and silver?

There is, indeed, an expression attached to many of the Mosaic laws, which, at first blush, would seem to make them absolutely unalterable. The expression is," a statute to you forever, throughout your generations."++ The question is: Is this form of words to be taken literally, or metaphorically?

* Mich. Comment. on the Laws of Moses, Art. 3. Deut. xxiii. 19.

¶ Ex. xxii. 1.

Levit. xvii. 3–7.

† Exod. xxii. 25.

| Deut. xii. 20, 21.

** Prov. vi. 31.

Lev. iii. 17.

vi. 8.

vii. 36. X. 9.

Ex. xxvii. 21. Xxx. 21.

xvii. 7. xxiii. 14, 21, 31, 41.

Does it mean always, or only a great while? The words are annexed to the prohibition against the killing of animals in private, which, as we have seen, was subsequently repealed by Moses himself. This makes it certain that the latter is the true meaning of the expression. It simply marks the distinction between permanent laws and those regulations which were made for a limited time. It signifies a law, which was to continue in force, till regularly abrogated, or modified. The views, above presented, warrant the conclusion, that the Mosaic laws do not bind, and were never intended to bind, other nations. But this does not detract from the value of the Hebrew jurisprudence, as a philosophical and practical study, any more than the fact, that the Roman and British laws are not obligatory on us, detracts from the value of the Roman and British jurisprudence. We are at liberty to borrow what is good in the laws of other nations, however remote from us in time or space. My neighbor's lantern may be very useful to me, though I do not follow by its light exactly the same path which he pursued. In like manner, the laws of a foreign state may afford a highly advantageous light, though we do not copy everything which they contain. It is impossible to survey the legislative policy of the Hebrews without feeling the highest admiration of its wisdom, equity, and benevolence. It was a policy, directed not to foreign conquest, but to the culture and benefit of their own territory; a policy founded on the arts of peace. "If we were better acquainted with the comprehensive and far extended legislative knowledge of this people, very probably our own political system, so far at least as connected with agriculture, and as directed to the peaceful increase of our internal strength as a nation, might receive material improvement."

*Levit. xvii. 7. Deut. xii. 20, 21.

CHAPTER II.

Moses as a Man and a Lawgiver.

THE proofs of the divine mission of Moses will be submitted, and objections against it examined and refuted, in a subsequent part of this work. The object of the present chapter is to study the character of Moses, and to unfold the leading qualities of his mind and heart, irrespective of that supernatural illumination and guidance, which he enjoyed in the execution of his office.

It appears to be a fundamental principle in the divine administration never to do in an extraordinary way that which can be equally well accomplished in an ordinary way. But the heavens above us do not more exceed in height the earth on which we tread, than the methods of the supreme wisdom transcend the utmost stretch of human policy. There is an unseen but almighty hand behind the scenes of providence, which brings them forward, directs, adjusts, moulds, or removes them, according as the accomplishment of his purposes demands. By the cruel edict, which required the Hebrews to cast all their male children into the river Nile, Pharaoh intended to check the growing greatness of a nation, whose numbers he began to dread. But he who sitteth in the heavens, and laughs at the impotent malice of his enemies, nay, who even turns it as a two-edged sword against themselves, had far other purposes to answer through its agency. It was designed as the occasion of the adoption of Moses by no less

a personage than the daughter of the reigning sovereign; and this to the intent, that the future leader and lawgiver of the Hebrew people might be educated in a manner suited to fit him for his responsible office.

But is there no fear, that the child, breathing only the atmosphere of the court, almost from the first hour of its being, will lose all fellow-feeling for his countrymen, and become an Egyptian in everything but blood? No! The supreme wisdom is never defective, nor once inconsistent with itself. By a contrivance, no doubt suggested by the divine mind, the mother of Moses becomes his nurse. Thus the first words he hears is the story of his country's wrongs; the first sentiment he feels, sympathy for the sorrow of his brethren, mingled with indignation against their oppressors.

Inspiration apart, Moses possessed all those endowments and qualities, which form the consummate statesman and chief magistrate :—an intellect of the highest order: a perfect mastery of all the civil wisdom of the age: a penetrating, comprehensive, and sagacious judgment: great promptness and energy in action: patriotism, which neither ingratitude, illtreatment, nor rebellion could quench, or even cool: a commanding and persuasive eloquence: a hearty love of truth: an incorruptible virtue: an entire freedom from selfish ambition: an invincible hatred of tyranny and injustice: a patient endurance of toil: a courageous contempt of danger: and a greatness of soul, in which he has never been surpassed by the most admired heroes of ancient or modern times. Comprehensiveness, grasp, force, sagacity were the predominant characteristics of his mind; magnanimity, disinterestedness, an enthusiastic devotion to liberty, and an ardent but rational piety, the leading qualities of his heart.

The truth of this observation may be easily evinced.

Of the greatness and vigor of his intellectual endowments, his own writings afford ample proof. Never was the art of writing little and saying much displayed in higher perfection.