and hide thyself from Them, Thou fhalt in any cafe bring them again unto thy Brother: and if thy Brother be not NIGH thee, or if thou KNOW HIM NOT, (i. e. if it is the beast of a stranger,) then Thou shalt bring it unto thine own houfe, and it fhall be with thee, until thy Brother feek after it; and thou shalt * reftore it to him again. (Deut. xxii. 1, 2). The scope of this precept doth not confift merely in the rule of Justice to restore the loft Beast to thy Brother or Neighbour, but in the rule of Mercy and Compaffion to the Beaft itself: elfe it. might have been enough to drive

* The Owner paying the charges of keeping it, from the time it was brought to the house, till it's being restored. Patrick.

it

it to a Pound, or to tye it to a Gate, till the Owner fhould come to enquire after it. But the Law faith;-Thou shalt bring it unto thine own Houfe, and it shall be with Thee. As the Finder, thou art the temporary Poffeffor of it in Truft for the right Owner; and thou shalt take as much care of the loft Beaft, as if it were thine own, till the Owner recovers it again.

And as the Law has thus provided for the Beast that is going aftray; fo no lefs indulgent is it to the Beast, that hath met with an accident. For in the fourth verfe of this chapter, we have another Commandment of Mercy respecting the Cattle that are not

our

our own property;—Thou shalt not fee thy brother's ASS or his Ox FALL DOWN by the way, and bide thyfelf from Them; Thou shalt Surely help him to lift them up again. This Law feems exprefly enjoined for the fake of the Beast: for it can hardly be supposed that, if you were to fee thy Brother, or thy Neighbor, in any kind of difficulty or distress, you would forbear to help HIM.

Brotherhood and Neighborhood have this demand upon thee without a Law. It is not faid therefore, Thou shalt not hide thyself from HIM; but, thou shalt not hide thyfelf from THEM, that is, from the Ass or the Ox that are fallen down. Thou shalt not HIDE thyfelf, or draw back, as if afhamed or unwilling

willing to do an act of charity to diftreffed because brutal innocence; but thou shalt SURELY, or at the peril of a breach of a divine commandment, help him to lift Them up again, and afford all

the fuccour to them that thou art able to give.

But what if the Brute that is going aftray, or fallen down, is noť my Brother's, nor my Neighbor's? What if I know it to belong to a man, who hath done me repeated injuries; an open ENEMY; a man that HATETH me; who rejoiceth at my adverfity; and who, if he was to fee my beaft going aftray or fallen down, would let him go, or keep him down rather than help him? Am I to provide

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provide for, or to regard the Beast of fuch an Enemy, and of the man that hateth me? To this I might reply in the words of the meek and merciful Jesus *, *. Love thine ENEMY, and Do good to him that HATETH thee*. But as the question supposeth that thou haft not yet attained unto this high degree of chriftian Perfection, let us return back to the LAW, which is a Schoolmaster to bring us unto Chrift†, and let us enquire what that fays as to this point. But I fhall first beg leave to ask thee a question or two. Is the BEAST of thine Enemy an Enemy unto Thee? Doth the Beaft hate Thee? Did the Beaft ever willingly and defignedly do

*Luke vi. 27.

S

+ Gal. iii. 24. Thee