"love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, "and with all thy soul?"* Nor is the love of our neighbour less explicitly enforced : "Thou shalt not," says the Law, "avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy "neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord."+ The operation of this benevolence thus solemnly required, was not to be confined to their own countrymen; it was to extend to the stranger, who, naving renounced idolatry, was permitted to live amongst them, worshipping the true God, though without submitting to circumcision or the other ceremonial parts of the Mosaic Law. "If a stranger," says the law, "sojourn with thee in your land, ye 'shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you, "shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love 'him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I "am the Lord your God." Nay further, the Jewish law recognised that exalted principle, of loving our enemies, and doing good to them that hate us; where it commanded, "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or "his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him "again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, lying "under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him; thou "shalt surely help with him."§ It may however be questioned, from the nature of the good offices here enjoined, as well as from the corresponding passages, which speak of a brother or fellow-Jew in this case, whether this injunction could be understood to imply more, than that no private enmity between one Jew and another should interrupt that intercourse of good offices which ought to subsist between the professors of the same religion, and members of the same community. But even thus, the Jewish religion introduced and inculcated that great principle of benevolence, as far as it was possible to practise it under the circumstances in which the Hebrew people were placed, and the design for which it was selected. All the surrounding nations were idolaters, any intimate society with whom they were commanded to avoid; and no strangers could be permitted to dwell amongst them, until they had renounced idolatry; for such permission would have exposed the Jews to * Deut. x. 12. Lev. xix. 18. Lev. xix. 33 and 34. temptations too powerful for them to resist, as subsequent experience clearly proved. Hence the Law particularizes the children of their people, and the stranger who dwelt among them having renounced idolatry, as the objects of their benevolence, lest it should be conceived to contradict those injunctions of the same Law, which prohibited all connection with their idolatrous neighbours, and all tolerance of idolaters within their own community. For it cannot be doubted, that had the Jews been expressly commanded to love their neighbours, though idolatrous, they would have mistaken the precept as a permission to tolerate their worship, and to partake their festivities so incapable was this gross people of understanding refined distinctions, or receiving that sublime doctrine of universal benevolence, which pervades the Gospel of Christ. All, however, that was possible to do, was done. The principle, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," was clearly laid down, and its operation was, by direct command, extended to all with whom a Jew was permitted to hold any permanent or close connexion; so that, so far as it could serve to subdue selfish feelings, and train the mind to benevolence, by a perpetual series of benevolent actions, it was fully operative. A more universal precept, a more refined and exalted theory, would probably have led that dull and obstinate race into errors and transgressions, subversive of all the designs for which Divine. Providence established the Jewish economy. It was reserved for HIM TO PREPARE THE WAY, FOR WHOM that economy was designed; the EXPECTED MESSIAH, the GOD OF LOVE AND OF MERCY, to extend and enforce the principle of benevolence; to teach men to regard all human beings requiring their aid, as friends and brethren, however different their country, however opposite their faith; to teach them to love their enemies, to return blessing for cursing, and good for evil; to imitate the example of their Redeemer, who laid down his life for his friends, and in the agonies of death prayed for his persecutors. Thus it was strictly true, that the commandment of our Lord, "To love one another, even as He loved us," was NEW. New in the universality of its application, new in the all-perfect example by which it was illustrated, new in the sanction by which it was enforced, and the pre-eminence which it obtained in the scheme * John, xiii. 34. of gospel duties; where it is ranked as the peculiar characteristic of the followers of Christ, and an essential condition of obtaining forgiveness from God. But the principle was recognised in the Mosaic Law, and applied as extensively as existing circumstances would permit. It is frequently charged on the Jewish scheme, and I believe too generally and incautiously admitted, that it represents the Divinity as requiring from his worshippers, outward rites, rather than internal heart-felt piety; thus leading men to substitute the shadow for the substance, and attend more to unimportant circumstances, and superstitious observances, than to the great principles of judgment, justice, and truth. That the Jews, in the decline of their religion, did so pervert and corrupt their Law, by adopting such sentiments, is true; but most certain it is, they could find nothing in their original Law to justify such sentiments or practices. No: They could have found no sanction for mere external and superstitious worship, except in those traditions by which they obscured and perverted the original scheme of their religion. Nothing is more cautiously guarded against in the Mosaic Code, than resting in mere outward observances; nothing was more expressly and forcibly required, than internal devotion and practical piety. The Jew was called on, "to love his God with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his "might."* "The words which I command thee this day," says the Legislator,+ "shall be in THINE HEART: and thou shalt teach "them diligently to thy children, and talk of them when thou "sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, "and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Could any thing be more remote from mere outward observance, than that heart-felt and habitual reverence for the divine commands here required? How opposite to mere ceremonious obedience is that which is enjoined in such precepts as these: "Ye shall be "holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." "If ye will obey "my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is "mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an "holy nation."§ 66 Deut. vi. 5. † Ib. ver. 6 and 7. Levit. xix. 2, or xx. 7. § Exod. xix. 5 and 6. The indispensable necessity of not resting in mere external observances as the means of acceptance with the Deity, appears peculiarly conspicuous, in the conditions on which alone the Jews were taught to hope for reconciliation with their God, whenever their disobedience should provoke him to banish them from the land of their inheritance, disperse them through the nations, and load them with all those punishments which their Lawgiver denounced would attend their apostasy. "It shall come to pass," says he, "when these things are come upon "thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, "and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither "the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt confess your iniquity and the iniquity of your fathers; and if therefore 66 your UNCIRCUMCISED HEARTS BE HUMBLED, and you accept of the punishment of your iniquity, and shall return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I com"mand thee this day, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; "that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have "compassion upon thee, and the Lord thy God will circumcise "thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy "God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."* 66 66 Here it is well worth observing, not only that reconciliation could be obtained only by repentance, and that no repentance would be accepted, which did not prove its sincerity by practical reformation; but that the most important and distinguishing rite of the Jewish religion, circumcision itself, is represented as emblematic of that purity of heart, which ought to be cultivated by all who adopted this external sign. And if this was true of that rite which was the badge of the Jew's religious profession, and the seal of his covenant with God, the same principle must, by necessary inference, be applied to every subordinate rite and ceremony.† Indeed, were we to consider the Deut. xxx. 1, &c. That all the rites and sacrifices of the Jewish religion were incapable of conciliating divine favour, where internal piety was wanting, and were represented and considered in this light by the Jewish Lawgiver, is evident from the passages and observations adduced in this Lecture. It is equally certain the same principles are inculcated in every other part of the Old Testament Vide the passages referred in note p. 226. Hebrew Ritual distinctly, it would I am confident be easy to prove that all its rites were either commemorative of such facts, or emblematic of such dispositions, as were best calculated to But it may be useful to show, that the most respectable Jewish uninspired writers viewed the Mosaic Ritual in the same light, acknowledged that sincere piety and purity were necessary to conciliate the divine favour, and considered the various rites and ceremonies of their religion, as intended to cultivate holy and virtuous af fections. Thus Josephus, speaking of sacrifices, says, "When we offer sacrifices to him, we "do it, not in order to surfeit ourselves and be drunken, for such excesses are against "the will of God, and would be an occasion of injuries and luxury; but by keeping "ourselves sober, orderly, and ready for our other occupations, and being more tem"perate than others, and for our duty and the sacrifices themselves, we ought in the "first place to pray for the common welfare of all, and after that for our own; for we are made for fellowship one with another, and he who prefers the common good be"fore what is peculiar to himself, is above all acceptable to God:-and let our prayers "and supplications he made humbly to God, not so much that he would give us what was good, for he hath already given that of his own accord, and hath proposed the 'same publicly to all, that we may duly receive it, and when we have received it, "may preserve it." On this passage, Whiston judiciously and truly remarks "That we may here observe, how known a thing was, that sacrifices were still ac"companied with prayers;—whence came those praises of the sacrifice of prayerof praise of thanksgiving." And he remarks, "that in Solomon's long and famous "form of devotion, at the dedication of the temple, where all sacrifices were to be "offered up, yet there is no mention of the sacrifices themselves, but of prayers only." On the purification after a funeral, Josephus observes,† "That every one may thence "learn to keep at a great distance from the thoughts of being pure, if he hath been once guilty of murder." On the priests, Josephus observes,‡ "Moses not only enjoined "them to observe purity in their sacred ministrations, but in their daily conversation, "that it might be unblamable also; on this account it is, that they who wear the "sacerdotal garments are without spot, and eminent for their purity and sobriety, nor "are they permitted to drink wine so long as they wear those garments; moreover, "they offer sacrifices that are entire and have no defect whatsoever." " Philo in his comments on the significancy of the dress of the priests, the sacrifices, and all the various circumstances of the Ritual, is full of the same moral and religious spirit. Indeed the inscription on the holy crown of Aaron, of HOLINESS TO THE LORD, naturally suggested such ideas to every pious and reflecting Israelite; and Philo has pursued them certainly often with overstrained refinement and fanciful ingenuity. But his writings show, that the enlightened Jews, when Christianity was introduced, (for Philo was contemporary with the Apostles) were much addicted to spiritual and moral views of their Ritual and Law. Speaking of the sprinkling the garments of Aaron and his sons, and the altar, &c. Lev. viii, 10, 11, 12, and 30, he remarks, "Moses did this, wishing they should be "holy, not only externally and visibly, but internally; since all things, even in the in"terior of the temple, were purified by this holy ointment." On the brazen laver * Lib. II. contra Apion, sect. xxiv. : Antiquities, Lib. III. ch. xli. sect. iii. ↑ Josephus, contra Apion, Lib. II. sect. xxvii. Exod. xxxix. 30. Philonis, Lib. III. de Vita Mosis, p. 521, f. and 523, b. I have endeavoured to translate Philo's |