dcntli, und "brought life and immortality to light through tl1e gospel."' At the Bllme time it must be remembered that Christ himself teaches us tbnt the language o.l: the Toralt itself implies both the immortality of the soul, and even the resm- rcction of the body. 2 THE SECONDARY LAWS. 48. If the law given to Israel had consisted only of the ten commandments spoken by the voice of Jehovah from Mount Sinai, this alone would have been an inestimable blessing to the nation. Regarded also as a necessary step in Divine revelation and a preparation for the gospel of Christ, these primary laws of religious and moral duty, proclaimed with the fullest sanctions of Divine authority, and with the curse an<! condemnation of Almighty God denounced against the sinner, of themselv~s werP- sufficient, as is proved by St. Paul's reference to the last of these commandments, to convince man of sin, if only he would understand and apply them to himself, and thus to lead him to Christ "that he might be justified by faith." Why then was it necessary that to this grand and simple law, which was the covehant between God and the nation, there should be supera<lded other "statutes" and "judgments," which, both from the method in which they were delivered, and from their .ery nature, are obviously secondary and subordinate? Might not Israel have been now left, as other nations were, to develop for themselves, with the immeasurable ad van• tage of having these commandments to direct them, the laws that might be neces• sary for their national life ? One reply to this question has been given already (§ 29, S'ltpra). But further it must be answered, that for the complete development of the economy of law, so as to teach God's chosen people, and all nations through them, the real meaning and tremendous force of Divine law, ll!ld the impossibility of attaining life through any law, however fully it might provide for all the conditions of man on earth,-very much more was required than this one solemn and authorita• tive promulgation of its eternal principles. God therefore in his wisdom and goocl- ness gave to Israel not only, directly from himself, these primary laws, but also, through bis servant Moses, as a mediator between himself and the nation, a ,ery larg., body of secondary laws, which were the application and adaptation of the prin- ciples of the primary law to the condition and circumstances of lsr&el at that time. It was necessary, in order to educate them in God's truth, and gradually prepare them for a better and more perfect and enduring covenant, that through these secondary laws the whole religious, social, and domestic life of the nation should be thoroughly permeated by Divine law; that at every step law should meet them with its impera- tive demands, its warnings, its threatenings, and its promises; that thus the law should never be out of their sight, and never be wanting in that distinctness and rlefiniteness, which, as we well know in human legislation, is of 11ll things most essential to its force, And further, the primary lows being laws for the conscience of roan, the penalty of transgressing them is the wrath of God, which, even if it should never be manifested in this life, the awakened conscience recognises. But to bring the force of this home to the mind of roan, it was necessary that there should be laws, the transgressions of which should be visited by such punishments as 1111 must feel ll!ld fear even in this world. How this principle affected the character of the secondary laws we shall see hereafter, These laws m11y be divided, for the purpose of examining them, into two great classes, those that directly concern man's relations to God, and those that belong to his duty to his neighbour. But it must be remem• 1 2 Tim. i. 10. 3 Soe M11tt. xxii. 80; Mark xii. 26 ; and Luke :u. 38, where the remarkable w"rds 11,re added, 'll'aVTEt yap nlmi Cw111v. P.D:NTATEUCH. / INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTA'l'EUCH.
bered 1hat no such distinction wl\8 made by Moses in delivering them i and, for reasoM before explained (§ 35, supra), no division of this kind can be completely or scientifically exact. RELIGIOUS LAWS.