Law given by Moses was good, therefore a better could not be given. Parents are wont to lisp with their Children, to wink at the Faults of their Age, to tempt them to learn with a Cake: But as they grow up, their Speech is corrected, the Precepts of Virtue instilled into them, and they are shewn the Beauty of Virtue, and what are its Rewards. (a) Now that the Precepts of the Law were not absolutely perfect, appears from hence; that some holy Men in those Times, led a Life more perfect than those Precepts required. Moses, who allowed revenging an injury, partly by Force, and partly by demanding Judgment; when himself was afflicted with the worst of Injuries, (b) prayed for his Enemies. (c) Thus David was willing to have his rebellious Son spared, (d) and patiently bore the Curses thrown upon him. Good Men are no where found to have divorced their Wives, though the Law allowed them to do it. (e) So that Laws are only accommodated to the greater Part of the People; and in that state it was rea

(a) Now that the Precepts of the Law, &c.] Heb. viii. 7. (b) Prayed for his Enemies, &c.] Exod. xxxii. 2, 12, 14, 31. Numb. xi. 2. xii. 13. xiv. 13, and following Verses. xxi. 7, 8. Deut. ix. 18. 26. xxxiii.

(c) Thus David was willing, &c.] 2 Sam. xviii. 5.

(d) And patiently bore the Curses, &c.] 2 Sam. xxi. 10. (e) So that the Laws are only accommodated, &c.] Origen against Celsus, Book III. "As a certain Lawgiver said to one who asked him, if he gave to his Citizens the most perfect Laws; not, says he, the most perfect in themselves, "but the best they can hear." Porphyry, Book 1. against eating living Creatures, concerning Lawgivers, says thus: If "they have Regard to the middle Sort of Life, called Natural, "and according to what is agreeable to most Men, who mea

sure Good and Evil by external Things, which concern the "Body: If, I say, with this View, they make Laws; what Injury is done to Life, if any one adds something more ex"cellent than this ?"

sonable

sonable some Things should be overlooked, which were then to be reduced to a more perfect Rule, when God, by a greater Power of his Spirit, was to gather to himself a new People out of all Nations. And the Rewards which were expressly promised by the Law of Moses, do all Regard this mortal Life only: Whence it must be confessed, (a) that a Law better than this, might be given, which should propose everlasting Rewards, not under Types and Shadows, but plainly and openly, as we see the Law of Christ does.

SECT. VII.

The Law of Moses was observed by Jesus when on Earth, neither was any Part of it abolished afterwards, but on those Precepts which had no intrinsic Goodness in them.

WE may here observe by the Way, to shew the Wickedness of those Jews, who lived in our Saviour's Time, that Jesus was very basely treated by them, and delivered up to Punishment, when they could not prove that he had done any Thing contrary to the Law. (b) He was circumcised (c) made use of the Jewish Meats, (d) was cloathed like them; (e) those who were cleansed from their Leprosy, he sent to the Priests (ƒ) he

(a) That a Law better than this, &c.] Heb. vii. 19. 22. viii. 6. 2 Tim. i. 10.

(b) He was circumcised, &c.] Luke ii. 21.

(c) Made use of the Jewish Meats, &c.] Gal. iv. 5.

(d) Was cloathed like them, &c.] Matt. ix. 20.

(e) Those who were cleansed, &c.] Matt. viii. 4. Mark i. 44. Luke v.

14.

(f) He religiously observed the Passover, &c.] Luke ii. 41. John ii, 13, 23. xi. 56. xii. 1. John vii. 2.

religiously

religiously observed the Passover, and other Festival Days. If he healed any on the Sabbath Day, he made it appear, (a) not only from the Law, (b) but from their received Opinions, that such Works were not forbidden on the Sabbath. He then first began (c) to discover the abrogating some Laws, when he had overcome Death, was ascended into Heaven, had endued his Disciples with remarkable Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and had shewn by those Things, (d) that he had obtained a kingly Power, (e) in which is included an Authority to make Laws, according to that Prophecy of Daniel, Chap. iii. and viii. the viiith and xith, being compared together; who foretold, that after the overthrow of the Kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, (the latter of which came to pass under Augustus) God would give to a Man, (f) who should appear to be an ordinary Person, a Kingdom; extending to the People of all Nations and Languages, and which should never have an End. Now that Part of the Law, the Necessity of which was taken away by Christ, did not contain in it any Thing in its own Nature virtuous; but consisted of Things indifferent in themselves, and therefore not unalterable: For if there had been any Thing in the Nature of those Things to inforce their Practice,

(a) Not only from the Law, &c.] Matt. xii. 5.

(b) But from their received Opinions, &c.] Matt.xii. 11.

(c) To discover the abrogating, &c.] Acts x.

(d) That he had obtained a kingly Power, &c.] Rev. i. 5.

(e) In which is included, &c.] James i. 25.

Colos. ii. 14.

Acts ii. 36.

(f) Who should appear to be an ordinary Person, &c.] Dan. ii. 45. vii. 13. For the Son of Man expresses, in Hebrew, a certain Meanness; and so the Prophets are called, compared with Angels, as is observed by Jachiades, on Dan. x. 16.

God

God would have prescribed them (a) to all the World, and not to one People only; and that from the very Beginning, and not two thousand Years and more after Mankind had been created. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Melchisedech, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the eminently pious Men, who were so beloved of God, were ignorant of all, or almost all this Part of the Law; and yet nevertheless they received Testimony of their Faith towards God, and of his divine Love towards them. Neither did Moses advise his Father-in-law Jethro to perform these Rites, nor Jonas, the Ninevites, nor did the other Prophets remove the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Sidonians, Tyrians, Idumæans, and Moabites, to whom they wrote, for not embracing them, though they particularly enumerate their Crimes. These Precepts, therefore, were particular, and introduced either to hinder some Evil, (b) to which the Jews were especially inclined, or for a Trial of their Obedience, or to signify some future Things. Wherefore there is no more Reason to wonder at their being abolished, than at a King's abrogating some municipal Laws, in order to establish the same Ordinances all over a Nation: Neither can there be any thing alledged to prove that God

(a) To all the World, and not to one People only, &c.] So far from that, that some Laws, such as those of First Fruits, Tithes, Assembling upon Festivals, relate expressly to the Place of Judea only, whither it is certain all Nations could not come, See Exodus xxxiii. 19. and xxxiv. 26. Deut. xxvi. 2. and what follows. Also Deut. xii. 5. and following, xiv. 23. and following. Also Exodus xxiii. 17. xxxiv. 2, 23, 24. Deut. xvi. 16. The most ancient Custom interpreted the Law of Sacrifices in the same Manner. The Talmud, entitled, Concerning the Councils, and that entitled Chagiga, tells us, that the Law of Moses was given to the Hebrews only, and not to Strangers. See Maimonides on Deut. xxxiii. and Bechai.

(b) To which the Jews were especially inclined, &c.] Being very much addicted to Rites, and, on that Account, prone to Ídolatry. This the Prophets every where show, especially Ezekiel xvi.

had

had obliged himself to make no Alteration herein. For if it be said, that these Precepts, are still perpetual; (a) Men very often make use of this Word, when they would signify only, that what they command in this Manner, is not limited for a Year's Continuance, (b) or to a certain Time; suppose of War or Peace, accommodated to the Scarceness of Provision; now this does not hinder but that they may appoint new Laws concerning these Matters, whenever the public Good requires it. Thus the Precepts which God gave to the Hebrews, were some of them temporary, (c) only during the Continuance of that People in the Wilderness; (d) others confined to their Dwellings in the Land of Canaan. That these might be distinguished from the other, they are called Perpetual; by which may be meant, that they ought not to be neglected any where, nor at any Time, unless God should signify his Will to the contrary. Which Manner of speaking, as it is common to all People, the Hebrews ought the less to wonder at, because they know that in their Law, that is called (e) a perpetual Right, and a perpetual Servitude, which

" conti

(a) Men very often make use of this Word, &c.] L. Hac Edictali Cod. de secundis Nuptiis. L. Hac in perpetuum. Cod. de diversis Prædis, Libro XI. and in many other Places..

(b) Or to a certain Time, &c.] L. Valerius in Lity, XXXIV. "The Laws which particular Times required, are liable to be abolished, and I find are changed with the Times; those that "are made in the Times of Peace, are abrogated in War; and "those made in War, abrogated in Peace."

(c) Only during the Continuance, &c.] As Exodus xxvii. Deut. xxiii. 12.

(d) Others confined to their Dwellings, &c.] Deut. xii. 1, 20. Numb. xxxiii. 52.

(e) A perpetual Right, &c.] Exodus xvi. 6. 1 Sam. i. 22. And thus Josephus Albo, in his Third Book of Foundations, Ch. 16. thinks the Words Le-olum in the ritual Law,

may'