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not exacted of him with bitterness. 34. That no heathen be suffered to treat him hardly, Lev. xxv. 39. 42, 43. 46, 47. 35. That a Jewish maid-servant be not sold to another. 36. That the three things required in the law be not denied to such a servant, Exod. xxi. 7—11. 37. That a fair woman taken in war be not sold. 38. That she be not used as a bond-woman, Deut. xxi. 24. 39. That we covet not, Exod. xx. 17. 40. That nothing of other men's be desired, Deut. v. 21. 41. That the hireling eat not whilst he is in the field. 42. That he take no more out of the field than what he can eat, Deut. xxiii. 24. 43. That what is lost, be not hidden, Deut. xxii. 1-3. 44. That we leave not a beast under its burden, ver. 4. 45. That there be no deceit in weights and measures, Lev. xix. 35. 46. That we keep no false weights or measures in our houses, Deut. XXV. 13, 14.

§ 28. The eighth family relates to justice and judgment in fortysix prohibitions. 1. That justice be not violated, Lev. xix. 15. 2. That gifts be not received in judgment, Exod. xxiii. 8. 3. That none be respected in judgment, Lev. xix. 15. 4. That none fear a wicked man in judgment, Deut. i. 17. 5. That we pity not a poor man in judgment, Exod. xxiii. 3. 6. That we have no pity for a man-slayer, or other criminal person, Deut. xix. 13. 7. That the judgment of the poor be not perverted, Exod. xxiii. 6. 8. Nor of the stranger, widow, nor orphan, Deut. xxiv. 17. 9. That one party be not heard in the absence of another, Exod. xxiii. 1. 10. That we decline not after many in the judgment of law. 11. Nor shall a judge condemn according to the opinion of another, but his own, Exod. xxiii. 2. 12. That none be chosen a judge, that is not learned in the law, though he be wise in other things, Deut. xvii. 17. 13. That none bear false witness, Exod. xx. 14. 14. That no offender be justified, Exod. xxiii. 1. 15. That kinsmen be not witnesses, Deut. xxiv. 16. 16. That none be condemned upon one witness, Deut. xix. 15. 17. That none be condemned to death on conjecture, opinions, or thoughts, but upon clear witnesses, Exod. xxiii. 7. 18. That we kill not, Exod. xx. 13. 19. That a guilty person be not put to death, before he appear in judgment, Num. xxxv. 12. 20. That no reward be taken for the life of a murderer. 21. Nor for him that commits man-slaughter by error, Num. xxxv. 31. 22. That none be judge and witness in a criminal cause, ver. 30. 23. That none pity the woman mentioned, Deut. xxv. 12. 24. She that is forced, is not to be punished, Deut. xxii. 26. 25. That none appear against the blood of his neighbour, Lev. xix. 16. 26. That no cause of offence, or falling be left in a house, Deut. xxii. 8. 27. That none lay a stumbling block before an Israelite, Lev. xix. 14. 28. That the beating with stripes exceed not the number of forty,

Deut. xxv. 3. 29. That none calumniate or accuse falsely, Lev. xix. 16. 30. That we hate not our neighbour in our heart, ver. 17. 31. That none put an Israelite to reproach, ver. 17. 32. That none exercise revenge on his neighbour. 33. That none bear ill will in their mind, ver. 18. 34. That the mother and its young be not taken together, Deut. xxii. 6. 35. That a scall be not shaven, Lev. xiii. 33. 36. That the signs of leprosy be not removed, Deut. xxvii. 8. 37. That the place

where the heifer is beheaded, be not tilled, Deut. xxi. 4. 38. That a sorcerer be not suffered to live, Exod. xxii. 18. 39. That a new married man be not bound to go forth to war, Deut. xxiv. 5. 40. That none be rebellious against the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, and their doctrine, Deut. xvii. 11. 41. That nothing be added to the precepts of the law. 42. That nothing be taken from them, Deut. iv. 2. 43. That we speak not evil of the judge, nor of the prince of the people, Exod. xxii. 28. 44. That none speak evil of any in Israel, Lev. xix. 14. 45. That none curse father or mother. 46. That none strike father or mother, Exod. xxi. 17.

§ 29. The ninth family of negative precepts concerns feasts, and contains ten prohibitions. I. That no work be done on the Sabbath, Exod. xx. 10. 2. That none go out or beyond the bounds of the city on the Sabbath, Exod. xvi. 29. 3. That no punishment be inflicted on the Sabbath, Exod. xxxv. 3. 4. That no work be done on the first day of the passover. 5. That no work be done on the seventh day of the passover, Lev. xxiii. 7, 8. 6. That no work be done in the feast of weeks, ver. 21. 7. That no work be done on the first day of the seventh month, ver. 24, 25. 8. That no work be done on the day of expiation, ver. 30. 9. That no work be done on the first day of the feast of tabernacles. 10. That no work be done on the eighth day of release, ver. 34, 35. 37.

$30. The tenth family of negative precepts, is concerning chastity, and affinity, and purity, in twenty-four precepts. 1. That none uncover the nakedness of his mother. 2. Of his father's wife. 3. Of his sister. 4. Of the daughter of his father's wife, Lev. xviii. 7, 8, 9. 11. 5. Of the daughter of his son. 6. Of the daughter of his daughter. 7. Öf his own daughter, ver. 10. 8. Of a woman and her daughter. 9. Of a woman and the daughter of her son. 10. Of a woman and the daughter of her daughter, ver. 17. 11. Of a father's sister. 12. A mother's sister, ver. 12, 13. 13. Of an uncle's wife, ver. 19. 14. Of a daughter-in-law, ver. 15. 15. Of a brother's wife, ver. 16. 16. Öf a wife's sister, she being li ving, ver. 14. 17. Of a married woman, Exod. xx. 13. 18. Of a separated woman, Lev. xviii. 19. 19. That none commit the sin of sodomy. ver. 22. 20. That none uncover the na

kedness of her father. 21. Nor of the brother of her father, ver. 7. 14. 22. That filthiness be not committed with any beast by a man. 23. Nor by a woman, Lev. xvii. 23. 24. That none draw nigh to a prohibited woman, Lev. xviii. 6.

§ 31. The eleventh family concerns marriages in eight prohibitions. 1. That a bastard take not a female Israelite to wife, Deut. xxiii. 2. 2. That no eunuch take a daughter of Israel, ver. 1. 3. That no male be made an eunuch, Lev. xxii. 24. 4. That there be no whore in Israel, Deut. xxiii. 17. 5. That he who hath divorced his wife, may not take her again, after she hath been married to another, Deut xxiv. 4. 6. The brother's daughter marry not with a stranger, Deut. xxv. 5. 7. That he divorce not his wife who hath defamed her in her youth, Deut. xxii. 19. 8. He that hath forced a maid shall not divorce her, Deut. xxii. 29.

§ 32. The twelfth family concerns the kingdom, and is made up of four precepts. 1. That no king be chosen of a strange nation, Deut. xvii. 15. 2. That the king get not himself many horses, ver. 16. 3. That he multiply not wives. 4. That he heap not up to himself treasures of silver and gold, ver. 17.

33. This is the account that the Jews give of the precepts of the law. The number of them, as also the distinction and distribution of them into their several classes, are parts, as they pretend, of their oral law, from which the vanity of it might be easily shewn. For it is evident, that many of these precepts are coincident; many of what are pretended so to be, are no precepts at all; and sundry of them are not founded on the places from whence they profess to gather them; yea, in many of them, the mind of the Holy Ghost is plainly perverted, and a contrary sense annexed to his words. Moreover, it is most unquestionable, that there are sundry commands and institutions, especially concerning sacrifices, that are not at all taken notice of by them in this collection. These charges I could easily make good by instances sufficient. It is evident then, that the oral law, of which this collection is said to be a part, cannot be of God; but, as I have before observed, as there is a representation in them of no small multitude of commands, especially in things concerning their carnal worship, it was necessary that they should be here represented, though they have been before transcribed from them by others. My principal design herein is, to illustrate some passages both in the writings of our apostle, as also in other parts of Scripture concerning this law of commandments contained in ordinances.

§ 34. The censure which our apostle gives of this whole system of divine worship, is very remarkable. "The first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary, which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers wash

ings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation," Heb. ix. 1. 10. Let any one cast an eye upon the multitude of commands here collected, about meats and drinks, washings and outward carnal observances, and he will quickly see how directly and pertinently the description given by our apostle is suited to their services. And that not only as to the manner and multitude of them, but also as to their natures. They are carnal things, and could by no means affect the great, spiritual, glorious and eternal ends, which God had designed, proposed and promised in that covenant, to whose administration they were annexed, until the time of reformation should come. Hence elsewhere he calls them the rudiments of the world, ordinances about touching, tasting and handling, about meats and drinks, things outwardly clean or unclean, all which perish with their using, Col. ii. 20-22.

§ 35. A little view also of the multiplicity of these precepts, and their circumstances, and the scrupulous observances required by them, will give light unto the mind of another apostle, who calls the law a yoke which neither their fathers nor they were ever able to bear," Acts xv. 20. For although the weight of this yoke did principally consist in the matter of it, and in the duties to be performed, yet it was greatly increased and aggravated by that multiplicity of the commands of which it consisted. Whence our apostle calls it, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, Eph. ii. 15. as it consisted of an endless number of commands, concerning which their minds could never attain any comfortable satisfaction, whether they had answered their duty aright in them or not.

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EXERCITATION XXI.

§ 1. The sanction of the law in promises and threatenings. The law considered several ways. § 2, 3. As the rule of the old covenant. § 4. As having a new end put to it. § 5. As it was the instrument of the Jewish polity. § 6. The sanction of it in those senses. § 7. Promises of three sorts. To be fulfilled by God himself. § 8. By others. Parents how they prolong the lives of their children. §9. Punishments threatened to be inflicted by God himself. § 10, 11. Punishment D'En '7'2 what. § 12. Providential punishments. Partial. Total. § 13. Persons entrusted with power of punishment. §14. The original distribution of the people. Taskmasters and officers in Egypt, who. 15. The authority of Moses. 16. The distribution of the people in the wilderness. § 17. Institution of the Sanhedrim. Judges. Kings. 18. Penalties ecclesiastical. 19. The three degrees of it explained and examined. Causes of Niddui. § 20, 21. Instance, John ix. 20. § 22. Of Cherem. And Shanmatha. 23-25. Form of an excommunication. § 26. The sentence, Ezra x. 7, 8. explained. § 27, 28. Civil penalties. § 29, 30. The Capital. The several sorts of them.

§ 1. By the sanction of the law, we intend the promises and penalties with which God enforced the observance of it. To this the apostle refers in sundry places of this Epistle, the principal whereof are reported in the foregoing dissertation. To exhibit this subject distinctly, we may observe that the law falls under a threefold consideration. First, As it was a repetition and expression of the law of nature, and of the covenant of works established thereon. Secondly, As it was administered for a new end and design, namely, to direct the church to the use and benefit of the promise given of old to Adam, and renewed to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before this new administration of the law. Thirdly, As it was the instrument of the rule and government of the church and people of Israel, with respect to the covenant made with them about the land of Canaan. And in this threefold respect, it had a threefold sanction.

§ 2. First, As considered absolutely, it was attended with promises of eternal life, and threatenings of eternal death. The original promise of life upon obedience, and the curse upon transgression, were inseparably annexed to the law; yea, were essential parts of it, as it contained the covenant between God and man. See Gen. ii. Deut. xxvii. 26. Rom. vi. 23. Rom.

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