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way.' Psal. xviii. 37–43. ‘I have pursued mine enemies then did I beat them small as the dust.' xli. 10, 11. 'raise me up that I may requite them.' liv. 5. he shall reward evil unto mine enemies.' xcii. 11. mine eyes also shall see my desire upon mine enemies.' xciv. 2. 'render a reward to the proud.' cxxxvii. 8. O daughter of Babylon,' &c. Jer. xi. 20. let me see thy vengeance on them.' See also xx. 12. xv. 15. 'revenge me of my persecutors.' 1. 15. 'take vengeance upon her.' Lam. i. 21, 22. let all their wickedness come before thee.' iii. 64, &c.render unto them a recompense.' Esth. ix. 13. 'then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted unto the Jews... to do to-morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows.' Rev. vi. 10. how long, O Lord-?'

The honour of our neighbour is consulted by a respect to his personal modesty. Lev. xix. 29. 'do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore.' Deut. xxiii. 17. there shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.'

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Opposed to this are unnatural vices, fornication, violation, adultery, incest, rape, whoredom, and similar offences. Gen. xix. 5. Gen. xix. 5. bring them out unto us, that we may know them.' See also Judges xix. 22. Deut. xxiii. 17, as above. 1 Kings xv. 12. he took away the sodomites out of the land.' xxii. 46. the remnant of the sodomites,' &c. Gen. xxxiv. 2. he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.' Exod. xx. 14. thou shalt not commit adultery.' Lev. xviii. 20. thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's

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wife, to defile thyself with her.' Job xxxi. 9, 10, &c. 'if mine heart hath been deceived by a woman,' &c. Jer. v. 7, 8. 'they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.' Ezek. xviii. 6. neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife.' xxii. 11. 'one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife.' Hos. vii. 4. they are all adulterers.' Amos ii. 7. a man and his father will go in unto the same maid-.' Heb. xiii. 4. whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.' Hence the laws against fornication, Exod. xxii. 16, 17, &c. 'if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her,' &c. against incest, Lev. xviii. 6. xx. 11, &c. 'the man that lieth with his father's wife,' &c. Deut. xxii. 21, 23, 28. 'then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her... because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: if a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband ... if a man find a damsel that is a virgin—.' xxiii. 2. a bastard shall not enter into the congregation of Jehovah.' xxvii. 20, &c. 'cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife.' Hence also provision was expressly made for cases of jealously, Num. v. 12, &c. Prov. vi. 34. 'jealousy is the rage of a man.' Cant. viii. 6. jealousy is cruel as the grave.' Even before the promulgation of the law, adultery was made capital by divine command: Gen. xx. 3. thou art but a dead man, for the woman whom thou hast taken.' xxxviii. 24. bring her forth, and let her be burnt.' Some marriages, however, were prohibited by the Mosaic code, which appear to have been previously lawful. Gen. xx. 12. yet indeed she is my sister;

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she is the daughter of my father;' compared with Deut. xxvii. 22. cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father;' and Ezek. xxii. 11. 'another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.' Exod. vi. 20. Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife.' Lev. xviii. 12. thou ⚫ shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister.' Respecting a menstruous woman, see Lev. xx. 18. 'if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness,' &c. Exek. xviii. 6. neither hath come near to a menstruous woman.' xxii. 10. 'in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.'

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CHAPTER XIII.

OF THE SECOND CLASS OF SPECIAL DUTIES TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOUR.

THE external good of our neighbour is consulted, as before said, by a regard to his good name and worldly interests.

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Gen.

We consult our neighbour's good name, when in our deportment towards him, in our conversation with him, and in our manner of speaking of him, we preserve towards him a due respect, and avoid doing any thing which may causelessly injure him in the opinion 1 Pet. ii. 17. honour all men.' of others. xviii. 2. &c. he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.' xxiii. 7. 'Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land.' Exod. xviii. 7. Moses went out to meet his father-in-law." Ruth ii. 10. then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.' Nor are we any where told that obeisance was made even to kings otherwise than by a lowly inclination of the body, the same token of respect which was frequently paid to each other even by private individuals.*

* A scrupulous attention is paid throughout Paradise Lost to this duty, and inferiors are generally represented as showing their respect to person

In our deportment towards him. To this head belongs that sense of delicacy, which precludes us from saying or doing every thing indiscriminately, however proper in itself, in the presence of our neighbour. Job xix. 3. 'ye are not ashamed that

selves strange to me.'

ye make

your

Opposed to this is impudence; as exemplified in the unjust judge, Luke xviii. 2. which feared not God, neither regarded man.'

In our manner of conversing with him, &c. The virtues herein comprised are veracity and candour.

ages of superior dignity in the manner here mentioned. Thus it is said of the fallen angels worshipping Satan:

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Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

With solemn adoration down they cast

Their crowns. III. 349.

Of the angels stationed to guard Paradise, at the appearance of Raphael:

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And to his message high in honour rise,

For on some message high they guess'd him bound. V. 288.

Of Adam in presence of Raphael:

.... Though not aw'd,

Yet with submiss approach and rev'rence meek,

As to superior nature bowing low,

Thus said. Ibid. 358.

Of the Messiah when leaving the Father to go against the rebel angels :

He o'er his sceptre bowing, rose

From the right hand of glory where he sat. VI. 746.

Of Eve before the tree of knowledge:

. . From the tree her step she turn'd;

.....

But first low reverence done, as to the Pow'r

That dwelt within. IX. 834,

Thus also in his early poem of Arcades:

-The great mistress of yon princely shrine,
Whom with low reverence I adore as mine. 36.

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