arning, and to exercise them in the laws, and make
them acquainted with the acts of their predecessors, in order to their
imitation of them, and that they might be nourished up in the laws from
their infancy, and might neither transgress them, nor have any pretense
for their ignorance of them.

27. Our law hath also taken care of the decent burial of the dead, but
without any extravagant expenses for their funerals, and without the
erection of any illustrious monuments for them; but hath ordered that
their nearest relations should perform their obsequies; and hath showed
it to be regular, that all who pass by when any one is buried should
accompany the funeral, and join in the lamentation. It also ordains that
the house and its inhabitants should be purified after the funeral is
over, that every one may thence learn to keep at a great distance from
the thoughts of being pure, if he hath been once guilty of murder.

28. The law ordains also, that parents should be honored immediately
after God himself, and delivers that son who does not requite them for
the benefits he hath received from them, but is deficient on any such
occasion, to be stoned. It also says that the young men should pay due
respect to every elder, since God is the eldest of all beings. It does
not give leave to conceal any thing from our friends, because that is
not true friendship which will not commit all things to their fidelity:
it also forbids the revelation of secrets, even though an enmity arise
between them. If any judge takes bribes, his punishment is death: he
that overlooks one that offers him a petition, and this when he is able
to relieve him, he is a guilty person. What is not by any one intrusted
to another ought not to be required back again. No one is to touch
another's goods. He that lends money must not demand usury for its loan.
These, and many more of the like sort, are the rules that unite us in
the bands of society one with another.

29. It will be also worth our while to see what equity our legislator
would have us exercise in our intercourse with strangers; for it will
thence appear that he made the best provision he possibly could, both
that we should not dissolve our own constitution, nor show any
envious mind towards those that would cultivate a friendship with us.
Accordingly, our legislator admits all those that have a mind to observe
our laws so to do; and this after a friendly manner, as esteeming that
a true union whic