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SECTION VIII.

WHETHER ANY OF HIS MORAL PRECEPTS ARE NEW.

a

THERE are excellent passages in the heathen writers with respect to the existence, unity, providence, and perfections of God, and to our leading religious duties; though they must be selected from a strange mixture of inconsistency and error: and it has not been proved that any of our Lord's moral precepts, which oblige his followers at all times, are new as to their general subject matter; though some are manifestly so in degree, and all in the motives by which they are enforced. Thus mutual love was taught by Moses, and by the heathen moralists; but the disciples of Jesus are commanded to love one another as he loved them, in expectation of an • eternal reward at the resurrection of the just: I should add, and in "imitation of the divine goodness; but for that excellent precept of the law, The Lord loveth the stranger: love ye therefore the stranger. And this coincidence of the evangelical law with the law of reason proves that they are derived from a common origin: as the uniformity in the works of creation shews the unity of the Creator.

f Julian thought that he disparaged the decalogue when he asked, What nation is there which does not think that its other precepts ought to be observed,

a Lev. xix. 18, 34.

b John xiii. 34.

d Matt. v. 45, 48. Luke vi. 36. Plato de leg. 1. v. p. 729. ed. Serr.

Matt. xxv. 34, 5. Deut. x. 17-19. See also f Cyril contra. Jul. L. v. p. 152.

except, Thou shalt not worship other Gods, and, Remember the Sabbath? whereas in fact he passed an encomium on it.

SECTION IX.

WHETHER ANY OF HIS PRECEPTS ARE UNREASONABLE.

SOME of our Lord's precepts have been objected to as harsh, and inconsistent with the good of individuals and of society. I shall begin with making remarks on such of this kind as occur in the sermon on the mount.

a

angry

with

"I say unto you, that whosoever is his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."

The denunciation is addressed to all Christ's disciples. If the restriction," without a cause," were omitted on the authority of a few manuscripts, Fathers, and ancient versions; still the context shews that the anger condemned must be implacable. The injurious person, when reconciled to his brother, And there are might offer an acceptable sacrifice. vices which all naturally abhor; and which it may be the duty of some to reprehend with sharpness. Nay, we read that indignation and danger are attri

b

a Matt. v. 22.

bib. v. 23, 4.

Mark x. 14.

ib. iii 5.

buted to our Lord himself. It is plain therefore that anger improper in its cause, its object, its manner, its season, or its duration, must here be censured. There are degrees of anger mentioned; and proportionable punishments are annexed. A disciple of Christ, guilty of sinful anger, is subject to a future punishment, corresponding to the temporal one which among the Jews was inflicted by the Judgment. The Elders and Levites, who composed these municipal courts of judicature, punished the murderer with death; probably by slaying him with 'the sword, or by hhanging him on a tree. But anger bursting forth into words of derision and contempt, into charges of emptiness and wickedness, exposes to a sentence like that awarded by the Great Council at Jerusalem, which took cognizance of higher matters, such as 1 blasphemy against God and the law; ultimately "decided causes too difficult for the judges appointed in the several cities; and inflicted the more terrible death of " stoning. And anger still more unrestrained, so as to charge men with extreme ° infatuation,

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• Deut. xvi. 18. xvii. 2. xxi. 2, 19. 2 Chron. xix. 5. The number of judges was seven. Jos. Ant. iv. viii. 4. B. J. xx. v. f Numb. xxxv. 30, 31. * 1 Kings xix. 10.

b Deut. xxi. 22.

! Some derive Raca

from p to be empty or vain : and Castel translates the adjective from this verb by vanus, otiosus, gyis, nequam. ers think that its root is from pp to spit nifies, according to Castel, sputatilis, levis, Thus it exactly answers to κατάπλυτος. vi. 12, 15.

See 2 Sam. vi. 20. Othand then the adjective sigabjectus, vilis, contemptus. Luke xxii. 66. Acts

m Deut. xvii. 8.

1 Matt. xxvi. 65, 6. Acts vi. 13. " Acts vii. 58. The municipal courts inflicted this punishment in case of idolatry. Deut. xvii, 2-7. Syr. translates ungi by a word

t

or with P rebellion against God, the worst of all accusations, because so highly criminal under the law, incurs a still greater degree of punishment, answering to a death by fire, to the horrid burning of human victims before the statue of Moloch in the * valley of Hinnom. Our Lord therefore asserts, agreeably to other parts of scripture, that reviling, hatred, variance, wrath, strife, shall exclude from the kingdom of heaven; and that these crimes shall be punished proportionably to their degrees of guilt. But, according to the tenour of the gospel covenant, sinful anger unrepented of is here supposed. For, on condition of repentance, all manner of sin and of blasphemy, even if uttered against Christ himself, shall be forgiven unto men; except the crime of imputing our Lord's miracles to an evil spirit, which indeed excluded repentance, and betrayed an incurable malignity of heart. And we may observe that our Lord elsewhere uses general assertions, where the same restriction must be understood: as in the words, "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven." For it is plain, from the case of St. Peter, that hardened perseverance in such denials is meant.

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W

from stultus evasit; fatuus, insipiens factus est. See also Syr. 1 Cor. iii. 19. where a word from the same root is used for pagia. Thus Raca and ung may differ, as a charge of light and despicable conduct from that of habitual infatuation. P It is the opinion of many learned men, that, instead of translating the Greek word uage, thou fool, the eastern word Moreh should be translated or retained. As signifies he rebelled in the Hebrew and Chaldee, we may fairly presume that it once had this sense in the Hebrew Syriac. 9 Deut. xvii. 2-7. Lev. xxiv. 16. Jer. vii. 31. 1 Cor. vi. 10. w ib. x. 33.

Gal. v. 20.

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Matt. xii. 31, 2.

And all strict mor

There is another general precept charged with too much rigour. "I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to desire her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart." The words of the original, " in order to desire her," denote giving full and unrestrained scope to evil thoughts and intentions. St. Peter describes some, who walked after the flesh, as having eyes full of adultery, and which could not cease from sin. alists decide to the same effect. Cicero records an observation made by Pericles, that a grave magis. trate should not only restrain his hands from acts of avarice and oppression, but his eyes from contemplating such objects as raise inordinate desire. And in another place he asserts, that, if men deliberate whether they should knowingly commit a crime, there is guilt in the very doubt. There is also a Roman Satyrist,

a

well known determination of the that whoever meditates within himself any secret

crime, contracts the guilt of committing it. Some have thought that our Lord's remark is confined

* Matt. v. 28. ν πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτῆς. So c. vi. 1. πρὸς τὸ Ovatñvas aurois, with the end and design of being seen by them. See also c. xiii. 30. xxiii. 5. 22 Pet. ii. 10, 14. ■ Off. i. 40. Prætorem decet, non solum manus, sed etiam oculos, abstinentes habere. bib. iii. 8. Hoc quidem deliberantium genus pellatur e medio-qui deliberant utrum-se scientes scelere contaminent : in ipsa enim dubitatione facinus inest. Juv. xiii. 208. Scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum, Facti crimen habet. Add Cleanthes : poes. philos. H. Steph. p. 124.

Οσις ἐπιθυμῶν ἀνέχετ' αἰσχοῦ πράγματος,

Οὗτος ποιήσει τέτ', ἐὰν καιρὸν λάβη.

He whose desire can prompt a shameful act,
Will perpetrate it, when occasion offers.

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