This rule of interpretation is clearly applicable to
the law against murder. And when God says, ''At the
hand of every man's brother will I require the life of
man," the meaning is specific. If you should then
ask. How will this life be required, there instantly fol-
lows the great enactment, familiar for so many gener-
ations, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed.
The argument from Scripture, says Cheever, is plain
and powerful, because it is easy to distinguish be-
tween what is local and transitory, on the one hand,
and what is universal and permanent on the other.
GOD GAVE THE PRDIE LAW.
The rcL ^er should remember several vital and funda-
mental facts, says the great commentator: First, the
prime law was not that of Moses, but of God. Next, it
should be borne in mind that not one law was abro-
gated by the Saviour. Then one should remember that
these old laws contain the doctrine of love, the lav^
of courtesy, of kindness, of benevolence, and of pro-
tection to strangers and the por *, also, above all7 love
of neighbor.
In other codes and concerning other subjects, also.
A DEFENSE OP CAPITAL-PUNISHMENT 109

the law of Moses, contrary to some interpretations,
was mild and full of gentleness and equity, as the great
Oraves shows in his lectures on the Pentateuch. In
truth these laws foreshadow the Sermon on the Mount.
Next, the code can not be regarded otherwise than as
a collection of the tenets of a superhuman wisdom.
