Article 5. Consequences of the General Principles of Humanity

of Humanity.

Unique Proposition. — The division of property among men, and the division of men even into peoples and nations, ought not to alter the general society of mankind.

If any one of thy brethren that dwelletk within the gates of thy city, in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty: thou shall not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand, but shall open it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he hath need of Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee; and thou shalt say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a sin

(ip) DeuL xxvii. 8. ^ (.t) Jos. viii. 32. (y) Est i. 13, 19.

(*) Isa. xix. 14. * (a) Ibid. xxiv. 5. (6) Eccl L 27, 28.

Digitize

Google unto thee. But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put thy hand (c).

The law would be inhuman if, in the partition of property, it did not give to the poor some resource in the rich. It ordains in that spirit, that they should demand their debts with great moderation. Thou shalt not take the nether, nor the upper millstone to pledge: for he hath pledged his life to thee. • • • When thou shalt demand of thy neighbour any thing that he oweth thee, thou shalt not go into his house to take away a pledge: but thou shalt stand without 9 and he shall bring out to thee what he hath. But if he be poor, the pledge shall not lodge with thee that night. but thou shalt restore it to him presently before the going down of the sun: that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee 9 and thou tnayest have justice before the Lord thy God (d).

The law studies in every thing to preserve among citizens, this spirit of mutual assistance. Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother ’s ox or his sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not, thou shalt bring them to thy house, and they shalt be with thee until thy brother seek them, and receive them. Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother’s, which is lost: if thou find it, neglect it not as appertaining to another (e), That is to say, take care of it as if it were your own, to restore it carefully to him who lost it.

By these laws there is no division which hinders us from taking care of that which belongs to another, as if it were our own, aud that we should not give a part to another of what we possess, as if it really belonged to us.

It is thus that the law places, as it were in common, the property that has been divided for the public and private convenience. It leaves, even in the lands so justly divided, some mark of the ancient community, but reduced *to certain limits for the sake of public order. Going into thy neighbour’s vineyard, thou mayest eat as many grapes as thou pleasest: but must carry none out with thee. If thou go into thy friends com, thou mayest break the ears, and rub them in thy hand: but not reap them with a sickle ( f ). It ordains the same things of olives, and of grapes, in the vintage. If thou have gathered the fruit of thy olive trees, thou shalt not return to gather whatsoever re - maineth on the trees: but shalt leave it for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow (g ).

(c) Deut. xv. 7 to 10, ( d ) Ibid. xxiv. 6, 10 to 13. (g) Deut, xxiL 1 to 3.

(/) Ibid. xxii. 24, 25. (g) Deut. xxiv. 20.

Google

Moses, by this means, recalls to the memory of the possessors, that they should always regard the earth as the common mother, and the nurse of all men; and wills not, that the division that has been made of it, should make them forget the primitive right of nature.

He comprises strangers in this right. When thou hast reaped the corn in thy field, and hast forgot and left a sheaf thou shalt not return to take it away: hut thou shalt suffer the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, to take it away, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands (A).

He recommends particularly, in judgments, the foreigner and the fatherless, honouring in all the society of mankiud. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the fatherless* •.. Remember that thou also wast a bondsman in Egypt (i).

So far is he from desiring that we should fail in humanity to strangers, that he even extends, in some measure, this humanity to animals. When you find a bird sitting, the legislator forbids you to take both the mother and its young: Thou shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught (j). As if he had said, she loses enough in losing them, without also losing her liberty.

In the same spirit of mildness, the law forbids to boil a kid in the milk of its dam (A) and to muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy com on the floor (f).

Doth God take care for oxen (m)? as says St. Paul: hath he made the law for them and for goats, and for beasts; and is it not evident that he would inspire men with mildness and humanity in all things; to the end, that being kind to animals, they should feel the better what they owe to their like?

We must not then imagine that the limits which separate the lands of individuals, and states, are made to cause division in mankind; but only that they should not attempt any thing against each other, and that each one should respect the peace of the other. It is for this end, that it is said: Thou shalt not take nor remove thy neighbour's landmark, which thy predecessors have set in thy possession, which the Lord thy God will give thee in the land (n). And again: Cursed be he that removeth his neighbours landmarks (o).

Still more must we respect the limits which separate States, than those which separate individuals; and we ought to preserve the society which God has established among all men.

There are only certain cursed and abominable people, from whom all society is interdicted on account of that frightful

(h) Deut xxiv. 19. (i) Ibid. xxiv. 17, 22. (j) Ibid. xxii. 6, 7.

(A) Ibid. xiv. 21. (/) Ibid. xxv. 4. ( m ) 1 Cor. ix. 9.

(») Deut xix. 14. (o) Ibid, xxvii. 17.

corruption they would not fail to spread amongst their allies. Thou shalt make no league with them, neither shall thou make marriages with them. Thou shall not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son: for she will turn away thy son from following me, that he may rather serve strange Gods (p).

Except in such cases, God forbids the aversions which nations entertain for each other; and on the contrary, he makes them value all the bonds of society which exist between them. Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, because he is thy brother; nor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land (q).

Thus have been preserved, among all peoples, certain com* mon principles of society and concord. Nations, the most remote from each other, are united by commerce, and agree to preserve faith and treaties. There are amongst all civilized nations, certain persons, to whom all mankind appear to have given a security for the preservation of commerce between them. Even war does not prevent this commerce; the persons of ambassadors are regarded as sacred: whoever violates their character, is held in horror; and David took, with reason, a terrible vengeance on the Ammonites and their king, who had maltreated his ambassadors (r).

Nations that know not these laws of society are inhuman and barbarous, enemies of all justice and of mankind; to them Scripture applies this odious charge, without affection, without fidelity (s).

Behold a beautiful rule, drawn by St. Augustine, for the application of charity. “ Where reason is equal, lot should decide. The obligation of loving each other, is equal amongst all men, and for all men. But as we cannot equally serve all men, we ought to attach ourselves principally to serve those, whom place, time, and other similar circumstances, unite to us in a particular manner, as by a sort of destiny.”