2. The Hebrew system surpassed all others, especially in this――that _it gave to human government and law the sanction of God’s authority_, and enforced them upon the human heart and conscience by this most impressive and benign of all influences. 3. Preparatory to this result it maintained against the whole Pagan world the doctrine of _one God_――perfect in character, supreme in power, righteous in all his administration of rewards and punishments. Only so could it make the idea of God a really wholesome power and his authority effective in sustaining civil government. 4. This divinely given code rested upon justice and equity, and determined every thing by this standard. So doing, it ruled out at once a multitude of interests and ends which human laws have often sought to secure. Its example therefore, in so far at least, was simply and supremely beneficent. 5. In yet further detail, it recognized the common and equal rights of all men, irrespective of condition, rank, wealth――holding constantly the doctrine, “_No respect of persons_.” 6. It appreciated at their just value the rights of the poor and of all that large class who look only to God and to human law for protection. We come now to the question of historic fact: _Did this Hebrew code and government send forth its influence upon the nations of ancient history?_ Did it in any perceptible degree leaven the best systems of human law and jurisprudence.――――If the proof for the affirmative falls short of positive certainty, what is its amount of probability? Here we may fitly consider―― (a.) That God chose for Israel the land of Canaan, in the center of the ancient world of mind; immediately between Egypt on the one hand and Babylon, Assyria, Persia――all the great nations of Western Asia――on the other; and closely contiguous to ancient Greece and Rome. (b.) That David and Solomon became known to all the great powers of the world of their time. Solomon’s renown turned largely on the fact that his people were prosperous and happy, his government well ordered, and his own wisdom in all affairs of state unsurpassed.――――It is simply impossible that such examples should drop powerless upon the nations of the earth. (c.) That at a later period the personal history of Mordecai, of Esther, and especially of Daniel in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar and of Cyrus show that the Jews, their religion, their God, and their law, did impress themselves upon the greatest centers of influence and power in their time.