and the land become full of wickedness." It is plain that adultery is not in question here; but God declares it to be criminal if a man and woman have connexion out of wedlock. Consequently, the people are taught in the Seventh Commandment to beware of all unchastity. DEUTERONOMY, CHAPTER XXIII. 17. There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 17. Non erit meretrix e filiabus Israel, neque erit scortum masculum e filiis Israel. This passage is akin to the foregoing; for in the first clause He forbids that girls should be prostituted. Some think that a whore is called in Hebrew P, kedeshah, because she is exposed to, and prepared for sin ; but her pollution, the opposite of sanctity, seems rather to be expressed by antiphrasis. At any rate, a precept of chastity is given, that it should not be lawful for unmarried girls to have connexion with men. In the second clause there is some ambiguity, "There shall be no p, kadesh, of the sons of Israel;" for in other passages it is clearly used for a catamite, or male harlot, but there is no reason why it should not be rendered a fornicator. In this sense the word seems to be used in the Book of Job: "The hypocrites shall die in youth, (or in the flower of their age,) and their life is among the P, kedeshim," which is equivalent to their being infamous and shameful in life. (Job xxxvi. 14.) But if it be preferred to apply it to sodomy, all impurity is condemned by synecdoche. LEVITICUS, CHAPTER XX.2 10. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery 10. Vir qui adulterium commiserit cum uxore alterius, qui adulterium commiserit cum uxore proximi sui 1 The Hebrew verb p has the double signification of sanctum esse and præparare, (Taylor's Concordance,) though only, it would appear, pare by sanctifying. to pre These passages are also considered in the Fr. subsequently to some that follow. with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. DEUT. xxii. 22. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. 23. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24. Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled • his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you. 25. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: 26. But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: 27. For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. moriendo morientur adulter et adultera. 22. Si quis deprehensus fuerit coiisse cum muliere conjugata marito, morientur etiam ambo ipsi, vir qui coierit cum muliere, et mulier ipsa : atque auferes malum ex Israele. 23. Quum fuerit puella virgo desponsata viro, et invenerit eam aliquis in urbe, coieritque cum ea : 24. Adducetis utrunque ad portam urbis ejus, et lapidabitis eos lapidibus, ac morientur : puellam quidem, quod non clamaverit in urbe: et virum, propterea quod afflixit uxorem proximi sui: atque ita auferes malum e medio tui. 25. At si in agro invenerit vir puellam desponsatam, et apprehenderit eam vir ille, et coierit cum ea, morietur vir qui coierit cum ea solus. 26. Puellæ vero non facies quicquam: non est puellæ peccatum mortis: nam quemadmodum insurgit quis in proximum suum, et occidit eum anima, sic se habet res ista. 27. In agro invenit eam, clamavit puella desponsata, et nemo adfuit qui servaret eam. DEUT. XXII. 22. If a man be found lying with. A Political Supplement, whereby it appears how greatly God abominates adultery, since He denounces capital punishment against it. And assuredly, since marriage is a covenant consecrated by God, its profanation is in no wise tolerable; and conjugal faith should be held too sacred to be violated with impunity, whilst it is an act of horrible perfidiousness to snatch from a man's bosom the wife who is as his very life, or at any rate half of himself. Wherefore, also, the Prophet ignominiously compares adulterers to neighing horses, (Jer. v. 8;) for where such lasciviousness prevails, men degenerate, as it were, into beasts. Another reason is, however, here referred to; for, if a man had broken faith with his wife by having connexion with a harlot, it was not a capital offence; but if any man, though a bachelor, had committed adultery with the wife of another, (he was to die,1) because both the husband is grossly injured, and the dishonour descends to the offspring, and an adulterine race is substituted in place of the legitimate one, whilst the inheritance is transferred to strangers, and thus bastards unlawfully possess themselves of the family name. This cause impelled the Gentiles, even before the Law, to punish adultery with severity, as clearly appears from the history of Judah and Tamar. (Gen. xxxviii. 14.) Nay, by the universal law of the Gentiles, the punishment of death was always awarded to adultery; wherefore it is all the baser and more shameful in Christians not to imitate at least the heathen. Adultery is punished no less severely by the Julian law than by that of God; whilst those who boast themselves of the Christian name are so tender and remiss, that they visit this execrable offence with a very light reproof. And lest they should abrogate God's law without a pretext, they allege the example of Christ, who dismissed the woman taken in adultery, whereas she ought to have been stoned; just as He withdrew Himself into a mountain that He might not be made a king by the multitude. (John viii. 11, and vi. 15.) For if we consider what the office was which the Father delegated to His only-begotten Son, we shall not be surprised that He was content with the limits of His vocation, and did not discharge the duties of a Judge. But those who have been invested with the sword for the correction of crime, have absurdly imitated His example, and thus their relaxation of the penalty has flowed from gross ignorance. Although the disloyalty of husband and wife are not punished alike by human tribunals, still, since they are under mutual obligation to each other, God will take vengeance on them both; and hence the declaration of Paul takes effect before the judgment-seat of God, Let not married persons defraud one another; for the wife hath not power of her own body, nor the husband of his. (1 Cor. vii. 4, 5.) 1 Added from Fr. 2 See Plin., Ep. vi. 12. 23. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed. The severity of the punishment is now extended further, and a betrothed woman is counted as a wife; and this for a very good reason, because she has plighted her troth, and it is a token of abandoned incontinency for the mind of a woman to be so alienated from the man to whom she is betrothed, as to prostitute her virginity to another's embraces. But since one who has been ravished is not criminal, a woman is absolved if she be forced in a field, because it is probable that she yielded unwillingly, inasmuch as she was far from assistance. Although, however, the terms are accommodated to the comprehension of a rude people, it was the intention of God to distinguish force from consent. Thus if a girl had been forced in a retired part of a building, from whence her cries could not be heard, God would undoubtedly have her acquitted, provided she could prove her innocence by satisfactory testimony and conjecture. LEVITICUS, CHAPTER XIX. 20. And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman that is a bond-maid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged: they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21. And he shall bring his trespass-offering unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespassoffering. 22. And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass-offering before the Lord, for his sin which he hath done; and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him. 20. Vir si coierit cum muliere coitu seminis quæ fuerit ancilla desponsata viro, nec redimendo redempta fuerit, nec fuerit manumissa, vapulatio erit: non morientur, quia non est libertate donata. 21. Adducet autem oblationem, pro delicto suo Jehovæ ad ostium tabernaculi conventionis, arietem pro delicto. 22. Et expiabit eum sacerdos per arietem pro delicto coram Jehova, propter peccatum suum quod peccavit: et remittet ei peccatum suum quod peccavit. Albeit in God's sight there is no difference between bond and free, yet their condition is diverse as regards courts of justice; nor do the same evil consequences ensue from adultery with a bond-maid, (as with a free woman.2) "Quant aux jugemens terreins, et humains."—Fr. Notwithstanding, therefore, that the crime is worthy of death, still, in consideration of the people's infirmity, the punishment is mitigated, so that, if a person shall have corrupted a betrothed bond-maid, both shall be scourged.1 From hence we infer that, if a concubine, who had already cohabited with a man, were seduced, it was accounted a capital adultery. Lest it should be falsely held, from the lenity or indulgence of the law, that the offence was a trifling one, this error is at once anticipated by the addition of the expiation : for, if one already beaten with stripes still required reconciliation, it follows that the measure of the offence is not to be estimated by its penalty. EXODUS, CHAPTER XXI.2 7. And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. 8. If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. 9. And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10. If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. 11. And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money. 7. Quum vendiderit quispiam filiam suam in ancillam, non egredietur quemadmodum egredi solent servi. 8. Si displicuerit hero suo, nec sibi desponderit eam, redimendam curabit: populo alieno non habebit potestatem vendendi eam, quum spreverit eam. 9. Quod si filio suo desponderit eam, secundum morem filiarum faciet ei. 10. Si aliam acceperit sibi, alimentum illius, operimentum illius, et constitutionem illius non dimi nuet. 11. Quod si tria hæc non fecerit illi, egredietur gratis absque argento. From this passage, as well as other similar ones, it plainly appears how many vices were of necessity tolerated in this people. It was altogether an act of barbarism that fathers should sell their children for the relief of their poverty, still 1 C.'s Latin version and Commentary agree here with the margin of A. V. rather than the text, " she shall be scourged;" margin, "there shall be a scourging." Dathe's translation is "vapulabunt ambo," and his note, "sic Vulgatus recte, sequitur enim pluralis non moriantur. Cf. Michaelis in J. M. P. V., p. 50." This passage also taken further on in Fr. |