total extirpation, would have been no other than the summary execution of a sentence upon delinquents, who were guilty of crimes, which every well-ordered state would have punished in a similar manner. When depraved lusts and cruel murders are enjoined as offices of religion, they are not only rendered permanently pernicious, by the supposed obligations of religion, but those who commit them have forfeited their title to life, according to the law of nature, and in the opinion of those who have not been infatuated by their delusive principles. The tribes of priests, magicians, soothsayers &c. &c. being prime agents and encouragers of these wicked practices, deserved the severest punishment. They were also egregious impostors. As their religions did not enjoin morality, they practised deceit without remorse. For although they might believe in the existence of the gods whom they served, they did not scruple to announce the wicked purposes and suggestions of their own minds, as the commands of these idols, or to interpret ominous appearances as their own interests might dictate. Profane writers assure us that the priests frequently exercised their power of deception. It was not unusual for sovereigns to obtain favourable predictions by bribes, when in a state of warfare, that the courage

of their own subjects might be excited, and that of their enemies depressed. These false prophets also granted every species of indulgence, and exercised their power of seduction, for gain. Hence it is that they are so frequently and severely stigmatized as deceivers and liars, in the sacred records. Thus was Balaam hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Israelites, at whose power and prowess he was greatly alarmed. Nehemiah informs us that a prophet was hired by Sanballat to terrify him." I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobias and Sanballat had hired him; therefore was he hired that I should be afraid and do so and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me." It is not possible for depravity to extend further; nor can the punishment of such crimes be too severe. It is true, most of the above instances are taken from the > conduct of the Israelites themselves in their degenerate state; but their degeneracy is always aseribed to their imitation of the idolatrous nations with which they were surrounded. Such -characters deserved therefore the severest punishments in their double capacity of Idolaters, and Impostors.

During the period that the Israelites were in a rude and less disciplined state, or before they were duly organized as a nation, extraordinary modes of coercion became absolutely necessary upon urgent occasions; and the earlier approaches. of these people to an imitation of idolatrous rites were punished with peculiar severity. Hence the the miraculous destruction of the three thousand men who compelled Aaron to make a golden calf; the destruction of Horam, Dathan, and Abiram; and similar acts of severity. It is obvious that savage minds, and those who are destitute of mental cultivation, are to be held in subjugation by terror alone: and if their rebellious spirits had not been subdued, the plans of Providence must have failed. But as a proof that the God of mercy does not afflict willingly, as soon as the Jewish constitution had acquired such a degree of stability, that it could be supported by natural means, these supernatural punishments were very seldom inflicted; and the offenders were, in general, left to the physical or moral consequences of their own conduct. This will explain the reason why the severe mandates to extirpate the first race of idolaters, upon their taking possession of the promised laud, were not repeated after the Israelites had obtained a perma nent settlement; why the same awful judgments

did not fall, in a supernatural manner, upon the idolatrous Solomon, which were inflicted upon his less culpable, because more ignorant, ancestors: why persuasions, promises, remonstrances, and threats, were employed, instead of an immediate display of vengeance, in consequence of the idolatrous practices of the house of Israel; -why their final punishment consisted in the national distress, and subsequent captivity, to which their abandoned principles had exposed them, according to the more usual train of human events. We perceive also, that the immediate interpositions of heaven, of any kind, were less frequent in the more advancd state of the nation, than at its first establishment. Like other human beings, they were left to the exercise of their own volitions, and permitted to act according to the suggestions of their own minds, as far as the security of the grand object would permit.

A concise epitome of the moral and religious history of this people, from their first introduction and establishment in the land of Canaan, by Joshua, to their total disorganization under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar; and their subsequent restoration after the days of their captivity were expired, will illustrate and confirm the above position; and therefore it deserves our peculiar attention.

SECT. V.

ON THE RELIGIOUS AND MORAL CHARACTER OF THE ISRAELITES, UNDER THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, WITH THE CORRESPONDENT CONSEQUENCES.

THIS chosen People, considered as a body, do not appear to have possessed powers of intellect, or degrees of mental improvement, superior to the contemporary nations; and they required a very wise government to enable them to act with tolerable decency and discretion. Their exalted opinion of Moses, founded upon their knowledge of the wonders he had wrought for them, and the wisdom that was so conspicuous in every part of his administration, held them, upon the whole, in due subordination, during their emigration from Egypt, and their abode in the wilderness. His successor Joshua, was a man of sound judgment and undissembled piety. He had himself the strongest assurances of the divine assistance suitable to his exigences; and he was able to inspire the Israelites with a confidence in his government. In the course of his life, the children of Israel subdued many of their enemies, and took possession of their lands; but not to the extent which had