his garments, and at length seized upon his body. (Levit. xiii. & xiv.) This view of it was entertained by our nation equally with that which regarded the "Waters of Jealousy ;" and the utility of such a belief must be manifest to every one, especially when it is added, that the Leprosy is contagious, and that all men naturally abhor and detest it, and flee from it. (114)— But, why was the purification of the Leper to be effected by cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop, and two sparrows? (Levit. xiv. 4.)-A reason has, indeed, been assigned for it, but one which does not agree with our institutions; nor have I, to this day, met with any one that I could regard as the true one. (115) In a similar manner I have never met with any reason to which I could assent, for the cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet used in the burning of the red heifer; (Numb. xix. 6;) nor for the bunch of hyssop with which the blood of the passover was to be sprinkled. (Exod. xii. 22.)

The reason why the Red Heifer was called Chattah, or sin-offering, (Numb. xix. 17,) was because it perfected the purification of the person who had been defiled by touching a dead body, so that he might enter into the Sanctuary, and eat of the holy things; for no one, who had been defiled, would have dared to enter into the Sanctuary again, if the Red Heifer had not borne this sin, like the golden Plate of the HighPriest's mitre, which rendered the polluted "accepted before the LORD," (Exod. xxviii.

36, 37, 38,) and the He-goats which were burnt. (116) On this account, therefore, the garments of him who was employed about the Red Heifer were defiled, as he who touched the ScapeGoat was deemed unclean because of the multitude of sins which it bore.-We have thus stated the causes and reasons also of this class of precepts.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Of the Causes and Reasons of the Precepts of the thirteenth Class. THE Precepts comprehended in the thirteenth

class are those which we have enumerated in the Talmudical tracts, "Of forbidden meats;""Of the rites of slaughtering ;"--"Of vows;” and "Of the Nazariteship ;"—and although we have in other works largely and explicitly spoken of the utility of these precepts in general, (117) yet a more particular explanation of some of them may be added.

We commence, therefore, by remarking, that all those kinds of food which are forbidden in our law, are unwholesome; nor are there any amongst them, excepting pork and fat, concerning which a doubt can be entertained whether they be injurious to health or not.

Nor does any ground exist for hesitancy even with regard to these. For the flesh of swine is of too humid a nature to be wholesome; though the principal reason why the law forbade the eating of swine, (Levit. xi, 7,) was, because of their extreme filthiness and their feeding on so many foul and impure things. For it is well known how solicitously the law forbade all filthiness and dirt, even in the fields and in the camp, to say nothing of the

REASONS OF THE LAWS OF MOSES.

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cities. Now had swine been permitted to be eaten, the streets and houses would have become public nuisances, as we find them to be in those countries where they are nourished and eaten. It is a common saying with our Rabbins, that, "the mouth of a swine is like the most detestable filth."

The Fat of the Intestines (Levit. iii, 17; vii, 24) clogs the stomach too much, hinders digestion, and generates thick and cold blood, whence it is much fitter to be burnt than eaten. (118)

Blood, and that which dieth of itself, are innutritive and difficult of digestion. (Levit. vii, 26; xvii, 15.)

That which was torn with beasts, (Levit. xvii, 15; xxii, 8,) was nothing else but what was beginning to die, (or become a dead carcase,) and inclined to putrefaction.

The distinctions of ruminating or chewing the cud and dividing the hoof, among beasts; and of fins and scales among fishes, (Levit. xi,) were not the reasons why they were permitted to be eaten ; nor the want of them, the causes why they were forbidden; but merely marks whereby the more noble and excellent species might be distinguished, from those that were inferior or unwholesome.

The reason why the sinew of the thigh was forbidden, is assigned in Scripture. (Genesis xxxii, 32.)

The limb of a living animal, that is, cut off whilst the animal was living, was forbidden,

(Gen. ix, 4,) because it was a proof of a cruel disposition, and because some of the Gentile kings, at that period, acting from idolatrous motives, were accustomed to take an animal, cut off one of its limbs, and afterwards eat it. (119)

Flesh eaten with milk or in milk, (Exodus xxiii, 19,) appears to me to have been prohibited, not merely because it afforded only gross nourishment, but also because it savoured of idolatry, some of the idolaters probably doing so in their worship or at their festivals: and I am the more inclined to this opinion from observing that the law, in noticing this practice, does it twice, immediately after having spoken of the three solemn annual feasts; (Exod. xxiii, 17, 19; xxxiv, 23, 26 ;) "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the LORD God.-Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk :"-as if it had been said, When ye appear before me in your feasts, ye shall not cook your food after the manner of the idolaters who are accustomed to this practice. This reason appears to me of great weight, although, I have not yet found it in the Zabian books. (120)

The precept concerning the slaughtering of animals was necessary, because the natural nourishment of men consists of the fruits of the earth, and of the flesh of animals; and that the kinds of flesh allowed us were the best that could be eaten, no physician will question. Since, therefore, it was necessary, that animals should