rk, teaches him robbery."
In Job xxxi., a chapter which has been called "an inventory of late Old
Testament morality," we find the family life developed side by side with
the life of charity. In turn are mentioned the relief of the widow, the
fatherless and the stranger--the classification of dependents in the
Christian church; and the whole chapter is a justification of the homely
charities of a good family. "The Jewish religion, more especially in the
old and orthodox form, is essentially a family religion" (C.G.
Montefiore, _Religion of Ancient Hebrews_).

In the early documents of the Church the fifth commandment is made the
basis of family life (cf. Eph. vi. 1; _Apost. Const._ ii. 32, iv. 11--if
we take the first six books of the _Apost. Const._ as a composite
production before A.D. 300, representing Judaeo-Christian or Eastern
church thought). But two points are prominent. Duties are insisted on as
reciprocal (cf. especially St Paul's Epistles), as, e.g. between husband
and wife, parent and child, master and servant. Charity is mutual; the
family is a circle of reciprocal duties and charities. This implies a
principle of the greatest importance in relation to the social utility
of charity. Further reference will be made to it later. Next the "thou
shalt love thy neighbour" is translated from its position as one among
many sayings to the chief place as a rule of life. In the _Didache_ or
_Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ (Jewish-Christian, c. 90-120 A.D.) the
first commandment in "the way of life" is adapted from St Matthew's
Gospel thus: "First, thou shalt love God who made thee; secondly, thy
neighbour as thyself; and all things whatsoever thou wouldst not have
done to thee, neither do thou to another." A principle is thus applied
which touches all social relations in which the "self" can be made the
standard of judgment. Of this also later. To touch on other points of
comparison: the earlier documents seem to ring with a reiterated cry for
a purer family life (cf. the second, the negative, group of commandments
in the _Didache_, and the judgment of the apocalyptic writings, such as
the Revelations of Peter, &c.); and, sharing the Jewish feeling, the
riper conscience of the Christian community formulates and accepts the
injunction to preserve infant life at every stage. It advocates, indeed,
the Jewish purity of family life with a missionary fervour, and it makes
of it a condition of church membership. The Jewish