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the reft, as a neceffary and effential part of the Law. So that never any Government had fo particular regard for Strangers, or was fo peculiarly contrived for their encouragement to live under it. Other Governments, as those of Sparta and China, have been fo jealous of Foreigners, that, by their Original Conftitution, they have forbid any Dealings with them, and would not fuffer them to abide in their Cities. And the Romans P had fome Laws to the fame effect; which Tully indeed fays was an inhuman thing, andit was the cause of the Bellum Sociale, or the War raised against the Romans by the feveral States of Italy. The Freedom and Privilege of a Citizen of Rome was purchased at a great Price, Acts xxii. 28. Of this Dio, as well as St. Luke, informs us, fpeaking of the Times of Claudius; and in their Leagues with divers Nations, the Romans inferted this exprefs Condition, That none of them fhould be made Free of the City. And it appears from Plutarch, that the Freedom of the City of Rome, was not obtained in Cicero's time, but by great Favour, and with much Difficulty. Foreigners were fometimes expelled. And v Auguftus left it in charge to Tiberius and the Senate, Not to be too eafie in granting the Freedom of the City. w Pliny, as a Reward to his Phyfician Harpocras, by whom he had been cured of a dangerous Illness, befought Trajan to grant him the Freedom of Rome: To which the Emperor confented. But Harpocras, being an Ægyptian, it was neceffary that he fhould be firft Free of Alexandria: which was alfo granted, but with this Declaration, That the Emperor had refolved, according to the Custom of former Princes, but feldom to bestow the Freedom of

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q Dio. 1. 60.

p Tull. Offic. 1. 3. Plut. in Cat. Min. & in Cic. Dio, 1.37. v Dio. 1. 56.

Tull. pro Balbo. Sueton. in Auguft. c. 42. w Epift. lib. 10. Ep. 6, 7.

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that City. At laft, by a Conftitution of Caracalla, Freedom was granted to all within the Roman Empire. The Greeks were backward, particularly the y Athenians, in granting the Freedom of their City. Marriages with Stranges were forbidden by the Athenians; and they had a Tax call'd Mejoinov, to be paid Yearly by all Foreigners, both Men and Women; and they were fo fevere in exacting it, that those who a were unable to pay it, were fold or imprifon'd. The b Thebans, as well as the Athenians, rarely granted to Strangers the Privileges of Citizens, but fometimes expell'd all Foreigners. The Corinthians thought it a proper Compliment to make to Alexander the Great, after he had conquer'd the Eaft, to present him with the Freedom of their City; and that he might be fenfible of the high Refpect fhewn him in it, they acquainted him, that none but himself and Hercules had ever been made Free of Corinth. Plutarch relates this Compliment to have been made Alexander by the People of Megara. The Albani made none Free of their City, but the Greeks and Latins: And it feems to have been the general Custom and Practice of Cities, to be very cautious and fparing in admitting Strangers to Incorporate with them. But the Jewish Government, on the contrary, was fo adapted and contrived for the reception of foreign Nations, that if they would but comply with their Laws, they made little or no diftinction between the Natives and Strangers; and the owning the True God, and profeffing to obey and serve him, entitled them not only to all the Rights of Humanity and Kindness, but to a more peculiar Care and Providence of God himself.

* H. Valef. Not. in Excerpt. ex Dion. Ez. Spanh. Orb. Rom. Exerc. 2. c. 4. Demofth. adv. Aristocr. t Adv. Neær.

a Adv. Ariftogit. Diog. Laert. in Xenocr. cum Obf. Menag. < Sen. de Benef. 1. 1. c. 13.

b Dion. Halic. 1. 2.

d Dion. Halic. 1. 3.

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If the Jews did not always fhew fo much Humanity to Strangers as their Law required, this is to be afcribed wholly to their own fault; and 'tis not the only Law which they were too prone to difobey. Marmonides and fome other Rabbins have affirmed, that Profelytes of the Gates were permitted to live in the Land at no other time but in the Year of Jubilee and that Profelytes of Righteoufnefs only were to be received, as perpetual Inhabitants. But this is. contrary to the Tenour of the Law, and particularly to Deut. xiv. 21. where Profelytes, or the Strangers dwel ling within the Gates, are fuppofed to be conftant Inhabitants, and diftinguifh'd both from Profelytes who had obliged themfelves to the Obfervation of the Ceremonial Law, and from Aliens. Indeed, when the Jews became fubject to the Romans, and by that means, had no Power to constrain the Profelytes of the Gates to obferve what they had fundertaken, it was determined, that they fhould hold no Converfation with them; yet, in the corrupteft ftate of the Jewish Church, the Gentiles had a Court to worship in at the Temple: And the Jews always taught, That it was their Duty to relieve the Heathen with their Alms 8, and that it was lawful to converse with the Gentiles, if they did not eat with them, nor go into their Houses. And this was the Charge brought againft St. Peter, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcifed, and didft eat with them, A&s xi. 3. But what Effect this abundant Provifion of the Law, for the Converfion of other Nations, had, falls under the next Head. It is more proper to confider, in this place, an Objection which comes in our way; That the Ifraelites were to make no Marriages nor Covenants with the

e Maim. de Idolol. c. 10. $7.

f Vid. Hammond. ad Matth. xxii. 15. & Selden. de Jure Nat. & Gent. 1. 2. c. 5. 8 Dr. Lightfoot on Acts x. 28. and Hebrew and Talmud Exercitat. on Matth. vi. 2.

Seven Nations of the Land of Canaan, nor to fhew them any Mercy, but utterly to deftroy them, or drive them out, Exod. xxiii. 31. Dent. vii. 2.

To which I Anfwer, That this was a peculiar and excepted Cafe, and therefore fuppofes that they were not thus to deal with any others, except the Nations there exprefly named, but they might enter into Marriages and Covenants with all other Nations: And befides what has been already obferved, of the great Mercy which God vouchfafed to these Nations, in fending the Patriarchs to fojourn amongst them; and that wonderful Judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, to bring them to Repentance, and prevent that Deftruction which was at last brought upon them: after fo long and great Provocations, thefe Nations were not unavoidably to be extirpated; but the Ifraelites were, in the firft place, to proffer Peace to them; and if they refused to accept of Peace, then they were to proceed against them in the utmoft extremity; which appears from Deut. xx. 10, &c. For after a general Command to offer Terms of Peace to the Cities which they fhould go to fight againft; and if they refused it, to fmite every male thereof with the edge of the fword, ver. 13. it is added, ver. 15. Thus fhalt thou do to all the cities that are very far from thee, which are not of the cities of thefe nations. But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt fave alive nothing that breatheth; but thou shalt utterly deftroy them, &c. where it is evident, that what concerns their making Propofals of Peace, was to be understood in general of all Nations with whom they fhould at any time have War. But then in their dealings with them upon a Victory, after their refufal of the Peace offered, they were to diftinguish between the Canaanites and other Nations: for the h Canaanites

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h Quod fi pacem abnuerent in Bellis quidem voluntariis, qua Ifraelita fufcipiebant adverfus reliquas Nationes, omnes gladio perime

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were to be utterly deftroyed, if they fhould reject Terms of Peace; but all, except the Males, wère to be fpared of other Nations, though they were overcome, after they had refused to make Peace with them: And the Terms of Peace to be propofed, were, That they fhould become Tributaries, and Profelytes, fo far as to own and worship the True God, and then the rea fon for their extirpation ceafed; which was, That thefe Idolatrous Nations might not teach the Children of Ifrael to do after all their abominations, which they had done unto their gods, Deut. xx. 18,

When the Men of Ifrael tell the Gibeonites, Peradventure ye dwell among us, and how fhall we make a league with you? Joh. ix. 7. this is to be underftood of a League with them upon equal Terms, not of a Peace, whereby they might become Tributaries, Deut. xx. II, and therefore the Gibeonites immediately answer'd and faid to fhua, We are thy fervants, Jofh. ix. 8. that is, Do with us as you please, at leaft grant us our Lives, though not upon any other Terms of a League, yet on Conditions of Servitude: and we find the Peace and the League diftinguished, Job. ix. 15. But this fraudulent way of getting into a League with the Ifraelites, if it had not been for the Oath, which fecu red their Lives to them, had forfeited that Right which otherwise they might have had to their Lives, by a Peace fairly obtained; and they loft all other Advantages of the League, but only the fecuring their Lives. In the Jerufalem Gamara it is written, that Joshua made Three Propofals to the Canaanites, viz, That they might either leave the Country, or be admitted into a League upon Conditions of Peace, or prepare themselves for Battel; and that the Girgafbites being terrify'd by the mighty Works, which God had

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bantur exceptis mulieribus & parvulis: at in iis, qua gerebantur cum feptem Nationibus, etiam hi occidebantur, Menaff. Ben. Ifr. Con ciliat. in Deut. Qu. 8.

Selden. de Jure Natur. & Gen. 1. 6. c. 13.

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