whom they pleased before the Law 10. The Right of Divorce instituted by Moses 11. Polygamy permitted to the Hebrews both before and after the Law 12. The Hebrews not permitted to lie or marry with Gentiles not Proselytes 13. Eunuchs Bastards excluded from Matrimony with Israelites 14. The Right of Proselytes and Libertines 15. The Maid-Servant not permitted to Marry before she was made absolutely Free by Redemption or Manumission 16. Nor the Man-Servant until the Christians gave them jus Conjugii Article 1. Theft Interdicted among the Egyptians whose Singular Law concerning Robbery is recited 2. Theft of what kind soever forbidden also to the Sons of Noah by Law Natural and 3. By the Mosaic to the Hebrews 4. Fraudulent removing of ancient Land-marks Theft 5. Punishment of various frauds among the Egyptians 6. All fraud even in words unlawful to the Hebrews 7. The difference betwixt the Right of an Hebrew and of a Gentile as to pilfering things of small Value 8. Satisfaction for damage always to be made by the Mosaic Law and to whom 9. The Law of restoring things lost explicated 10. An unequal Price unlawful 11. Punishment of Theft Capital not from the Law of the Hebrews but from that given to the Sons of Noah 21 The Mosaic Interdict of Theft deduced from Law Natural 13. Vsury unlawful to the Hebrews among themselves lawful to the Gentiles 14. Gain from Games unlawful to an Hebrew Artic. 1. The administration of Justice by Iudges prescribed first by Natural Law after by the Mosaic 2. Courts Iuridical not constituted before Moses 3. The contrary not evident from the Traditions of the Rabbins nor from the Scripture 4. Nor from the Example of Simeon and Levi and of Iudah in the cause of Thamar 5. The Right of a Gentile in the Common-wealth of the Hebrews as to Judgments in foro Article 1. Eating of Blood Interdicted first to Noah and after to the Israelites 2. The reason of this Interdict 3. The Law against eating of any thing that died of it self and of any Member torn off from an Animal alive and the reason thereof 4. Examples of such cruelty carnage in Bacchanals Article 1. The Mosaic Law of all written Laws the most ancient 2. Moses the Wisest of all Law-givers 3. The Writers design method in the eâ—suing explication of the Decalogue 4. Why God is here call'd The Lord. 5. That the Law was given not immediately by God Himself but by an Angel in the Name of God 6. Why the Angel that pronounced the Law said I am the Lord c. 7. Why the Writer of the Law saith all these Words 8. God's peculiar Right to the Title of Supream Lord of the Israelites 9. The Preface to a Law ought to be brief and full of Authority 10. Why God in these Precept chose the number Ten. 11. Why the Law was given in the Wilderness 12. Why it is here said Thy in the singular number Article 1. Why it is here said Other Gods beside me 2. Gods distinguish'd into two Classes 3. The Celestial Luminaries the first false Gods 4. Kings and Queens deified after death the Second false Gods 5. Whence it was that Brutes came to be worship'd as Gods 6. Honor due to good Angels and what 7. Signs of honour proper to God not to be exhibited to good Angels 8. Civil Veneration of Kings not unlawful 9. Extirpation of Polytheism the principal design of this Precept 10. The Unity of God manifest by the Light of Nature Article 1. In what sense the word Idol is always used in holy Scripture 2. That Idolatry was founded upon an opinion that Images Magically consecrate were animated by Daemons and therefore vocal 3. Teraphim used chiefly for Divination 4. Teraphim how made 5. Of what Materials 6. What were the Silver Shrines of Diana of the Ephesians 7. Why graven Images of Animals were by God interdicted to the Hebrews 8. That God reserv'd to himself a right of exception to this Law from the Instances of the Cherubims and of the Brazen Serpent Erected by His Command 9. Images of the Stars also interdicted by this precept and that to prevent Polytheism 10. to admonish men That the Invisible God cannot be represented by Images 11. What Pictures fall under this interdict 12. That the Christians have not thought themselves indeterminately obliged by this Law 13. What is here signified by Adoration of Images 14. Different Opinions of Christians about honour exhibited to Saints before their Images Pictures 15. The true sense of the Word Idolatry 16. Private Men among Christians ought not to pull down Idols * 17. That God revenges Idolatry only to the third and fourth Generation and that by delivering up the Posterity of Idolaters into miserable Servitude 18. Who are properly said to hate God 19. Why God is here said to shew mercy unto Thousands 20. Who are by God call'd Pious and who Righteous Men. Article 1. Why it is here said the Name of the Lord not my Name * 2. Perjury interdicted chiefly by this Precept and 3. Threatned to be severely punish'd by God Himself 4. The Sanctity of an Oath 5. Why God threatneth to revenge Perjury by Punishments inflicted by Himself Article 1. The precept of keeping holy the Sabbath distinguish'd from the precept of resting from Labour upon the Sabbath as by the causes so also by the times 2. The different interpretations of Grotius and Selden of the word Remember reconciled 3. Testimonies of the Sabbath observ'd anciently by Gentiles also 4. Why the primitive Christians held their Assemblies upon the Sabbath day 5 The Lords day not Surrogated into the place of the Sabbath 6. why the Greeks and Latins use the word Sabbata not Sabbatum 7. Labour upon Six days of the Week not commanded but only permitted 8. Why God fixed the Sabbath upon the Seventh day 9. Why he by many words inculcated this Precept 10. Who are to be understood here by Thy Son and thy Daughter 11. Humanity of Masters towards Servants here intimated 12. Some goodness and mercy to be exercised also toward Brutes by this Precept 13. Who is here meant by The Stranger that is within thy gates * 14. Why the Stranger was by this Law obliged to abstain from Labour upon the Sabbath 15. Why God made the Universe in Six days 16. What is to be understood by His resting upon the Seventh day * 17. How the true Seventh or Sabbatical day was first made known to the Hebrews 18. The honour of the number Seven deriv'd from the Aegyptian Mathematicians 19. The Septenary number of days observ'd by Gentiles in their Feasts 20. The Number Seven of solemn respect in the Mosaic Rites in other Mysteries 21. The weekly Circle of Days deriv'd by the Aegyptian Astrologers from the Seven Planets 22. Bede's reason why in the planetary denomination of the Seven days of the week the natural order of the Planets was not observ'd 23. Why Saturn was made Lord of the Seventh day 24. The Antiquity of the planetary denomination of the Seven days and conclusion of this chapter Article 1. That this Precept was anciently observed by the Egyptians the Pythagoreans and 2. the Athenians 3. Honour and reverence given by the Egyptians even to the dead bodies of their Parents 4. Other Nations also honour'd Parents 5. Excellency and usefulness of this Law 6. The right of Mothers to honour and reverence from their Children 7. Children by this Law obliged to relieve their Parents in want 8. Longaevity the reward of filial reverence 9. The Penalty added to this Law Article 1. Murder a Crime against God Nature and Civil Laws 2. Exempts from this Law Article 1. Theft injurious to private Men and hurtful to the Public * 2. The necessity and utility of this interdict 3. Theft of a Man capital among the Hebrews Article 1. Who is here to be understood by Neighbour 2. The form of Adjuration used by the Hebrew Judges to Witnesses and to the Accused 3. False Testimony a hainous Crime 4. The Punishment of a False Witness among the Hebrews Article 1. What is here meant by Concupiscence according to the interpretation of the Hebrew Masters 2. Acts indirectly tending to the gratification of lusts interdicted by this Precept 3. As also the simple purpose to fulfil them 4. Concupiscence without effect no Sin according to the judgment of the Rabbins 5. But condemn'd by the Christians who are obliged to purity of mind 6. Not to covet any thing that belongs to another the Sum of all Moral Precepts
Judgment also of Irenaeus Lib. 4. c. 30. and of Eusebius 1 Histor. c. 4. And thus may we best explicate that of Genesis 2. God blessed the Seventh day and Sanctified it which the Hebrew Masters will have to be spoken by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anticpation as if Moses should say that this Cessation of God from His work of Creation was the cause why after in the time of Moses the Celebration or Sanctification of the Seventh day was ordained But the righter interpretation is that which distinguishes the precept of keeping holy the Sabbath from the precept of resting from Labour as by the causes so also by the times And to this difference Moses himself seems to have had respect when in Duternomy to these words Observe the Sabbath day to sanctifie it he adds as the Lord thy God hath Commanded three namly long ago from the very beginning of the World as Grotius conceives or as Selden from the time when the Israelites were encamp'd in Mara a part of the Wilderness so call'd from the brackish bitterness of the Waters where the observation of the Sabbath was first instituted about forty days before that institution was renew'd in the Decalogue For he refers the first word of this Precept Remember to the first Sabbath there instituted And true it is that the first Sabbath was celebrated by the Israelites in their tenth Mansion or encamping in Alush part of the desert of Sin They came from Elim into the desert of Sin upon the Fifteenth day of the Second Month from their beginning to march Six days Manna was gathered and one the Seventh the People Sabbatized So that the first observation of the Sabbath fell upon the 22. day of the same Month which being the Second Month from their Exit out of Egypt was after named Iiar for the names of the Hebrew Months were then unborn and that 22. day of this Month answers to the 23. of May in the Julian year The Seder Olam makes this Month Hollow i. e. of but Twenty nine days not Full i. e. of Thirty days Whence in computing the feriae or Holy days of these Months there hath risen up a discrepancy of one day betwixt that Chronicon and the Talmudist's But that alternate distinction of Months as our most Excellent Chronologist Sir Iohn Marsham in Chronic. Canon pag 184. observes doth not well agree with the antick Chronology of the Hebrews How then shall we reconcile these two different opinions concerning the respect of the word Remember the one asserted by Grotius the other by Selden By granting that the Precept de observando Sabbato in commemoration of the Aegyptian Servitude was first given to the Israelites in Mara and a little after renewed at the promulgation of the Decalogue as pertinent particularly and only to them and consequently that so far Selden is in the right but that the institution of the Sabbath in grateful memory of the Worlds Creation by God wherein all Mankind were equally concern'd was as ancient as the World it self and extended to all Nations universally and therefore Grotius who seems to have consider'd this general institution and the cause of it is so far in the right too For That some knowledge and veneration of the Sabbath was by Tradition of highest antiquity derived to other Nations beside the Hebrews and remain'd among them for some ages Clemens Alexandrinus Stromat l. 5. and Eusebius in Praepar Evang. have clearly shewn as by other Testimonies so particularly by the Verses of Hesiod where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seventh day is call'd Holy And in Iosephus Philo Theophilus and Lucan are places that manifestly attest the same long-liv'd Tradition And upon this account it was that the Primitive Christians who believ'd that by Christ all things were reduced to the same State wherein they had been constituted from the beginning Piously celebrated the Sabbath and therein held their Solemn Assemblies in which the Law was publickly read and expounded as appears from that of the Acts 15. 21. Which Custom flourished until it was antiquated by the Laodicen Synod which judged it more convenient and profitable to Christians that instead of the Law the Gospels should be upon that day read to the People assembled So Sacred in those more Pure and Pious times was the memory of the Sabbath originally instituted that Men might with glad and grateful hearts acknowledge and celebrate with Praises the Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness of God shewn in the Creation of the Universe that they equall'd the Sanctity thereof to that of the Lord's day consecrated to the perpetual remembrance of that greatest Seal of our Faith and pledge of our hopes the Resurrection of our Redeemer from the dead Hence Balsamo most appositely said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. By the Holy Fathers the Sabbath days were held in all respects equal to the Lords days Hence also Gregorius Nyssenus calls these two days Brethren as worthy of equal Veneration and Solemnity and the Ancient Book of the Constitutions of Clement l. 7. c. 24. gives this in Precept Diem Sabbatti diem Dominicam festas habete quoniam illa Creationis altera Resurrections memoriae dicata est Nor was it from any other cause That by the most ancient Church was introduced the Custom of not fasting upon the Sabbath because it was a day of joy and gladness as appears from the Epistle of St. Ignatius ad Philippenses where he saith Si quis aut Dominicâ aut Sabbato jejunet excepto uno Sabbato is Christum occidit The same may be inferr'd from that memorable place in Tertullian advers Marcionem meminerat enim ille hoc privilegium donatum Sabbato à primordio quo dies ipse compertus est veniam jejunii dico Where we cannot but observe that this Custom is deduced from the beginning of the World From the same reason it came that Constantine the Emperor permitting to Christians the free use of their Worship at the same time forbad their being compell'd to appear before any Tribunal or Court of Judicature upon the Sabbath no less than upon the Lords day which Edict is yet extant in Eusebius These things being known are sufficient to refute those who think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord's day was surrogated into the place of the Sabbath of which mention is no where made by Christ no where by any of the Apostles And St. Paul when Colossi 2. 16 he saith that the Christians are not to be condemned for their Sabbaths and New Moons sheweth plainly that they are free from that Law of resting from labour which liberty would signifie nothing if the Law remaining the day were changed That the Christians therefore appointed and held their Assemblies upon that day wherein their Lord had risen from the dead was not from any Precept either of God or of the Apostles but they did it by vertue of the liberty granted to them and by voluntary
31. 13. it is a Sign betwixt me and you in your Generations that ye may know that I am the Lord who sanctifie you Ye shall therefore keep the Sabbath for to you it is holy Nor will the Masters allow it to have pertained to the Gentiles Some exempt even Proselytes of the House from the obligation of this Precept but how that exemption can be brought to consist with those words of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the stranger that is within thy Gates I see not CHAP. VI. The Fifth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. THat this Precept among those that are as it were imprinted upon the mind of man by Nature and Legible by the light of right reason not the least was first given to the Israelites in Marah we have the Authority of the Babylonian Gemara where in titulo Sanhedrin cap. 7. sect 5. we read Decem praecepta acceperunt Israelitae in Mara Septem quae Noachidarum fuere jam vero adjecta sunt Iudicia Sabbatum parentum honos That it obtain'd among the Egyptians also and was by them placed next after the Precept of divine Worship is evident from the funeral Apology used among them wherein the Libitinarius personating the defunct saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I have ever honour'd those who begat my body And that the same was taught also in the School of Pythagoras who learned all his Doctrines from the Egyptian Priests is equally manifest from the Golden Verses where immediately after the precept of Worshipping the Godsfollows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honour thy Parents But long before the days of Pythagoras was this Law placed in the Temple of Ceres Eleusinia if we may confide in the testimony of Porphyry who from Hermippus in De Abstinentia p. 1. and 399. saith as St. Ierom hath translated the place Iovinian l. 2. p. 528. Xenocrates Philosophus de Triptolemi legibus apud Athenienses tria tantum praecepta in templo Eleusinae residere scribit honorandos Parentes venerandos Deos carnibus non vescendum And Socrates in Xenophon Memorabil l. 2. p. 743. saith Civitas ingratitudinis alterius rotionem non habet neque datur actio in eam verùm si quis Parentes non honorârit actio adversùs eum scribitur Magistratum capessere non permittitur For in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquisition made into the manners and life of those who were to be admitted to Magistracy they were interrogated first if they were descended for three generations at least on both sides from Athenian Citizens and Secondly if they had duely honor'd their Parents Because he that is impious toward his Parents cannot be judged pious toward his Country Nor toward God neither saith Menander in this distick Qui patrem incilat voce maledicit patri At in hoc se parat at ipsi maledicat Deo To return to the Egyptians doubtless the Sons among them shew'd all Signs of filial respect and honour to their Fathers while they lived since they piously venerated them even after their decease and paid a kind of religious reverence to their dead bodies to that end preserv'd by precious Embalmments as if death could not cancel their bonds of gratitude nor fate extinguish their Sentiments of natural piety Whence that honourable testimony given of them by the Prince of Antiquaries Diodorus the Sicilian lib. 1. pag. 58. Sanctissimè receptum est inter Egyptios ut appareant Parentes aut Majores ad eternam habitationem translatos impensius honorasse Whereto he adds that it was Lawful for them in case of necessity to pawn the dead bodies of their Parents but those who redeem'd them not were punish'd with highest infamy and contempt during life and after death with privation of Sepulture Nor were the Egyptians the only Nation that taught and urged obedience and honor to Parents from the dictates of Nature For the grave Plutarch de Philadelphia saith Omnes dicunt atque canunt primum ac praecipuum honorem post Deos Parentibus destinasse Naturam Naturae legem Nor is there is the whole World any People so Barbarous and Savage but by mere natural instinct they understand that honour and reverence are due to Parents Wisely therefore did Philo Iudaeus account this Precept now confirmed at the promulgation of the Decalogue the last of the first Table and placed in confinio utriusque His reason this Natura Parentum videtur esse confinium immortalis mortalis essentiae Immortal because a Father by begetting resembles God the Genitor of all things and in the violation of it he puts the highest inhumanity most detestable to God and man feritatis primas ferunt qui Parentes negligunt And in truth this Law is the cement of human society For he that loves and reveres his Parents will requite their care with good education of his Children love his Brethren and Sisters as branches of the same Stock with himself cherish and assist all his kindred as descendent from the same progenitors whence flows that whole Series of consanguinity and natural relation and whence was the most ancient Original of Nations Cities and Towns when Tribes and numerous Families conjoyn'd themselves into Societies under the Government of their Heads After this when men conven'd from many places they began by common consent to constitute Kings and Governours by the example of Parents to whom the ancients therefore gave the most proper and obliging name of Fathers For which reason in the Roman Laws and in those of other nations the crime of Majesty which we call High Treason is put before all other crimes as most pernicious to the peace and safety of the Common-wealth and for the same reason is this Precept of Honouring Parents put before the rest that respect human society Here God hath been pleased to name and certainly as He is the Author of Nature and maker of all Children in the Mothers Womb so is He the most equal Judge the Mother as well as the Father Whereas the Laws of this kind made by Men provide almost for Fathers only as the Persian Law commemorated by Aristotle and the Roman described in the Digests and Institutions mentioned first by Epictetus then by Simplicius and Philo de legatione And though in collisu the right of the Father be the better by reason of the prevalency of his Sex for which God gave the Husband dominion over the Wife yet certainly obedience and reverence which are here signified by the word Honour are from Children due to both In the same word is comprehended also the duty of Thankfulness and a grateful requital as much as in Children lyeth for indeed a full requital can never be made to Parents for the great blessing of existence and life given by them to Children as both Aristotle and Philo have observ'd quomodo enim ab aliquibus genitus eos
from Ius Noachidarum not from that of the Hebrews which required Exod. 22. 1. Five-fold Four-fold or Double restitution to be made If the Person convict were not able to give the satisfaction required he was by Sentence pronounced in Court adjudged to servitude of the Actor or Plaintiff until his Service should equal the Price of the Theft but the restitution Double Quadruple or Quintuple was to be expected from his more Prosperous Fortune after his Servitude Nor was a Woman sold for her Theft Neither was a Man convict of Theft adjudged in Servitude to a Proselyte whether of Iustice or of the House much less to a Gentile but only to an Hebrew who was Obliged to give Food Raiment and a House not only to him but to his Wife and Children too who notwithstanding were not the Masters Servants but when the Husbands and Fathers Servitude was ended went away with him And all this by Virtue of that Law in Exod. 21. 3. To an Hebrew Servant Adjudged by Sentence of Court who had by a lawful Wife fulfill'd the Command of Multiplication it was permitted to have Carnal Conversation with a Maid-Servant that was a Canaanite that the Master might be enriched by the Children born of her provided he were not kept apart from his Legitimate Wife and Children and that but one Maid-Servant were Conjoin'd to one Man-Servant not to two or more Other causes of Servitude there were also among the Hebrews If thy Brother Compell'd by Poverty shall sell himself to thee c. Levit. 25. 39. If any shall have sold his Daughter for a Servant c. Exod. 21. 7. These Addictions or Sales were not permitted but in Case of extream Poverty when the Seller had nothing left not so much as a Garment and that his life was to be sustain'd by the Price agreed on This selling of a Daughter is understood only of a Minor nor without hope of her Marriage to the Emptor or to his Son without Espousals she obtain'd her Liberty Gratis when first the Signs of Puberty appear'd upon her Also an Hebrew was made a Servant Privately that by his Addiction or Sale he might not lose his Dignity together with his Liberty Now from this Permission of an Israelite reduced to extream want to sell himself or his Child for Sustenance lest he should die of Hunger it is sufficiently manifest that from the very Law of Nature obtaining among the Hebrews it was not Lawful to steal for even the greatest necessity To exercise Vsury was more than once forbidden by the Hebrew Law and the Lender upon Vsury was compell'd by sentence of Court to restore to the Debtor what he had receiv'd for the Loan of Mony as a thing taken away by stealth Deut. 23. 20. To a Stranger thou maist lend upon Vsury to thy Brother thou shalt not lend upon Vsury To steal the Goods of a Gentile was no less unlawful than to steal from an Israelite but to take Usury of a Gentile was permitted of which the Contract arises from the Consent as well of the Receiver as of the Giver For neither from Natural Right was it unlawful to lend upon Usury By the Statutes of their Fore-Fathers as Mr. Selden de Iure Nat. Gent. lib. 6. c. 11. delivers an Hebrew was guilty of Theft who made any Gain to himself by Playing at Dice Cockal Tables or committing Wild or Tame Beasts or Fowls to fight together to make sport for the Spectators For they judged no Gain to be honest that arose from a Contract depending upon Fortune But it was not Theft if a Iew contending with a Gentile won the Prize or Wager tho' that also as a thing Inutile or Unprofitable to Humane Society were prohibited By the same Ancient Right he also was a Thief who so bred up and taught Doves or other Birds or Beasts Wild or Tame as that they should fly or go abroad and alluring or decoying others of the same kind bring them home to the gain of their Owner nor was it lawful to go a Fowling after Pigeons in a place inhabited or within Four Miles thereof because Pigeons were reckoned among the Goods of other Men and were nourished by the Owners either for Sacrifices or for food Nor was it lawful for any man to build a Dove-House in his Field unless he had Ground of his own lying round about it of Fifty Cubits extent every way CHAP. IX The sixth Precept Of Judgments or Administration of Iustice in Courts of Iudicature and of Civil Obedience FRom this Natural Precept the Masters saith Maimonides Hal. Melak c. 9. acknowledge that the Rulers ought to Constitute Judges and Prefects in every City and Town both to judge all Causes pertaining to the Six Precepts of the Sons of Noah and to admonish the People of their observation of them And so indeed the Mosaic Law also at length commanded Deut. 16. 18. Iudges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates c. In many other places also Juridical Prefectures are commanded to be constituted according as the Civil Societies of Men require Many and memorable things indeed hath that most Excellent Interpreter of Eastern Antiquities Mr. Selden written of the Councils or Assemblies of the Ancient Hebrews in that interval of time that preceded the giving of the Holy Law on Mount Sinai But to me I confess it doth not from thence appear that any one of the Patriarchs before Moses exercised Jurisdiction in Foro in Court much less constituted Juridical Prefectures in Cities and Towns The Family of the Hebrews descending from Sem to Abraham lived in Mesopotamia nor is it constant from the Scripture whether it were at that time sui Iuris or under the Laws of the Neighbour Nations The Grand-Children of Abraham were toss'd to and fro in continual Peregrination until at length they sate down in Egypt where they were so far from living by Laws and Customs of their own that they groan'd long under a most cruel Servitude Common-wealth of Hebrews there was none Tribunal or Court of Judicature they had none till after their deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage Then and not till then it was that the People of God being greatly multiplied and divided into Twelve Tribes the Precept concerning Judgments was given in Mara Exod. 18. 25. Among the Traditions of the Masters we find mention'd often the House of Iudgment of Methusalem also of Sem and Eber which yet are not to be taken for Juridical Prefectures but for Schools Witness Maimonides More Neboch part 2. c. 39. Who saith The Wise Men speak of the Prophets that were before Moses the House of Judgment of Eber the House of Judgment of Methusalem that is the School of Methusalem All those were Prophets and taught Men after the manner of Preachers or Doctors Nor is it otherwise said of Abraham Gen. 18. 19. I know him that he will command his Children and Houshold after him and they
shall keep the way of the Lord to do Iustice and Iudgment c. For this was a thing Oeconomical not Political Soon after the Deluge God Proclaimed this Edict Gen. 9. 6. He that sheddeth Mans blood by Man shall his blood be shed not by judgment of any Court of those times but by Natural Right of Talion Cum Lex haec lata est saith the Incomparable Hugo Grotius in locum nondum constituta erant Iudicia aucto humano genere in gentes distributo meritò solis judicibus permissum fuit jus illud primaevum From these places of Genesis therefore truly interpreted no pretext can be drawn to excuse their error who dream of I know not what Publick Tribunals or Courts of Judicature constituted before Moses Neither can any be drawn from either of these two Examples following Simeon and Levi in revenge of the Rape committed upon their Sister Dinah by Sichem the Hivite slew him and his Father and all the Males of the City But this was done by War not from any Sentence of a Judicial Court nor is this revenge of a private Injury to be brought for an Example here where the question is concerning Publick Iudgments It was told Iudah Thamar thy Daughter in Law hath played the Harlot and is with Child per fornicationes by whoredome And Judah said bring her forth that she may be burnt But this saying of Iudah rashly pronounced and in heat of anger is by no means to be accepted for a Iuridical Sentence For by the Law of Moses Levit. 21. 9. the Priests Daughter was for Fornication the Masters understand Adultery not Stuprum Whoredome to be burnt alive But Thamar was neither Priests Daughter nor Wife but a Widow expecting to be Married to the Brother of her Husband deceas'd and this Law was not then made Others think that there was such a Law peculiar to this Family to which Iudah had respect which is in truth repugnant to the Ius Noachidarum by which it was accounted no Crime for an unmarried Woman to humble her self to whom she pleas'd Of which Right Maimonides being conscious and speaking of this our Thamar saith Ante Legem datam coitus cum Scorto erat sicut coitus hominis cum Vxore suâ hoc est licitus erat nec homini fugiendus velut delictum c. Thamar then by virtue of this ancient Right then obtaining was not to be held guilty Whence other Interpreters understand the Combustion or Burning mentioned in the Text to signifie not burning to death but a Stigmatizing or Marking in the Forehead with an hot Iron by which she might be known to be an Harlot Again when Thamar was brought forth not ad poenam as the vulgar Latin the whole matter being detected Iuda non cessavit eam cognoscere that is he took his Daughter in Law to be his Wife such Marriages being not unlawful before the Mosaic Law This place is I acknowledge Translated by the Seventy Seniors thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non adjecti ultrà cognoscere eam vel ultrà non cognovit eam but the Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying as well cessare as adjicere I am inclined to prefer the foremr Interpretation and the more inclined because the Genealogy of King David and of our Saviour Christ is deduced from one of the Male Twins she brought forth at that birth These Examples therefore not sufficing to prove that for which they have been alledged by some Interpreters otherwise of Profound Erudition and Solid Judgment and it remaining still difficult to demonstrate that there were any such things in the World as Courts of Judicature more ancient than those erected by Moses let us enquire what was the Ius Noachidarum in the Common-wealth of the Israelites as to Iudgment They that preside over the Tribunals of the Israelites saith Maimonides in Hal. Melak◠c. 10. ought to appoint Judges for the Proselytes of the House to hear and determine their causes according to the Rights of the Sons of Noah lest humane Society should suffer any thing of detriment and that they might constitute these Judges either by electing them out of the Proselytes themselves or from among the Hebrews at their pleasure In another place viz. c. 9. he saith a Noachid is put to death by the Sentence of one Judge and upon the Testimony of one Witness and that without Premonition and the Testimony of Neighbours but not upon the Testimony of a Woman Nor was it lawful to a Woman to give judgment upon them nor upon the Hebrews On the other side by the Civil Right of the Hebrews three Judges at least were to hear and determine Causes Pecuniary and Twenty-three to judge of Causes Capital not without Plurality of Witnesses and Premonition By the receiv'd Right of the Sons of Noah the Violation of these Seven Precepts was punish'd in a Proselyte of the House with death inflicted by a Sword but an Israelite by his own Right was not to be punish'd with death for Violation of the three latter No Gentile that was under Age of discretion or Blind or Deaf or Mad was punish'd because such were not reputed Sons of the Precepts i. e. capable to observe them A Noachid that was a Blasphemer or an Idolater or an Adulterer with the Wife of a Noachid and after that made a Proselyte of Iustice was not to be call'd into Judgment but was free but if he had slain an Israelite or committed Adultery with the Wife of an Israelite and were after made a Proselyte of Iustice he was to be punish'd with the Sword for Homicide with a Halter for Adultery that is with the punishments of the Israelites By the vertue of Proselytism which was Regeneration by the Hebrew Law Crimes committed against Equals yea also against God Himself were purged away those committed against an Israelite not All which nice differences betwixt the primitive Right of the Sons of Noah and the Civil Right of the Israelites punctually observed by Judges in hearing and determining causes in Foro have been with vast labour collected out of the Monuments of the Masters and with exact Faith and Judgment recited by Selden the Great in lib. 7. de Iure Nat. Gent. to whom I owe the Knowledge of them with many other remarkable things of good use toward the Interpretation of divers difficult Places in Holy Scripture CHAP. X. Prints of the Six precedent Precepts observable in the Book of Job THe same most Excellent Antiquary to add the more of Credit and Authority to the Six foregoing Precepts of the Sons of Noah hath also observed manifest Prints of them in the Book of Iob a man as St. Austin de Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 47. of admirable Sanctity and Patience who was neither Native nor Proselyte of the People of Israel but an Idumean by Descent and Birth and died there and by consequence could not be Obliged to keep the Laws of Moses of which perhaps