PART I.

PROPHETIC SERIES.

ETHICS OF THE LAW,

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I.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

1. I AM THE ETERNAL, thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.

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Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain : for the LORD will not let him go unpunished that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates; for the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

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Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

(Exodus, Chap. XX, 1-17)

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II.

LAWS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

AND THE LORD spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I, the LORD thy God, am holy.

Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my Sabbath: I am the LORD your God.

Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molton gods: I am the LORD your God.

And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD ye shall offer it at your own will.

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

7. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of God: I am the LORD.

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Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

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Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. Thou shalt not go about as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am the LORD.

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: but thou shalt reprove thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after zards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

17. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face an old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

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And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.

But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 19. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in dealing, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just epah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

(Leviticus Chapt. XIX.)

III.

LAWS OF EQUITY.

1. IF THOU lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer, neither shalt thou

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lay upon him usury.

Thou shalt not raise a false report; put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

3. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou speak in a cause to incline after many to wrest judgment. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man is his cause on account of his poverty.

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If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his beast going astray, thou shalt bring it back to him again.

6. If thou see the beast of him that hateth thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

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Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. 8. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

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And thou shalt take no gift; for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry unto me, I will surely hear their cry.

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And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest that thy cattle may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger may be refreshed.

Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.

Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in the land within thy gates: at his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it; lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be a sin unto thee.

The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge: but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondsman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

(Deut. Chapt. XXII.)

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IV.

LAWS OF CHARITY.

IF THERE be among you a poor man, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

Thou shalt surely give him, and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto.

For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy other, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

4. When thou cuttest down thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. ·

5. When thou beatest thy olive tree, thou shalt not go over the bought again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

7. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.

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And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thy own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

9. In like manner shalt thou do with all lost things of thy brother's, which thou hast found, thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother's beast or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

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If a bird's nest chance to before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the bird-mother sitting upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the young: but thou shalt in any wise let the mother go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

(Deut. Ch. XV, 7 and Ch. XXII.)

V.

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THE LAW OF GOD.

HEAR, O ISRAEL.: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up.

(Deut. Ch. VI, 1–7.)