commendation of fo pure and perfect a morality?

THE Civil laws of the Jews were fuited to the state of mankind, and of the nation, at the time of their inftitution: they were also connected and interwoven with their religious ordinances; and contributed, with them, to the prefervation of Ifrael, for important purposes, as a feparate people from the reft of the world.

BUT the pofitive inftitutions of Judaifm make a great part of this system: can they be defended alfo, and shown to be worthy of GOD? We answer in the affirmative without hesitation; and hope to prove they are excellently fitted for confirming our faith, in the divine original, and fafe transmission of the Scriptures in general, and for enhancing the value and displaying the glory of the Gospel.

It is not denied, that the Apostle Paul, in fpeaking of the ceremonial law, calls it the rudiments, or firft beginnings of religion, and weak and empty, or "beggarly elements,"

as

as our translation strongly expreffes it: he

also says, "law."

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nothing was made perfect by the But we should remember the fame apostle extols the privileges of the Jews; and to fhew the conformity of the Jewish religion with the Chriftian, is the great defign of his large epiftle to the Hebrews. St. Paul, then, did not defpife this religion, or think it unworthy of GOD: but fome falfe brethren had endeavoured to corrupt the word of GOD: they were willing to pass for Chriftians, while they retained their attachment to the law of Moses; they infifted, that its pofitive inftitutions were effential to falvation. Christianity, by their management, dwindled into a mere appendage of the law: the faith of many was undermined and subverted. St. Paul knew the characters of these pretended friends, but dangerous enemies, of the Gospel*. Fear of persecution, love of the world, fuperftition, ignorance of the law and of the Gofpel, diftinguished, and account for the conduct of thefe Judaifing teachers; and explain the apostle's indignation against them and their doctrine. He establishes the faith of the churches: he teaches

* See Gal. vi. 12.

teaches them, that, compared to the Gospel, or opposed to the Gofpel, in which the ritual was in many things fulfilled, and by which it was fuperfeded, the law was inftruction for children, inftead of grown men; that the attempt to restore or preferve the practice of it, was injurious to the church, was impious towards GOD, and therefore deferved the fevereft animadverfion.

THUS We easily vindicate the Apostle Paul: but can Mofes be vindicated in the inftituting of the rites and ceremonies of Judaism? To Christians this is saying, Are they confistent with the wisdom and goodness of God?

WHOEVER believes the divine original of the law, refts affured, that it answered valuable purposes, though he may not be able to perceive them all. Some are obvious: I turn your attention to the following.

THE pofitive inftitutions, preferved alive in the minds of the nation, the interpofition of GOD in behalf of their progenitors. The hiftory of civilization has of late been the frequent and favourite study of our philofo

phers:

phers they have anxiously marked, and endeavoured to account for, the condition of fociety in its different periods and stages. It is very poffible that inattention to this matter is the fource of prejudice against the Hebrew worship. We are but too ready to judge of the propriety or impropriety of any thing, by the modes of thinking, and the manners of our own times. We are in danger of overlooking the education, the government, the religion, the practices, that prevailed in diftant periods; and, therefore, we naturally pronounce very wrong judgements on what was fit, or unfit, for them, in their peculiar circumftances. When we confider the Jewish ritual, we ought to recollect, that the knowledge of books, and of alphabetical writing, was very infrequent in early ages: attending to this fact, we discover the neceffity of pofitive inftitutions. If it was neceffary to preferve the hiftory of the interpofitions of Providence in behalf of Israel, what could more certainly fecure this end, and the natural effects of it, than fuch inftitutions as circumcifion, memorials, and festivals?

THE usefulness of preserving these histories will not be questioned by those who reflect on the general prevalence of fuperstition, idolatry, and immorality, in the Heathen world. Obferve, too, that the rites which fhewed the Ifraelites they were fet apart by the LORD for himself, served, at the fame time, to keep them a separate people; for they were not only different from the religious rites of the nations, but it has been proved, in many instances, directly oppofite. There is good reafon to believe, a more full and perfect knowledge of the religions and manners of the nations furrounding Judea, would account for, and fhew the propriety of, a greater number of the peculiar rites of Judaism, than we are apt to imagine, or has hitherto been discovered.

THUS the multiplicity of the Jewish ceremonies may be explained and vindicated, in a great measure: there is another advantage of their frequency, and extending to the most ordinary actions of life; thereby the Jews were habitually, and almost constantly, reminded of their religion and of their duty.