_Murder_.--We have spoken of murders perpetrated by the Jews under the authority of a theocratic government. We will now cite some cases of a more private character: Cain, the first man born into the world, was a murderer; and, instead of being punished for it, he appears to have been honored. He went into the land Nod, and built a great city. "The man after God's own heart" (David) indirectly killed Uriah; Judith cut off the head of Holofernes while in bed with him,--a most shocking case; Jehoiada, the priest, murdered his queen at the high gate in cold blood; Jael, the wife of Heber, murdered the flying fugitive Sisera by driving a nail though his head; Ehud murdered the King of Eglon under the guise of friendship; Absalom murdered Ammon; Joab murdered Absalom; Solomon murdered his brother Adonijah; Baasha murdered Nadab; Zimri murdered Elah; Omri murdered Zimri Ahab murdered Naboth; Jehu murdered Ahab and Joram. Shallum murdered Zachariah; Hoshea murdered Pekah. Numerous other cases might be cited. Some of these murderers were leading men among the Jews,--men whose life and character exercised great influence; and consequently such examples were very pernicious, and the moral lesson they impart to Bible readers must be corrupting to their moral feelings, if not their moral conduct. _Flogging_.--The practice of flogging is regarded as a relic of barbarism by all modern writers on moral ethics. We find it was prescribed by law under the Hebrew monarchy. Forty lashes, in some cases, while the victim was tied or held down was the penalty for certain crimes. (See Deut. xxv.) If they were schooled in the councils of infinite wisdom as they claimed to be, their God should have taught them a less severe and more enlightened method of treating offenders. _Witchcraft_.--"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exod. xxii. 18) has been the watchword and the authority for the slaughter of great numbers of human beings. Figures can not compute the tortures, the shocking cruelties, and the heart-crushing sufferings which have been endured as the legitimate fruit of this superstitious, barbarous law of "God's holy people." It was continued in force to a late period, and has been more extensively practiced by Christians than by Jews. The number of victims in Christian England alone amounts to hundreds of thousands. A large portion of them were tied hand and foot, and thrown into the water. If they sank, that terminated the case, guilty or not guilty; if they swam or floated, that was regarded as an evidence of guilt, and they were taken out, and burned or hanged. During its reign in England, thirty thousand harmless women were burned as witches, mostly poor women who had no means of self-defense.