are to consider themselves accountable | tions, to extinguish the fires they have not only for the injury they do, but also for that which they occasion through inadvertency. Here it is not necessary to suppose that he who kindled the fire designed the mischief that ensued. As it is a common custom in the East to set the dry herbage on fire before the descent of the autumnal rains, the fire may have been kindled on a man's own ground and by his own hand, and from want of proper attention it may have spread, and been productive of the widest ravages over the neighboring possessions. An adequate restitution is all the penalty enjoined in such a case of accidental conflagration; whereas for wilfully and maliciously kindling a destructive fire a much severer punishment was undoubtedly to be inflicted. The danger to property and loss of life arising from this source is strikingly depicted in the following note on this passage in the Pictorial Bible. "This (law) doubtless alludes to the common practice in the East of setting fire to the dry herbage, before the commencement of the autumnal rains, under the very correct impression that this operation is favorable to the next crop. The herbage is so perfectly dry by the long summer droughts, that the fire when kindled often spreads to a great extent and cannot be checked while it finds any aliment. The operation is attended with great danger, and requires to be performed with a careful reference to the direction in which the wind blows, and to local circumstances, that nothing valuable may be consumed in the course given to the destructive element. Such a fire kindled accidentally or wilfully is sometimes attended with most calamitous consequences, destroying trees, shrubs, and standing crops, and placing in considerable danger persons who happen to be abroad on a journey or other wise. Such accidents sometimes happen through the carelessness of travellers in neglecting, when they leave their sta. used during the night. The dry herbage towards the end of summer is so very combustible, that a slight cause is suffi cient to set it in a blaze. Dr. Chandler relates an anecdote, which sufficiently shows the necessity and propriety of the law which the text brings to our notice. When he was taking a plan of Troas, one day after dinner, a Turk came near and emptied the ashes out of his pipe. A spark fell unobserved upon the grass, and a brisk wind soon kindled a blaze, which withered in an instant the leaves of the trees and bushes in its way, seized the branches and roots, and devoured all before it with prodigious crackling and noise. Chandler and his party were much alarmed, as a general conflagration of the country seemed likely to ensue: but after an hour's exertion they were enabled to extinguish the flames. The writer of this note can himself recollect, that when one chilly night he assisted in kindling a fire, for warmth, on the western bank of the Tigris, so much alarm was exhibited by the Arabs lest the flames should catch the tamarisks and other shrubs and bushes which skirt the river, that the party were induced to forego the enjoyment which the fire afforded. The writer has often witnessed these fires, and the appearance which they present, particularly at night, was always very striking. The height of the flame depends upon the thickness and strength of its aliment; and its immediate activity, upon the force of the wind. When there is little or no wind the fire has no other food than the common herbage of the desert or steppe; the flame seldom exceeds three feet in height, and advances slowly and steadily like a vast tide of fire backed by the smoke of the smouldering embers, and casting a strong light for a considerable height into the air, sometimes also throwing up a taller mass of flame where it meets with clumps of bushes or shrubs which 7¶ If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; gif the thief be found, let him pay double. 8 If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods. 9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another challengeth to be his: the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall g ver. 4. h ch. 21. 6. & ver. 28. i Deut. 25. 1. 2 Chron. 19. 10. condemn he shall pay double unto his neighbour. 10 If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: 11 Then shall an koath of the LORD be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. 12 And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. 13 If it be torn in pieces; then let him bring it for witness, and he k Hebr. 6. 16. 1 Gen. 31. 39. double. But if the thief were not found, there was at least a suspicion that he who had them in keeping had secreted or abstracted them, and a judicial inquiry was thereupon to be instituted. The depositary was to be summoned before the magistrates and his oath that he knew nothing of them was to be con afford more substantial aliment. This taller mass lingers behind to complete its work after the general body of flame has continued its destructive and conquering march. A high wind throws the flames forward with great fury, while, if the ground happens to be thickly set with clumps of bushes, the tall columns of flame which start up in the advanc-sidered as a full acquittance. The law ing fiery tide, give increased intensity to the grand and appalling effect of one of the most remarkable scenes which it falls to the lot of a traveller to witness. In the steppes of southern Russia the writer has passed over tracts of ground, the surface of which had, for fifty miles or more, been swept and blackened by the flames.' Pict. Bible. Law respecting Deposits. 7. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep. Heb. keseph o kelim, silver or vessels; i. e. furniture, utensils. Perhaps the general word articles comes the nearest to the original. When valuable articles were left for safe keeping in the hands of any one, and while thus entrusted were in some way missing, if the thief were found he was to restore im lo) he hath indeed does not expressly mention the 9-13. For ox, for ass, for sheep. was torn. shall not make good that which | die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. 15 But if the owner thereof be the appeal was made, not only as to a Witness of truth, but as to an Avenger of falsehood and wrong. Even in the case of one who had so far broken through the bonds of moral restraint, as to offer injury to his neighbor, it might still be presumed that there was so much regard to conscience as to prevent him from profaning 'an oath of the Lord,' and calling the God of truth to be a witness to a lie. Law respecting Things borrowed. 14 ¶ And if a man borrow aught of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or The rule in the preceding verse has respect to articles of money, plate, or furniture; but in the present to live stock intrusted to the care of another to keep ;' i. e. not gratuitously, as in the case above, v.7, but for hire or upon certain considerations, as Jacob had Laban's flock to keep, Gen. 30. 31-36. That this is the true sense may be inferred from the nature of the case. The keeping of money, jewels, &c. required no care or labor, but simply a safe place of deposit, and therefore might be gratuitous; but not so with cattle or sheep, which must of course be fed and pastured, and would thus incur expense. If the deposit consisted of any of the animals here mentioned, and it met with any injury, or was driven away from the pasture, the depositary, if no man had seen it, was obliged to swear he had not retained it, nor applied it to his own use; and his oath to this effect the owner was bound to accept instead of payment. But if, on the other hand, it had been stolen out of the house of the depositary, he was obliged to pay for it; inasmuch as a theft in such circumstances would imply the most criminal remissness in him in whose house it had occurred, and it was just that he should suffer the loss of it. If, again, the beast was torn to pieces, the depositary was only bound to bring proof of the fact, and doing so he was under no obligatis for good will, the preceding rule aption to make it good. What proof was requisite Moses does not say. The most natural proof would of course be the testimony of an eye-witness, or a remnant of the bloody skin, or carcase; Jerus. Targ. 'Let him bring of the members of it for a witness that it is killed.' But on this point nothing is specified in the text. An oath of the Lord. So called because to Him 14, 15. If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, &c. In the case of a borrowed beast of burden, as an ox, an ass, or a horse, receiving any hurt, or com. ing by his death, the borrower was to make it good, provided the owner were not present; for it might be fairly presumed that he had injured or destroyed it by excessive labor or other cruelty. But if the owner himself were present, he would of course be presumed to have done his best to preserve it, and would at any rate be a witness to the fact, and to its not being owing to the negligence or any other fault of the borrower; consequently as the latter was not required in equity to make it good, so neither in law. As to the final clause, 'If it be an hired thing, it came for his hire,' it seems to indicate a distinction between things lent for hire, and those lent gra plying only to the latter; whereas in the former, whether the owner were present or not, the borrower was not required to make restitution, unless indeed the owner could prove that the loss was occasioned by his culpable maltreatment or neglect. When this was not the case, but the thing were borrowed on the condition of the borrower's paying so much for the use of with it, he shall not make it good: if it be a hired thing, it came for his hire. 16 And m if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. m Deut. 22. 28, 29. it, then the loss was not to be made good; it came for his hire;' i. e. the loss was to be considered as balanced by the profit of the hire. The compensation agreed upon was to be regarded as an offset to the hazard run by the owner in letting out his property; and with such a risk in view he would natu- | rally fix his price accordingly. The more these statutes are examined, the more clearly does their reasonable, equitable, mild, and humane spirit ap 'pear. Law respecting Seduction. 17 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the n dowry of virgins. 18 witch to live. Thou shalt not suffer a n Gen. 34. 12. Deut. 22. 29. 1 Sam. 18. 25. o Lev. 19. 26, 31. & 20. 27. Deut. 18. 10, 11. 1 Sam. 28. 3, 9. maid in humble circumstances could not reasonably look for so ample a dowry as one of a wealthy or distinguished family. It has indeed been supposed that this was a stated mulct of fifty shekels, but the passage from which this conclusion is drawn (Deut. 22. 28, 29.) refers to a rape, and not to simple seduction. It might appear perhaps at first view that the law by merely appointing to the seducer marriage with the partner of his crime, and exempting her from punishment altogether, was too mild and lenient for such an offence. But it is to be considered that the woman suffered the corporeal and visible consequences, and the public disgrace of illicit intercourse; and as to the man, although he did indeed satisfy the civil law by marrying and endowing the victim of his lust, yet in the sight of God he was not cleared from the guilt of his sin by this mode of making amends, but needed the cleansing of deep repentance before he could obtain absolution from his Judge. Law respecting Witchcraft. 16. If a man entice a maid, &c. Heb. yephatteh, enticingly persuade. It is assumed that no force was used, but merely persuasions and blandishments; and that the young woman was not betrothed to another. This differences the present from the case supposed Deut. 22. 28, where it is to be understood, both that the maid was betrothed, and that some degree of violence was used. See Note in loc. The penalty prescribed for the seducer in the present case, was that he should 'endow her to be his wife,' i. e. marry her and provide for her suitably according to his station. If, however, the father did not choose to let him have her, still the seducer was obliged to pay a certain sum of money as a compensation for the injury. The amount pre-ever, determines nothing as to the realscribed is no more definitely fixed than ity of the preternatural power to which by the terms, 'he shall pay money ac- such persons laid claim. The Scripcording to the dowry of virgins.' That tures are wont, in multitudes of inis, according to their rank and condition stances, to speak of things not accordin life; having respect to their parent-ing to their absolute verity, but accordage, connexions, and prospects; as a ing to general impression and belief. 18. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. That is, a reputed or professed witch; a woman who practised such magical arts, incantations, and sorceries, as gave her the reputation of being a witch. The use of the term, how This is sufficient to justify the law as here and elsewhere enounced, under the circumstances in which it was given, but as the subject is somewhat curious and interesting, we shall devote a little more time to the consideration of the import of the term here and elsewhere employed to designate the class of persons against whom this law is so em. phatically directed. From the annexed passage, occurring Deut. 18. 9-14, it is perhaps to be inferred that the practice thus severely denounced was not one which had hitherto been common among the chosen people, but was one which they were in danger of learning from the heathen inhabitants of Canaan; When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the 6 The remark of some commentators, | that 'if there had been no witches such a law as this had never been made' 'that the existence of the law, given under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the thing'-is founded upon a very inadequate view of the general structure of revelation. The sacred writers speak of false gods, for instance, as if they were real existences, but we see at once how gross would be the error of such an interpretation. So likewise in regard to witchcraft, and all those arts and incantations which are based upon a supposed commerce with evil spirits. We do not consider the assumption of the reality of such intercourse as at all necessary to the true explication of the passages in which it seems to be implied, nor to the enactment of such laws as that un-abominations of those nations. There der consideration. Pretended arts of this nature were common among all the idolatrous nations of antiquity, and from their intimate connexion with idolatrous rites and systems, were obviously fraught with the most pernicious effects when introduced among the chosen people, who were at best but too much addicted to superstitious practices. However false and futile in themselves, they did, in fact, involve a deep offence against the very first principles of the Mosaic dispensation, and this accounts for the severity with which they were treated by its laws. They were not only built upon systems of theology that were at war with the doctrines and worship of the Theocracy, but by imposing upon the credulity and exciting the terrors of the vulgar, they gave to individuals a very dangerous power, in a society so singularly constituted as that of the Hebrews. The practising of these arts was forbidden therefore under the severest penalties, as the mischief actually wrought was about equal, whether the supernatural power professed were a reality or a mere imposture. shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord your God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners; but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.' In the passage which we are now considering the original term is mekashshephah, the fem. of a mekashsheph, usually rendered magician or sorcerer. As to the primitive and most elementary sense of the root kashaph, it is a point which philology has not yet clearly determined. chaelis refers to what he considers the cognate Arabic root kasapha, signifying to cut, whence in the time of a solar or lunar eclipse they are wont to say, 'God Mi |