merciful nature and goodness of God, and of his long forbearance and unwillingness to exercise his chastening power, Abraham was permitted to reason with him on the subject, and to suggest that all were not guilty, and that the evil por tion should be spared on account of the unoffending, and that these might not suffer.

"And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteons that are therein?

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"That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

"And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes."*

Abraham, with great reverence of mind, persevering in his noble and generous philanthropy, ventured to reply:

"Behold, now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty-and-five, I will not destroy it." Abraham's last entreaty was, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there.

"And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.Ӡ

The process pursued in forming a people from Abraham's posterity, and of rearing it in Egypt, and, when its numbers were sufficiently increased to found an independent nation, of liberating it from its subjection to that civilized, and then pre dominating but paganised kingdom, you have detailed in the books of Genesis and Exodus. A brief outline of it and of their history was presented to you in our last correspondence.‡ I will not enlarge upon it here, but only observe, that by the miracles attending the Exodus, the Deity displayed himself to be the commander and ruling sovereign of every element and kingdom of nature with which our globe is connected. Its vegetable and animal compartments; earth; the river; the atmosphere; the tremendous electrical power; the sea in all its mass, and instantaneous death were made to operate as he directed. All that Egypt was worshipping were shown to be subject to his will, and all were compelled to be instruments † Ib., v. 27-32.

"Genesis, c. xviii., v. 23-26.

Sacred Hist., vol. II., letter VI., p. 88-99.
Gen., c. xli. Exodus, c. vii.-xiv,
VOL. III.-M M

of suffering to them, that the delusion of fancying them to be divinities might be dissipated.

The next portion of the Divine plan was to lead them into the Arabian desert, and there to reveal himself in tremendous majesty to the whole people at Mount Sinai, and by a personal and awful voice intelligible to them, to proclaim the four great precepts as to their conduct to him, and the six others on the main subjects of the conduct of mankind towards each other which constitute the decalogue. He then made himself their immediate sovereign, established the form of their civil government subordinate to him, appointed all the civil and social laws which were to be their public legislation and private morals, and likewise instituted that mode of worship by which they were to address themselves to him. This he made to consist of two great divisions-supplication and thanksgiving. He formed their public rites of that nature as to cause them to present themselves to him as offending creatures, needing his forgiveness, and petitioning for it, and offering sacrifices of living animals as an atoning medium by which they were to obtain it. He required them to recollect contin ually that he was their preserver and benefactor, and to express their gratitude to him by their offerings and verbal ado

ration.

It was also made his grand moral command that they should cherish the feeling of affection to him in its utmost ar dour. The principle of their actions and feelings towards each other and all human kind was made to be that habitual benevolence and philanthropy which would resemble and equal their own regard for themselves.* Under this system he established them in the provinces of Palestine or Canaan, displaying in their settlement another example, for their admonition, of the calamities which he brought on nations when they became universally impious and wicked.

He made their own happiness and national prosperity dependant on their obedience to him. This principle of his determined administration of their state, and of every other, was announced in his name by Moses to the Israelitish nation on various occasions, and most emphatically in his last address to them. He had told them that by steadily cherishing and

* The last four books of the Pentateuch have preserved to us the full detail of all these circumstances.

obeying the counsel and precepts he gave them, they would become, distinguishingly, a wise and intellectual people.*

He likewise had declared to them, that if they would thus conform to the wishes of their God, it was the Divine intention to regard them as his peculiar people; to exalt them far above all the other nations of the earth in honour and celebrity; and to make them eminent for their moral sanctity among mankind.t

This splendid destiny he exhorted them not to lose. He repeated his assurance of it,‡ with continual blessings from their Almighty sovereign in every earthly comfort and prosperity, if they would be faithful in their attachment and duty to him. But if they deviated into the contrary conduct; if they would not observe the laws and institutions, nor obey the commands, nor cultivate the true worship of their instructing and legislating God, then national afflictions, foreign conquerors, and a civil dissolution were to befall them on this account and from this cause, their capital and other fortified

* "I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep, therefore, and do them; for this will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and shall say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."-Deut., c. iv., v. 5, 6.

"The Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldst keep all his commandments; and to make thee HIGH ABOVE ALL NATIONS which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayst be a holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken."-Ib., c. xxvi., v. 18, 19.

"And it shall come to pass, IF thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God WILL SET THEE ON HIGH ABOVE ALL NATIONS OF THE EARTH." "And all people

of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee."-Ib., xxviii., v. 1, 10.

"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field! Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle; the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep! Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store! Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out! The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee-in all that thou settest thine hand unto."-lb., c. xxviii., v. 2-8.

The 28th chapter of Deuteronomy details the maledictions that would pursue them if they forsook and disobeyed the gracious Being who called upon them to become his favoured and peculiar people. The moral reason is thus explicitly declared: "All these shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed;

cities were to be besieged and taken,* and they were to be driven from their native land, and extenuated to a small number, and to be dispersed all over the world, but find rest, comfort, peace, and settlement nowhere.‡

Another great principle, also announced by the Deity through Moses to his people, for the instruction of all mankind, was, that the abandonment of the transgression, and the repentant mind and feeling for having committed it, and the sincere return to their sacred duties, should always end the displeasure, procure the forgiveness, and regain the favour of their God. This was emphatically declared to them with impressive kindness, and made, as it were, one of the laws of the connexion between him and them, and intended to be equally so between him and all mankind.

The extension and application of this important principle of the Divine plan and conduct of all the populations of mankind were in an after age explicitly inculcated by the prophet Jeremiah. He was directed to proclaim it in the name of the Deity, as the general rule of his providential administration in continuing or subverting the dynasties or empires on the earth.||

BECAUSE thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee."Deut., c. xxviii., v. 45.

"A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young, shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayst fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD."-lb., v. 50, 52, 58.

"And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldst not obey the voice of the Lord thy God. And ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it."-Ib., v. 62, 63.

"And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life."-lb., v. 64-6.

"But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, IF thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice, for the Lord thy God is a merciful God, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swear unto them."-Ib., c. iv., v. 29–31.

"Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, O house of Israel!

The Deity acted upon this principle towards the Jews several times between the death of Joshua and the accession of Saul, as narrated in the book of Judges, and frequently afterward. It was very strikingly illustrated in the case of Ahab. When the last fatal denunciations were uttered by Elijah against him for his persisting in iniquity, the long-resisting king became unexpectedly penitent; then the threatened calamity was immediately postponed to a future generation of his descendants, who renewed the transgression in a more aggravated shape.*

LETTER XL.

The Divine Commands to the Jewish Nation as to their Poor.-Reasoned Principles on the production in Society of all its Necessaries.-The Divine Plan has been that every Producer is a Benefactor, and that all are conferring Benefits on each other.-It is the Duty and Interest of Society to provide the Mechanism and the Means, that all who are in want of Employment should be furnished with it.

MY DEAR SYDNEY,

Among the moral precepts which the Deity expressed to the nation he had so specially formed, we find in those which he directed to regulate their conduct towards each other principles as peculiar and superior as those which he inculcated with regard to himself. Instead of confining them to the

cannot I do with you as this potter. Behold! as the clay in the potter's hands, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel!

"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it, IF THAT NATION against whom I have pronounced TURN FROM THEIR EVIL, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instant I shall

speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them."-Jeremiah, c. xviii., v. 5-10.

"And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the Word of the Lord came unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humblest himself before me? BECAUSE he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house."-1 Kings, c. xxi., v. 27-29.

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