have been no division of the land: as, if man had never fallen, and the human race had increased, the Divine Being, we may conclude, could never have directed the land to be allotted, as was the case with Canaan, without the reason for it being apparent, namely, that the possessors should not infringe the rights of each other;-which would instantly have disclosed the nature of fraud and violence. Neither could mankind have established a government such as nations now require-namely, one to administer penal laws, because this likewise supposes the same knowledge. From which considerations, we apprehend that, prior to the period when the eyes of both our first parents were opened to know good and evil,' they must have been in utter ignorance of the possibility of one man's violating the rights of another; and that their posterity would have so remained, as long as they kept their first estate; which being, as we see, incompatible with the division of the land, we are constrained to believe that, as with the first Christians, so with the inhabitants of Paradise, it might have been affirmed that neither said any of them that ought was his own, as they would have had all things common.-(Acts, iv. 32.)

11. In relation to the antediluvian world, the historian before quoted says, it seems to have been exceedingly different from what it is at present. The earth, in all probability, was then stocked with a much greater number of inhabitants, than it now either actually contains, or perhaps is capable of supporting. As mankind then lived ten times longer than now, they must consequently have doubled themselves ten times sooner; for they began to get children as early, and left off as late in proportion, as men now do, and the births seem to have followed as quickly, one after another, as they usually do at this day; so that many generations which with us are successive, were then contemporary.-(Guthrie.) This would have been the case had the Fall never happened, and mankind might have formed one grand association; an idea rendered more probable from the consideration, that even after the flood, the whole earth was of one language. This glorious association, no member of which would have been acquainted with evil, might have gone on increasing until the whole earth was so thickly peopled, as to leave no further room for additional inhabitants; when the older ones might have been translated to some nobler scene, to make way for the ingress of new ones. On this supposition, which appears to have nothing in it but what is perfectly sober, if we imagine the land divided as Canaan was; when the numbers became considerable, and the boundaries of the inhabited part of the globe enlarged, persons, as they attained to manhood, must frequently have gone, from want of room, to the extremity of the circle: thus men, like Jared and Methusaleh, might have seen the several generations of their

posterity leaving them, to migrate to considerable distances; and though this might have happened, to a certain extent, if the land had not been divided, it would have occurred much less so, than if it had been. The case we have put, of the whole earth forming one grand association, of course precludes not subordinate governments to one great head: and we may humbly venture to conjecture, that from the possibility of such a state of things arising,-when the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them,' and God saw every thing that he had made,' that it appeared to the divine mind ' very good!'

12. After Adam and Eve were created, we learn that God said unto them,- Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.' With regard to the phrase, subdue it,' -the Hebrew, remarks a commentator, has a sense which is more appropriate to this place," possess it as the lords thereof." We also find that the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it;' which seems to signify, to arrange and cull for his use the precious gifts of Heaven. This must have been altogether a delightful occupation. As to the earth, says the historian just quoted, its fruits were at first spontaneous, and the soil, without being torn and tormented, satisfied the wants and desires of man; but God, as a punishment for his disobedience, having cursed the ground, it immediately lost its original fertility; the earth was not only impoverished, but the air, and other elements, became disordered, in some measure unwholesome, and sometimes fatal; hence proceeded famines, pestilences, earthquakes, storms, and all manner of natural calamities, which introduced a variety of diseases and distempers; and the constitution of man's body likewise underwent a remarkable change.-(Guthrie.) Prior to the fall, it is said of our first parents, that they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed:' and it was not until after they had trangressed, that they knew they were naked, when they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons;' after which, we are told, unto Adam also and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.' Whence it appears that in their primeval state they wore no clothing.

13. Land and labour, we have seen, are the two things from which all wealth emanates. (i. 11.) In Paradise, therefore, as the productions of the earth grew spontaneously, and no clothing was necessary, there could have been no occasion for labour. This affords an additional argument, why the land and its produce would have been common, had mankind kept their first estate. Men are, with us, desirous of great possessions in land, because it affords them the means of commanding the labour of others. Where every man dwells safely under his vine and under

his fig-tree, has only to put forth his hand, gather the exuberant bounties of nature, and be satisfied to the utmost extent of his wishes, (as, with one exception only, it was said to our first parents,' Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,') for any to want the land of their neighbours, which can be of no more use to them than that in the moon, is acting viciously for no conceivable end. No one with us, would wish to engross the air or the light from his neighbours; and such an attempt, was it possible, would be not more unreasonable, than to have engrossed any thing in Paradise, where grew every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. Any idea, therefore, of division, or exclusive possession, of that of which there is abundance for all, which costs nothing to procure, and which he who requires it, is sure to find in the greatest plenty, when he is in want; and of which, therefore, a separate store could be of no conceivable benefit, is one of the greatest absurdities imaginable. Consequently, where division would have been productive of nothing but useless trouble, and having things in common could have prejudiced men neither collectively nor individually, we cannot consider the opposite mode was designed by Heaven.

14. A separate interest could only have been desirable, where any might have been prejudiced by fraud or violence, and without having the means of redress. Man's primeval state was not only one of perfect innocence, but our first parents, as has been said, appear to have been ignorant even of the existence of evil, except the disobeying a particular command. And this reasoning cannot be successfully impugned, even by those who doubt of the ignorance that has been supposed; as a division of interests could not take place, without so much practical evil actually existing, as would have placed mankind out of a state of perfect innocence. Whence, therefore, we

cannot but conclude, that had mankind retained their primeval state, they would have had all things common, or been associated according to the Perfect Constitution of society, which would prevail now if righteousness was universal. (v. 137.)

15. Some seem to consider that the Fall entailed vice and misery on all the descendants of our first parents. The scriptures, however, do not make this declaration; but only that, as man was evidently incapable of appreciating and rightly enjoying the bounties of Heaven, he should not attain them without a certain degree of labour,-a most merciful dispensation (iii. 29), that women should have to endure a certain degree of suffering in childbirth, and besides this, the whole human race become mortal. It, can scarcely be questioned, that almost any two adults of the human race, (if it were practicable to place them as our first parents were placed,) would violate the divine command. The prayer put into our mouths by our

Lord,Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven;' and his commandment to us,-Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect,' seem incompatible with the supposition, that men, collectively, are less able to do the will of Heaven now, than our first parents were before they fell;though some, individually, may find it extremely difficult to do this holy will, from the wickedness of those with whom they are associated; and by whom they are necessarily, in a less or greater degree, influenced. (iii. 25.)

CHAP. XVII.

THE HEBREWS IN CANAAN.

1. THERE were many causes operating to unite these people, in a greater degree than any others mentioned in ancient or modern history. The Divine Being, designing to make them a special people unto himself above all other nations, entered into a covenant with their great ancestor, Abraham, instituted the rite of circumcision, as a token of it, and afterwards made the sabbath a sign for this covenant being perpetual. Abraham was promised that his posterity should become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth be blessed in him. This was afterwards fulfilled, in his grandson Jacob being the progenitor of the twelve patriarchs, from whom the Hebrew nation, including our Lord, descended.

2. The Hebrews, as has been intimated, kept very exact genealogies, that they might preserve the distinction of their several tribes and families; this being necessary to make titles to their inheritances, to which they succeeded in the way we have seen. An heiress to land was permitted to marry only one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel might enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers. Neither could the inheritance remove from one tribe to another, but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel had to keep himself to his own inheritance; and as the women, not heir esses, were not thus restricted, it can scarcely be doubted that all the twelve tribes intermarried. Thus, the whole nation was united by the ties of both blood and marriage.

3. The common bond of union which embraced all the tribes, was strengthened and drawn more closely, by the necessity

of

mutual aid against their common enemies. We also find this remarkably exemplified when a civil war occurred. On this occasion, the sacred historian tells us, that all the men of Israel, from Dan even unto Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, four hundred thousand men, were gathered, knit together as one man. (xv. 29.) The priests and Levites, the latter being a distinct tribe, assisted in the spiritual and temporal government of the Hebrews, and the education of the youth, on which account the Levites were dispersed among all the other tribes. This must have afforded additional means for preserving an intimate union throughout the whole nation. The invention of a variety of ranks among a people is a great barrier to a general union. Nothing of this kind was known among the Hebrews, at least as far as their polity directed; - this we have seen was democratical; and that all were freeholders, except the ministers of religion, who had a special provision.

4. That Heaven ordained a strict equality should exist throughout the nation, will further appear from the following considerations. The law, in limiting the number of stripes which could be awarded an offender, that he might not in the eyes of others seem vile, styles him brother. If a man sold his daughter to be a maidservant, or as we say apprentice, the law contemplated that she might marry her master or his son. The high priest, the principal person of the Hebrews, under the democracy, is spoken of as among his brethren. Titles of honour, or rather dishonour, necessarily were wholly unknown among them. When God, as a mark of his anger, permitted a chief magistrate, similar to the neighbouring nations, to be chosen, the law applies to him the same term brother. Thus we have criminals and judges, masters and servants, the people at large, the high priest and chief magistrate, all considered as brethren: all placed on the nearest possible equality. And as there was not a single exception, the law of Moses being for all Israel, any one whatever might be in either of the above situations, except that of the high priest's. Our Lord himself is also called the brother of the Hebrews; thus Moses tells them,-'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee; of thy brethren, like unto me;-unto him ye shall hearken.' And when he did appear, he was pleased to consider all his faithful followers as his brethren: saying unto them, Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.' Paul also says, 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.' Among the Israelites, says Michaelis, there were no peasants, nor yet were there any noblesse. All were on a footing of equality, and their circumstances very nearly resembled those of the land burghers in our cities. Offices and