country, and, by consequence, purity and simplicity of manners provided for, domestic virtue, reverence to the aged, kindness to the stranger, bounty to the fatherless and the widow, justice to all, are inculcated in the most forcible manner, and with the most awful sanctions, even the favour or the displeasure of the Lord Jehovah, who is the immediate Sovereign under whom this government is exercised, by whom its Laws are formed, from whom all property is held, to whose powerful interposition the nation owed its settlement, and on whose protection it depended for its continuance. All the blessings therefore, which the Jew enjoyed under this constitution, and by this government, ought to have had the effect of animating his gratitude and piety to God, and enlarging his benevolence to the poor and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, those peculiar objects of the divine patronage and protection. Is not such a scheme of government worthy of the divine Author to which it is ascribed? and does not its establishment at so early a period, and amongst a people so apparently incapable of inventing it as the Jews, strongly attest its heavenly original?

LECT. I.

SECT. I.

The objection arising from the treatment of the Canaanites considered, so far as relates to the Canaanites themselves -Objection includes two questions-Doubt as to the extent of the severity, exercised against the CanaanitesThis severity justified by their crimes-Their idolatry not an error of judgment alone-Cruelties and pollutions it produced-Necessity of expelling them from the land in which the Jews were to settle-Their guilt incorrigible-The objection proved to lead to Atheism-Analogy between the general course of Providence, and the treatment of the Canaanites-In the sufferings of the innocent-Connexion of this measure with the entire scheme of the divine aconomy-Review of the considerations offered on the first part of the objection.

SECT. II.

Second part of the objection which relates to the Jews—A clear divine command changes the moral character of the action -Jews mere instruments in the hands of God-Series of facts proving this-Jews not actuated by the common passions of conquerors-Avarice and licentiousness checked by the situation in which they were placed-And sanguinary passions-Abhorrence of idolatry impressed upon them, but not a spirit of personal or national hostilityProved

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Proved by their conduct to the Canaanites-Necessity of employing the Jews as instruments of this severity-To alienate the two nations-To, overturn the grand support of idolatry-To impress a salutary terror on the Jews themselves to supersede the necessity of a continued series of miracles-Treatment of the Amalekites-Nature of their crime-Connection of their punishment with the general scheme of the Jewish dispensation-General answer to all objections of this kind-This dispensation did not encourage a spirit of general persecution or conquest-Care taken it should not harden the hearts of the Jews-General laws of war among the Jews merciful-Great care to encourage a spirit of humanity-Conclusion.