£06


We  do  not  find  in  the  comm^B  issued  by  Moses  traces
of  anything  like   scientific  order   or  arrangement.     The  law
of  persons  and  that  of  things,   the  law  of  crimes  and  that
of  land  aile   intermingled  and  <b<s>me  and  go  in  confused  array
and  with  singular  repetition  through  the  quaint  sentences'
of  the  text.      The  explanation  of  that   is  said  to  be  that
it  contains  the  product   of  three   separate  periods,  far  apart
in  date,   and  not  always  agreeing  with  each  other.      To  fol-
low its  disorder  would  obstruct  clearness     of  vision  and  of
thought,   and  so,   searchlsng  for   some   guide  through  the   laby-
rinth, we  have  chosen  fo  follow  what   seems  to  be  the  natu-
ral  order   of  growth,  which  requires  that  we  begin  with  per-
sonal wrongs,   and  foremost  among  them  with  that  which  de-
stroys human  life   and  which  we   call  Homicide,      The   appro-
priate commandment   is     "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"     brief  and
imperative,  but  broad  and  unlimited.      Of  course   it  was  never
interpreted  or  enforced  in  its  wide   and  literal  meaning.
