Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the moral law and the covenants, from the…Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the morall law and the covenants, from the…

Secondly, Whether those Precepts which are said to be heard of old, ¹be the Law and words of Moses, or the additions of corrupt glossers. And that most of them are the express words of Moses, it is plain; as Thou shalt not kill, or Commit adultery: but the doubt lieth upon two places; The first is ver. 21. Shall be in danger of judgement. Here is, say some, a two-fold corruption: 1. By adding words, which are not in the Scripture; for they speak peremptorily, He shall dye: whereas these words seem to be obscure ⟨p. 176⟩and doubtful, He shall be brought before the judges to be tried, whether he be guilty or no. The second corruption they conceive in the sense, and that is, as if the Pharisees did understand the Commandment only to forbid actual murder, but not murderous thoughts, affections, or intentions: And this last seemeth clearly to be the truth, as is to be showed afterwards: but for the former I do something doubt, because, though that addition be not expressed in so many words, yet there seemeth to be that which is equivalent; for, Numb. 35. 30. there we read, the murderer who was to be put to death, was to be tried by witnesses, which argueth there were Judges to determine the cause. The second particular, is that ver. 43. Thou shalt hate thy enemy: where some learned men observe a three-fold depravation: 1. An implied one, as if a friend were only a neighbour: 2. A plain omission; for Lev. 19. it's added, as thy self, which is here omitted. 3. A plain addition of that which was not only not commanded or permitted, but expressly prohibited, as Exod. 23. 4. Prov. 25. 21. And this may probably be thought an interpretation of the Scribes and Pharisees arguing on the contrary, that if we were to love our neighbours, then we were to hate our enemies; yet there are some who would make the sense of this in the Scripture; that is, in a limited sense to the Canaanites; for they think that because they were commanded to make no Covenant with them, but to destroy them, and not to pity them, therefore this is as much as to hate them: and thereupon, they understand the two fore quoted places, that speak of relieving of our enemies, to be only meant of enemies that were Jews their Country-men and not of strangers. And the Jews thought they might kill any idolaters; Therefore Tacitus saith of them, there was misericordia in promptu apud suos, mercy to their own;