These Sections teach —

1st. That besides the moral law summarily expressed in the Decalogue, God gave the Jews a ceremonial law, wherein, by means of types and symbols, {a) Christ and his work were set forth, and (6) certain moral truths inculcated.

2d. That he also gave to them as a body politic a sy?tem of judicial laws.

3d. That both the ceremonial and judicial la\\^ of the Jews have ceased to have any binding force under the Christian economy.

'4th. That on the other hand the moral law continues of unabated authority, not only because its elements are intrinsically binding, but because, also, of the authority of God, who still continues to enforce it. And Christ, instead of lessening, has greatly increased the obligation to fulfil it.

We have already stated, under the preceding Sections of this Chapter, the principles which distinguish the dijBferent classes of divine commands.

Those commands which have their ground or reason either in the essential principles of the divine nature or in the permanent constitution of things, of course have not been abrogated by the introduction of the Christian dispensation. On the contrary, it was precisely the law of perfect moral rectitude tluit Christ vicariously fulfilled as our representative, and thus became the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Rom. X. 4. Christ also redeemed his people from iniquity, that they might be zealous of good works (Tit. ii. 4); and we have seen under Chapter xviii. that those only are good works which are done in obedience to the law. By redemption, also, Christ has brought his people under new and higher obligations to obedience; he furnishes new motives, and in the graces of regeneration and sanctification he communicates to the soul new powers and encouragements for the same. Some of these original laws, founded on the constitution of things, God was pleased under the Mosaic dispensation to relax to a degree, as in tlie case of marriuge and divorce ; but

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in every case the original law, instead of being abrogated, has been restored to its pristine breadth and authority by Christ and his apostles. The Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew, is an example of the manner in which the spirit of Christianity exalts and expands the letter of the law beyond any revelation of it which had previously been made.

The principles by which we are to determine what element of the law enacted under the old dispensation is abrogated, and what element remains in full force under the new dispensation, are the following : (1.) When the continued obligation of any commandment is asserted or practically recognized in the New Testament, it is plain that the change of dispensations has made no change in the law. Thus the provisions of the moral law are constantly recognized in the New Testament. On the other hand, when the enactment is explicitly repealed, or its aorogation implied by what is taught in the New Tesiament, the case is also made plain. (2.) Where there is no direct information upon the question to be gathered from the New Testament, a careful examination of the reason of the law will afford us good ground of judgment as to its perpetuity. If the original reason for its enactment is universal and permanent, and the law has never been explicitly repealed, then the law abides in force. If the reason of the law is transient^ its binding force is transient also.

The Mosaic institute may be viewed in three different aspects :

(1.) As a national and political covenant, whereby, under his theocratic government, the Israelites became

J46 CONFESSION OF FAITH.

the people of Jehovah and he became their King, and in which the Church and the State are identical.

(2.) In another aspect it was a legal covenant, because the moral law, obedience to which was the condition of life in the Adamic covenant, was now prominently set forth in the Ten Commandments and made the basis of the new covenant of God with his people. Even the ceremonial system, in its merely literal and apart from »ts ceremonial aspect, was a rule of works : " For cursed was he that confirmed not all the words of the law to io them/' I)v3ut. xxvii. 26.

(3.) It contained also an elaborate system of symbols, wherein spiritual truths were significantly set forth by outward visible signs, the vast majority of which were types, or prophetic symbols, setting forth the perjon and work of Cbrict and the benefits of his redemption.

That the ceremonial law lutioduoed by Moses was typical of Christ and his woik is taught throughout the New Testament, and especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews. They were declared tc be a "shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ ' The tabernacle and its services were "patterns of things in the heavens," and figures, antitypes, of the " true tabernacle into which Christ has now entered for us." Col. ii. 17 ; Heb. ix. 23, 24. Christ is said to have effected our salvation by offering himself as a sacrifice and by acting as our High Priest. Eph. v. 2 ; Heb. ix. 28, 28 ; xiii. 11, 12. That the coming of Christ has suptrseded and for ever done away with the ceremonial law \s also evident from the very fact just stated — thaf ihese were types of him, that they were the shadows vf whi^h be

was the substance. Their whole purpose and design were evidently discharged as soon as his real work of satisfaction was accomplished ; and therefore it is not only a truth taught in Scripture (Heb. x. 1-14; Col. ii. 14-17 ; Eph. ii. 15, 16), but an undeniable historical fact, that the priestly work of Christ immediately and definitely superseded the work of the Levitical priest. The instant of Christ's death, the veil separating the throne of God from the approach of men " was rent in twain from top to bottom'' (Matt, xxvii. 50, 51), thus throwing the way open to all, and dispensing with priests and their ceremonial for ever.

That the judicial laws of the Jews have ceased to have binding obligation upon us follows plainly, from the fact that the peculiar relations of the people to God as theocratic King, and to one another as fellow-members of an Old Testament Church State, to which tliese laws were adjusted, now no longer exist.

Besides the moral law, God gave to Israel ceremonial and judicial laws ; the two latter are of limited and temporary use ; the former is of universal and perpetual obligation.

1. The ceremonial law respected the Jews in their ecclesiastical capacity, or as a Church, and prescribed the rites and carnal ordinances which were to be observed by them in the external worship of God. These ceremonies were chiefly designed to prefigure Christ, and lead them to the knowledge of the way of salvation through him. — Ileb. x. i. This law is abrogated under the New Testament dispensation. This appears — 1. From the nature of the law itself. It was given to the Jews to separate them from the idolatrous rites of other nations, and to preserve their religion uncorrupted. But when the gospel was preached to all nations, and Jews and Gentiles were gathered into one body, under Christ, their Head, the wall of separation was taken down. — Eph. ii. 14, 15. 2. Because these ceremonies Avere only figures of good things to come, imposed upon the Jews until the time of reformation, and were abrogated by Christ, in whom they were realized and substantiated. — Heb. ix. 9-12. 3. Because these ceremonies were given to the Israelites to typify and represent Christ and his death; and, since Christ has come, and has, by his death and satisfaction, accomplished all that they prefigured, these types must be abolished. — Col. ii. 17. 4. Because many of these rites were restricted to the temple of Jerusalem, and the temple being now destroyed, these rites must cease along with it. 5. Because the apostles expressly taught, that the ceremonial law is abrogated under the

Christian dispensation. — Acts xv. 24. One chief design of the Epistle to the Hebrews is, to prove that this law must necessarily be disannulled. — Heb. vii. 12.

2. The judicial law respected the Jews in their political capacity, or as a nation, and consisted of those institutions which God prescribed to them for their civil government. This law, as far as the Jewish polity was peculiar, has also been entirely abolished ; but as far as it contains any statute founded in the law of nature common to all nations, it is still obligatory.

3. The moral law is so called because it relates to moral actions, and to distinguish it from the positive laws, which were only of temporary obligation. This law has no relation to times and places, or to one nation more than another; but being founded in the relations of men to their Creator, and to one another, it retains its authority under all dispensations. In opposition to the Antinomians, who say that believers are released from the obligation of the moral law, our Confession teaches that this law is perpetually binding on justified persons, as well as others. Believers are, indeed, delivered from this law in its covenant form; but they are still under it as a rule of life, in the hand of the ^Mediator, being " not without law to God, but under the law to Christ." — 1 Cor. ix. 21. Christ, in the most solemn and explicit manner, declared, that he " came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it." — Matt. v. 17. He fulfilled it, as a covenant, by his own perfect obedience, and his most grievous sufferings in the room of his people ; and its heavenly precepts he has enforced upon their minds, by the most cogent motives, as a perfect rule of duty. The gospel, instead of weakening the obligation of the law, confirms and strengthens its authority, and enforces obedience to its precepts by the strongest motives : " Do we make void the law through faith ? God forbid ; nay, we establish the law." — Rom. iii. 31. Although the moral laAV is to believers divested of its covenant form, it remains immutably the same, in regard both to its matter and its authority. And as the law was binding on the first man as a rule of life, antecedent to any covenant-transaction between God and him, we may easily understand that the law may be entirely divested of its covenant form, while it continues in full force as a rule of moral conduct.