I.] POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 23 



preventing the man who took food to relieve his 

 hunger from being confounded with the thief. Upon 

 any other interpretation, it makes the passage contain 

 nonsense and immorality; and, indeed, GROTIUS says 

 that the latter text does not apply to the person men- 

 tioned in the former. The latter text could not mean 

 a man taking food from necessity. It is impossible 

 that it can mean that; because the man who was 

 starving for want of food could not have seven-fold ; 

 could not have any substance in his house. But what 

 are we to think of JUDGE BLACKSTONE, who, in his 

 Book IV., chap. 2, really garbles these texts of Scrip- 

 ture. He clearly saw the effect of the expression, 

 "MEN DO NOT DESPISE;" he saw what an 

 awkward figure these words made, coming before the 

 words " A THIEF ;" he saw that, with these words 

 in the text, he could never succeed in making his 

 readers believe that a man ought to be hanged for 

 taking food to save his life. He clearly saw that he 

 could not make men believe that God had said this, 

 unless he could, somehow or other, get rid of those 

 words about NOT DESPISING the thief that took 

 victuals when he was hungry. Being, therefore, very 

 much pestered and annoyed by these words about 

 NOT DESPISING, what does he do but fairly leave 

 them out ! And not only leave them out, but leave 

 out a part of both the verses, keeping in that part of 

 each that suited him, and no more; nay, further, 

 leaving out one word, and putting in another, giving 

 a sense to the whole which he knew well never was 

 intended. He states the passage to be this : " If a 

 thief steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry, he 

 shall restore seven-fold, and shall give all the sub- 

 stance of his house." No broomstick that ever was 

 handled would have been too heavy or too rough for 

 the shoulders of this dirty-souled man. HALE, with 

 all his desire to make out a case in favour of severity, 

 has given us the words fairly : but this shuffling fel- 

 low ; this smooth-spoken and mean wretch, who is 

 himself thief enough, God knows, if stealing other 

 men's thoughts and words constitute theft ; this in- 

 16 



