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claimed any intention of justifying wars wantonly undertaker * by the bad passions of mankind , he attempts to prove , first , that this order was actually given by the command of Gold , and * secondl y ^ that it was a wise and salutary treasure .
The miracles wrought by Moses shewed that he was the authorised messenger of God to the children of Israel . - Coasequently , this order , coming frorA him , came from God ; and though some persons have supposed , that they wej-e inerely the
nations of Canaan as such that were to be destroyed ^ i . e * theip civil government , &cc . yet the words evidently refer to persons * and not to things . Indeed the manner in wliich the Israelites conducted themselves towards the people of Canaan fully informs us ia what light thev understood the command .
C What , then , could induce the Divine Being to order such an execution ? I answer , the vile character of the inhabitants , which ren- » dered it necessary to inflict upon them the most exemplary punish * ment , as a warning to other nations , and particularly to the children of Israel / to avoid the . like practices /*
Gibbon has joined other modern unbelievers in representing heathen idolatry as innocent * ind harmless . But the history of it proves , that it was a cruel and abominable superstition , consisting in vices of the grossest nature , which all modern governments agree to punish with severe penalties . Of these sins the
inhabitants of Canaan had long been guilty . On what occasion ^ therefore , could the divine right of punishment be more properly exercised than the present T € < But why are innocent children punished for crimes which they have never committed ?"«—Answ . 1 . The severity of the punishment of the parents is hence increased ; 2 . The case is sufficiently analogous to other facts in the course of nature , viz . the vices of parents proving injurious , and even-fatal , to
their offspring . Still , it may be asked , why were men employed , and not aa earthquake , &c . to effect this destruction . *— -kttsw . 1 . No other method would have marked out so clearly the abhorrence eii * tejrtained by God of the crimes of the Canaanites ; 2 . Tp ^ make Jnen the executioners of a sentence upon other men for sint
9 omniitted against the divine government , must , by bringing them to be-witnesses of the evils those crimes produced , inspire tHeir minds with a greater horror of them than any other . method thdt could he adopted ; 3 . The propriety of employing the Israelites to execute this sentence upon the inhabitants or Caoaan will appear if we consider the strong tendency that people aU ways ha 4 to idolatry , and al ) the vices connected with it . r discourse concludes with the two follQwing observation ^ :
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Kenrkkts Sermons * 265
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v # l , X . ' . ' " ; - . Mm ¦• • :- ¦ ¦ ' ' . ¦ ¦
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1806, page 265, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1724/page/41/
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