dispensation, it is highly necessary to distinguish those precepts which are peculiarly Mosaic, and are consequently abrogated, from those which belong to the Law of Nature, or the Moral Law, and are still of universal obligation.

§3. The Mosaic Laws may be considered as of three kinds; namely, those which were given to the Jews, not as Jews, but as men, which constitute the Moral Law, and are binding upon every human being;-those which were given to them as Jews,-the ceremonial and Levitical statutes, which were not to extend beyond the limits of the Israelitish nation;and those which were given to them as inhabitants of Palestine, and members of a separate community, the civil and forensic, which have no authority and force at present, further than as they declare the general and immutable principles of social right.

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The Moral Law appertains to all people, as that essential branch of the Mosaic code, which is generally founded in the Law of Nature-is universally binding-and is written by God himself in the human heart. It contains the rule of virtuous living; and as the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, given on Mount Sinai, is a summary of moral precepts drawn up by God himself, all such precepts wherever found, dispersed as they are throughout the sacred volume, are properly referred to the Decalogue itself. All the aphorisms and injunctions of the Gospel, are but explications of the great Moral Law of Nature; or an adaptation of the first principles of religious and social duty-namely, to love God above all things, and our neighbour as ourself, -to the spiritual and com

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and, for order's sake they may all be reduced under the several heads of duty prescribed in the Decalogue.

The Ceremonial Law, relating to sacred persons, places, and rites, was calculated to surround the Tewish nation with an impenetrable barrier against he idolatry and polytheism of the people with whom hey would be most liable to have intercoursebeing the ritual of an outward profession of faith in he one true God, -the God of Abraham, of Isaac, nd of Jacob; it was also an economy of types and hadows, designed to point out and represent the ong-promised Messias. In both these points of iew the Ceremonial Law has ceased to have an orce: for the Mosaic covenant ended with the pe. hod for which it had been made, -the Old Testament ave place to the New, to the full establishment of -hich it was preparatory, and the figurative repreentations were all merged in the reality, when the on of God assumed our nature, and suffered for the hole world, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The Judicial Law, relating to matters of civil olity, had reference, in many respects, to the pecuar character and situation of the people for whose egulation it was enacted, under the immediate Overnment of God himself for a certain period; and ter the termination of this theocracy, still under an special superintendance of the Almighty. Many of nese Laws were of an arbitrary and local nature, and -e not applicable to other people under different rcumstances. In short, -the whole of the Mosaic conomy was constituted principally that it might rovide an asylum for the Church of God, and a adle for the Gospel. The Ceremonial and Judicial

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destroyed, and with it also these laws, which were peculiarly instituted for its support. But the Moral Law, or Decalogue, except in those parts of it which have a ceremonial character, is the eternal and immutable rule of wisdom and justice, even in God himself, obliging all rational creatures either to obey it, or to submit to the penalties of disobedience.

§4. The term Decalogue, of Greek derivation, signifies Ten Words, or sentences, and is particularly assigned to the Ten Commandments given by divine authority, as the standard and rule of our duty towards God, and towards our neighbour-that is, all mankind. The Decalogue comprizes the fundamental articles of religious faith, as well as the principles of virtuous conduct; it is the compendium and epitome of the Moral Law, founded upon the belief and worship of the one true God, -the author of its terms, and the enforcer of its sanctions. It may, however, also be considered as partly of a mixt nature, not being entirely moral, but containing some matters ceremonial, and relating solely or chiefly to the Jews. Of this description are portions of the Second and Fifth Commandn.ents. It is consequently the pure part alone, which has no especial relation to the circumstances of the Jews, that is equally applicable to Jews and Christians.

§5. With regard to Christians, the Decalogue not only possesses its full force, but it has acquired additional authority from its having been constantly declared by our blessed Lord the rule of those good works which are necessary to the attainment of salvation,-from

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hensive sense to His disciples, than it ever had been by Moses and the Prophets to the children of Israel. Christian liberty, therefore, consists in entire free. dom from the obligations of the Mosaic Ceremonial and Judicial Laws; -in qualified liberation from the exactions of the Moral Law: that is not liberation from its obligations, for the Decalogue is adopted into the Gospel ;-not total liberation from its penalties-for punishment is yet denounced against obstinate disobedience: but in freedom from the exaction of sinless obedience; and in freedom-on the condition of faith and repentance-from the fear of death, as either annihilation or eternal misery.

§ 6. The nature of the Decalogue being that of a brief and comprehensive summary, of which the spi. rit, and not the letter only, is the measure of obligation, it is necessary, in order to ensure such an interpretation as is consistent with the tenour of the revealed will of God, and with the light of reason which he has shed upon the conscience of mankind, to adhere to certain rules of acknowledged necessity and truth. These being previously laid down and assented to, will form a standard to which every general precept may be brought, in order to ascertain its bearing upon any particular question; and to deduce from such comparison the strongest motives for practical obedience.

The principal and most important rules of interpretation are the following :-Precepts which are not limited in their application by God himself, are not to be limited by us; but must be received in their

actions, or external compliance, but equally of in-
ward motives, of the mind, of the affections and
aversions of the heart :- Where any particular virtue
is enjoined, there the vice immediately opposed to it
is prohibited; and where a vice is prohibited, the op-
posite virtue is enjoined: -Precepts which verbally
enforce a certain defined virtue, comprehend also,
in spirit, all similar virtues, and all means of pro-
moting them; and prohibitions which require a cer-
tain vice to be avoided, include all similar vices, and
all occasions of them:-Although the masculine gen-
der is alone adopted in the phraseology of the Deca-
logue, females as well as males, being equally of the
human race, which is, without exception, the subject
of the divine laws, are equally amenable to the pre-
cepts and prohibitions of the Decalogue; its terms
only being altered to suit their several obligations :--
The Commandments being of two kinds, positive and
negative, there is some difference between them in
the extent of their application, though there be none
in their authority and force; for the negative pre-
cepts, those which forbid, are obligatory at all times
and in all cases; whereas the positive precepts, those
which enjoin certain duties, do not require that these
duties shall be constantly fulfilled, or actually per-
formed at any but the proper seasons-they are not
applicable to all persons, at all times :-Those things
which are commanded or prohibited to each indi-
vidual in the singular number, in which all the Com-
mandments are addressed, each one is bound to pro-
mote or to discountenance to the utmost of his power
in others :-As the Law is perfect in itself, so it can-
not be performed by partial obedience, the breach

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