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titions * inhabiting * Canaan or Palestine , B 8 * y * e thought to require a greater A&f&ch of belief , as it seems difficult to * reconcile such a commission with doUr best ideas of Divine Providence sand justice . But it is to be presumed tthatthe objectox will not dispute the , « # htor iustice of the Deitv , in
au-Ithorizmg mankind to kill for their oWn support , benefit or convenience , the inferior creatures , though perfectly innocent , or to exterminate or utterly destroy wolves or other beasts of prey , for the preservation of their flocks and herds- No man hath any
scruple concerning * the lawfulness or justice of such a procedure ; or if he find a divine commission to this effect recorded in the books of Moses , will torn it into an objection to the credit afihose books . Now to a philosophic
uriftd it is not taking an enormous stride , bnt only advancing one gentle step farther , if we admit that a divine commission was once given to one nation to destroy or exterminate some other nation , at a , time when the latter , far from being as innocent as the lower animals , were become the most
noxious , wicked and detestable of the whole human species . Will it be pretended that the Deity or his angel had no right to give such a commis-Biw , or that the Hebrews were wrong in executing it , as the instruments of justice in punishing a most profligate people ? This would be a very strange
aigument in the mouths of those , at fcast ; who are so ready to accept a human commission to make war and ™ K > y , without ever examining the justice of the cause or the moral chafacter of the nation they are preparing to invade or attack ; and without betcwe
™ $ < to plead any colour or necesaty to obtain a settlement and sup-JWor themselves , their families , and ^ posterit y ; as was the case of ^ Hebrews . If heaven was just in toying Sodom and Gomorrah by * earth quake arid explosion of a volf
?™> might it not with equal justice T ^ y a people equally wicked by £ * her method of procedure ? But jjjj * * * says a late able and elegant « l'i * a Perv £ rse humanity in its «* resists tlie Divine Commission , be J * 90 clearly revealed . The best ~ » to this may consist in "' * just * Shaftsb baract ai Lbuf
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representation of the facts and circumstances related , which the author , notwithstanding his great penetration , might not clearly comprehend . Moses , as the visible deliverer , protector , legislator and governor , civil and religious , of his own , the Hebrew nation , was impelled bv everv moti
ve of duty and affection , to provide , in the most effectual manner , for the national safety , support aurad prosperity , and consequently for the preservation of the excellent laws and religion , which lie had given them . If he thought himself under indispensable obligations to obtain a country for their settlement , sufficient for the
maintenance of them and their increasing prosperity ; he would think himself under equal if not superior obligations to provide the strongest security for their morals . With these
just and elevated views he pointed out to them those nations or tribes of people whom he knew to be most cdr ^ rupt and ripe for destruction ; with express orders to destroy or exterminate them . Because lie was most
fully convinced , whether by divine instruction or otherwise , that any intercourse with such idolatrous and debauched people would be of tKe worst consequence to his owti people ; by alienating their hearts from the worship of God , seducing them
to the most detestable vices , and instructing them in the most horrid acts J of cruelty . His design was to form them into a virtuous and religious body of people , and to preserve them as such to future ages ; in the first part
of his design he succeeded 3 but failed in the latter . Hie plan was wise , just and necessary , and therefore approved by heaven : but his success in the latter part of his design depended upon the excision of the nations whom he
had proscribed . Through a perverse humanity of temper , or ratherthrough a greedy design of the profits arising from the tribute and service they could exact from them , and a fondness for the women who were in general prostitutes , ( a character scarcely known among the Hebrew woraen ^>
* The term Solomon uses continually for a haclrtt 01 prostitute , in the Book of . Proverbs , is stranger or strqnge woma . il , in contrast to ft Hebrew woman . The firetinstance of the prevalence of tbis apecies of cJpQbauchery iu the Hebrew nation
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. C . ^ u . ^ oaracr . x 2 if
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Dissertation concerning the Power and Authority by which Moses acted . 27 s
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 273, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/9/
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