57. In our rapid survey of the secondary laws of the Torah, we have found no difficulty in proving,-for indeed the evidence lies (we may almost say) on the sur- face of the record,-that the principles embodied in the religious and ceremonial laws are none other than those which are necessary to the Christian under a better cove- nant; and that the laws which relate to the duties between man and man are based on that truly Divine and eternal principle, one aspect of which is exact and absolute justice, and the other perfect love. These conclusions are themselves suffident to explain the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, for they prove both the complete identity of the spirit which underlies the commandments of the law with thut of his own teaching, and f_urtber that, when he contrasts that which was said to them of old time with that which he himself says to bis disciples, he was contrast- ing, not the law of Moses with a new law that he himself gave, but the righteousness of the letter with the righteousness of the spirit, which is the essence of the law, and necessary for the kingdom of heaven. But does this mean that the law of the Pen- tateuch was perfect i' In the sense in which the Psalmist says, "The law of tl1e Lord is perfect, converting the soul," in which our Lord declares that it must be '.lbeyed and taught, in which St. Paul describes it as holy and spiritual, and St. James speaks of it as the "perfect law of liberty," that is in its spirit and essence, undoubt- edly it is perfect. And yet, in another sense, it was as certainly very imperfect. Not only as regards the shadows and figures of the ceremonial law as compared with the 1 Deut. xv. 1-11. ' St. Luke xii. 33. ~ It should be observed e.lso, that the law discouraged that merely sentimental feeling of compassion for the poor which is often practical injustice to others. It forbad them (Ex?d• xxiii. 3) to "countenance (hadar, be partial to) a poor man in bis cause." The LXX. version is 01JK tAlt/tfHC, INTHODUC'fION TO 'fHE PENTATECCII. xliii
reality which is Christ, what St. Paul calla "the weakness and unprofitableness" of its comm1mdments is apparent, so that when Christ bad accomplished his work, the ,etter disappeared before the brightness of the spirit, it diaannulled itself that it might be fulfilled in the spirit; but for the same reason, that is on account of the essen- tial imperfection of low us law, and its utter inadequacy to be of itself a guide for the conscience of rnnn, the same result followed with regard to all the secondary laws without exception. 68. This truth, which is fully exemplified in the history of human law,1 may be thus explained. 2 "Without definite and permanent law natural life cannot make progress, and law is law indeed in proportion to its definiteness, its certainty, its rigidity. And yet these very qualities in law, without which it cannot attain its perfectness as law,-because otherwise its rosults must in part depend on its interpretation by a judge, as is the case with most human laws,-are also the inherent defect of law itself, giving occasion for the saying, Summum jus summa injuria. For it is impossible that any fixed rules should be at all times suited to all the varying circumstances and conditions of human life, in which the self-same acts may at different times be wholly different in their true character. And laws may therefore both allow some things and com- mand others, necessary or expedient in one stage of human li:fe, yet in another injmious or very inexpedient; so that human laws made in one age often fall into desuetude in another, and their enforcement would lead to great injustice, and they need to be from time to time reformed and adapted to the altered circumstances of men. It is therefore impossible, in the nature of things, that institutions which are the expression of positive and fixed law, although that law be given by God himself, should be perfectly adapted for man, or be permanent. And those who live under such institutions are in an imperfect state for two reasons-first, because their own judgment is not exercised in their obedience, but-they obey merely because it is com- manded, which is the condition of an infant or a slave; and then also because of the imperfections which are necessarily inherent in law, because it is law."
These-considerations do not affect the primary law for two very obvious reasons: first, because its commandments express nothing more than the religious and moral principles which are coeval with man's origin, and the necessary results of man's original and fundamental relations to God and his fellow-man, which therefore cannot be altered by any changes in bis circumstances and condition ; secondly, because being a law for the conscience of man, it entirely differs from human laws by the absence from it of all fixed rules, for it leaves to the enlightened an,! informed conscience the office of applying its principles to the varying conditions of human life. But with the secondary laws the case is totally different.' These laws contain elaborate regulations in regard to the whole sphere of human life, the very purpose of them being, as we have seen, to bring law into 1111 its relations, and to leave as little as possible to the judgment and conscience of the individual. . They were made for a nation whose moral knowledge and moral development were totally different from ours, and who bad to be educated, like children, gradually to apprehend truths which cannot be learned suddenly or per saltum, although to us, in our state of knowledge and development, they seem self-evident. We need not be surprised therefore if we find in them not only prohibitions which are utterly unsuited to our moral condition, but also many things allowed and sanctioned, or even commanded, which to 'US would be inconsistent with morality. This subject, which, 11s is well known, hns given rise to many attacks upon the morality of the Pentateuch, ,ins been discussed at lengtb in some of its aspects, in a work by the late Canon 1 Seo Maino's 'Ancient Law,' chap. 11. ~ I '}Uote from my 'Genesis of the Chmch,' pp. 3ll - 38. x1iv lN'THODUCTION TO TllE l'ENTATEUCH.