XIV - Moral precepts of the old law.

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The 19th Chapter of Leviticus, from the beginning. In passing through the first part of the book of Leviticus, we have been considering the principles of sacrifice, as a great source of spiritual blessing, and fellowship with God, and we have swelt upon this, for some time, in order to Show how completely and thoroughly, the whole law of Moses was pervaded by this. doctrine. We to day shall proceed to examine how far this economy, unites the necessity for moral purity, & hoiness, with the doctrine of atonement for sin, by sacrifice. For, could it be supposed, that throughout the whole bible, there could be found one single sentence which inculcated the priniple, that there was no necessity for purity of conduct, <to> if sin were atoned for when committed, it would be so. entirely out of keeping with the doctrine of God, as to afford us sufficient groun[d(?)] for the entire rejection of the Bible, - at least as a book of divine origin; But when on the other hand, we find a directly contrary principle held up to us, it is as strong a confirmation of the divinity, as the contrary would have been of the non divinity. of the Bible. We find here, after all <the> possible provision had been made for the expiation of sin, the command. Ye shall be holy, as the Lord your God is holy. 
Now, there are here two things to be observed. (1). The general principle, and reason, for this demand To be holy here signifies, entire purity. of mind, expressed in conduct, in words, and actions extending both to outward. and inward condition and then there is a reason given for the obligation, namely, that. every one who is admitted to a fellowship with God, must resemble God, for it is evident, that there can be no fellowship, <at the expense of other[s(?)]> between purity and impurity. We see this in society every day. The worthy and the vile are respectively shunned by each other, they are, 

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reulsive to each other. The moral and immoral cannot amalgamate but men of character associate with men of character, and those who are destitute of character, with those who resemble them. And thus it is in sacred things also. The Holy and pure God cannot delight in an unholy and impure people. there can be no connecting link between such, and this therefore we find to be the reason for this demand upon the Israelites. Ye shall be holy, even as the Lord your God is pure and holy. 
We shall no longer dwell upon general principles but shall proceed to the particular details of conduct. the which we find was commanded to be observed in this chapter. The first command, we find then, that is here given, is. Ye shall fear every man his father. and his mother. - This is remarkable, we find that the first commandment was one which must be enforced on childhood itself, and that on the very earliest development of the mental powers of the child. This holy puity was to be enforced on old age, and infancy, and the code of commands here commences with that very first of all duties, which was to be observed by the infant, towards its parents  The first opportunity was to be seized and then that state of purity w[as(?)] to commence, which was to be continued to the end of life. Now, it is to be remarked, that there was no general principle or law of their kind, among the heathens. There was no enforement of filial piety, I do not mean to say that it was never practised, it was so frequently <on the contrary>, and always admired. Many very fine examples of it could be adduced from ancient history, I only mean to say, that the neglect of it though always considered culpable, was not punishable, there was not law which commanded it observance.
Now, in this case, fear must not be received in its general acceptation  It must be understood as meaning, reverance, ye shall reverence every man his father and his mother. For, the child ought rather to trust in his 

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father and his mother, then to fear them. This law was <ex> and is, exceedingly necessary, when children firt begin even to think, they generally begin to assert independency of judgment, this is a very strong example of human depravity and it must be checked at once, the child must always be taught to confide in the guidance of his father and his mother, and if this is not done, there can be no hope of their good conduct in future, nor, any anticipation of benefit to society accruing from them. 
The next comman here given, is as sociated with the first, "and keep my Sabbaths. It may be asked what connection there is between these two duties, which are here announced, almost as if they were the same. They. may perhaps, we answer appear at the first glance, entirely distinct, but this is not the case, when we examine into their nature, we shall find a very great similarity, such indeed as not only permits, but requires, an association between them. In the first place, children are to be taught to reverence their earthly parents, must they not then much more be taught to reverence their heavenly parent. No thing can be easier, than to lead the mind of the child from one to the other, it is an easy and regular transition, and fellowship will be found between the feelings of duty to the parent, and of duty towards God. The when the child is taught that he has two fathers, both of which he must constantly render duty to, the observance of the Sabbath is an apt, and familiar illustration of the duty which God requires of them  Thus we see that these two precepts go hand in hand, and that they are the first, the easiest, yet the most important, which can be impressed upon the mind of the child. & We see that there is a reason here also given for this demand, For, because, I am the Lord your God. I am not a despotic and tyrannical monarch who forms laws merely for the purpose of gratifying his pride, by exacting obedience to them, I brought you our of bondage, affliction and 

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corruption. I caused you to pass throug[h(?)] the red sea, I preserved you and fed you in the wilderness. I am bringing you into that land which I promised to your fathers, I am the Lord your God and therefore I demand that you should render duty to me, and teach your children also, that they may love me, and obey me, and keep my Sabbaths. 
In the next verse, we find a prohibition of all idols. Turn ye not unto idols nor make to yourselves molten gods. Now it is to be noticed, that God is here not only jealous for his own honour, but for the purity of his people The nations with which the Israelites were surrounded, had numerous deities with whose unhallowed worship into which the Israelites were likely to be drawn, there was so very much vilenes and impurity connected, as would have utterly defiled the morals root and branch of the Israelites, and they come in any manner into contact with ti, their purest systems fo morality would have yielded, &, without considering the contempt which would have been poured upon their own God. the purity of that people would have been lost, or contaminated for ever. 
In the 5th verse, our attention is again drawn to sacriface, yet as connected with the code of morality that is here set before us. Now, at the first glance this may perhaps appear a more ceremonial rite, and we may think it misplaced among these moral precepts, but it is not so, and this upon examination, we shall find. We are told, that the peace offering was to be presented of freewill, and we know that part of the sacrifice, whatever it might be, was to be consumed upon the altar, part was to be given to the priest as a testimonial of the offerers willingness to support the worship of Godand part was to be eaten by the offerer. on the day of the sacrifice, or on the morrow, but not on the third day, and what ever remained unto the third day, was to be burnt in the fire. Now, the purpose of their ordinance, was to prevent

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the sacrifice of peace offering from being into mere selfish economy, - which might very easily have been done, Peace offerings might have brought so often as that the offerer might have been enable to live almost entirely with his family, upon his share of the peace-offering which might have been preserved from time to time, and when that was exhausted, a fresh sacrifice might have been offered. Now when the time during which the sacrifice might be consumed, was thus limited, it must have been found that when the sacrifice was large, the offerers share could not be consumed in the grain period by a single famiy, Distribution was thus rendered necessary, and the poor of the community would, or ought to, have been benefited, by the atonement for the sins of every individual of the higher class throughout the congregation. Yet, in spite of this abuses of this ordinace were soon introduced. When the rich individuals of the community offered a peace offering, instead of distributing the superfluity which could not be consumed, among the poor, they made feasts, and invited to partake with them, other rich individuals. by whom they might expect to be invited in their turn, & thus the wealthy uniting in families, circles were formed from which the poor were utterly shut out; each inviting the other, in return for a previous invitation. or in hope of a future one, and thus the benevolent intention of this part of the ordinance, was utterly defeated. It was this feast, which I suppose was alluded to by the Redeemer, when he commanded that those should not be invited who were capable of offering a recompence, but the poor, &

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the maimed, and the halt, and the blind  Yet, in spite of this perversion, of the law of Moses, the intention of that law was obvious, it was to promote a spirit of moral benevolence and kindness, among the higher claws of the Israelites; And, when this intention was complied with, and the law was accepted in its full force, it must have been a very strong practival expression of morality to see the rich coming to offer their peace-offerings. and afterwards distributing a portion of them to the poor of the community. high and low, rich and poor, all sitting down to partake of the feast of peace offering in a spirit of brotherly amity, and <good> universal goodwill. 
The next commands to which I wish to direct your attention, are those contained in the 9 and 10 verses. Now, it has been frequently laid down, as a general principle of action by the selfish, or the avaracious, that every one may do what he pleases with his own. Yet this commandment is a strong protest against every advancement of the kind. It may perhaps be said by some, that this law is not binding on us. because we are not in exactly the same situation and circumstances. as were the Israelites. But, we should recollect that this commandment, and indeed all contained in this chapter, are not mere sacrificial ritual which was only necessary to shadow forth the sacrifice of Christ and which now that we have that great sacrifice to look to, is no longer necessary, but it is a moral commandment, whose intention was to regulate the disposition and conduct of society, of general society, Therefore, in order to escape from the binding force of this commandment, we must suppose one of two things, either, that God can change, that his will, and view of right and wrong, is not the same now, as it was formerly <or else> which is directly contrary to all our principles of religion, or else we must suppose and affirm our entire independency of him, we must deny that God has any right to demand our obedience. 

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which is affirming that God neither has exercised, does not, and will not exercise, any care over us of a special character. Now God way manifest himself to us in a different manner from that which he adopted towards the Israelites, yet he certainly gives us the same degree of support  He is our Father, therefore all that we possess is his, he is our Judge, or. therefore he has command over our actions, he is our Creator therefore, not only what we possess, but we ourselves are his. What more can be objected; It is true, he showed himself to the Israelites in the fire and the cloud and does he not show himself to us in the rain and in the sunshine, in the day and in the night; and in every working of nature. Our very life proves our dependance on him, for in him we live, and move and have our being therefore, having seen that this command is binding upon all, it is evident that it utterly annihilates the selfish principle that every one may do what he pleases with what he chooses to call his own
It is evident, that if there were to be always poor, in every nation, and this it appears is unavoidable, that one of two plans must be adopted, to p[ro(?)]cure them support. they must either be left dependant on their importunity for their subsistence, or else provision must be made for them. & in this case, we see that this last was done, yet done in such a manner, as to stimulate their activity, and industry. Individuals whose poverty was great, were relieved by the gleanings of the fields of the rich, for the rich could not refuse them this without offending against the command of God and thus all the abject misery and degradation of the poor, which is too often so palpable in other countries, was entirely avoided.
The next commandment, being in connection with this, is, we see  Thou shalt not steal. Here was security of property established. What was provided for by the former commandment. theft is forbidden by this. God had commanded the rich to support the poor, if they were churlish, and would not, the poor must not take what was their due, against the owners

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will, it was not their concern, it was Gods, and he would most certainly punish the closehanded churl. 
Again. the wages of the labouring man were always to be given him in the evening. Now. this does not mean, that always, when the day closed in, [Ha(?)] that was hired was to come and receive his hire. This might not always be entirely convenient for him, but it means, that when he did ask for it, there was to be no. "Go and come again and tomorrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee, instant payment was to be made. and the labouring man was never to suffer by delay. The same purity of moral feeling shows through the whole of this. In the 14. verse we have a command for the protection of those whose state of dependance of entire dependance, made them more subject to those feelings from others which proceed from human depravity, it was to keep them from being made the sport of their happier and less dependant fellows. We find here another strong provision to maintain the purity of moral feeling, towards God, as well as towards man. For this commandment means also, - Thou shalt reverence God, who has permitted infirmities and miseries to fall upon these individuals for his own wise, but unknown purpose. All these injunctions give us a farther conception, of the dignity and character of God. The next command, (passing by that which exacts justice towards rich and poor, as that is so obvious a duty as to require no explination,) is that which forbids talebearing. Now. there is perhaps no character by whom greater mischief is done, both to individuals, and to society, than the talebearer. And, although it is here the habit which is forbidden. yet the occasional act is not innocent. Statements may be misunderstood. generally exaggerated, by the tale bearer. Intercourse is of course broken up, suspicion and jealousy excited - , All harmony is lost, and there is in both cause and effect, a something unworthy of manhood, arising from human depravity. This evil, is therefore met by a particular provision. 

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We now have a command forbidding vengeance to be exercised, and this provides a remedy for all evils which could be excited by the talebearer, Now, this worst of all characters has always must always have, a pretended good motive, and we know not but. that he might perhaps propose this, motive even to himself, this is, as soon as he has been any thing wrong in his neighbour, to go to warn others of it, that they may not be injured, or contaminated, by coming in contact with the individual in question. But he aught to do more. he ought to point out to him the evil which he has committed, if he reforms, it is well, if not it is then quite time enough to [warn(?)] society against him. 
We cannot at present go farther into the examination of these moral precepts, but we may see, from what we have considered, that the law of Moses was of far more importance than is generally imagined  It may be said and thought, that it was about the pins and taches of the tabernacle, or the ceremonial ritual of the sacrifice, but no, it presents us with one of the most magnificent codes of morality that was ever appointed, one which if obeyed by any nation, would raise its power and its majesty far above all others. If we cannot comply with all the commands of their law, may we at least be found endeavouring as far as we are able, to imitate the holiness of Christ, and above all, depending on him for the expiation of our offences, or neglect, and trusting that he will bring us in the end, into the kingdom of his Father.