stand, that the lesson thereby conveyed, is not confined to the
particular case named, but that we are commanded to cast off
selfishness, and to extend our kindness and charity even to enemies,
actively exerting ourselves for the assistance and benefit of others,
whenever opportunities offer themselves in our every-day life.

Again, we are enjoined, "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a
stumbling-block before the blind" (Lev, xix. 14). We are clearly to
conclude therefrom, that any net of treachery, in itself already
detestable in the eyes of God, becomes doubly so when directed against
the unconscious and the helpless; and a very wide range of treacherous
actions would, therefore, come within the meaning of this prohibition.

The paramount importance of this hermeneutical rule will be any apology
for having dilated on a point, which must be already well known to
biblical students.--The TRANSLATOR.]

CHAPTER X.

LXVI. THE first commandment, which regards the relations of man with
God, lays down that the acknowledgment of the Supreme Being is the basis
of all the revelation, and gives us to understand that such a conviction
then began historically to manifest itself on earth, taking root first
in the people of Israel, whom therefore the Deity addresses, saying, "I
am the Eternal, _thy_ God," signifying, "by _thee_ alone acknowledged
hitherto." It also establishes the immutable eternity of the absolute
Being, conveyed in the etymology of the ineffable Name; next, his
indivisible unity, indicated in the word _El_, which denotes the sum of
all the powers, and the aggregation of all the attributes, in one and
the same essence. The same text proceeds then to arouse the feelings of
gratitude, which must bind especially this people to the powerful hand
that had delivered it from ignominious servitude: and this involves the
obligation in the same people of devoting itself entirely to God, and
subordinating all its tendencies to religious feeling. The last two
words of this text allude to one of the great principles on which
revealed religion rests, the Eternal having thereby proclaimed, not only
the individual equality of all the Israelites before the law, but also
the personal liberty of all men, which principle, being regulated
according to the true idea of right, becomes the fundamental basis of
civil society.

LXVII. The worship of the only God, coupled with the absolute rejection
of every form of idolatro