Hugo Grotius · 82 of 132

SECT. VII. The law of Moses was observed by Jesus when on earth; neither was any part of it abolished afterwards, but only those precepts which had no intrinsic goodness in them.

We may here observe by the way, to shew the wicked. ness 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. He was circumcised, made use of the Jewish meats, was clothed like them; those who were cleansed from their leprosy he sent to the priests; he religiously observed the Passover, and other festival days. If he healed any on the Sabbath day, be made it appear, not only from the law, but from their received opinions, that such works were not forbidden on the Sabbath He then first began to discover the abrogating some laws, when be had overcome death, was ascended into heaven, had endued his disciples with remarkable gifts of the Holy Spirit, and had shewn by those things, that he had obtained a kingly power, in which is included an authority to make laws, according to that prophecy of Daniel, chap. iii. and vii. the viii. 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, 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 enforce their practice, God would have prescribed them to all the world, and not to one people only; and that from the very beginning, and two thousand years, and more, after mankind had been created. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Melehisedech, 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 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 reprove the Chaldæans, 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, 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 alleged to prove that God had obliged himself to make no alteration herein. For if it be said, that these precepts are styled perpetual; 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, 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, only during the continuance of that people in the wilderness; others confined to their dwelling in the laud 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 a perpetual right, and a perpetual servitude, which continued only from jubilee to jubilee. And the coming of the Messiah is by themselves called the fulfilling of the jubilee, or the great jubilee. And, moreover, the promise of entering into a new covenant is to be found amongst the old prophets, as Jeremiah xxxi. where God promises that he will make a new covenant, which shall be writ upon their hearts, and men will have no need to learn religion of each other, for it shall be evident to them all: and moreover, that he would pardon all their past transgressions: which is much the same, as if a prince, after his subjects had been at great enmity with each other, in order to establish a peace, should take away their different laws, and impose upon them all one common law, and that a perfect one; and for the future, promise them pardon for all their past transgressions, upon their amendment. Though what has been said might suffice, yet we will go through every part of the law that is abolished; and shew that the things are not such as are in their own nature well-pleasing to God, or such as ought to continue always.