released from his connexion ; or, if unfounded, be delivered from his painful apprehensions.
Thus the law in question would retard the rise of jealousy, diminish its force, and facilitate its extinction ; at the same time that it would prevent unjust divorces, and reconcile the mind to any which the circumstances of the case might require.]
2. As a preservative of public virtue —
[It is the hope of concealment that gives an edge to tempta- tion. A thief will not steal, if he know that he must infallibly be detected : nor will the adulterer lay his plans of seduction, if he know that he cannot possibly conceal his guilt. Now, the remedy being hi the hands of the injured party, and the issue of a trial certain, men would be cautious how they subjected themselves to such tremendous consequences as they had reason to expect. Females too would be upon their guard, not merely against the actual commission of sin, but against the smallest approximation towards it. The impossibility of escape would be a fence to their virtue, a barrier which no temptation could force. From their earliest days they would feel the ne- cessity of being reserved in their habits, and circumspect in their conduct ; and of abstaining, not only from evil, but from even the appearance of evil. For though they should not be found criminal to the extent that the jealousy of their husbands had led them to imagine, few would wholly exculpate them, or think that they had not given some grounds for suspicion : and the consciousness of this would make the trial itself ex- tremely formidable even to those who had nothing to fear on account of the ultimate decision.
Hence then it is manifest, that the existence of this law would give a salutary check to the passions of mankind, and operate in the most favourable manner on all classes of the community.]
Its use, as political, was important ; but it was still more so as,
II. Moral- Minute and trifling as many of the Jewish laws may appear, there was not one but was intended to inculcate some great lesson of morality. This which we are considering was of very extensive benefit. It had a direct tendency,
1. To convince the sceptical —
[The general notion of mankind is, that God does not attend to their actions : "Tush, the Lord doth not see, neither doth the Almighty regard it," is the language of every heart a
a Isai. xxix. 15. Ps. lxxiii. 11. Job xxii. 13, 14.
b2