809. By the most antient laws of some Christian churches, murderers were subjected to a perpetual penance all their lives. BINGHAM'S Antiq. vol. ii. p. 133. 810. [Num. xxxv. 21.] On a view of the contrary practice in modern times, the humane BLACKSTONE, who published his celebrated Commentaries in the year 1765, speaking of the Criminal Law of England, lamenting says: "It is a melancholy truth, that among the variety of actions which men are daily liable to commit, no less than a hundred and sixty have been declared by Act of Parliament to be felonies without benefit of Clergy; or, in other words, to be worthy of instant death."-The Reader may judge how enormously the black catalogue has since increased, when he considers that in the year 1813 alone, there were added to it by "Lord Ellenborough's Act," no less than seven new capital Felonies. 812. [Num. xxxv. 21.] Until prisons be made houses of industry, and schools of reform, under close inspection; till in particular, all strong liquors be banished from them, and a diet introduced (wholly vegetable) as recommended from expe rience by Mr. John Frank Newton,-we shall never, observes the intelligent Mr. G. CUMBERLAND, do any good by our sentences of the laws.-As Christians, he adds, we ought certainly to consider every criminal as a misled child of the country, and repair the evils of neglect by the counsels and attentions of humanity. See Month. Mag. for March, 1815, p. 99. 813. [Lev. xxvi. 23.] There is no way but one to reform men, and that is to render them happier.—It is good and easy to enfeeble vice by bringing men nearer to each other, and by rendering them thus more happy.-All the sciences, indeed, are still in a state of infancy; but that of rendering men happy has not so much as seen the light yet, even in Christendom. St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. iii. pp. 230, 237, 310. a word, instead of gentle and benevolent feelings, it substitutes hostility and hatred, the necessity of oppression, and the rage of desolation.-On the contrary, were every state to be sparing of its strength, to cultivate a proper knowledge of its resources, and to render them respectable by a wise administration, it would arrive, without effort, to that height of superiority it is so anxious to attain. Necker. 815. [John xvi. 2.] There is implanted in human nature, corrupt as it is, so strong an approbation of virtue, that however determined men are to indulge their evil inclinations, they never enjoy them with any satisfaction, unless they can find out some means of hiding their deformities, not only from the eyes of others, but even from their own, and they are therefore extremely fond of every expedient that can assist them in this favourable self-deception, and procure them leave to be wicked with a good character, and a good conscience: now war is of all others the most effectual for this purpose; as it grants us a plenary indulgence for every vicious disposition in the human mind, exempted from all punishment, or even censure, as well as from all reluctance and remorse it so dresses up idleness and profligacy, malevolence and revenge, cruelty and injustice, in the amiable habit of zeal for the glory and prosperity of our country; that we can give a loose to them all, not only with the applause of the world, but with the sincere approbation of our own hearts. SOAME JENYNS' Works, vol. ii. p. 217. 816. [Exod. xx. 13.] The profession of a soldier however, is, in all respects, so contrary to every principle of reason and justice, that it admits not of the slightest vindication. Power has sanctioned it, and custom has reconciled us to its enormities; but nothing can change the eternal nature of things, and make the murder of innocent victims either just or honourable; for in every instance in which war has been undertaken, the men who, by their ambition and intrigues, have pushed things to extremities, have decided the contest by means of those who were innocent of the quarrel, and finally unconcerned in the event; by men whom ignorance or necessity had compelled to be their dupes, and to betake themselves to fighting, because they could find no other employment. Let any man coolly and impartially examine the history of the past and the present times, and say, whether every dispute between nations might not have been settled by negotiation, if the parties had been so disposed, and whether every thing should not be resorted to rather than force; for whoever is the cause of shedding man's blood, except positively to save his own life, is guilty of murder. The fact, however, is, that mankind have so long been accustomed to this barbarous mode of decision, that they never think of any other: yet, notwithstanding the force of custom, the appearance of necessity, the sanction of time, the power of example, the dauger of delay, the strength of our enemies, and the urgency of the case, no war can be justified by that party who have not exhausted every means of conciliation, and proposed every scheme of settling differences, without resorting to the sword. To what purpose is it to educate a young man with all the sentiments of generosity, and humanity; to make him accomplished, enlightened, and virtuous; and to give him ideas of philanthropy, benevolence, and affection for his species, if they are all to be obliterated by the horrible inconsistency of making him a licensed robber, or a murderer by profession? Such an education ought to tend rather to banish the sentiments of hatred and hostility, and enforce those of peace and benevolence; for surely all these things are not requisite to murder with greater dexterity, or destroy an enemy with a surer and more certain aim. The end of such an education is inconsistent with its principles; and while the profession of a soldier coutinues in society, let those, who are intended for it, remain, as they ought to be, savage, ignorant, and uncivilized; for while wars continue, civilization is not complete. W. BURDON'S Materials for Thinking, p. 264. 817. [Lev. xxvi. 23.] The ambition of Princes, and the Wars both foreign and domestic which are the effects of it, originate, in every state, in the ambition of the Nobility, who, being many in number and having no other means of subsistence but the military profession, instigate their Sovereigns to War and Conquest, for the sake of getting to themselves commissions, pensions and governments. See St. PIERRE's Works, vol. iv p. 273. 818. [Lev. xix. 13.] Justice, however, is as strictly due between neighbour nations, as between neighbour citizens. A highwayman is as much a robber, when he plunders in a gang, as when single; and a nation, that makes an unjust war, is only a great gang. See Dr. FRANKLIN's Philosoph. and 819. [Jer. xxi. 7, 9.] Famine, the plague, and war, are the three most famous ingredients in this lower world. Under famine may be classed all the noxious foods, which want obliges us to have recourse to; thus shortening our life, whilst we hope to support it. In the plague are included all contagious distempers; and these are not less than two or three thousand. These two gifts we hold from Providence; but war, in which all those gifts are concentered, we owe to the fancy of three or four hundred persons scattered over the surface of this globe, under the name of princes and ministers. The most hardened flatterer will allow, that war is ever attended with plague and famine, especially if he has seen the military hospitals in Germany, or passed through any villages where some notable feat of arms has been performed. It is unquestionably a very noble art to ravage countries, destroy dwellings, and communibus annis, out of a hundred thousand men to cut off forty thousand. This invention was originally cultivated by nations, assembled for their common good; for instance, the diet of the Greeks sent word to the diet of Phrygia and its neighbours, that they were putting to sea in a thousand fishing-boats, in order to do their best to cut them off root and branch. The Roman people, in a general assembly, resolved that it was their interest to go and fight the Vejentes or the Volscians before harvest; and some years after, all the Romans being angry with all the Carthaginians, fought a long time both by sea and land. A genealogist sets forth to a prince that he is descended in a direct line from a count, whose kindred, three or four hundred years ago, had made a family-compact with a house, the very memory of which is extinguished. That house had some distant claim to a province, the last proprietor of which died of apoplexy. The prince and his council instantly resolve, that this province belongs to him by divine right. The province, which is some hundred leagues from him, protests that it does not so much as know him; that it is not disposed to be governed by him; that before prescribing laws to them, their consent, at least, was necessary; these allegations do not so much as reach the prince's ears; it is insisted on that his right is incontestable. He instantly picks up a multitude of men, who have nothing to do, and nothing to lose; clothes them with coarse blue cloth, one sou to the el!; puts them on hats bound with coarse white worsted; makes them turn to the right and left; and thus marches away with them to glory! Other princes, on this armament, take part in it to the best of their ability, and soon cover a small extent of country, with more hireling murderers than Gongis-Kan, Tamerlane, and Bajazet had at their heels.-People, at no small distance on hearing that fighting is going forward, and that if they would make one, there are five or six sous a day for them, immediately divide into two bands, like reapers, and go and sell their services to the first bidder. These multitudes furiously butcher one another, not only without having any concern in the quarrel, but without so much as knowing what it is about. Sometimes five or six powers are engaged, three against three, two against four, sometimes one against five, all equally detesting one another; friends and foes by turns, agreeing only in one thing, to do all the mischief possible. VOLTAIRE. 820. [James iv. 1.] But if all men were influenced by the spirit of CHRIST, and acted in conformity thereto, wars (of every kind) would cease. Month. Mag. for April, 1814, p. 215. 821. [Isaiah ii. 4.] PHILO, speaking of the Christians of his own time, says, "None can be found among them that manufacture darts, arrows, swords, helmets, breast-plates, nor even such weapons as might be converted to bad purposes in the time of peace; much less do any of them engage in those arts that are useful in war." 822. [Acts xi. 26.] At present, however, Christian is a title seldom heard of; and the spirit and practice of Christianity but rarely occur. When all return to the spirit of the gospel, they will probably resume the appellative of Christians.+ Dr. A. CLARKE. 823. [Luke ix. 56.] The SON OF MAN is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them; Luke ix. 56.-Agreeably to this doctrine, let the preachers of the Gospel inveigh vigorously, in the name of GOD, against the ambition of the Potentates of Europe; against the sacrilegious laws of war, against the decorating of our Temples dedicated to Charity, with banners won by shedding the blood of Nations. Let them withhold their benediction from the standards around which our sanguinary soldiers assemble. Let them refuse their ministrations to every one who contributes toward the increase of human wretchedness. Let them make to the Powers who would engage them to consecrate the instruments of their politics the reply, which the priestess THEANO made to the people of Athens when they tried to persuade her to pronounce a malediction on the profane Alcibiades: 'I am a priestess to offer up prayers and implore blessings, not to execrate and devote to destruction." See St. PIERRE's Works, vol. iv. p. 264. + At a Conference held in 1809, at Christ-Church, Salford, Manchester, it was unanimously agreed, and published accordingly, by the Author of this Work and his Associates in Religion, "that they did not form a Sectarian Church under any particular denomination from Man; that they wished to be simply, Bible Christians; that they held all the doctrines, but not all the ideas, of all the Christian Sects, -- so far as they are respectively grounded on the literal expressions of Sacred Scripture; that they labour not, with pharisees, to be esteemed good, but to depart from all evil, as sin against GOD; that they are in perfect union and connexion with the sincere, conscientious livers, in all the various denominations of Christians; that they presume not to exercise any dominion over the faith or consciences of men; and that all who wish to join them in shunning the common evils and vulgar errors of the world, and in appropriating to life the real truths and precepts of the Bible, are freely admitted under GoD, as Members of the true Christian Church." 826. [Num. i. 3.] Our forefathers, says JOSEPHUS, did not betake themselves, as did some others, to robbery, nor did they, in order to gain more wealth, fall into foreign wars. (Contra Apion, b. i. § 12.)—And at Easter Island in the South Seas, no appearance of civil government or subordination could be discovered, much less any chief, prince, or king, who had dominion over the rest. On the contrary, they all acted and spoke with equal freedom; and yet no inconveniency was observed to result from this natural order; for they lived in the greatest tranquillity and harmony imaginable. The father, indeed, in each family had an apparent supremacy, and his authority was readily obeyed. Some marks of honor and ceremonies of respect were 'likewise paid to the aged; pure nature and good sense seeming to dictate those distinctions. The old men wore on their heads bonnets or caps, fringed round with feathers like the down of ostriches; and had truncheons, or short thick sticks, in their hands, which the Dutch naturally supposed to be some marks of degree and authority. But, what reflects the highest honor on their Patriarchal simplicity and innocence, not the smallest vestige or appearance of warlike instruments was to be seen among them. See Modern Univer. Hist. vol. xi. 827. pp. 339, 340. When the Israelites left Egypt, they were in all probability unarmed, and totally unequipped for battle, encumbered with their flocks, and certain culinary utensils, which they were obliged to carry with them in the wilderness to provide them with bread, &c. (Dr. A. CLARKE, on Exod. xiii. 17.)-Besides, to prevent any attack from the Philistines, the people were led about, by the Pillar of the Cloud, through the solitary and unfrequented wilderness of the Red Sea; Exod. xiii. 17, 18.-The fact is, the males that were numbered from twenty years old and upwards, were divided not into "armies," but into companies of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands; in order that rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, might now be appointed, not to fight, but to judge the people at all times; Exod. xviii. 21, 22.-The Gospel likewise tells us, there were officers in the temple: and the name St. Luke gives them signifies officers of war, stratenoi tou ierou. See Luke xxii. 52. (And Dr. A. CLARKE's Additions to Fleury, p. 325.)-Every such officer (of the temple), says MAIMONIDES (in his Treatise called Chelim, chap. vii), had under him several persons, who executed his orders in every thing that related to his charge. He, for example, who was to mark the time, caused the hours to be reckoned, and when that of the sacrifice was come, either he or some of his men cried with a loud voice, "To the sacrifice, ye priests: To the tribune (music gallery), ye Levites: To your ranks, ye Israelites ;" and then immediately every one prepared himself to begin his duty. 828. [Deut. xx. 7.] It does not appear, remarks Dr. A' CLARKE, that the Israelites believed that they were bound to put the Canaanites to death. Their political existence was 66 under the anathema, and this the Hebrews annihilated.That many of the Canaanites continued in the land, even to the days of Solomon, we have the fullest proof: for we read, 2 Chron. viii. 7., All the people of the land that were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were left in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed (or dispersed) not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute to this day." Thus Solomon destroyed their political existence, but did not consider himself bound by the law of GOD, to put them to death. 829. [Josh. vi. 1.] See Dr. A. CLARKE, on Deut. xx. 17. Death-dealing battles were unknown of old, Death-dealing battles took their rise from gold: When beechen bowls on oaken tables stood, When temperate acorns were our fathers' food, The swain slept peaceful with his flocks around; No trench was open'd, and no fortress frown'd. Tibul. El. ii. 830. [Exod. xx. 14.] Thou shalt not commit adultery. So great was the abhorrence of adultery in the first ages, that most of the antient legislators prohibited it by the severest penalties; and there are still extant some Greek copies of the Decalogue, where this prohibition is placed before that against murder, supposing it to be the greater crime. Edgar, king of England, enacted, that an adulterer of either sex should, for the space of seven years, live three days every week on bread and water. Canute, in the beginning of his reign, finding that the punishment then in use of cutting off the nose and ears, did not answer the purpose; decreed, that such as broke their conjugal vow should be condemned to perpetual celibacy. Dr. W. ALEXANDER'S Hist. of Women, vol. ii. pp. 230, 233. 832. When the Jewish dispensation was now established, it must be remembered that there had been two prior dispensations, both discarded on account of their perversions: As these dispensations, prior to their corruptions, had been espoused to the Lord; when the Israelites returned to either of them, even when put away, they committed adultery, Matt. v. 32. But when they turned to the Gentilism, which had never been espoused of God, they committed the fornication prohibited in Deut. xiii.-See Acts xv. 20. Rev. ii. 14. 833. [Matt. xix. 9.] The word adultery, which among all other nations is understood to mean an illicit correspondence between married people, among the Hindoos is extended to every species of illicit commerce between the sexes. Dr. W. ALEXANDER'S Hist. of Women, vol. ii. 229. p. 834. [Matt. v. 28.] Whoever, in Persia, has the impru dence to look at the wife of a man of rank, were it but as she travels on the road, is sure to be severely beaten by her eunuchs. See CHARDIN's Voyage en Perse, tom. vi. chap. xiii. p. 238. 835. In Asia, the women are rigorously secluded from the society of men. Constantly shut up in their houses, they have no communication but with their husband, their father, their brother, or at most their cousin-german. Carefully veiled in the streets, they dare hardly speak to a man even on business. It would be there peculiarly indecent to fix your eyes on them, as in that country an uplifted veil is the mark of a prostitute, or the signal for a loveadventure. VOLNEY'S Trav. vol. ii. p. 481. 836. [Exod. xx. 15.] Thou shalt not steal. All rapine and theft are forbidden by this precept; as well national and commercial wrongs, as petty larceny, highway robberies, and private stealing. All withholding of rights, and doing of wrongs, are against the spirit of it. The precept includes all political injustice and private wrongs, and consequently all kidnapping, crimping, and slave stealing are prohibited, whether practised by individuals or by the state. Crimes are not lessened in their demerit by the number, or political importance of those who commit them. A state that enacts bad laws, is as criminal before God, as the individual who breaks good ones. Dr. A. CLARKE. 837. [Exod. xxii. 1, 4.] In Chardin's time, murder along with theft, it seems, was scarcely ever heard of in Persia; which is to be ascribed, says Michaelis, not, as Chardiu thinks, to the more humane manuers of southern nations, but to the superior mildness of their punishments.-Among the Israelites, during their pastoral state, the ox did every thing on their farms he plowed; he thrashed out the corn, either with his feet, or by being yoked to a thrashing-wain; and he drew it when thrashed to the barn. If, therefore, the theft of an ox was more severely punished, than that of any thing else, it was on the same principle, upon which, in some places, an increase of punishment is inflicted on the crime of stealing from a farmer his plough, or any part of the apparatus belonging to it. See SMITH'S Michaelis, art. 283, 284.. 838. [Deut. xvii. 16.] In all the laws of Moses, the great principle of his polity was, to prevent the Israelites from becoming a commercial people. See SMITH'S Michaelis, vol. i. p. 73. 843. [Exod. xx. 17.] Thou shalt not covet &c. Covetousness debases a man's spirit, and sinks it into the earth. TILLOTSON. 839. Probably there is not one of the real wants of life which may not be supplied directly from the soil; food, clothing, light, heat, the materials of houses, and the instrunents needful for their construction. Besides, whilst agriculture disseminates man over the surface of the earth; it diffuses also health, prosperity, joy, society, benevolence : from it spring all the charities of life, and it makes a common family of the whole human race. Dr. LAMBE's Additional Reports on 840. [Prov. xxx. 9.] But it appears, by recent returns, that in London, where commerce has the ascendency, the announced commitments for crimes are 1 in 800, in Ireland 1 in 1600, and in Scotland 1 in 20,000. Hence, in London the people are twice as wicked as in Scotland; or say, rather, that the necessities caused in the population of this country by the fluctuations of trade bear such proportion to those of Ireland and Scotland. It also appears by an account lately published, that at the New Bayley Court House, Manchester, the greatest numbers of prisoners tried there, were 441 in 1800, 452 in 1801, 365 in 1813, and 413 in 1814, all years of distress; and that the least numbers were, in 1794-5, and 1802, and 1808, years of great manufacturing prosperity. But from 1794 to 1814, that is, during 21 years, the average commitments per annum, were 652, of 90,000 inhabitants, or about 1 in 140. This is five to one greater than in London, and affords conclusive evidence of the pernicious effects of large manufactories on the morals of the people. Month. Mag. for March, 1815, pp. 161, 181. 847. [ Erod. xxxii. 15, 16.] The characters which represent the articulations of the human voice, were at first engraved, hollowed out, or cut in relievo on stone, on the softer metals, on slate, wood, and table-books done over with wax. Writers had afterwards recourse successively, to the libri or fine barks that may be taken off the inner cortex of trees; and to the membranes of buck and sheep-skins, caused by the kings of Pergamus to be called pergamena or parchments. They next procured, as more convenient in every respect, the inward membranes of the papyrus, a kind of rush that grows abundantly on the banks of the Nile. Hence originated the name of paper, which has been since applied to a more substantial composition made first with cotton bruised small, reduced to a paste, and dried in moulds where it assumed the consistency of a slight sheet of felt; and latterly with rags of various sorts, macerated in water till they be |